This segment is titled: Embracing the Crescent Moon: The Magic of Ramadan

Ramadan is one of the most profound and beautiful months in the Islamic calendar—a time when over two billion Muslims around the world come together to fast, pray, reflect, and build community. Far more than simply not eating or drinking from dawn to sunset, Ramadan is a spiritual reset button: a month-long journey of self-discipline, gratitude, empathy, and drawing closer to God. It’s a celebration of faith that transforms ordinary days into moments of deep meaning and shared joy.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and one of the Five Pillars of Islam. For 29 or 30 days—depending on the sighting of the new crescent moon—adult Muslims who are physically able fast from just before sunrise (the pre-dawn meal called suhoor) until sunset (the meal that breaks the fast, called iftar). The fast includes abstaining from food, drink, smoking, and intimate relations, but it also means guarding against anger, gossip, dishonesty, and negative thoughts.

The goal is spiritual purification, increased devotion, and a heightened sense of compassion for those who go hungry every day. The day often begins with the quiet alarm of the pre-dawn call to prayer, followed by suhoor—a light but sustaining meal to carry people through the hours ahead. Throughout the day, many increase their prayers, read the Quran, give charity, and practice patience.

At sunset, the fast is broken—usually with dates and water in remembrance of the Prophet Muhammad’s practice—followed by a larger iftar meal shared with family and friends. Special nightly prayers called taraweeh fill mosques with beautiful recitations, and the month reaches its emotional peak during Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power), believed to be the night the Quran was first revealed.

The month ends with Eid al-Fitr, a joyous three-day festival of feasting, new clothes, gift-giving, and gratitude for the strength to complete the fast.

Ramadan's roots reach back to 610 CE in the deserts of Mecca, when the Prophet Muhammad received the first verses of the Quran from the angel Gabriel during a period of intense spiritual retreat in the Cave of Hira. That night—later called Laylat al-Qadr—marked the beginning of Islam's revelation.

Fasting itself became obligatory about a decade later, after the Muslim community had migrated to Medina. The practice built on earlier traditions of fasting found among Jews and Christians in Arabia, but Islam gave it a distinctive form and purpose: a month-long act of worship open to the entire community, rich and poor alike. The name "Ramadan" comes from the Arabic root meaning “scorching heat” or "intense burning,” symbolizing both the blazing desert sun and the way fasting burns away impurities from the soul.

Over the centuries, as Islam spread across continents, Ramadan absorbed beautiful local customs while retaining its core rituals. From the grand iftar banquets of the Ottoman palaces to the quiet devotion of early African American Muslims who fasted in secret, the month has always been a unifying force. Ramadan turns neighborhoods into living tapestries of light, sound, and generosity. Streets fill with lanterns, fairy lights, and colorful decorations. In many countries, people exchange special greetings—“Ramadan Mubarak” (Blessed Ramadan) or “Ramadan Kareem” (Generous Ramadan)—and share food with neighbors, even those who are not fasting.

Mosques become community hubs, bustling late into the night with taraweeh prayers that feel like spiritual concerts. Charity surges: food drives, donations, and zakat al-fitr (a mandatory giving before Eid to ensure the poor can celebrate too). Families gather every evening for iftar, turning meals into moments of laughter, storytelling, and reconnection.

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This segment is titled "How to Make Spanakopita." A Love Letter to Greece's Flakiest Pie

Close your eyes and imagine this: you're sitting at a tiny marble table in a narrow Plaka alleyway. The sun is warming the back of your neck, a cat is napping lazily at your feet, and someone across the street is playing a bouzouki. Then, the waiter places a plate in front of you. It’s golden. It’s shattering into a thousand buttery leaves as you look at it. Steam rises from a blanket of spinach and feta, carrying the scent of fresh dill.

That, my friends, is spanakopita. And I am about to show you how to capture that exact moment in your own kitchen.

Spanakopita literally translates to "spinach pie," but that’s like calling the Mona Lisa a painting of a woman. It is the iconic pie of Greece, a dish that bridges the ancient and the modern.

Long before phyllo existed, the Greeks were making "pites"—rustic pies filled with wild greens foraged from the hillsides. They called these greens chorta, and they have been a staple of the Greek diet for thousands of years. It was peasant food, yes, but it was also genius: a way to take the earth’s free bounty and turn it into a hearty meal.

The game-changer came later, during the years of the Ottoman Empire, when the art of stretching dough until it was as thin as a "leaf" (phyllo in Greek) was perfected. When that tissue-thin dough met the ancient filling of greens and cheese, spanakopita as we know it was born. It became the food of celebration, of fasting during Lent (using olive oil instead of butter), and of every family gathering where Yiayia would roll up her sleeves and work her magic.

Every Greek grandmother has a secret. Some add a splash of sparkling water to the filling to keep it light. Others swear by a tiny grating of nutmeg—just a whisper—because nutmeg has a bizarre and wonderful ability to make spinach taste more like itself . And then there is the ultimate debate: butter or olive oil for the phyllo? Butter gives you that rich, diner-diner golden crisp. Olive oil gives you a more rustic, savory, and traditional "Lenten" version.

But the one rule everyone agrees on? Squeeze your spinach. If you don't wring every drop of water out of the cooked greens, you will end up with a soggy bottom, and in the world of pie, that is the only unforgivable sin. Here is a tested recipe for you to attempt in the privacy of your kitchen.

Alright, enough talk. Let's cook. We are going to make a big, glorious, pan-sized spanakopita that feeds a crowd and makes you look like a hero. Don't be scared of the phyllo. It’s easier to tame than you think.

Part 1: The Green Gold (The Filling)

We start with the heart of the dish. Grab your largest skillet and set it over medium heat. Glug in about ¼ cup of good olive oil. Toss in one large chopped onion and let it sweat until it’s soft and see-through.

Now, the main event. You need two pounds of fresh spinach. Wash it well—spinach is sandy, and nobody wants a gritty pie. Pile it into the pan. It will look like an impossible mountain. Don't panic. Grab your tongs and start turning it. Within minutes, that mountain will collapse into a vibrant, dark green valley of goodness.

Here is where you have to be ruthless. Dump the spinach into a colander and press down with a spoon. Press hard. Let it sit and cool while you prepare the rest. The liquid you discard is the only thing standing between you and crispy phyllo glory.

In a big bowl, crumble 8 ounces of feta cheese. Use the good stuff—the briny, creamy blocks from Greece. Crack 2 eggs, chop a big handful of fresh dill and parsley, and add a pinch of nutmeg (if you're feeling like a Yiayia). Now, grab that cooled spinach, squeeze it again (yes, again), roughly chop it, and throw it into the bowl. Mix it all up. Taste it. Add a crack of black pepper, but be careful with salt—feta is salty enough.

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Milanese culinary history reflects the city's position as a prosperous crossroads in northern Italy, where fertile Po Valley agriculture met centuries of foreign rule, trade, and innovation. Rooted in Lombardy's rich plains, lakes, and alpine foothills, the cuisine emphasizes hearty, comforting ingredients like rice (introduced via ancient trade routes and cultivated extensively since Roman times), butter over olive oil, beef and veal from abundant cattle farming, dairy products, and slow-cooked preparations suited to cooler climates. From Celtic and Roman foundations—where Gauls and Insubrians coexisted with settlers who brought lamb and irrigation techniques—Milanese food evolved through medieval communes, Renaissance courts under the Visconti and Sforza families, and foreign dominations that layered influences: Spanish Habsburg rule from 1535 introduced spices and techniques, Austrian control in the 18th-19th centuries sparked debates over dishes like cotoletta, and broader European exchanges refined aristocratic tastes.

Iconic dishes emerged from this blend of peasant practicality and bourgeois elegance. The cotoletta alla milanese—a breaded and fried veal cutlet—has ancient origins, documented as early as 1134 in records from Sant'Ambrogio Basilica listing "lombolos cum panitio" (breaded loins) served to canons. A 19th-century patriotic dispute with Austrians claiming it derived from Wiener schnitzel was settled when Marshal Radetzky, in a letter, confirmed that no such dish existed in Austria, affirming its Milanese primacy. Risotto alla milanese, the golden saffron-infused rice, carries a beloved legend from 1574: during the construction of Milan's Duomo, a Flemish glassmaker's assistant nicknamed "Zafferano" (saffron) for using the spice to tint stained glass was pranked by colleagues who added it to wedding rice as a joke—the vibrant, flavorful result became a sensation. While the tale persists, the first printed recipes appear in the early 1800s, such as in Giovanni Felice Luraschi's 1829 cookbook, solidifying its status as a refined staple often enriched with bone marrow and served as a luxurious side.

Ossobuco alla milanese ("bone with a hole"), braised cross-cut veal shanks prized for their marrow, dates to the late 19th century as a winter comfort food from humble kitchens, though marrow-based braises echo medieval traditions. Traditionally paired with risotto alla milanese for a complete piatto unico (one-dish meal), it embodies rustic depth with the bright contrast of gremolata. Other hallmarks include panettone, the dome-shaped Christmas sweet bread with origins in the 15th century (legend ties it to a 15th-century baker's improvisation), cassoeula (a pork and cabbage stew), minestrone alla milanese, and mondeghili (Milanese meatballs repurposing leftovers). Butter, rice over pasta, and long-simmered stews distinguish it from southern Italian olive oil and tomato-driven fare. At the same time, influences from the Austrian (breaded meats), Spanish (saffron via trade), and French (refined techniques) periods elevated it beyond peasant roots.

Milan's cuisine balances simplicity and sophistication, shaped by its role as a commercial hub and fashion/finance capital—today's trattorias preserve these traditions amid global influences, making dishes like risotto and ossobuco timeless emblems of Milanese identity.

Chef Walter writes the content for this episode

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The Hidden Dose, a special episode of Flavors and Knowledge

Picture this: It's a chilly February afternoon in Providence, Rhode Island, and you're wheeling your cart down the bright aisles of your local grocery store. The meat section stretches out ahead—rows of chicken breasts, ground beef, pork chops, all wrapped neatly and labeled with promises of freshness.

But as your hand hovers over that familiar package, a question nags at you: What's really in this? Beyond the visible cuts, there's an invisible legacy: antibiotics fed to these animals throughout their lives. You're not alone in wondering. Millions of us are asking the same thing: How does routine antibiotic use in livestock impact our health, the environment, and the terrifying rise of superbugs?

Let's pull back the curtain on what's happening in farms, stores, and restaurants across the U.S.—and give you the facts to shop and eat smarter.

It all begins on the farm. Most of America's meat, poultry, and dairy comes from large-scale industrial operations.

For decades, antibiotics—many of the very same ones doctors prescribe to us—have been routine here. Not just to treat sick animals, but mixed into feed or water to prevent disease in those crowded conditions, and even to make animals grow faster. The downside? It supercharges antibiotic resistance. Bacteria evolve, survive drug treatment, and suddenly infections in people become much harder—or even impossible—to treat.

The CDC estimates that at least 2.8 million Americans deal with antibiotic-resistant infections each year, leading to over 35,000 deaths. A huge chunk of that resistance links back to overuse in agriculture, which still accounts for roughly 70% of medically important antibiotics sold in the U.S.

Things are shifting, but not always in the right direction. Recent numbers are concerning: In 2024, sales of these important antibiotics for livestock jumped 16%—the biggest yearly spike since tracking began in 2011. Total sales hit nearly 7.1 million kilograms. Swine accounted for 43%, cattle for 41%, turkeys for 11%, and chickens for only 4%. That's progress in poultry, but the overall rise points to disease outbreaks, bigger herds, and continued preventive use.

Globally, experts project livestock antibiotic use could climb another 30% by 2040 if nothing changes. And this isn't just a farm problem—it's a human health crisis.

Regulations have stepped in. Since 2017, the FDA has banned antibiotics used solely for growth promotion and requires vet oversight for medically important antibiotics. USDA testing ensures no antibiotic residues remain in the meat or milk you buy. But that doesn't stop routine use earlier in the animal's life, where resistance builds.

Some states like California go further, limiting preventive use and making grocery chains report on suppliers. Nationally, though, usage intensity is still nearly double Europe's.

Now, let's bring it home to the grocery store. Chains like Walmart, Costco, and Kroger carry both conventional and antibiotic-free options. Hunt for labels like "Raised Without Antibiotics" or "No Antibiotics Ever"—these mean no antibiotics were used (with rare exceptions, such as day-old chicks in some poultry cases). Some states, like California, go further, limiting preventive use and making grocery chains report on suppliers.

USDA Organic takes it higher: It prohibits almost all antibiotics, requires third-party audits, ensures better welfare, and prohibits synthetic pesticides. Brands like Applegate, Coleman Natural, and Perdue make these easy to find. Demand is growing—antibiotic-free meat sales surged years ago, and organic sales continue to trend up. New 2026 certifications add trustworthy third-party audits to fight greenwashing.

But watch out: Phrases like "No Growth-Promoting Antibiotics" can still allow preventive doses, so they don't fully tackle resistance.

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With its tender spears and delicate flavor, asparagus is a quintessential ingredient that marks the arrival of spring. Home cooks and chefs love its versatility and nutritional benefits. However, to truly elevate this vegetable to its full potential, one must understand the nuances of its care, cooking methods, and potential pitfalls.

In this brief yet comprehensive guide, we'll explore best practices for handling and cooking asparagus, as well as creative ideas to inspire your culinary endeavors.

Let's start with Shopping for asparagus:

When buying asparagus, there are several key factors to consider to ensure you select the freshest and highest quality spears:

Color: Look for bright green spears with minimal browning or discoloration. The tips should always be tightly closed and compact, without any signs of wilting or drying out. Choose asparagus with firm, smooth stalks. Avoid spears that feel limp, rubbery, or mushy, as these are likely past their prime and will lack the desired texture when cooked. Asparagus spears come in varying thicknesses, ranging from thin to thick. While thin and thick spears can be delicious, thinner spears tend to be more tender and cook quickly, while thicker spears have a more robust flavor and slightly longer cooking time. Select based on your preference and intended use. Look for bundles of asparagus that are relatively uniform in size and shape. This ensures even cooking and presentation when preparing dishes that require uniformity, such as salads or stir-fries. It is crucial to verify that the asparagus tips are firmly closed and compact. Avoid spears with open or flowering tips, as this may indicate that the asparagus is past its prime and starting to deteriorate.

Finally, trust your senses. Fresh asparagus should have a clean, grassy aroma. If the spears have a strong or unpleasant odor, it's a sign that they are no longer fresh and may have started to spoil.

Caring for Asparagus: When selecting asparagus, look for firm, bright green stalks with tightly closed tips. Avoid any spears that appear wilted or have signs of shriveling. To maintain freshness, trim the woody ends of the asparagus and place them upright in a jar or glass with about an inch of water. Taking the proper steps to keep your asparagus fresh and crisp is essential. Before storing trimmed asparagus tips in the refrigerator, cover them with a damp paper towel. This ensures the asparagus stays moist and doesn't dry out, preventing mold. Rinse the asparagus in cold water to remove dirt or debris before cooking. Trim the tough ends by snapping them off or cutting them where they naturally bend and become tender.

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This segment is titled "Dinner: stressful decisions." Our suggestions: How to manage work stress and family meals without losing your mind.

The content for this episode is written by Chef Walter

Let's face it, friends:

Being an adult can be challenging. With deadlines, meetings, and the constant mystery of why your printer never works, cooking a gourmet meal is often the last thing on your mind. When you finally get home, cooking feels like climbing a mountain in sandals. So, again, you reach for the pizza menu, frozen lasagna, or cereal for dinner.

Stress doesn’t just mess with your mood but also your appetite. When you’re overwhelmed, it’s easy to end up craving comfort food—think greasy, salty, and super quick to make. It happens in every household, including mine. But there is an easy catch!

These quick fixes might feel good, but they can wipe you out afterward. So, how do you break that cycle? How do you serve your family nutritious meals without going crazy? Don’t worry.

Here are some practical tips to help you tackle dinner chaos. I hope they will be helpful to you as they have for us.

1. Simplify Meal Planning. Meal planning doesn't have to be complicated. Spend 10 minutes on Sunday jotting down dinner ideas for the week. Consider pasta on Monday, stir-fried on Tuesday, and leftovers on Wednesday. This approach prevents the nightly "What's for dinner?" panic.

2. If you don’t have a slow cooker, consider getting one. It acts like a personal chef. Add chicken, veggies, and broth in the morning, and a hearty stew awaits by evening. Coming home to a ready meal is incredibly comforting.

3. Keep Meals Simple. Dinner doesn't need to be perfect. If you prepare scrambled eggs and toast, you’ve created a balanced meal. Protein? Check. Carbs? Check. Add some baby carrots for a vegetable. The aim is to nourish your family, not win cooking awards.

4. Embrace batch cooking. Weekends can be your ally. Spend a couple of hours prepping: chop veggies, cook rice or quinoa, and grill chicken or tofu. A store-in-mise-en-place (everything) in the fridge makes weekday dinners quick to assemble, hassle-free, and fun.

5. Pre-washed salad greens, pre-cut veggies, and rotisserie chickens are practical choices. Taking shortcuts is fine. A healthy frozen meal or the grocery store salad bar can be helpful in a pinch. You're being efficient, not lazy. Remember, the solution is temporary.

6. Involve your family and share the responsibility! Get your kids or partner involved in cooking. It might take longer and get messy, but it's a great bonding activity. Plus, kids are more likely to eat what they helped prepare.

7. Accept Imperfection Sometimes, dinner won’t go as planned. The pasta might be overcooked, the sauce too salty, and someone will complain. Laugh it off, order takeout, and try again tomorrow. Food matters, but so does your sanity.

8. Balance Nutrition Over Time: You don’t need to include every food group at every meal. If breakfast was a banana and lunch was a lackluster salad, it’s okay if dinner is more indulgent.

Consider cooking for others' palates, NOT your own. Do not impose your taste level on others, which may be very different and uneven. Cook balanced, which means “accepted by everyone.” Some people use more salt when cooking because they like it, but balance is key!

Balance occurs over time. If your family eats veggies a few times a week and pizza once, you're doing well. Feeding your family is about love, not perfection. Embrace the chaos, and remember: even if dinner is just cereal, you’re together. That’s what truly counts.

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This segment is titled: The problem with the word "Best"

Often, participants in my cooking school ask me about my favorite restaurant in Rhode Island or want to know which place I think is the best. I hesitate to provide a straightforward answer, as I firmly believe that culinary preferences and dining experiences are inherently subjective.

Let me tell you a story about taste - that most personal yet most hotly debated of human experiences. Picture this: you're sitting across from a friend at that hot new restaurant everyone's raving about, the one the local food critic crowned "the absolute best Italian in the city." Your fork twists through handmade pasta while your friend takes their first bite of the same dish. Here's the strange truth - you're not tasting the same thing. Not really. While you savor what might be the most perfect al dente texture you've ever experienced, your dining companion, through no fault of their own or the chef's, might be having a completely different sensory encounter. This isn't just about differing opinions; it's about the very biology that makes us human.

The illusion of objective taste begins to unravel when we peer into the science of our senses. That cilantro garnish dividing the table between lovers and haters? Blame a tiny genetic variation. How can your partner detect subtle floral notes in wine while you taste "red"? Thank your unique combination of taste receptors and saliva enzymes. Even professional tasters with trained palates experience this - their expertise lies not in some universal truth, but in recognizing how their particular physiology interprets flavors. Yet our food culture remains stubbornly attached to absolutes, to definitive rankings and undisputed champions.

We've created entire industries around declaring "bests" and "worsts" in a realm where such judgments are biologically impossible to standardize.

Consider the curious case of the food critic - that mysterious figure whose pronouncements can make or break restaurants. How did we decide that someone who's never reduced a sauce until their arms ached, never balanced flavors while tickets piled up, never felt the burn of a busy kitchen's heat, gets to be the ultimate arbiter of culinary worth? There's something fundamentally unbalanced about a system where chefs spend decades mastering their craft only to be judged by those who've mastered little more than the art of the takedown review. The rise of social media has only amplified this paradox, turning every enthusiastic eater with a smartphone into a self-appointed expert.

We've confused consumption with understanding, as if eating at enough trendy spots somehow equates to culinary wisdom.

But here's the beautiful truth buried beneath all this posturing: your taste is yours alone. Not the critic's, not the influencer's, not even that friend who insists they have "refined" preferences. Authentic food culture isn't about chasing someone else's idea of perfection - it's about the joy of discovering what sings to your unique palate. Maybe that means loving the neighborhood diner's burger more than the celebrated gastropub's dry-aged version. Perhaps it involves preferring simple, honest cooking over elaborate tasting menus.

The most meaningful meals aren't those deemed "the best" by some external standard, but those that resonate with your personal history, your memories, your physiology. The taste of your grandmother's apple pie, the aroma of your favorite childhood dish-these are the flavors that genuinely matter. So the next time you encounter another breathless declaration of culinary supremacy, smile knowingly.

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This segment is titled: Fueling Olympians with a Mountain of Pasta, and The Delicious Chaos of Eating Like an Olympian in Italy.

While here in Rhode Island we are buried under a pile of senseless snow, picture yourself walking into the Olympic Village in Milan or breathing in the fresh mountain air of Corteena d'Ampezzo during the Milano Corteena 2026 Winter Games. After a tough training session, you're drawn to the dining hall, ready for a meal packed with carbs, protein, and plenty of Italian flavor. Unlike previous Olympic events like Sochi or PyeongChang, where food blandness left much to be desired, here the menu is so tasty that athletes are sharing pizza reviews on social media, acting like Michelin inspectors. I am writing this piece as I have cooked at four Winter Olympics myself, starting with Salt Lake City in 2002, and can tell you firsthand what really goes on in those hall kitchens. I vividly remember one busy evening in Salt Lake City when the Canadian ski team stood, eagerly facing a mountain of pappardelle pasta. With the power out due to a snowstorm, we hurriedly improvised under emergency lights, turning the situation into a spontaneous culinary adventure. The athletes gathered around, laughing and joking, as we created a makeshift assembly line, cutting pasta with whatever tools were on hand. It was a moment of delicious chaos, blending the thrill of the games with the camaraderie that emerges over a shared plate of flour and eggs. Those are the moments that make cooking at the Olympics unforgettable.

Imagine something like up to 4,500 meals whipped up daily in the Milan hub alone, nearly 4,000 in Corteena, and another 2,300 in Predazzo. That's a mountain of pasta, with around 600 kilograms dished out each day. To put that into perspective, it's enough to fuel approximately 1,200 downhill runs, underscoring the athletes' immense calorie needs. Athletes swarm the carb stations like kids at a candy store, loading plates with spaghetti, gnocchi, fettuccine, and lasagna. One American freestyler declared she's had "the best pasta I've ever had here," while others admit to smashing entire pizzas post-practice. South African cross-country skier Matt Smith is on a mission, rating a quattro formaggi pizza an impressive 8.5/10 (lasagna got a polite "good"), and even scored a custom South African flag pizza topped with herbs and cured meats. Talk about personalized fueling! And for a sprinkle of quirky trivia, the most popular midnight snack among athletes is a surprising choice: Nutella-stuffed croissants, while the oddest request, hands down, was for spaghetti covered in chocolate sauce, proving their adventurous and unusual taste buds.

The Canadian women's hockey team can't get enough focaccia, and sometimes bread is more popular than pasta. Their plates are loaded with pasta in meat sauce, fresh mozzarella, burrata, Parmigiano, and grilled proteins like chicken, turkey, veal, beef, salmon, or white fish. There are also vegetables and fruit for balance, and one player joked, "They're coming, OK?" But when you're burning thousands of calories on the ice or in the snow, a little extra cheese is just part of the deal. That extra cheese provides quick glycogen replenishment and boosts calcium intake for bone health. This indulgence aligns with a periodized nutrition strategy, where cycles of load, perform, and recover are carefully planned to ensure optimal performance over time.

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