Local Limelight with food historian Marcie Cohen Ferris

Marcie Cohen Ferris is the editor of the new book "Edible North Carolina: A Journey across a State of Flavor," a collection of essays, photographs, interviews, and recipes that portray the complexities of North Carolina's contemporary food scene.

Axios chatted with Cohen Ferris for our recurring "Local Limelight" series. Here are her picks:

🍕 Favorite Triangle restaurant: Pizzeria Mercato (in Carrboro) is delicious. We eat a lot at Kitchen in Chapel Hill. And I have to mention Seabird, down in Wilmington.

What the Triangle is missing: Small processing and butchering facilities, so that small farmers can do more of that locally. Those smaller food processing facilities are critical to the food system.

📱 Your first read in the morning? Email and the New York Times.

📖 Last great book you read: Two come to mind. "Crying in H Mart" by Michelle Zauner. As a food writer, it has incredibly beautiful writing. And then, Emily Meggett’s "Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island."

🎧 Go-to podcast: The BBC's "Fortunately... with Fi and Jane."

🌊 Favorite long weekend spot: Wrightsville Beach. Motts Seafood in Wrightsville Beach is a really important experience for me.

🎓 How did you end up in the Triangle? We came about 22 years ago when my husband Bill had just finished being the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities in D.C. Bill was offered a professorship at UNC, and I finished up my doctorate here and began as a visiting professor.

🍷 How do you unwind at the end of the day? We have a glass of wine, some pretzels and we walk our dog Albe. He's a white lab and he’s from the Albemarle.

Of note: Catch Cohen Ferris discussing her latest book at McIntyre’s Books (July 9), Quail Ridge Books (July 14) and Letters Bookshop (July 21).