Asheville Independent Restaurant Association hire Kim Murray, co-owner of Creekside Taphouse, as its new executive director. Plus: Asheville Tea Co. offers Dry January recipes; MANNA FoodBank announces new chief executive officer; and plenty more!
What’s new in food: Faux Lox Foods launches in Asheville
Vegans and vegetarians craving a lox bagel now have options thanks to Faux Lox Foods. Also: television personality Samantha Brown visits Asheville; Metro Wines hosts its latest tasting; and more!
What’s new in food: Molly Nicholie discusses her new leadership role with ASAP
ASAP prepares for its new executive director. Also: Mother Earth Food expands its mission with recent grant; Chow Chow announces 2022 dates; and more!
Year in Review: Asheville chefs and restaurateurs reflect on another unusual year
What was 2021 like for local chefs and food entrepreneurs? Xpress caught up with a few to get their take on another challenging year.
Q&A: Charlie Jackson, founder of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
At many grocery stores in the area, consumers can find at least some local produce, meat or dairy products. Plenty of restaurants tout local ingredients on their menus and farmers markets are ubiquitous here. But it wasn’t always that way. “It’s hard to remember what it was like 20 years ago, but there was not […]
Volunteers operate Code Purple emergency shelter for six nights
For more than half of nights in November, the Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Coalition called Code Purple: an emergency protocol, triggered when temperatures drop below freezing, to increase space in homeless shelters beyond normal capacity. But for all of those nights, people sleeping on Asheville’s streets had no officially designated place to go. The two Code Purple […]
What’s new in food: Holeman and Finch Public House opens on Biltmore
When chef Linton Hopkins opened H&F Burger on Biltmore Avenue in December 2019, it was in part a reference to the cheeseburger made famous as a late-night-only special at Holeman and Finch Public House, which he and his wife, Gina Hopkins, opened in Atlanta in 2008. While the burger may have been the calling card to […]
What’s new in food: Cultura continues Cultivated Community Dinner Series
Contemplating the mostly unused space that was and eventually will again be home to Cultura restaurant on Coxe Avenue, chef Eric Morris envisioned monthly collaborative pop-ups with local chefs, particularly those cooking from personal cultural traditions. “I wanted to get more perspective on what other people are cooking, give chefs without their own brick-and-mortar some […]
Flooding destroyed crops, but support of community grew resolve
In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fred, Gaining Ground Farm lost 85% of what was in the ground and about 30% of its gross revenue for the season. Despite the heavy hit, the farm bounced back thanks to the support from locally owned restaurants.
What’s new in food: Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian sets to open in South Asheville
Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian recently opened its second location. Also: Harvest Pizzeria eyes opening on South Slope, Chow Chow 2021 winds down and more!
What’s new in food: Benne on Eagle welcomes new chef
Benne on Eagle hires a new chef, We Give a Share welcomes an executive director, the Getaway fries fish on the river and more local food news.
Green in brief: Cherokee establish framework for medical marijuana cultivation
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council passed an ordinance on Aug. 5 allowing production and use of the crop, which the body had previously voted to decriminalize on May 6.
What’s new in food: Noble Cider reimagines its downtown location
Noble Cider reinvents its downtown presence, plus ASAP’s Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program expands, a new tailgate market emerges in Leicester, Sunflower Diner shutters and more local food news.
What’s new in food: New coffee delivery service launches in Asheville
Day ToDaily delivers hot and cold beverages to downtown coffee enthusiasts. Also: Baba Nahm and Bear’s Smokehouse join forces, a local chef is featured on a National Geographic cooking series and more local food news.
Local projects target carbon through agriculture
“What is emerging is the idea that we’re now able to quantify what’s happening,” says Jennifer Harrison, agriculture and land resource director for Buncombe County, about the ability of farmers to combat climate change through practices like cover cropping and rotational grazing.
What’s new in food: Green acres, green students and a Baby Bull on the loose
The city of Asheville has farmland available in East Asheville for local growers, plus Growing Minds revamps its website, Baby Bull opens in the old Broth Lab space, Well-Bred Bakery heads downtown and more local food news.
Transformative donation will fund new MANNA FoodBank facility
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $9 million to MANNA FoodBank, the biggest gift in the nonprofit’s history. It comes not a moment too soon, as the organization faces a sudden rise in food insecurity and a facility pushed to its limits.
Virtual fundraiser and new partnerships keep nonprofits moving forward
Virtual fundraiser and new partnerships keep nonprofits moving forward, brewery taprooms are reopening and more local food news.
More vegan dining options are sprouting up in Asheville
Chefs and restaurant owners whose menus support plant-based choices have witnessed a steady increase in interest and responded in kind.
Pandemic popularity of CSA memberships holds steady in 2021
As the world returns some sense of normalcy, the desire for the reliability and convenience of a CSA is holding fairly steady, and Western North Carolina growers have refined systems and made adjustments accordingly.
BrightFarms grows hydroponic greens in new Henderson County greenhouse
The 280,000-square-foot structure will produce over 2 million pounds of leafy salad greens a year to be shipped daily to local retailers.