Jenna Schnuer

Executive Travel: The Truffle ShuffleDecember 2008

Katrina Wilhelm can't quite remember what sparked her interest in becoming a truffle farmer. "It was either an article, or some sort of news caption, or a dog show. It occurred to me: What could be better than digging in the dirt with your dog? I’m a gardener, love to garden, love digging in the dirt, and I love my dog. For me, this is bliss.”"

Wilhelm has plenty of dirt to dig in these days. This winter, she'll plant 2,000 inoculated hazelnut trees on her 10-acre farm in Santa Rosa, Calif. She expects her truffière—the French word for truffle orchard—to start producing Black Périgord truffles in three years.

Read the article.

American Way: Be a GrainiacMay 1, 2008

We know, we know -- these days there’s always somebody who is all atwitter about the health benefits of this or that superfruit or nut (someday it’ll be the french fry…). And the touting of whole grains is no exception, especially when it comes to packaged- food manufacturers (just try and find a cereal box that doesn’t have the words whole-grain goodness emblazoned across the front). But there really is a lot more to whole grains than just a marketing hook.

Read the full story on the American Way site.

American Way: All Screwed UpAugust 1, 2007

The responses came fast and furious: "Cheap cheap cheap." "You've gotta be kidding me - I drank it in college when I had no money and didn't know any better." "Cheap. Rotgut." And, the hands-down winner for style, “Bring the sangria to the trailer park at 8. We’ll supply the cocktail weenies and Jenga.”

OK, so it was a completely unscientific random email survey. But, there was no doubting the message that, when asked if they were open to buying screw top, also known as Stelvin closures, and boxed wines, many an American consumer is still suffering from a severe 1970s hangover.

But thanks to new technology that has greatly improved both closures, the wine industry is working hard to cure what ails the public when it comes to caps and boxes.

American Way: Spin the BottleJuly 1, 2007

It all started with his bar mitzvah gifts. The son of a restaurant advertising guy, Joshua Wesson was probably one of the only kids at his temple to receive case upon case of French and Italian wines for his bar mitzvah. But by the time his 18th birthday came around (at that time, 18 was the legal drinking age), there were just five or six bottles left. His father, the wine bandit, "always insisted that he did it out of service to the wines because [they] would not have lasted five years in our storage condition," says Wesson, a former sommelier and the cofounder of Best Cellars, a chain of snobbery-free wineshops. But he disputes his pop's claim. "A lot of these bottles were vaunted bottles. These wines probably would have made it to [my 18th] and probably would have even lasted a lot longer, had the corks remained inside of them."

Read the rest of the piece--and find out which wines Wesson recommends with burgers, mac and cheese, and much more.

Saveur: Cold ComfortMarch 2007

A chef brings more than mere sustenance to the mushers of Alaska's Iditarod

Kirsten Dixon, owner of the Winterlake Lodge, should have flown out a day earlier. Instead, she was standing around the office of Rust's Flying Service in Anchorage, Alaska, along with me, ten paying guests, and much of the food she was supposed to serve over the next three days: delicate lettuces, bright red bell peppers, organic chickens, and other fre you wouldn't expect to see in March this close to the Arctic Circle.

Pages: The Whole TruthSept/Oct 2006

In the latest edition of my column about narrative nonfiction, biographies, and the quirky bits in between, I introduce readers to books about a high school debate team, the true story behind the shot heard round the world, beer, and moonshine.

American Way: Table for One?May 15, 2006

Your table is smack in the middle of the room. Around it? Parties of 12 just laughing away. You white-knuckle your briefcase as you wend your way to the lonely little two-top--the one that seems to have a spotlight shining down on it. A waiter comes over to clear the extra table setting, looking down at you long enough to say, "Just one?" And somehow, middle of the room and all, you're still sitting next to the bathroom.

Sound like the nightmare scenario that keeps you hostage to hotel room service during business trips? "People tend to stay in their hotel if they're in a city they're not familiar with...and that's a shame," says Michael Kaminer, author of the Table for One guides. Well, it's time to end your hotel-food habit and go out on the town--on your own.

American Way: Here's What's for DinnerOctober 1, 2005

Choosing a restaurant in New York City is rarely a simple task--even for locals. Though we each have our neighborhood favorites, making plans with friends from other parts of the city often sounds something like this:

"Want to have Indian food?"

"I had it for lunch yesterday. How about Vietnamese?"

"I ordered it in three times last week. How about Peruvian?"

"Okay. Upper East Side or Jackson Heights?"

Oy.

But the overabundance of choices clearly has an upside: There's a restaurant for every craving and for every wallet. Along with some of our personal favorites, we've included recommendations from other New Yorkers.

Interested in reprinting this article? Send me an email.

Endless Vacation: Around the World on $2May/June 2005

If you're hungering for a global food adventure but a trip around the world is out of the question, pay two bucks for a subway ride out to Queens next time you're in New York City. The borough's diverse population of more than 2 million residents requires a restaurant collection that's, as far as we can tell, unmatched anywhere else in the United States (or, as Queens residents like to think, the world). 

Interested in reprinting this article? Send me an email.

American Way: Tasty TomesApril 15, 2005

On rainy days, blah days, or days that leave me longing for anywhere but here (and by here I mean my to-do list), I pluck a bunch of cookbooks off my ever-in-danger-of-toppling-over stacked-way-above-sane kitchen bookshelves, park myself on my living room couch, and start to read.

That's right, I read my cookbooks.

It all started with Seductions of Rice (Artisan $35). Back when it was published in 1998, I was the book editor for a women's website. Publishers sent books a-plenty to me and, after reviewing them or doing whatever it was that needed to be done with them for work, some would make their way home with me. At more than three pounds, it was rather tempting to leave Seductions of Rice at the office permanently but, instead, I took the work I was going to do at home out of my bag and stuffed Seductions inside. I admit it: I'm a sucker for a pretty book jacket.

Interested in reprinting this article? Send me an email.