In 2009, when I first started the magazine, I had an hour-long conversation with Meaders Ozarow of Empire Baking Co. on my way back from Fort Worth one day. As we spoke, she was the embodiment of wisdom about the importance of supporting and growing a community that cares about local, sustainable food.
As we worked on this Spring issue, I asked Meaders if she remembered the conversation. “We’ve had lots of conversations over the years!” she said, and laughed, “But of course that’s who I am, and you were intersecting in the areas I was interested in.”
Meaders helped me, as a new publisher in the Edible community, define my task. “If you create a publication that addresses these issues in a way to tie people together,” she told me, she was convinced that I wouldn’t be able to count or imagine the ways it would be valuable. But she also remembers why she reacted so personally: “You were creating a community in the same type of way as a local bakery: It ties everything together.”
Now Empire Baking Co. has opened a brand-new location in the West Village, tying even more people to the goodness of artisan bread. We fill you in with our Notable Edible.
After Winter, we’re looking forward to Spring and outside activities! You’ll find articles to motivate you. Daniel Cunningham brings you along with foraging enthusiast and instructor Courtney Taylor—so you can go out and nibble a few edible greens or flowers.
Wonderful writer and naturalist Amy Martin’s Wild DFW is a resource full of insight and adventures: Eve Hill-Agnus spoke with Amy and excerpted the Trinity River Audubon Center hike. Go take a walk on the wild side!
Meda Kessler’s beautiful photography and recipes will brighten your Spring table with lemony desserts.
And Meda also visited culinary power duo Jeffery Hobbs and Ratna Goenardi, inspirations in love, travel and gardening.
I also have a thought for entities like the national agricultural organization American Farmland Trust, whose work with farmers and ranchers may be in jeopardy, as funding is uncertain. “We remain hopeful that this is only a temporary pause,” they wrote in an email to Edible Communities. My wish is that this Spring brings bounty and sunshine!
Nanci Taylor, Publisher
NANCI TAYLOR is a third generation Texan whose family came to the state in the 1800’s to pursue cattle ranching and Texas has remained her home. She was born in San Antonio, but ended up in North Texas where she nurtured her Texas roots while attending college and raising two sons in Dallas. Proudly following in her parent's footsteps, Nanci plants and harvests the bounty of her own backyard garden in Old East Dallas. She keeps a busy calendar attending local food and ecology events, and on weekends she spends her time visiting with growers and food artisans at farms, shops and farmers markets around North Texas.
