Edible East End Masthead:
Stephen Munshin, Publisher
Stephen Munshin has been involved with food from many levels, "from the lowliest cook pulling up mats in the kitchen at three am, to the head bartender pulling up mats behind the bar at four am", he says. He has worked in restaurants from San Diego to the East End of Long Island and points in between. Looking for a way to keep traveling, he began importing Nepalese outerwear, which turned into a full-fledged clothing line designed by his wife and produced in India, China and New York. Ten years later, Stephen is still traveling but not in the same way. He now has two sons, which has increased his desire to live and work locally. And realizing that the clothing business will not be experiencing a move to local production, he felt he should contribute to the "buy local" movement on a personal level instead, as the publisher of Edible East End. "Living where there is a bounty of local harvest, running a local honey business, and working with my knowledgeable and persuasive friend, Brian, to produce a publication that promotes buying local seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. This is also giving me the chance to combine my skills in computer graphics, sales, and scheduling, acquired during a decade in the fashion business with a decade in the restaurant world, and that doesn't come along too often," he said.
Brian Halweil, Editor
Brian Halweil has been at the forefront of the growing "buy local" campaign. As a student at Stanford University, Brian worked with California farmers interested in reducing their pesticide use, and set up a two-acre student-run organic farm on the Stanford campus. In 1997, he joined Worldwatch Institute as a Senior Researcher and John Gardner Public Service Fellow. At the Institute, Brian writes on the social and ecological impacts of how we grow food, focusing recently on organic farming, biotechnology, hunger and rural communities. He describes the evolving local food movement in his recent book Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket. Brian's work has also been featured in the international press, and he has testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the role of biotechnology in combating poverty and hunger in the developing world. He has traveled throughout Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and East Africa learning indigenous farming techniques and promoting sustainable food production. He works on Edible East End publications from his home in Sag Harbor, New York, where he and his wife tend a home garden and orchard.
The seed for Edible East End was planted when Brian Halweil met Edible Communities founders Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, and Larry Yee at a seminar Brian gave at University of California at Santa Barbara in 2004. Over lunch, they all agreed that the East End of Long Island was experiencing a culinary renaissance and represented a perfect region for an Edible publication. Doing Edible East End would also complement Brian's existing work with the local Slow Food convivium, farmers' market, and regular food column for the local newspaper. Feeling somewhat overextended, Brian was elated to find that his friend and neighbor, Steve Munshin was looking to start a new business venture, seeking a more satisfying and value-driven work and lifestyle for himself and his family. Brian and Steve aired the idea among local chefs, winemakers, farmers and others, who endorsed the idea. "With some short-term nostalgia", says Brian, "we now remember that the decision to go ahead was clinched while Steve and I were together raking oysters on New Year's Eve day for a party that night. We realized then our own personal interest in preserving such local flavors, and the rest will soon become history."
