Hi.
My name is Eric Angevine. I grew up in Kansas, met and married my wife in Colorado, and moved with her back to her home state of Virginia in 2000. Our son was born here in 2002.
As a dedicated and enthusiastic consumer of processed foods for most of my life, I was not expecting to become a foodie or a locavore, but the plethora of local operations providing superior, affordable food won me over. The humane, natural methods for raising and slaughtering animals are a revelation to someone who grew up in the shadow of feedlots and 24/7 beef slaughterhouses. The joys of eating a just-picked apple or tomato rather than sloshing one out of a can or rubbing off wax before taking a bite have grown on me in a big way.
The thing that finally galvanized me to start this website was curiousity, plain and simple. I have worked as a radio, print and web journalist for much of my adult life, and I’m accustomed to asking an expert when I have a question. When eating at local restaurants, I’ve tasted so many dishes that used fresh, local ingredients in inventive and delicious ways, I started asking the chefs to clue me in on techniques and philosophies they employ. My desire to understand the entire process, and how seemingly staid ingredients can be re-imagined in new dishes, led me to start seriously inquiring about, well… everything.
At first I wanted to write a book, but my day-to-day job of writing about college sports made that a slow process. Eventually, I spotted Phyllis Wilson’s fine tome Eating Local in Virginia on the shelves of my local bookstore and realized that slow and steady was not going to win this particular race. So, I shifted my focus. Instead of saving up my research, interviews, and photographs for the thrill of seeing my own name on the shelf, I decided to mix them with video and join the fast flow of the internet.
So, here it is. I call it Eat Fresh Virginia, but we all know that there’s so much more to the sustainable lifestyle. I’ll cover any people, places and processes that I feel supplement the art of living locally in the fine state of Virginia. When I showcase recipes, I’ll try to have demonstrations that use local ingredients as much as possible, but I’m not going to be doctrinaire about it. I’m not giving up citrus fruit because it grows best in California.
Enough talk. Let’s get to know our state, and each other, a little bit better.
If there’s something you’d like to say, or someone you think I should interview, drop me a line at eatfreshva@gmail.com.
