by Michael Shapiro | Jan 10, 2019 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
Last September, a year after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, I was sent to the island to report a story about how some farmers were shifting from export crops to growing food for local people. I met some savvy, organic, badass farmers,...
by Michael Shapiro | Apr 9, 2018 | Blog, Books, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
There’s nothing better than an editor asking you to go to a city you love and find the best places for food, wine, beer and chocolate. I traveled there last year, stopped briefly (for 2 hours, which is fast) at Powell’s City of Books, then got to work...
by Michael Shapiro | Mar 9, 2018 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
Last fall I had the pleasure of spending 90 minutes with SingleThread chef and owner Kyle Connaughton at the outstanding Healdsburg restaurant he and his wife Katina Connaughton opened just over a year ago. Three weeks after the interview, I took my wife there for...
by Michael Shapiro | Aug 8, 2017 | Blog, Books, Food, Interviews, Literature, Stories, Travel
I first interviewed Frances Mayes at her home in Tuscany in 2003 for my book of interviews with travel writers, A Sense of Place. It was a pleasure to speak with Mayes again in autumn 2016 for a story about the cuisine of this region of Italy, where food appreciation...
by Michael Shapiro | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
My story about sustainable seafood in Vancouver won the 2016 Explore Canada Award of Excellence last fall which was gratifying because it was one of those stories I did in hopes of making a difference. Our oceans have been overhunted and polluted to near the breaking...
by Michael Shapiro | Apr 12, 2016 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Stories, Travel
Though most of humanity doesn’t realize it, our survival depends on our oceans. During the past couple of centuries we overfished and polluted oceans to the point where many species are on the verge of collapse. But most of us love wild seafood and have no...
