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Recipes Are Just Part Of The Story Or Pearl Lagoon

Miss Cristel Jackson rolls out bread for johnny cakes

Vicki Basman first traveled to the Pearl Lagoon basin of Nicaragua eight years ago to teach sustainable tourism workshops to the people living in that isolated part of the Atlantic coast. She fell in love with the people, the culture and the food. Her cookbook highlights all those aspects of her time in Pearl Lagoon, with the stories paired with photographs and traditional recipes.

When you think of someone who is interpreting a resource, the good ones are storytellers. They find the intangibles, the things that make the resource come alive.

Basman is also the chief of interpretation for Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs. She tells us about the difficulty recreating recipes that were made without measuring cups or lists of ingredients. "One of my strongest sentences in the book is adjust to your own taste. That's what they did. That's what I had to do."

Also on this week's program, we turn a traditional pesto on its ear with Chef Arlyn Llewellyn's carrot top and cashew recipe.

Frank Nyikos takes us on a tour of his indoor container garden, where grapefruit plants mingle with coffee plants.

And, a push to revive the population of Monarch butterflies means farmers are planting... weeds.

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