Judith Hausman

Judith Hausman is a long-time freelance food writer she has written about every aspect of food, but local producers and artisanal traditions remain closest to her heart. Eating close to home takes this seasonal eater through a journey of delights and dilemmas, one tiny deck garden, farmers’ market discovery and easy-as-pie recipe at a time. She writes from a still-bucolic but ever-more-suburban town in the New York City 'burbs.
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For Judith Hausman, food is a way to understand the world. The evolution of cultures; the trends and beliefs of a certain time period; the landscape of a region: All of these are reflected in what people eat. Hausman had the privilege to write about every facet of that fascinating prism: chefs and home cooks, ingredients and products, businesses and trends, growers and artisans, and controversies and organizations. She was the restaurant critic for more than 10 years for The Journal News (Gannett Suburban Newspapers), a Zagats Survey local editor for three years, and her work has also appeared in Edible Nutmeg, Lilith, Gastronomica, The Valley Table, Westchester Magazine and New York House.

In recent years, locally grown, seasonal and handmade food is what Hausman is most passionate about. As a feature writer and blogger for Urban Farm and Hobby Farm Home, she often explores the food, producers and chefs of the beautiful and historic Hudson Valley in New York —, the "Napa of the East," as its farmers, winemakers and urban foodies like to call it.

Hausman's vegetable growing takes place with a group of great garden-mates at a unique suburban farm. The group tends the large growing area together, shares the bounty and even gets together to can applesauce. Hausman helped write the story of that farm, Rainbeau Ridge, and of the cheesemaker who owns it in the gardening group's 2009 book, Over the Rainbeau: Living the Dream of Sustainable Farming. She also manages deck pots of tomatoes, flowers and herbs in her rocky, lakeside backyard.

Hausman has a master's in education from Boston University and in addition to her career in culinary journalism, she continues to teach English as a second language at a nearby community college.

Hausman eats nearly everything except offal, but the way to her heart is a perfect apple pie.