Jenn Hall

Spoonful: When We Gather – Holding Syria Close in Philadelphia – 2018 AFJ Award, Best Food Column

May 13, 2017 by jennhallwrites

When Hanaa Al Atmah gathered her four children and walked to the Jordanian border from Daraa, their home city in southwestern Syria where the conflict began, her youngest son Alaa was just an infant. That was back in 2012. By then, war had been raging for some time, eventually finding its way to the family’s doorstep. As for so many, life in Syria had grown too dangerous. There was no choice but to go. Hanaa’s husband Luai fled first, having been […]

Categories: food, when we gather • Tags: refugee experience, when we gather

Gannett / Courier-Post: Lawnside’s Free Haven Farms Cultivates Knowledge

September 27, 2018 by jennhallwrites

It is common to measure a farm’s success by way of numbers. One speaks to the pounds of collards and sun-ripened tomatoes that rise from the soil. One calculates how many people gain access to fresh, local food. Yet the truest measure of impact may be found in the vision cultivated in the next generation. To speak to the children of farmers Micaiah and Dr. Cynthia Hall is to see this principle in action. Wise for a field crew that ranges […]

Categories: food, sustainability

Edible Jersey: Day in the Life of a Bayman

September 12, 2018 by jennhallwrites

You know you’re in the presence of a bayman by the way he guns his boat through a channel. That would be with confident speed, moderately alarming to a passenger in a landlocked trade. It’s hard to imagine how many times George Mathis has woven through the serpentine curves from Landing Crick out toward his aquaculture leases in Dry Bay, near Galloway in the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge. Thousands? Tens of thousands? Cutting the engine, Mathis pops one of […]

Categories: food, sustainability

Edible Jersey: Writing the Clam’s Next Chapter

September 12, 2018 by jennhallwrites

“Mother Nature, she’s the boss.” Billy Mayer looks at the bay, his eyes taking on the deep blue hue of the waters where Obes Thorofare and Steelmans Bay meet. “You have to look at the moons. You have to look at the tides. All that knowledge? Nobody is going to teach you that. You can’t describe that. It’s just something that you pick up over time.” Mayer speaks to a primal truth with the poetry of a man who has […]

Categories: food, sustainability

Edible Jersey: Special Report – Clams

September 12, 2018 by jennhallwrites

Aquaculture is the wave of the future for NJ’s iconic bivalve. We explore the bay in this eight-part series, with additional recipes and how-to’s from Chef Emily Peterson. Writing the Clam’s Next Chapter A Day in the Life of a Bayman New Jersey Clams: Boom and Bust . . . and Boom? New Jersey Clams: Here’s What You Can Do Where to Savor Jersey Clams Hard Clam Aquaculture 101 New Jersey Clamming Memories A Tale of Two States: Hard Clam […]

Categories: food, sustainability

Edible Jersey: Surf. Sip. Repeat.

September 12, 2018 by jennhallwrites

September is officially the sweetest season at the beach. Those lucky enough to live there year-round call it Locals Summer; the magical time when long work hours subside, weekly renters pack up and the beach is reserved for the hometown team. With the launch of the LBI Surf & Sip Brew Trail, intrepid visitors have a new way to engage with the brewers, surfers and creatives who are bringing fresh energy to a classic destination— and now is the ideal […]

Categories: drink, travel

Gannett / Courier-Post: Zeppoli’s Sicilian Barbecues: An Italian summer tradition in Collingswood

August 22, 2018 by jennhallwrites

In Sicily, come summertime, the most memorable meals are taken al fresco amid fields and groves that offer up their bounty. By day, an aggressive sun presses down and nourishes the crops, white hot until dusk’s reprieve. The slender leaves that adorn olive branches frame a tumble of mountains in the distance. Viewed from afar, the landscape is all green earth and blue sky and the rugged geometry that defines this Italian island. Look closer, however, and the season’s jewel […]

Categories: food

Time Out: The 15 Best Things to do in Maryland

August 13, 2018 by jennhallwrites

Maryland reveals its gems in a state of high contrast, from the otherworldly expanses of the Eastern Shore and its multi-generational watermen’s culture to the indie charms of Baltimore where the patron saint is John Waters. In a single day, you can watch the sun rising over the Atlantic, ogle art in the city and commune with nature in shouting distance of Northern Virginia’s grapevines. But why go so fast when there’s so much to savor? Maryland rewards those who […]

Categories: travel

Time Out: The 15 Best Things to do in Delaware

August 13, 2018 by jennhallwrites

Compact though it may be, Delaware is home to craft breweries, natural sites that feel far away from anywhere and a host of museums and estates. All you need to do is leave the highway, and the magic unfolds. Whether you keep it low-key, toes firmly planted in the sand, or glam up and head to the opera, you’ll feel like you’ve been let in on a secret. Venture out and feel sorry for those folks who never veer off […]

Categories: travel

Edible Jersey: This Doughnut is a Peach

July 18, 2018 by jennhallwrites

If you’ve been on social media of late, you know that doughnuts are having a spotlight moment. Come July, however, one’s attention is best rewarded by a sweet treat of another stripe: a Jersey-grown doughnut peach. These luscious fruits hit farm stands once a year, in high summer. Though grown in the US since the early ’90s, they remain rare. Less than 1 percent of the state’s 66-million-pound annual peach crop are doughnuts, according to the New Jersey Peach Promotional Council. […]

Categories: food

Inside Jersey: The Secret Life of Postcards

July 18, 2018 by jennhallwrites

Travelers have always aspired to proclaim: “I was here.” And at the threshold of the 20th century, the hot new craze — the postcard — was the Instagram of its day. For the price of a penny stamp, postcards allowed travelers to share their experiences with folks back home. The images helped people articulate their place in the world. By 1908, more than 667 million postcards were mailed in the United States alone… Read more… Published in the July / August 2018 […]

Categories: travel

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