EDITOR’S NOTE

from Edible Columbus Winter 2021

EDIBLE ENTREPRENEUR

For most of us in Ohio, one of the challenges of winter is adapting to fewer hours of daylight. When the winter solstice brings us the shortest day of the year on Dec. 21, we will have just nine full hours of daylight—a loss of five hours of daylight since mid-June.

As the increasing darkness and dropping temperatures drive more of our activities indoors, it seemed like a good time for us to visit people in their kitchens. For this issue, we found quite a few people using their indoor time for baking. But the people you will meet in these pages aren’t your typical home bakers. They are family members keeping tradition alive by making Slovakian or Macedonian pastries. They are kids baking as a business and as a way to help people. And they are professionals baking bread from local ingredients for those in need.

You also will read about Ohio’s ginseng hunters and learn why this root is a highly prized treasure. We will introduce you to a couple of entrepreneurs introducing Vietnamese coffees and teas to Columbus. And, in an era when keeping a restaurant going is a minor miracle, we’ll take you to one that has been serving people for 110 years, all in the same location.

If you have an interest in trying out some seasonal recipes, we have advice from four food bloggers who provide instructions for hearty winter dishes, or perhaps just a special cocktail or dessert.

You may recall that in our Winter issue last year, we introduced you to the Pizza Connoisseurs of Columbus, a Facebook group that discusses mom-and-pop pizza shops in Central Ohio. The writer of that article, Linda Lee Baird, was named the winner of the best feature writing award among freelance writers in the Ohio SPJ Awards, given annually by the Society of Professional Journalists. Considering the many talented writers in the state, that is quite an honor for Linda.

Meanwhile, the Pizza Connoisseurs group, which had 27,000 members when the article was published, now has grown to more than 48,000. (You, too, can join. The only requirement is a love of pizza.) Their annual poll, held in October for National Pizza Month, brought votes for 150 pizza places in Central Ohio. The winner was Pizzaroni’s in Etna, which also won in 2020. Both years they edged out Terita’s on Cleveland Avenue, which had won in 2018 and 2019. Tommy’s also is a past winner. Other consistently strong poll performers include Pizza House, Stadz, Ange’s, Hounddog’s and Little Sicily.

I’d like to thank Linda for bringing us the idea of writing about the group, and I’d like to thank all the members of group for providing our family with so many great ideas for pizza places to try.

Whether you are cooking at home or patronizing local restaurants, I hope you have wonderful meals this season—and a healthy and happy new year.

—Gary Kiefer gary@ediblecolumbus.com

edible

COLUMBUS

PUBLISHER Franklin County Farm Bureau

EDITOR IN CHIEF Gary Kiefer | gary@ediblecolumbus.com

DESIGN MANAGER Reilly Wright | reilly@ediblecolumbus.com

COPY EDITOR Doug Adrianson

WEB DESIGN Edible Communities

PHOTOGRAPHY Kayla Bennett | Angela Lee Rebecca Tien

WRITERS Linda Lee Baird | Kayla Bennett Lynn Donegan | Wynne Everett Angela Lee | Malinda Meadows Christina Musgrave | Rebecca Tien

ADVERTISING Melinda Lee melinda@ediblecolumbus.com

Edible Columbus is brought to you by Franklin County Farm Bureau Board of Trustees:

Leland Tinklepaugh, president | John Hummel, vice president Roger Genter, secretary | Dwight Beougher | Veronica Boysel Connie Cahill | Denise Johnson | Lewis Jones | Jack Orum Lauren Prettyman | Cassie Williams | Nathan Zwayer Edible Columbus is published quarterly and distributed throughout Central Ohio. Subscription rate is $25 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.