RAVENOUS Vol. 1

Food and wine are part of a continuum that begins in the field. Imagine vineyard alongside olive trees, vegetable patches, and livestock. What is cultivated in a landscape ends up at the table with a shared origin and purpose. The flavors that emerge from this common source complement each other and amplify their perception and enjoyment.

The small, domestic farms that I have seen in Italy and France were captivating and informed how I cook and eat. Patchwork fields - culinary gardens, vineyards, and orchards - yielding produce, cheese, wine, eggs, meat, for daily life and personal consumption. What proved especially inspiring was experiencing the culmination at the table. The simplicity, purity, and honesty was transformative. Dishes with few ingredients, wines with minimal processing, let the essence of the site emerge with a wondrous transparency and resonance.

Culture and Agriculture; Food and Wine; these have been organically intertwined throughout human history. Paying attention to food and wine is paramount to living - it is about taking the time to appreciate the senses, to engage with others, to embrace the glories of nature aligned with creative intention.

Art comes in myriad expressions: from old masters, to contemporary artists, to children’s drawings, each piece reveals the mark of an individual in a particular location and era. Wine is the same - it is a creation that captures a place in time, guided by the human hand.

RAVENOUS will focus on enriching our lives, appreciating natural pleasures and beauty through the lens of culture, food, and wine. Hopefully the content will generate incentive to cook, to pull corks, to honor our landscapes, and to share pleasures of the table with loved ones. In the end, these pleasure are simply vehicles to enhance how we live. We actually seek something that floats above the sensory input - something elevating, galvanizing; in short, the communing that happens at the table.

These moments should not be confined to holiday seasons. The more they become weekly or even quotidian experiences, the more richness and vitality we infuse into our lives. When they feel pure and authentic, we are moved and their memories are cherished.

It is why these moments at the table matter immensely - they both keep us human and keep us connected to nature. Without these grounding, timeless occasions, we become poor, both in the social sense, and in our physical health.

The shared moments at the table activate gratitude for life - lived reminders to treasure our short time on earth.