FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!
S ’ N O S A E S EATINGS HOW OVERSEASONED MIXES FAMILY TRADITIONS, TIMELY FEASTS, AND TODAY’S ACTIVIST CLIMATE INTO MONTHLY COOKBOOKS BY TIM GAGNON PHOTOS BY TINA PICZ PHOTOGRAPHY
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he first leaves of spring haven’t even sprung in Amy Larson’s tree-lined West Cambridge neighborhood on the day that I visit her, but summer feasts are already on the food writer’s radar. “It’s the best time for food, obviously,” Larson says conclusively. “A lot of my [family] memories are from summer. We would do beach picnics and my mom would make fried chicken for that a lot. We were always making summer pies … my favorites are blueberry and peach, so I usually start making those in June and July.” Larson seems to have an entire summer mapped out as she adds littlenecks steamed in beer and oysters to her family’s beach essentials list, but when running a part-time business as seasonally fixed as Overseasoned is, a bit of forward thinking (and a massive arsenal of recipes) never hurts. Larson began writing recipes under the Overseasoned name two years ago as a tribute to the seasonally minded eating instilled in her by her mother 20 Food, Glorious Food! | scoutcambridge.com
and to her own penchant for adding a lot of new spices and flavors into a recipe. While trying to find a unique voice in the foodie world without getting lost in a sea of food bloggers, Larson looked to the handwritten recipe cards traded among the cooks of her coastal Rhode Island family. “That’s why I decided to handwrite my recipes, even though typing it would be one million times faster and easier for me,” Larson says with a chuckle. “My main interest was always the cooking, but when I thought of the design of it, I liked how watercolor and those types of little doodles looked with it, so I started practicing a bit more.” The Overseasoned minicookbooks, initially released at a monthly clip, glued the homemade embellishments of a zine together with the localized pride of a family newsletter. Larson’s handwritten recipes loop confidently above her self-taught watercolor illustrations and delectably plated photographs that occasionally feature her dog, Chowder.