Jessica Soffer explores the connections between food, writing, culture in her first novel, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots. Jessica joins Cathy Erway for this week's Eat Your Words to talk about her Iraqi Jew heritage, and how the food culture of her people is underrepresented in New York City, and the world. Learn more about the novel, and the trend of books that includes evocative plots involving food and heritage. Have you ever had masgouf? Learn about the traditional Iraqi dish that includes butterflying and grilling a white fish vertically. What other novelists does Jessica admire? Find out all of this and more on this week's installment of Eat Your Words! This program has been sponsored by Fairway Market. Thanks to The California Honeydrops for today's music.

"I think there's an explicit connection: getting affirmation from cooking and writing." [6:30]

"Masgouf is the national dish of Iraq, which is interesting because it's so different from what it once was." [17:50]

-- Jessica Soffer on Eat Your Words

Peter Hoffman, chef of Back Forty and Back Forty West, is known for his commitment to local food. In this HRN Community Session, Peter explains why eating local isn't alway the best choice. Nathaniel Coburn calls Peter to talk about how the Greenmarket inspired his love for local, seasonal food. How did the idea of 'local' become a joke among restaurant goers? Hear why Peter supports sustainable fisheries no matter their location, and why he sources his seafood from places as far away as Norway. How do farmed fish compare to those that were caught in the wild? Hear why Peter hopes that sourcing fish from distant locations will make consumers more aware of seasonality and overfishing. Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch, and thanks to Obey City for today's music.

"In different ways we can look at the overall impact that we're having, and 'local' might not be the best choice in terms of seafood." [10:00]

-- Peter Hoffman, Chef - Back Forty and Back Forty West

Shelterbelt Farm is owned and managed by Craig and Erica and their young children Rowan and Phoenix. Started as a homestead in 2005, 2010 was their first year of operation as an official farm. The farm is located in the scenic rolling hills of Caroline, NY, in the Finger Lakes region just southeast of Ithaca. It is home to three generations of Modishers, and pigs, chickens, turkeys, bees, and geese. Next year Craig and Erica will add 100% grass-fed cattle and goats, and eventually produce greens through the winter in unheated hoophouses.

Craig and Erica are passionate about regenerating the health of the land and their customers, by managing animals in a way that builds soil and plant diversity, provides a low-stress, happy life for the livestock, and produces nourishing pasture-raised meats. All-natural production practices, superior taste and quality, and good environmental stewardship go hand-in-hand.

Craig also runs Ironwood Builders with his business partners, and Erica works at the Cornell Small Farms Program as the co-manager of the Northeast Beginning Farmer Project. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

"When you're homesteading you don't have to worry about enterprise budgets, profits, efficiency or scale. These are some of the issues we've been dealing with since we began commercial farming." [6:32] -- Erica Frenay on Greenhorn Radio