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Bonny Wolf

NPR commentator Bonny Wolf grew up in Minnesota and has worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in New Jersey and Texas. She taught journalism at Texas A&M University where she encouraged her student, Lyle Lovett, to give up music and get a real job. Wolf gives better advice about cooking and eating, and contributes her monthly food essay to NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday. She is also a contributing editor to "Kitchen Window," NPR's Web-only, weekly food column.

Wolf 's commentaries are not just about what people eat, but why: for comfort, nurturance, and companionship; to mark the seasons and to celebrate important events; to connect with family and friends and with ancestors they never knew; and, of course, for love. In a Valentine's Day essay, for example, Wolf writes that nearly every food from artichoke to zucchini has been considered an aphrodisiac.

Wolf, whose Web site is www.bonnywolf.com, has been a newspaper food editor and writer, restaurant critic, and food newsletter publisher, and served as chief speechwriter to Secretaries of Agriculture Mike Espy and Dan Glickman.

Bonny Wolf's book of food essays, Talking with My Mouth Full, will be published in November by St. Martin's Press. She lives, writes, eats and cooks in Washington, D.C.

  • European settlers almost wiped out North America's native wild turkey. But conservation efforts have proved successful. There are now nearly 7 million birds found across 49 states.
    Food
    Wild Turkeys Gobble Their Way To A Comeback
    Bonny Wolf
    They run. They fly. They block traffic. Wild turkeys, which have become a nuisance in some places, bear little resemblance to the supermarket varieties that grace most Thanksgiving tables.
  • Joe Hoagland, left, pushes a canoe through a wild rice bed as 14-year-old Chris Salazar learns how to harvest the rice.
    Food
    To Find Truly Wild Rice, Head North To Minnesota
    Bonny Wolf
    Processed wild rice dominates grocery store shelves, but around the Great Lakes, Native Americans still harvest it the same way their ancestors did centuries ago. This weekend, the Wild Rice Festival in Rosemont, Minn., celebrates the tradition.
  • <p>A Thai worker prepares grubs to cook. Eating bugs is accepted throughout the world, but it is now being proposed as a healthy and environmentally friendly treat that's catching on in North America and Europe.</p>
    The 'Ick' Factor: Bugs Can Be Hard To Swallow
    Bonny Wolf
    Lots of creepy crawly things will appear on doorsteps and fence posts for Halloween, but will they be on your dinner plate? Insects are being proposed as a cheap and environmentally friendly food source. Long accepted around the world, eating bugs is considered, well, gross to many in North America and Europe.
  • Farm dinners happen at St. Brigid's Farm in Maryland rain or shine. They serve multicourse meals in the field.
    Farm Dinners Serve Up Local Food, Ambiance
    Bonny Wolf
    During the harvest season, farms across the country are inviting their neighbors to an elegant multicourse meal with the farmers at the food's source.