The Woodstock area has gotten big ups in the national press lately. In a January article on Forbes.com — “Tasting Vermont: The Best Eating and Drinking in the Heart of the State” — writer Ann Abel implores Vermont-curious foodies to “forget the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour and Green Mountain Coffee visitors’ center.” Instead, she directs them to Woodstock and environs, where they’ll find a wealth of artisanal producers and “diminutive dining rooms pleasing loyal locals with both cheap burgers and brews and upscale Tuscan pizzas and intriguing wines.”

Her choices: the pizzas and wine at “Italian revivalist” osteria pane e salute; South Royalton’s burger-and-craft-brew mecca Worthy Burger, which Abel visited twice; and the “super-fresh fare” and “visually seductive dining room” at Quechee’s Simon Pearce Restaurant. Farther afield, Abel recommends Lincoln Peak Vineyard in New Haven for sampling Marquette, LaCrescent and ice wines; and the creamy, bark-wrapped Harbison cheese from Greensboro’s Jasper Hill Farm (aka Cellars at Jasper Hill).

Over on MarthaStewart.com, “A Winter Getaway to Woodstock” talks up breakfasts at the Quechee Diner; cheese plates at the Red Rooster (inside the Woodstock Inn & Resort); cheese and maple syrup sampling at Taftsville’s Sugarbush Farm; and the plentiful local morsels (as well as pies) at the Woodstock Farmers Market — plus that perennial writer’s dinner at Simon Pearce Restaurant.

*****

As writer Luc Reid and his family sought out more local foods for their meals, he was surprised to learn that a town as deeply committed to those principles as Burlington had no official locavore group. So he’s taking matters into his own hands: Reid hopes to organize a group called Champlain Valley Localsource to “champion the use of local foods and resources.” The inaugural meeting is Wednesday, February 6, at 6 p.m. in Burlington City Hall Auditorium. For more information, visit localsource.me.

This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2013.

Corin Hirsch was a Seven Days food writer 2011 through 2016. She was also a dining critic and drinks columnist at Newsday from 2017 to 2022, and contributes to The Guardian, Wine Enthusiast and other publications. She’s spoken often on colonial era drinking and is the author of Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, published by History Press in 2014.