Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl has some mom stories to share, (seems like we all do) and she spoke of them with love and care last month with Dr. Gail Saltz at the 92nd Street Y. The two had a candid conversation about Ruth’s relationship with her mother, about the changing role and perceptions of women over the years, and the role of food in Ruth’s life. She credits her mom being “taste blind” with playing a role in her own career path as a foodie. “When someone is feeding you food that is suspect all the time, you learn to taste really carefully.”

In an interesting exchange at the end of the talk, an audience member asked a question about supporting local food and agriculture in New York City. The issue is one we follow closely and support with our programming, whether organizing trips out to local farms or putting together a CSA program for our neighborhood.

“What’s happening in New York now is pretty extraordinary,” Ruth said. “You can eat locally all year round...It’s amazing to me just watching the growth of the farmer’s market movement. There are farmers markets in every neighborhood in New York City. It’s important to support them, and it’s important to just go into those farmers markets and make your menus from what you can find there, instead of going there with a recipe and trying to make that recipe fit into what’s here. It’s a different kind of cooking.”

For more information about local food in New York City, farmers markets, or the 80 CSA’s here in the city, visit this post by the New York Times City Room blog that features a Q&A with Jacquie Berger, the executive director of Just Food, a nonprofit organization that works to develop a just and sustainable food system in the New York City region.