Edible Delmarva: High Summer 2019

Two of the loveliest words in the English language are family and summer, and in this issue we celebrate both.

For some in Delmarva, local family ties are long and deep, with each generation building on what has come before. Others land here by circumstance or serendipity, finding a place to call home and a fresh start. Whatever brought you to Delmarva, it’s easy to see why people stay: warm, friendly communities and human-sized towns, plus a thriving food and drink culture where the harvest-to-table distance is short and entrepreneurial ideas can blossom.

Six years ago, when Jaime Windon landed on the Eastern Shore for a quick summer of fun, she never dreamed she’d turn her artisan rum hobby into the thriving Lyon Distilling, much less go on to establish the Maryland Distillers Guild and even become a town commissioner. Ditto for sister Jessi, who “came to help” when the distillery opened and never looked back. The two sisters have never worked harder and never been more connected–to each other, to their business, and to their community.

For Lisa DiFebo-Osias, a love for food inherited from both sides of her large Italian family was just the beginning. Summers spent at the Delaware beaches turned into business opportunities, then leaving to perfect her craft, and returning to head up three local iconic eponymous restaurants with her boundless energy both in the kitchen and out in the community. But through all the comings and goings, the expansion and enhancements, family remains at the center of everything Lisa does.

Few local roots run deeper than the ones on Smith Island, where the lives of watermen and their families for generations have echoed the cadence of the Chesapeake Bay that surrounds them. The gifted efforts of the locals to harvest the Bay’s bounty are only matched by the gifted efforts of local cooks like Missy Evans, who have a way of turning the soft shell crab harvest into some of the most delicious food on the planet and making all who join in–wherever you may be–feel like part of the Smith Island family. 

For us at Edible Delmarva, all of you–readers, advertisers, writers, photographers, chefs, farmers, lovers of food and drink and all things local–are such an important part of our Edible family. We count on you to partner with us and encourage us to reach higher, tell us stories and introduce us to new places and people, and generally marvel that all of us are lucky enough to be part of this incredible community.

So as the season continues on with all its delicious abundance, here’s to celebrating family and summer and everything that means to you! ­