The irony of watching “12 Years a Slave” the night before embarking on a little tour of Charleston, S.C., was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that William Tecumseh Sherman is one of my great, great, great uncles, a fact that I may or may not have proudly shouted from one of the city’s many church steeples had I imbibed enough bourbon. But this was more of a food and architecture tour of that lovely city.

    The trip began as my treat for a good friend who has done a bucket load of work for me over the past year. It ended up being a trip with five kids in their 20s and four grownups. The organizing of meals and walking forays was like wrangling a basket of kittens. The weather, sadly, did not cooperate. It was in the 40s and raining sideways for three out of four days. But the food was a delight and a revelation.

    One of the best meals we had was our first lunch at Cru Cafe, a tiny place we stumbled upon near our hotel. Fried green tomatoes with pork belly croutons, Thai mussels, barbecue brisket, bread pudding. Oh, and salads, of course. Dinner that night was at the Peninsula Grill, a beautiful restaurant (brown velvet walls, portraits of dockworkers!) in our hotel. It is justifiably famous for its coconut cake, a multi-tiered marvel of whiteness and light. Oysters, veal, scallops, flounder, banana creme brulée. No vegetables!

    The foods and architecture of Charleston are similar to New Orleans, and the prices at the restaurants were shockingly reasonable. There were grits on every menu, biscuits, chicken and waffles, fried alligator, cream gravies, boiled peanuts, hush puppies, antelope, and oysters. Desserts are taken seriously, usually served in the form of a mile-high cake or dense and sweet pie.

    Charleston survived the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Even pirates and hurricanes have not been able to destroy its antebellum mansions, gazillion churches, and Spanish-moss-draped trees. It is the seventh largest container port in the United Stages. The first golf game in America was played in Charleston and the first public college, museum, and playhouse are here. George Gershwin composed his opera “Porgy and Bess” while living on Folly Beach and Porgy and Bess are buried in the James Island Presbyterian Church graveyard. The state dance is the shag.

    We took a brief tour of a mansion-guest house on Charleston Harbor. As some members of the family were still living in parts of the house, our tour was a bit restricted and dare I say, creepy? The chintz and Victoriana everywhere gave me the vapors, or whatever it is that Southern belles faint from. Thank the Lord there were crystal bowls of Hershey’s kisses every three feet of the tour.

    From there we were off to Poogan’s Porch for more fried green tomatoes and she-crab soup. Poogan’s is named for a stray dog that just decided to live on the porch. The house is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a spinster who died within. The local police still receive so many calls about reported sightings of her that they totally ignore them. This place had the best biscuits, along with pimento cheese balls with green tomato jam, blackened catfish, and maple syrup that has been spiked with Texas Pete hot sauce.

    In walking around downtown Charles­­ton we observed quite a few signs saying, “No concealed weapons allowed inside.” According to the Huffington Post, a new law passed last month in the state allows people with “concealed-weapon permits to carry firearms in places that serve food or alcohol, as long as they don’t drink while inside.” Establishments can opt to ban them, but must prominently display a sign in their window to that effect.

    Quite a few shops would have decanters of bourbon at the ready and zinc tubs full of ice and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. And perhaps a pitcher of sweet tea or lemonade for the ladies. Garden and Gun magazine is a bible here, a glossy publication extolling the virtues of both.

    One of our best meals was at Hominy Grill, a simple but sophisticated little place where our friend Beanie’s daughter is a waitress. We got the royal treatment (free shrimp beignets with a tart, tomato salsa) and feasted on oyster soup, fried chicken livers, triggerfish, squash casserole, creamed mustard greens, Hummingbird cake, and the restaurant’s famous buttermilk pie. The tables are set with plastic bear honey dispensers and boiled peanuts. If you’ve never had boiled peanuts, they are hard to describe and not to everyone’s liking. The peanuts are soft and mushy within the shell, and have been boiled in very salty water. They have the texture of chestnuts but with a mild peanut flavor. Most of our basket of kittens loved them.

    There are a few culinary specialties that you can bring home: stone ground grits from Geechie Boy or Anson Mills, and Carolina yellow rice. There are sweetgrass baskets for sale in the outdoor markets and they are beautiful. The baskets were first woven by slaves from West Africa over 300 years ago and were used to store rice, produce, cotton, shellfish, clothing, sewing supplies, breads, and biscuits. Some members of the African-American community of Mount Pleasant still weave the baskets that start out green and smelling of sweet hay and dry to a pale, pretty beige.

    The meticulous preservation of Charleston gives one the feeling of having truly stepped back in time. The horse-drawn carriages and people who use words like “tawdry” and “holler” add to the atmosphere, along with ancient palms and houses the color of shrimp bisque. It’s like a cleaner New Orleans without the jazz. Best of all, the chefs and cooks of Charleston are preserving culinary history while bringing low country cuisine into the next century.

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    Stoves continue to fire up in restaurant kitchens that had gone cold for the winter season. Friday, April 4, brings the reopening of the Dock in Montauk.

    South Edison restaurant in Montauk, which is not quite ready to open for the season, has a sister restaurant now in New York City, called Bo’s Kitchen and Bar Room. It is at 6 West 24th Street. As with South Edison, Todd Mitgang is a partner and the chef.

Fresh Eggs

    The folks at Round Swamp Farm in East Hampton have hens a-laying, and fresh eggs may be ordered by sending a text to 516-443-6834. The eggs can then be picked up at 160 Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton. They cost $6 a dozen.

Weeknight Specials

    Weeknight $19.95 specials at little/red in Southampton are as follows: duck grilled cheese on Mondays, chef’s choice on Tuesdays, veal Milanese on Wednesdays, and hanger steak frites on Thursdays.

    At the red/bar brasesrie, also in Southampton, prix fixe choices offered Sunday through Thursday nights, and on Fridays between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., include two courses for $30 or three for $35. Among the appetizer choices are cornmeal-crusted calamari, local oysters on the half shell, and braised pork belly with shaved apples, ricotta salata, and a maple-cider vinegar glaze. Entrée choices are truffled chicken breast with wild mushroom risotto and French beans, miso-glazed tilefish, and bucatini with littleneck clams. Choices are subject to change.

Prime Rib Night

    Thursdays are prime rib night at the Bell & Anchor restaurant on Noyac Road in Noyac. A special featuring an appetizer and an eight-ounce portion of prime rib, with vegetables and potatoes, is $34; the price for a 12-ounce portion is $39. Dessert can be added for an extra $5.

Tried and True

    Fresno in East Hampton also has $30 and $35 prix fixe choices, and offers them all night on Sundays through Thursdays, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tax and gratuity are extra. Among the menu items that could be offered are, to start, chicken liver pate with pickled beets and rye toast points, smoky chipotle and chickpea hummus with grilled flatbread and marinated olives, and a salad of baby greens with pears, Manchego cheese, pumpkin seeds, and sherry vinaigrette. Entrees to be found could include chicken Milanese, rigatoni Bolognese, Fresno burgers, and mussels and fries.

Living Room Weekly

    The Living Room restaurant at c/o the Maidstone inn in East Hampton has introduced the Living Room Weekly, a different three-course special for $35 each week. The menu will be offered all night every night except on Saturdays, when it will be available only until 6:30 p.m. Sample choices include salmon tartare, biff a la Lindstrom, a main course featuring ground beef, red beets, capers, roasted fingerling potatoes, garlic butter, and bordelaise sauce, and vanilla ice cream with warm raspberries for dessert.

    Hamptons restaurant week is in full swing now, and three-course specials for $27.95 will continue at more than a dozen local eateries through Sunday. A full list can be found at hamptonsrestaurantweek.com.

    A new hotspot at the Montauk dock will open next Thursday. The old Salivar’s space has been taken over by West Lake Clam and Chowder House, and the new season is set to begin with its signature sushi bar and full menu. For now, dinner will be served from Thursday through Monday, and lunch offered as well from Friday through Sunday. Breakfast hours will be added later in the season.

    Across the harbor in the chowder house’s previous space, the old West Lake fishing lodge, Larry Kolar, formerly of the Backyard at Sole East, is opening the West Lake Fish House later this month. It will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

    Tomorrow night will bring the seasonal reopening of another Montauk harbor stalwart, the Dock.

Empanadas Always

    Gula Gula Empanadas, locally made artisanal treats that have heretofore been sold only at farmers markets, are now available at the Smokin’ Wolf barbecue takeout shop on Pantigo Road in East Hampton. The shop will offer two “empanadas of the day” for takeout or eating on site, Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

    Among the varieties of empanadas, sold fresh or frozen and in standard or hors d’oeuvre sizes, are chicken with roasted poblanos and tomatillos, chipotle puree, and spices; albacore tuna and flounder with roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and tomatoes, and a seasonal greens version featuring kale, swiss chard, and manchego cheese.

Cocktail Tips

    The next in a series of tasting workshops at Wainscott Main Wine and Spirits will take place on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. “Mixology 101: What Makes a Special(ty) Cocktail” will be presented by J.R. Grisch of Opici Family Distributors. Admission to each of the weekly sessions is $10. Those interested may sign up by email to wainscottmain@gmail. com.

For Passover

    The first night of Passover is April 14, and Charlotte Sasso at Stuart’s Seafood Market in Amagansett has begun taking orders for holiday dishes, from her homemade gefilte fish to matzoh ball soup, chopped liver, and haroset.

    On Aug. 1, 1965, Craig Claiborne held a picnic on Gardiner’s Island that has come to be known as “the grandest picnic of all time.” He invited a pantheon of French chefs to prepare the meal — Pierre Franey, his friend and collaborator, who was then executive chef at Le Pavillon, Roger Fessaguet from La Caravelle, Jean Vergnes from the Colony, Rene Verdon, then chef at the White House, and Jacques Pepin, who had been personal chef for Charles de Gaulle before coming to New York to work for Franey at Le Pavillon.

    For those unlucky enough to have missed that event, it will be recreated in photographs and text as part of “Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey: Cookbook Revolutionaries in East Hampton,” an exhibition that will be held at the East Hampton Historical Society from May 31 through July 13.

Franey’s children launched a website, pierrefraney.com, with photographs, recipes, and other material on their father, and Franey’s daughter Diane, who lives in the family house on Gerard Drive in Springs, brought a collection of photographs to Richard Barons, director of the society, and Isabel Carmichael, assistant director. “We expected snapshots,” Mr. Barons said as he showed a visitor enlargements of a treasure trove of images, including Robert David Lion Gardiner ferrying the chefs to the island, the chefs cleaning mussels and dancing on the beach, and many more.

    There are, as well, photographs taken in Claiborne’s kitchen, where he sits at a typewriter while Franey cooks. Among the luminaries who appear in other photos, aside from noted chefs, are Lauren Bacall, Warner LeRoy, Burgess Meredith, Danny Kaye, and Alfonso Ossorio. “Isabel has done a lot of research on the photographs with the Franey family,” Mr. Barons said. “We’re probably just scratching the surface here.”

    Mr. Barons and Ms. Carmichael are convinced there is a great deal of memorabilia waiting to be discovered, and they hope people who knew Franey and Claiborne will come forward to share it. “We don’t want to do the show and have people come and tell us, ‘If only we knew, we would have given you . . .’ This is a community exhibit, and we need the community. It really is living history, because it wasn’t that long ago.”

    Among the other material obtained thus far are original menus, an Al Hirschfeld caricature of the two men, and a large color photograph of the picnic, which was part of Life magazine’s coverage of the event. The museum has plans to interview people on the South Fork who knew the men and to have tapes of the recollections available for listening. “We’ll also ask the great chefs and cookbook authors out here to pick favorite recipes from the vast published collection,” Mr. Barons said.

    Last summer, the museum had plans to present an exhibition on the life and times of Claiborne that originated in Jackson, Miss., but when that failed to materialize, “we began to realize an exhibit just on Craig Claiborne was ridiculous. It had to be Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. The fresh food movement started with them. They went to the farm stands, the fish markets, places like Round Swamp Farm and Bert Greene’s Store in Amagansett.”

    In his book “The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen,” Mr. Pepin recalls an example of Franey’s insistence on freshness that also reveals his resourcefulness. For the Gardiner’s Island picnic, Franey asked Mr. Pepin to help him catch the 60 lobsters needed for the main course, and a television crew filmed them hauling up the lobster traps. “Pierre understood enough about the habits of Long Island’s lobsters to have taken the precaution of buying a couple of bushels of them the previous evening at Gosman’s in Montauk. In the semi-darkness we loaded the store-bought crustaceans aboard Pierre’s boat, used them to supplement the grand total of five lobsters that had wandered into his traps on their own, and then lowered gear and captives back to the ocean floor.”

    There was one flaw in their plan: “All of a sudden, Pierre stopped laughing. His eyes got larger, and he gestured with his chin to a store-bought lobster. I squinted and realized that we’d forgotten to take the rubber bands off their claws.”

    Mr. Barons and Ms. Carmichael suspect there are many more stories about the two men who were such an integral part of the East Hampton community, and look forward to hearing and recording them.

Hello Again, Spring

    The expanding list of restaurants reopening for the season rings a few more death knells for the extended winter.

    Bostwick’s reopens tonight for its 22nd season. The seafood spot on Pantigo Road in East Hampton will be serving lunch and dinner beginning at 11:30 a.m. Thursdays through Sundays. There will be fresh local seafood and daily blackboard specials, and seating is available next to a cozy fireplace. Favorites that remain on the menu include a blackened fish taco, clam roll, seafood pasta, and crab-stuffed flounder.

    Up on Three Mile Harbor, in the space that Bostwick’s formerly occupied for years, followed by the short-lived Andrra, Bay Kitchen and Bar, a new offering this year, opens next Thursday. It will also be seafood-centric.

    Next Thursday also brings the welcome reopening of the Harbor Bistro, in its waterfront spot along Three Mile Harbor Road. The Harbor Bistro’s chef, Damien O’Donnell, is a competitor on the Food Network’s new series “Kitchen Casino,” which premiered this week. On each episode, four chefs take on casino-themed cooking challenges in an attempt to win a $30,000 jackpot.

More Openings

    In Montauk, 668 the Gig Shack will kick off its season with specials all weekend, from tomorrow through Sunday between 5:30 and 10 p.m. A four-course prix fixe will be offered for $42, plus tax and gratuity, and feature starter choices such as spicy tuna tartare taquitos, Montauk Beach Stew, and a pretzel-crusted “steak pop.” Entree choices include organic chicken thigh, sesame-seared yellowfin tuna steak, curried vegetable pilaf, house-smoked Hawaiian-style baby back ribs, and pasta dishes. A pasta course will be followed by dessert.

    At the Coast in Montauk, which is open Thursday through Saturday beginning at 5 p.m., a spring prix fixe is available all night on Thursday and between 5 and 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday for $20. The sushi bar reopens next Thursday, and Sunday hours will be added on April 27.

    The Coast is now a member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program, and will be serving only seafood that meets sustainability standards. Also new this year at the restaurant is a customer loyalty reward program. Those who register will receive a free appetizer or sushi roll after three visits, and each time at the restaurant their names will be entered into a drawing for a monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway.

Another Chef on TV

    George Hirsch is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first public television series with new episodes of “George Hirsch Lifestyle” featuring local culinary sites. The program, which airs on Sundays at 2:30 p.m. on WLIW 21, starts with an episode on comfort foods, including a visit to Townline BBQ in Sagaponack.

    Among the future East Hampton Town locations on the show are the 1770 House, Rowdy Hall, Villa Italian Specialties, the Montauk Brewing Company, and the East Hampton and Montauk farmers markets.

Stuart’s Seafood

    Stuart’s Seafood in Amagansett is now open seven days a week.

    The owners of Naturally Good Foods and Cafe in Montauk are planning to open a restaurant on the hamlet’s Main Street, opposite Herb’s Market in the space formerly known as Mtk Cafe.

    Like their shop and cafe on South Etna Avenue, the restaurant will serve healthful food, but this eatery will stay open for dinner service. There will be beer and wine, which will be “all organic and biodynamic,” Lauren Katz, one of the owners, said Sunday.

    “We’re trying to keep the same feel as here,” Andrea Mavro, her business partner, said as she stirred a pot of vegetable soup in the café’s tiny kitchen. “The only change is we’re going to try table service at dinner, but it’s still relaxed, not a restaurant feel, more like a café.”

    The name, Naturally Good, will be moving to the Main Street store as will many of the organic groceries that now take up the bulk of the small space at the original Naturally Good, which will eventually be called Naturally Good To Go. On Main Street, the menu will be expanded from what is offered now on South Etna. Specials like fish tacos and grilled organic chicken wraps will have a fulltime spot on the menu.

     Naturally Good To Go will no longer offer hot food to order, Ms. Katz said. People will be able to grab a cup of coffee, baked goods, or a smoothie on their way to the beach, as well as already prepared wraps and salads.

    “I know people like the feel here,” Ms. Mavro said. “I think some people will order on Main Street and still come in here to sit in the garden. We’re doing a garden there, but some people like to be off the beaten path.” They are also adding about 400 square feet behind the restaurant for storage, along with a small garden dining area.

    The path for the two women to get all the needed permits from the town and county has been a bit daunting. Ms. Katz and Ms. Mavro had planned to replace the septic system at the new spot this year, but decided instead to refurbish the existing one for the time being.

    “We wanted to do everything the right way.  We heard that there had been problems in the past,” Ms. Katz said, however, because a new septic system requires approval from Suffolk County, that can take time and require a public hearing before the town planning board.

    “It’s been like, 50 phone calls every day,” Ms. Mavro said, “and, you pay for every application, just for them to look at it.” Still, she is very appreciative of the way the East Hampton Town Planning Board has helped her and Ms. Katz through the system.

    “Crossing all fingers and toes, and praying to all gods,” Ms. Katz said, they hope to have all the needed permits in place and to be open at the new location by Memorial Day weekend.

    When you go through the grocery store this time of year, do you just walk by the odder, wintry vegetables and head for the simpler, “safer,” more familiar ones like zucchini, lettuce, string beans, and so on? I am guilty of this, too. It is so easy to just grab those people-pleasers. You can do anything with zucchini year round, and who doesn’t like green beans with shallots or toasted almonds?

    I implore you to try some of these bulbous creatures like kohrabi and rutabagas. Give cabbage a chance; it’s not just Granny’s malodorous boiled glop anymore. Turnips and parsnips are excellent in a roasted vegetable dish. Leeks, while somewhat expensive (considering how much of the stalk you can use), are one of the finest and sweetest alliums, once braised or baked or added to soup. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash are so delicious and good for you, and, contrary to popular belief, don’t need to be peeled for many dishes. Broccoli and cauliflower are in season right now, therefore quite reasonable. Don’t think you like broccoli? Try it raw in a salad with golden raisins, toasted sunflower seeds, and red onion, as Produce Pete suggested recently on the “Today” show. Granted, his were bound with mayo and topped with crisp bacon, but . . . it’s a start.

    To find the most modern and creative ways to prepare these vegetables, you may need to update your cookbook collection. Books such as Deborah Madison’s “Vegetable Literacy,” Jeanne Kelley’s “Salad for Supper,” or any of my idol, Yotam Ottolenghi’s, books will inspire you. How does Indonesian slaw with cabbage, scallions, pineapple, and carrots in a peanut dressing sound? Cabbage and kohlrabi in a lemony garlic dressing studded with dried cherries? Baked slices of sweet potatoes in chipotle cream? Of course, some of the old-fashioned recipes are delicious too, such as sweet and sour cabbage, cauliflower gratin, and vichyssoise.

    The cabbage family isn’t just broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. It also includes mustards and kale, radishes and cress, Asian greens and turnips. Cabbage, which is low in calories and can be eaten cooked or raw, is a good source of vitamins K and C and glutamine. Mustard greens are endowed with vitamins A, C, K, and E. They also have calcium, fiber, manganese, anti-oxidants, and phytonutrients that are said to help prevent cancer and help detoxify the body. Most of us have already jumped on the kale bandwagon, but I must admit I have tried some salads that made me feel like Elsie the Cow chewing my cud forever and ever. Here’s the trick: Shred it finely, then macerate with lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Give it a good massage, it will tenderize. Not to mention keep for several days, unlike other dressed salads. If you like it cooked with bacon but that’s too fatty, try it with sautéed onions and smoked paprika. All the flavor without the porcine naughtiness!

    The smaller turnips you find in summer are better and sweeter than those you find this time of year, but winter’s offerings are still deliciously sweet and nutty-flavored. You can also use the leaves, whose spicy hot flavor contrasts nicely with the milder root. I like to peel them, slice thinly, and sauté in good butter with a finish of sea salt and chopped chives.

    I am skipping rutabagas and parsnips because I don’t care for them and it’s my column. On to the morning glory family, sweet potatoes! This tuber is full of beta-carotene, vitamins A, C, and B6, manganese, calcium, potassium, iron, and fiber. Don’t confuse sweet potatoes with yams, which are bigger, pale, and starchy, tasting more like chestnuts. Sweet potatoes have pointy ends with reddish brown and reddish orange to purply or copper-colored skins. Candied yams are not yams, nor are Garnet or Jewel sweet potatoes, although they are labeled as yams at the market. I like to bake them (cut one of the pointy ends off first and lay on foil) and serve with Greek yogurt and scallions. My vivid imagination tells me this is better than sour cream and butter. They are also delicious sliced and baked with garlic and sage leaves, then topped with a bit of heavy cream for the last half-hour of baking.

    As we eagerly await the delicate and wonderful vegetables of spring and summer, I hope these ideas have inspired you to give these wintry wonders a chance. They are healthy, abundant, reasonable, and delicious.

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    On Sunday afternoon behind the bar in the little red building across from the Montauk Movie, Vaughn Cutillo pulled the handle and out poured a “blond-haired lady in a black dress.”

    That’s one way the Irish describe Guinness Stout. Except in this case it was the Montauk Brewing Company’s Guardsman Stout, as dark, rich, and smooth a draft as any beer lover could ask for, named for the Montauk Coast Guard station and crew of the cutter Rid­ley that is based there. The Guardsman will be introduced and dedicated to our local Coasties on Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. at Swallow East, a venue chosen for its view of the Coast Guard station across the harbor. There will be free food and beer.

    “They are this community’s unsung heroes. They are overlooked a lot. They work in a harsh environment, and they’re ready for everything. It’s stressful. The Guardsman is a beer that gives back,” said Mr. Cutillo, who, with his partners Eric Moss and Joe Sullivan, founded the Montauk Brewing Company three years ago.

    The Guardsman is the eighth brew concocted by the three amigos. Their popular Driftwood Ale will very soon be available in cans sold in stores, and a new ale, Arrowhead Irish Red, will be on tap at the brewery as well as most bars and restaurants from Southampton to Montauk in time for St. Patrick’s Day. The homegrown brew masters have come a long way in three years.

    “We used 18 pounds of grain to make our first batch in the basement. Now we use 11,000 per batch,” Mr. Cutillo said, the beer making having been moved from the basement of the little red brewing company headquarters to a full-scale brewery in Pennsylvania to keep up with demand.

    “The Coast Guard station has a softball team and they come in after the game and to our tastings. We announced the Guardsman on Facebook and got a response from a Coast Guard station in California.”

    Unfortunately, the Montauk brewery is unable to fill that particular West Coast demand, at least for now, because of laws governing interstate sales. “We had no idea it could go countrywide.”

    Saturday’s event is by no means the first time the Montauk Brewing Company has given back to the local community. They have rolled out kegs at a number of local benefits and celebrations over the past three years.

    “The town has been so welcoming. We want to give back,” Mr. Cutillo said.

    We all travel, and we all have to eat. Why is it often the case that our nutritional needs go right out the window when traveling? We surrender to junk food and spend too much. I don’t know about you, but I eat too much when traveling; I think it’s boredom.

    Planes, trains, and automobiles. Jitneys and ferries. The chances of finding a decent meal or snack in, around, or on these modes of transportation are slim. Granted, you have more control over your food when driving yourself. You can pack what you want, bring a cooler, stop whenever and wherever you want, but it’s still a hassle. It’s just easier to stop at that K.F.C. on the New Jersey Turnpike and gobble that extra-crispy chicken sandwich.

    Have you ever had a decent bite of any kind on the New London or Port Jeff ferries? Me neither, and I’ve tried just about everything they offer: crumb coffee cake, ham, egg, and cheese on a kaiser roll, bagel, Jack and Coke. As a restaurant critic, I also can’t resist peering intently into their “food preparation” area. It’s gross. But you see people lining up at the snack bar as soon as they disembark from their cars. You’d think the ferry ride was 14 hours the way they carb up!

    We’ve all ridden on the Jitney. I think it’s nice that they offer you party mix and a pee-specimen-size container of lemonade or four ounces of water. The party mix is fun, first I get rid of the pretzels, then dig around for the extra salty, super-orange cheese doodly things. Then I wish I had a napkin or they had running water in the excellent air freshener-infused lavatories. Have you ever checked the fat content on those little muffins they give you? It’s staggering. Again, I confess, I eat this stuff. My back issues of the New Yorker can only hold my attention for so long.

    Don’t eat the food on trains, ’nuff said.    Air travel is the ultimate challenge. You have less control, and the time you spend in the terminal, on the runway, and in the air can take up several meal times. If you are traveling with small children you must bring your own food. Years ago I was on a plane stuck on the runway for four hours, and the parents next to me had not packed a single snack for their young ones. The flight attendants wouldn’t serve them a thing, and those poor kids got crankier and crankier and hungrier and thirstier. That’s child abuse.

    Bring crackers, Baby Bel cheeses, fruit, and carrots. Make some homemade gorp, any mixture of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate chips. Freeze Go-Gurts (the size complies with T.S.A. rules), pack granola bars, and purchase water after you go through security. Instant soups and dehydrated oatmeal can be prepared with just some hot water from your friendly flight attendant. No kimchi or Limburger, please.

    Apparently Legal Sea Foods has opened branches in many airports, and people have started bringing clam chowder onto planes, stinking up the cabin for hours. Don’t do this to your fellow passengers! I do confess, however, that my favorite emergency meal for the jitney is a Greek salad with grilled chicken from John Papas Cafe. Is this passive-aggressive behavior? Probably, but I do it for the person who sat behind me once and . . . clipped her nails. You don’t want to sit next to me anyway. I have narcolepsy, a bladder the size of a titmouse, and the flu. Just kidding.

    As the food on airplanes gets worse (salami and jelly beans, anyone?), more expensive, or simply nonexistent, the food in airports is improving. There is a chain called Cibo Express that has okay sandwiches, decent hummus, even sushi. I stick with the brown rice with vegetables. If you are lucky enough to travel through Chicago, San Francisco, or Detroit you will have some tasty options before you board. If you go through Minneapolis, Houston, or Las Vegas, the choices are grim. The JetBlue terminal at J.F.K. has become legendary for restaurants offering tapas, bistro food, Japanese, and Italian. I have never been on Etihad, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Air France, or Turkish Airlines, but apparently their in-flight meals are excellent. I have been on Singapore Airlines, and its food and service were exceptional.

    So what kinds of foods travel well? Whole wheat pastas for salad, quinoa, and tabbouleh. These are fine at room temperature for three to five hours. Also, have no fear of commercial mayonnaise, this is safe and stable at room temperature. It’s the eggs and chicken and meats you should be careful about. Bring bananas, grapes, apples, clementines, carrots, celery, snap peas, edamame. If you bring sandwiches (focaccia with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella is good) wrap in plastic, then aluminum foil. Use an insulated, collapsible sandwich bag. And don’t forget Wetnaps or Handiwipes.

    Some professional chefs have offered suggestions for airplane food. Josh Capon of Lure Fishbar in New York City freezes shrimp cocktail and brings sauces in little containers. That’s a bit labor-intensive for the rest of us, and I’m not sure I want to get a whiff of his crustacean extravaganza on a five-hour flight. Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin never eats on the plane; he likes Wolfgang Puck’s Express, which has outlets in many airports. I have tried the Chinese chicken salad and it is excellent, full of cabbage and carrots and white meat chicken with a tasty sesame dressing. Beats Cinnabon. Another chef brings burrata cheese and thin slices of toasted Tuscan bread. One fellow swears by a Slim Fast bar with a glass of champagne! And let’s not forget, folks, that most basic of childhood sandwiches, the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

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Dish Is Closing

    Dish restaurant in Water Mill has announced that is closing permanently, due to the takeover of their space by new landlords.

    Peter Robertson and Merrill Indoe opened the 16-seat eatery five years ago and offered a chef’s choice weekly menu for a four-course prix fixe.

Sunday Soup Day

    Break out the soup bowls, because this weekend brings the fifth go-round of Empty Bowls, a fund-raiser for the Springs Seedlings gardening project, sponsored by Project MOST at the Springs School.

    From noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, an impressive lineup of local chefs will be dishing out a wide variety of soups at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. For $12, adults can have their soup bowl — taken along from home — filled and refilled as many times as desired. The cost is $5 for children ages 5 and up; those under 5 can taste for free.

    Among the participating cooks are Cheryl Stair of Art of Eating, Debbie Geppert of Debbie Geppert Events, Damien O’Donnell from the Harbor Grill, Joe Realmuto of Nick & Toni’s, Chris Eggert of Indian Wells Tavern, Jeanine Burge of Silver Spoon Specialties, and Gretchen Menser of Fresno. There will also be vats of soup made at the Springs General Store, Old Stone Market, Pepperoni’s, the Seafood Shop, One Stop Market, Simply Sublime, Hampton Seafood Market, and more.

Writers at Almond

    The Artists and Writers Night program at Almond restaurant in Bridgehampton will feature writers on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a program titled “Telling Lies: Fiction on the East End.” Organized by David Kozatch, a writer himself who will read from a recently completed literary thriller, it will include additional readings by Jen Seft and Kara Westerman.

    For $40 in advance, or $45 at the door, plus tax and gratuity, attendees will be offered a three-course dinner served family style along with a glass of local craft beer or wine. Reservations are required.