Top Drawer: Fashion news and views

There’s something stylish about a homemade lunch: It’s healthy, it makes good use of groceries and reduces the dining-out budget (not to mention the number of takeout cartons). But carrying lunch in vintage Tupperware or a ratty shopping bag isn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing. Remember how much fun it was to carry your Dukes of Hazzard lunch box to school? These grownup food carriers make brown-bagging a tasty prospect all over again.

• Make every day a picnic. Ten Thousand Villages (10 College St., Asheville, 254-8374) offers a two-layer lidded basket, made of smoked rattan from Vietnam. $48.

• The kid-friendly (but good for adults, too) Crocodile Creek insulated lunch box comes in a variety of plant and animal motifs. It’s 100-percent PVC-free. Find it at Enviro Depot (58 College St., Asheville, 252-9007). $15.99.

• Similar to the stacked tiffin boxes used throughout India, To-Go Ware’s sleek stainless-steel food carrier has two tiers and can be heated on the stovetop. Nest Organics (51 N. Lexington Ave., Asheville, 258-1901) sells the lunch boxes ($21.95) along with bamboo utensil sets and cotton sling bags to hold everything ($61.95 for the set). The shop also stocks bamboo picnic items.

• Retro-inspired designs abound at Mast General Store (15 Biltmore Ave. Asheville, 232-1883). The Tin Box Company makes upright metal lunch boxes like this Holly Hobby version. $4.99.

Try this on

It’s witchcraft … make that Which?Craft, a creative independent craft fair cosponsored by Harvest Records (415 Haywood Road, West Asheville) and local craft entity Mystery Hand. The Saturday, May 17, event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will be held rain or shine, indoors and outside the Harvest Records store. Harvest also plans to open its bargain basement with thousands of CDs and records for $1 or less, and The Admiral will crank up the grill. Info: 258-2999 or whichcraftasheville@gmail.com.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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