Spring is the season of renewal. It’s that time of year when the sun shines longer each day, the grass grows just a little bit greener, and the earth begins to soften in the rain, shooting up new life.
As we embrace the growth we see outside, we also look to how we’ve grown inside—as a magazine, and as a team. When we launched Who’s Hungry?™ one year ago, we had a few exceptional staff members and a simple goal of bridging the worlds of food and photography. Since then, the magazine has evolved in ways we never could have predicted. Not only is it a deeply satisfying creative project, but it’s also been an opportunity to connect with and learn from some of the most interesting and knowledgeable professionals throughout the culinary world.
Each story in this magazine has taken us on a new adventure. We’ve discovered innovative uses for maple syrup at Burton’s Maplewood Farms; enjoyed holiday cookies from some of the nation’s top bakers; sat down with our favorite chefs; explored the secrets behind great food styling; ventured out on a Virginia fox hunt; and been pulled into the personal stories of great
writers. I want to thank everyone involved, past and present, who have helped make the magazine what it is today.
With one incredible year behind us, we look forward to embracing the next and all the growth that is yet to come. I hope you’ll grow right along with us and continue to ask “Who’s Hungry?”™
STEPHEN HAMILTON
These are the last days of winter. Most days the skies are grey and every time it warms up, before you know it, it’s frigid again. Cabin fever creeps up on us and we feel trapped indoors. As we wait out the next couple of months for spring, it’s the perfect time to turn “cooped up” into “cozying up” with enjoyable simple things like playing Yahtzee or cooking for others.
Or, invite a fun, creative group of people over for a potluck supper, as we did in our story “Snow Day Supper. Pot Lucky.” We invited a delicious mix of chefs, TV personalities, artists, professionals and a former politician and gave them a Lodge Dutch Oven to fill and sat back and watched a magical evening unfold.
One great thing about winter is there’s still plenty to do outdoors. Skating, snowball fights and sledding are cold weather activities many of us grew up with. Winter can bring the kid out in anyone, and in “Winter Wonderland” Geraldine Campbell reminisces about snow-filled days. Along with her story,
we share cozy recipes including a kid favorite, Egg in a Basket.
Mornings with frosted windows call for a tasty stack of hot waffles drizzled with real maple syrup. To learn all about this heavenly sap, we interviewed Tim Burton of Burton’s Maplewood Farm and three top chefs share their maple syrup infused-recipes. And if you wonder how we create the frosty effects in our warm studio, special-effect guru Geoff Binns-Calvey tells us how it’s done in “Tricks of the Trade”.
Who’s Hungry?™ for something warm and toasty?
STEPHEN HAMILTON
A bit of indulgence seems to be part of the holidays. Naughty little food treats mysteriously appear all over the studio and seem to disappear just as inexplicably. I can’t resist giving into my kids this time of year with a nonessential gift or two.
When entertaining friends and family it’s all about sharing little luxuries that meld with the season. On the top of my list is the decadent combination of oysters and champagne. In “The Oyster’s Allure” we celebrate the beauty of briny oysters and explain how to pair them with champagne.
The cookies in “The Holiday Cookie Exchange Party” are gifts themselves.
And we include recipes for every level of baking skill from Christmas cookie expert Rose Levy Berenbaum, pastry chef Alice Medrich and bakery owners Matt Lewis and Renato Peliafito.
Much of the holidays are spent with family. Claire Bidwell Smith, author of the highly regarded memoir, The Rules of Inheritance, writes for us her memories of cooking along side her food stylist mother and how that has influenced who she is today.
In “5 Favorite Sweet Celebrations” Dannielle Kyrillos takes us on a sensational tasting trip with decadent desserts from Sin City’s Montesano’s Cream Cheese Cookies to San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys’s Chocolate Soufflé.
Just across the New Year’s line is January when many of us try to correct the holiday excess. It’s back to a simpler life. We cozy up during the short, dark days of winter looking for sunshine. In “Weather Permitting” we salute our Southern states for sending us their “citrus” sunshine.
Who’s Hungry?™ Let the holidays begin!
STEPHEN HAMILTON
Fall is a time for change. With the weather transforming all around me, the change I like best is cozying up and relaxing after a fun-filled summer. I also enjoy that it feels new each autumn when the kids go back to school and we change the way we cook and entertain.
Something new I’m particularly excited about is the addition of Dannielle Kyrillos to our Who’s Hungry? family. Dannielle, a Top Chef Just Desserts series judge and a regular on NBC’s “Today”, will be sharing some of her favorite finds in each issue. In this issue she provides us five comforting dishes by chefs such as Marcus Samuelsson and John Bess.
Change is a way of life at WH magazine. We’ve done things different from the start. We’re a publication that leads visually and beyond that there are no rules––we go the way the wind blows. We develop each issue by gathering around a big table and sharing our ideas. As the ideas fly, I am constantly thinking, how can I make this work visually?
In one of our discussions someone brought up fox hunting in Virginia and the traditional breakfast that follows. I instantly knew that “Tally Ho!” was a story I wanted to photograph. I traveled to Middleburg and enjoyed two hunts, gregarious people, great food––and not a single fox was harmed.
For a fresh approach on what to serve this Thanksgiving, in “In Season” we shake up tradition with game bird recipes from Melissa Clark and Laura Calder. And in “Weather Permitting” we offer some heart-warming ideas for meatless mains made with winter squash.
Now, “Who’s Hungry?™” for fall?
STEPHEN HAMILTON
I live and work by the philosophy that simple is better. My approach to photography is to keep my images clean, natural and uncomplicated. My philosophy for eating and cooking isn’t any different.
Take, for example, this issue’s cover shot. To me, the best burger is thick, cooked on a charcoal grill and adorned by simple additions: cheese, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and a swipe of mayonnaise. The purity of ingredients is why late summer is my favorite season.
Much of this simple abundance begins at one place–the farm. I’m excited to present a personal story from Ian Knauer, a former editor of Gourmet magazine and the author of a new cookbook, The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food. His witty and charming tale about rehabbing his family’s post-Civil War farmhouse kitchen pulls you right to your knees as he removes tar from the floor and then back up again as he describes his celebratory farm meal.
Fussy entertaining has no place in the summer kitchen. In “Simple Summer Sides,” I challenged our good friends and renowned chefs to share a side dish that they would serve at their family barbecue. Who would know better than Paula Deen, Elizabeth Karmel, Art Smith, and Emeril Lagasse how to use all the impeccable produce available at this time of year?
To preserve some of the bounty of the season, you’ll want to read “In Season.” Chefs and food preservation experts Hugh Acheson and Paul Virant pen their thoughts and recipes for canning some of that goodness for the winter months ahead.
Simply said, this is the perfect time of year to answer “Who’s Hungry?™”
STEPHEN HAMILTON
