For nearly 40 years, Jim Kleptz of LaPlatte River Angus has been raising beef cattle on a piece of land in Shelburne. Although the cows began as a hobby, Kleptz got serious about the business — with the help of his sons — after retiring in 1987. He’s been selling to local restaurants, supermarkets and consumers ever since.... Read more

Sports bars are usually defined by two crucial elements: beer and televisions. Then there are the plates of once-frozen, deep-fried snacks, the no-nonsense staffers and the raucous patrons cheering or jeering at the TVs. Haute cuisine and gracious service aren’t usually part of the deal.... Read more

If you didn’t get to try Miguel’s Stowe Away during its sojourn in Burlington circa 2006, you’ll soon get another chance. Owners Michael and Adrienne Henzel will open a new incarnation of their eatery in the Battery and Main building that has housed Quatre Bistro, Quatorze and Greenstreet’s. “Someone thinks we deserve a chance again,” Adrienne says. “A setback is a setup for a comeback.”... Read more

9/19/09: The tiny village of Tunbridge (population 1,400) gets quite a boost each summer when 50,000 people visit the Tunbridge World's Fair during their four day run.

Music:Pariah Beat, Pariah Beat Radio, "City Far Away," "Oh, What a Night"

In 2005, a clever local-food advocate from San Francisco named Jessica Prentice coined the term “locavore.” Two years later, the Oxford American Dictionary bestowed on the term its Word of the Year honor. Today, everybody and her mother is a locavore, or “localvore,” as they call themselves in Vermont. These people won’t touch a cucumber if it traveled more than 100 miles before ending up in their salad.... Read more

A few weeks back, Starksboro farmer Eric Rozendaal issued me a challenge. He smugly proclaimed that he doubted I could hang with his cultivating crew while they harvested their cash crop, butternut squash, and invited me to his Rockville Market Farm to prove him wrong. I balked at the implication that my years of sitting at a desk manufacturing paragraphs had made me soft. And, with a hubris I later regretted, I agreed to the test.... Read more

Nothing fires up the appetite like a vigorous workout, but it’s not often you can get to exercise and eat together. That’s part of what’s special about the second annual Tour de Farms — a bike ride through Addison County punctuated by visits to farmers and food producers. Participants, who are asked to bring both a bike helmet and a spoon, choose among 10-, 25- and 30-mile routes.... Read more

Although it was written nearly a century ago, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, an exposé of the Chicago meat-packing industry, still has the power to make people think twice about what goes into their sausages. (Among the secret ingredients back then: severed digits of unfortunate workers.)... Read more

When Matt Birong — owner of 3 Squares Café in Vergennes — invested in a hefty new safe for storing money, he figured he had the criminals beat. “We got robbed in early May,” he says. “Forced entry at the back door. I was like, ‘My fault for having a shitty little safe.’”... Read more

When a successful metropolitan chef moves to Vermont to open an eatery, foodies who visit may find themselves setting the bar a wee bit higher than usual. I had great expectations when checking out Tourterelle, a new French restaurant located in New Haven on a stretch of Route 7 between Vergennes and Middlebury. Chef Bill Snell and his wife, Christine, operated two restaurants in Brooklyn that garnered plenty of online praise.... Read more