In Our Spring 2025 Issue

Dear Reader,

Since the very first issue of Edible Rhody published in the spring of 2007 we have remained focused on and committed to our local food community. In the 18 years we’ve been in print, we’ve shone a spotlight on the livelihoods of our hardworking farmers, fishers, chefs and food and beverage artisans who contribute their talents to make our food community more vibrant and resilient.

These days our mission to provide inspiration and insight through stories behind the food businesses and farms in Li’l Rhody feels more important than ever. Engaging in the power of storytelling brings us closer to the chefs and creatives, the fishers who bring in the catch and the farms that feed us while they help protect Rhode Island’s open spaces. Deepening our understanding of their successes and challenges helps broaden support for the work they do and in turn strengthens our food community.

The stories you read may encourage you to buy more local products, choose locally owned businesses when you shop and eat, or support initiatives that protect our farms—or maybe it’s support for a food-related nonprofit that moves you. Any of these will have a positive impact at the local level which is uplifting and empowering.

One uplifting story in our Spring issue profiles a new restaurant in downtown Providence: a social enterprise that serves as a learning environment for culinary students from the Genesis Center’s culinary arts training program. The Culinary Hub of Providence (a.k.a. CHOP) is serving breakfast, craft coffees, lunch, cocktails and dinner in a design-savvy space located within the walls of the Providence Public Library. Graduates from the nonprofit program get to sharpen their chops and gain skills to excel in a restaurant setting while patrons partake in a delicious globally inspired menu.

Also in this issue, on a small but growing number of menus around Rhode Island you may notice the term Ike Jime when selecting fish either as crudo for starters or for cooked dishes. It’s a Japanese method that, when applied, is a more humane way to kill fish at the time of catch and renders superior texture and flavor when it comes time to eat the fish. Our fisheries writer Kate Masury from the nonprofit Eating with the Ecosystem connected with local fishers, chefs and purveyors to provide us with the full scope of this growing movement in Rhode Island’s seafood industry.

As an extension of Kate’s story, our spring cooking class with Gil’s Appliances in Bristol will focus on Ike Jime with guest chefs from Oberlin and Bayberry Garden plus Fearless Fish Market’s owner Stu Meltzer, who has been a leader in bringing Ike Jime fish to market. We’ll also partake in some citizen science with a blind tasting and survey from the team at URI led by Professor Hiro Ushida. It’s sure to be a tasty and educational evening! Visit EdibleRhody.com to get your tickets—they tend to get snapped up quickly so don’t wait.

As spring unfurls and the cycle of the growing seasons begin anew, it’s a good time to take stock of all that we have here, from the shoreline and Bay to the inland farms, from the urban food destinations to the country stands—and to remember that together we can keep Li’l Rhody edible!