Northwest Food News & Edible Idaho

Series produced by Guy Hand

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A monthly series about food and agriculture in the inland Northwest.

Award winning public radio producer Guy Hand takes a monthly, sound-rich look at the inland Northwest's surprising diversity of local foods and food producers. Launched three and a half years ago as Edible Idaho, Northwest Food News has tagged along with truffle growers, alligator farmers and raspberry-picking nuns. We've pulled muddy tubers with native peoples (literally getting back to their roots); discovered that tater tots are actually a creative repackaging of what was once cattle feed; and found that arugula, when it comes to partisan politics, makes a very good weapon.

Northwest Food News searches for the universal in the local. After all, when it comes to the subject of food, big themes are often served on small plates.


67 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Tyler Korn enjoying a garden school carrot at Northside Elementary School in Sandpoint, Idaho., Credit: Michele Murphree
The Year of Idaho Food is nearing it’s halfway mark. A year long collaboration of volunteers, the Year of Idaho Food is designed to collect and cat...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and KISU


  • Added: May 29, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Water and food presentation at the College of Idaho, Credit: Guy Hand
We use vast amounts of water to grow food, but the consequences are often hard to see. One Idaho college class decided to take a look and they were...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and KISU


  • Added: Jun 05, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Jason Brashears and his young okra plants, Credit: Guy Hand
The number of new farmers entering small-scale farming is on the rise, in part due to a host of avenues opening to first-time farmers allowing them...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, KUOW, KISU, and KZYX


  • Added: Jun 11, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
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The Northwest endured a surprisingly cold, cloudy spring. It slowed the growth of many vegetable crops by weeks. Who knows when we’ll have ripe tom...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and KISU


  • Added: Jun 18, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Foraged foods from the mountains of Idaho, Credit: Guy Hand
Foraging fell out of favor a few thousand years ago—thanks to that invention called agriculture—but not everybody abandoned the impulse to forage. ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, Spokane Public Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Jun 25, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Fried fish at Fish and Game fish fry, Credit: Guy Hand
The nation lost around 5 million anglers from 1996 to 2006. Idaho fishing dropped by 28% during that same decade. That's why Idaho Fish and Game i...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and KISU


  • Added: Jul 11, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Morel mushrooms, Credit: Guy Hand
A mushroom forager takes chefs into the woods to give them a taste for wild mushrooms.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, KUOW, Spokane Public Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Jul 17, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Basque appetizers at seminar, Credit: Guy Hand
How every country’s cooking — whether Italian, Thai or Basque — evolves and diverges from the immigrant food it originally spawned.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio and KISU


  • Added: Jul 23, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Basket of Lavender, Credit: Guy Hand
Lavender is becoming more popular in cooking as lavender farming becomes more popular among small-scale Northwest farmers.

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, KISU, and KUOW


  • Added: Jul 30, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Freshwater clams, Credit: Guy Hand
About 300 species of freshwater mollusks live in inland North America. For Native tribes, they were a dietary staple. In this episode of Edible Id...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, Spokane Public Radio, KUOW, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Aug 07, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 5
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19th Century Idaho brewers were touting the virtues of "local" beer long before the word locavore was invented. A look at Idaho brewing history an...

Bought by KUOW, Spokane Public Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Aug 13, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Gin making ingredients, Credit: Guy Hand
Bardeday Distillery in Eagle, Idaho has been making gin for 11 years, which requires a dedicated panel of tasters willing to sip gin at 8:30 in the...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, KISU, and Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 03, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Lentil Festival mascot, Credit: Guy Hand
A trip to the National Lentil Festival in Pullman, Washington and the lentil growing Palouse region of Washington and Idaho.

Bought by KUOW, Spokane Public Radio, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Sep 10, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: A traditional Coeur d'Alene tribal food: huckleberries, Credit: Gu Hand
Native Americans struggle with diabetes, obesity and the lack of healthy food on reservations. Producer Guy Hand looks at what a food coalition re...

Bought by KOJB 90.1 FM The eagle, New Hampshire Public Radio, Outer Voices, New Hampshire Public Radio, KUOW and more


  • Added: Sep 18, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Poster at Clearwater Canyon Cellars, Credit: Guy Hand
The Lewiston-Clarkston Valley in Washington and Idaho was the Northwest's first award winning wine region in the late 1800s. It faded after Prohib...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, KISU, and KUOW


  • Added: Oct 09, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: A just picked pawpaw, Credit: Guy Hand
The pawpaw is America's largest native fruit. Once loved by George Washington, it's now nearly forgotten and survives today largely thanks to backy...

Bought by Boise State Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio, Spokane Public Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Oct 14, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Wheat fields in the Palouse region of North Idaho, Credit: Guy Hand
The wheat industry traditionally focuses on international markets, but a group of Northwest wheat farmers are trying something new: growing and mil...

Bought by Boise State Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, KISU, and Spokane Public Radio


  • Added: Oct 22, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Pioneer apple varieties found along the Salmon River, Credit: Guy Hand
Producer Guy Hand jet boats into Idaho's River of No Return Wilderness with a team searching for remote and abandoned pioneer-era apple orchards. T...

Bought by Boise State Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, Spokane Public Radio, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and more


  • Added: Oct 29, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 6
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Many brewers consider hops to be the essence of craft beer making. Yet, in the America's hop growing epicenter, the Northwest, craft brewers often ...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, KUOW, and KISU


  • Added: Nov 05, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 3
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The Northwest has several crop quarantine zones to control the spread of diseases. In southern Idaho, a quarantine zone helps protect the states l...

Bought by Boise State Public Radio, WABE, Spokane Public Radio, and KISU


  • Added: Nov 12, 2011
  • Length: 04:00
  • Purchases: 4