Summer Eating From The Garden

Ah, summer in New England! One of the few times of year when it’s easy to find fresh, nutricious local food at stores and farm stands - maybe even your backyard.

Gardens are bursting with lettuces and cucumbers, and soon, the gorgeous tomatoes that make memories of the long winter fade. With food costs and concerns about food safety growing, eating from the garden is back. It’s a long time tradition in France, where Jeanne Kelley attended La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine. Jeanne has been a contributor to Bon Appetit for 20 years, and although she lives in Los Angeles, she still keeps a kitchen garden - and even chickens.

Jeanne Kelley has released a new primer for the lesser-trained of us, "Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden," named for the yellow heritage tomatoes and the blue eggs laid by her Aracauna chickens.

We also check in with Roxanne Webber, associate editor of CHOW.com, to hear what the foodies, or "chowhounds" as they call them, are talking about on the CHOW.com message boards.

(Photo by Aya Otake)