Michael Floreak

Nov 15, 2024 | edibleboston.com | Michael Floreak

Photos by Linda R. CamposA visit to her grandparents in Ukraine in the summer of 2018 sent Ilona Znakharchuk’s career in a direction she never could have imagined. And the Boston pastry world is sweeter because of it. Znakharchuk spent time in Ukraine before entering her sophomore year at Boston College—she and her family had moved to the United States when she was 2 years old. Znakharchuk says she was “blown away” by the world of European pastries she discovered there.

Sep 5, 2024 | starchefs.com | Michael Floreak

As the opening approaches, Howell wonders how Vee Vee regulars will feel about the changes to the neighborhood restaurant. It’s a concern shared by others, like Chefs Peter Nguyen of Lê Madeline andLaurence Louie of Rubato, both of whom opened new restaurants in Quincy in spaces occupied by long-standing, more traditional neighborhood restaurants.

Jun 7, 2024 | edibleboston.com | Michael Floreak

Photos by Michael PiazzaOn a rare dry and warm April afternoon, Kristin McDonnell is introducing me to several hundred thousand of her friends. We’re paying attention to one in particular: the one who’s also paying attention to us by aggressively buzzing our heads as we talk and sit on the remnants of a large tree that damaged two nearby hives in a nor’easter earlier in the month. “What’s up, mama? We’re not bothering you, I promise,” McDonnell reassures the straggler.

May 9, 2024 | bostonglobe.com | Michael Floreak

Following the first-of-its-kind Queer Food Conference at Boston University, the question that comes up frequently is: What is “queer food”? Potential answers to this question were on the minds of more than 160 scholars, activists, artists, writers, and food industry professionals who gathered in person and online for the two-day conference late last month.

Nov 8, 2023 | edibleboston.com | Michael Floreak

Photos by Michael PiazzaWhen Chris Kurth and wife and partner Ana Sortun started Siena Farms in Sudbury in 2005, they had one small, unheated greenhouse for sprouting seedlings. The farmers’ biggest concerns then were making sure there was a market for locally grown produce and scaling up production as needed. In those early years, the farm’s growing season would end around Thanksgiving; most of the staff would go home and things would shut down for the winter.