I still read the local newspaper. Daily. Cover to cover. Well, I scan the sports section for items of interest and for enough info to be dangerous (or to be able to fill in a sports-related crossword clue). As a foodie I always looked forward to the Wednesday food pages, and for many years a local woman edited them and added her own articles, which kept her readers abreast of food-related happenings and even local food trivia. She departed and the paper began to use the common content pool of food articles available to Gatehouse Media, owner of the Standard Times and newspapers in 555 markets in 33 states. And every Wednesday there was an article by a southern woman with no ties to the area, mostly using ingredients favored by southern cooks. So one day not long ago I wrote a letter to the editor asking when New Bedford had drifted south of the Mason-Dixon line. And I offered to write local food articles in the same format – a recollection, a food topic and a recipe. Considering the amount of mail they receive I really didn’t expect to get a reply, but in the spirit of be-careful-what-you-wish-for-as-you-may-get-what-you-want the managing editor contacted me almost immediately and said, “Yes!”

It took a few weeks to get a meeting together, but they are currently in possession of my first few articles, which you might be able to see online on Wednesdays at www.southcoasttoday.com/lifestyle/food starting today, September 20th. Actually, today’s post is on fresh figs, and it’s direct link is here: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20170920/deborah-dishes-delight-of-fresh-figs. Some will appear here in my blog, and some may be just for the paper, which may become part of Gatehouse’s common content and show up in other parts of the country.

Then somebody from another region can ask their editor why the heck they’re running all these damned Yankee food articles…

Deborah