Fashionable Food.

I've been noticing ramps cropping up here and there with a illicit, underground tone, for a while now. I've eaten them in the past, in England, fresh from the earth, no frills, just cooked in a little butter and thrown on the side of a healthily piled plate. I find it fascinating how the popularity of anything can be so driven by its scarceness. Only widely available in season, 2-3 weeks a year, ramps are the ultimate limited-edition food.

In the Times article on the hip "new" vegetable, the author, Josh Ozersky, makes some insightful points, comparing ramps to arugula but ultimately concluding that ramps have more of a long term potential. He doesn't seem overly blown away with their fresh, garlic-onion flavor, stating, "I don't actually believe ramps are any better or more wild-tasting than garlic chives or 860 other related wild onions that nobody pays attention to." Which may be true, I don't think I've tasted 10 different wild onions, let alone 860, so I'm hardly fit to judge. What I can tell you is that when a giant bunch of freshly picked ramps appeared in my kitchen last night (along with some delicious beer), they were quickly sprinkled with olive oil and salt and tossed into the oven that already contained our cooking dinner. Whatever anyone says about this new trend, it is most certainly a delicious one and I haven't stopped thinking about those ramps all night...