EYW Blog

In this new occasional series, we’ll review international food products on the market that our readers may be interested in. Disclosure: Upton’s Naturals sent us samples of this product free of charge. All opinions are honest and our own (also: unpaid).

If you’ve seen jackfruit before, you’re unlikely to forget it: It’s going to be the largest fruit in any spread. I see it all the time here in Queens, where we have a sizable Asian population, a hulking greenish-yellow fruit with spiky reptilian skin. But despite vague memories of tasting—and loving—sweet, ripe jackfruit in Vietnam once upon a time, and even stronger memories of an excellent cardamom-scented jackfruit appetizer at...

It’s a famously overexploited, not quite endangered, species. But when conch is on every menu in town, there’s got to be a ton of ’em, right? A look at that beloved Caribbean mollusk, the queen conch—and how to help protect it.


Shell vendor on Potter's Cay, Nassau

“Are you feeling conchy tonight?” the waitress inquired with a smile when we wondered aloud about the Bimini conch linguine—a $22 Bahamian take on the traditional Italian clam dish, apparently. We were at a sports bar outside Nassau with friends and our collective flock of young kids, and we’d already had conch fritters and a conch patty earlier that day. The general consensus: Aren’t we always feeling conchy down...

It was such a relief last week to find out the local Queens farmers market has been changed to year round. With only a week left to Thanksgiving, we usually are stocking up on the turkey meat and sausage that we will freeze and use throughout the winter. We have previously made good use of that system, but not getting seasonal vegetables has been the hard part. “Do we really have to go to Trade Fair [our overcrowded supermarket] for produce?” This is a common question we repeat throughout the cold months. “I miss the farmers market,” with a sad face, is another generic overused statement during the dark days of January and February.

We have become so accustomed to our Sunday walk...