Tom Barritt talks with Marc Matsumoto, the creator of the blog No Recipes about what makes compelling blog content and how to build an audience with bloggers.  

Ukrainian food is hearty comfort food to get you through the long cold winter. It is based on locally grown food, as well as added elements of the cuisines of the many invaders and immigrants over the years. Think staple peasant food based on wheat and barley, potatoes, cabbage, beets and mushrooms, seasoned with garlic, dill and vinegar. Borscht is the Ukrainian version of beef vegetable soup. There are dozens—no, hundreds—of recipes.

For years, there was a ban on beehives in the city of New York.  Pro-pollinators were forced to tend hives in secret, hoping to keep the buzz down to a quite humming for fear of retribution from the honey bee police.   The reason?  Honey bees were considered wild animals, and New Yorkers, who risk being run down every day (according to one recent study) might get stung.

Yalta in August is a major tourist attraction. Situated at the tip of the Crimean peninsula in the southern Ukraine, it is a choice destination for Russians on holiday. The appeal is obvious—beautiful vistas of clear blue water and warm temperatures. Anton Chekhov called it home for the last five years of his life. In 1945, it hosted Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt to decide the fate of postwar Europe. This is where the Czars and Counts of imperialist Russia kept mansions on the cliffs overlooking the Black Sea. When the tourists overrun the city, prices skyrocket. The locals in Yalta still need to eat, so sell their wares in out of the way places where tourists usually don’t tread. Check out this local ‘farmers market’.  It a one-car stop and shop. Bacon, cheese (on the car hood), potatoes, apples, beets, grapes and peaches are all for sale. The driver, an elderly gentleman, naps in the drivers seat, while the women sell.

Can food and music bring peace? For the next couple of weeks, Argentine-born genius Director Daniel Baremboim will be in town with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra (that he created with the late Edward Said) . The EWDO includes half its musicians from Israel and half Palestinian and other Arab countries members. Can food replicate this creative peace effort?