In Season

Ramp Rage: Amanda Cohen Says ‘Ramps Are for Worship, Not for Dinner’

Photo: iStockPhoto

Ramps are running, well, rampant this spring — you can find them at Northern Spy Food Co. and Tenpenny. Ciano is doing ramp gnocchi. Eater did a roundup of still more places serving ramps. Marc Forgione tells us he’ll start doing a ramp tasting menu next week (see it here), and David Santos of Hotel Griffou tells us he’s doing a ramp dinner on April 20 — $89 gets you seven courses paired with wine (ramp vinaigrette! ramp pistou! ramp ricotta! ramp pomme puree!). Heck, Hudson, New York, is even hosting its first-ever Ramp Fest, featuring Fatty ’Cue, Back Forty, and others. Gothamist brings still more ramp options today, but the best part of the post is the response that reporter Garth Johnston got when he asked Dirt Candy’s Amanda Cohen if she was cooking with ramps.

Hey Garth,

Cook with ramps? Are you crazy? Cook with the God of All Vegetables
whose coming is greeted every spring with hosannas and hymns? I
wouldn’t dare to cook with the most holy of all vegetables. I have a
shrine to ramps and I pray to them three times a day and you want me
to lay hands on them and COOK them? Ramps are for worship, not for
dinner.

I am outraged by this email and I’m only going to assume that your
sick and blasphemous suggestion was made because you’re young and
trying to get some “shock value.”

Ramps see all and they are not happy with you. Pray for forgiveness,
young Garth. Pray to the ramps against which you have sinned,
Amanda

Restaurants Are Ramping Up For Spring, But One Chef Refuses To Cook Them [Gothamist]

Ramp Rage: Amanda Cohen Says ‘Ramps Are for Worship, Not for Dinner’