All of these are fine, but there is nothing like a perfectly ripe fig, oozing honey-like fig nectar.
Potato chips, fries, sugar-laden ice cream and pie, sausage -- should this be article be called "The most unhealthy foods of summer, ranked?"
3
I like spicy tasty food but not food or drinks that are salty, sugary or sweetened with any sweetners.
Like many who are overweight to varying extent, I find it hard to lose weight and I eat to live a healthy life style.
So let me share my humble opinion on some of the food items that have been mentioned. Let us start with water melon. It has been my most favorite refreshing fruit growing up in a hot and humid place. In this century I found out that water melon is a rich source of lycopene, an anticancer compound found also in tomatoes but it is also a sugary fruit especially if you are like me and prefer a sweet firm seedless water melon.
I would prefer a peach to any other fruit when I buy a basket of juicy sun ripened peaches on the road side on the way to Luray Caverns in Shenandoah Valley, VA.
I never fry fries but I have developed a preference for unsalted reduced oil waffle fries with skin at Chik-Fil-a or the unsalted skinny fries at MacDonalds as a source of Potassium, Vitamins and minerals. When I am at Martin's BBQ, I like their heavenly potato chips with skin and a generous portion of Memphis chili powder rub.
I often eat Lay's Classic potato chips as a source of potassium instead of a potassium supplement.
There was a time growing up when I loved roasted corn with lemon and chilli powder, I consume corn rarely now. The last corn on the cob smothered with spices was at the stall next to the Seattle Needle. Sausage only with sauerkraut and low fat.
2
How can you rank foods like this? De gustibus non est disputandum; it should be titled "Foods Our Writers Like."
Besides, showing ketchup on a hotdog undercuts the credibility of the rankings.
1
I came from India - Summer = Mangoes.
Everything else does not count.
2
Loved your ranking of the best. Brought back memories of steamy New Jersey summer weekend fare: Jersey Shore boardwalk sausage and pepper sandwiches (samwiches), fudgsicles, Jersey tomatoes and yes corn is the summer’s best vegetable!!
1
There is just something arrogant about labelling something “The Best.” Especially when it is open to personal opinion and taste. There may certainly be a best car, or a best washing machine based on reliability, features, cost, etc. But best food? That is a matter of taste, and to think your taste is better than mine is, well arrogant.
1
Boerewors is a must have on your sausage list!
1
Wild blueberries, rasberries. steamed clams, steamed lobster, and corn on the cob are among my favorite summer pleasures.
3
It's difficult to believe anyone in NYC has access to just-picked sweet corn. I've had "fresh" sweet corn in expensive restaurants that was scarcely edible. Corn is for the gods when it's eaten immediately after picking, the kernels sticky...
As for tomatoes, same thing. Just off the vine, great. Canned? Good lord!
The Connecticut River Valley is 75 minutes away and has the best sweet corn on the planet. Modern transportation gets CT River Valley sweet corn to the City in less than two hours.
No! NJ has the best corn (and tomatoes). :)
What a wonderful way to start the summer season this Memorial Day weekend reading all the sensual descriptive picnic food prose written by those talented NY Times writers. My taste buds have been teased and aroused. The accompanying seductive photos of all the summer favorites just makes my want to reach into the icy waters of a cooler to grab an ice cold beer treasure buried under the icebergs.
Oh, that crunch and exploding juices of biting into the first ear of sweet summer corn, piping hot off the grill, slightly charred and dripping in butter, is pure summer heaven. If you grill it, they will come!
2
No clams on the half shell???
Wait. I just realized something. The authors of this article must be Donald Trump's White House chefs!
2
What about 1. a perfect pitcher of sangria? 2. A perfect batch of gazpacho? 3. a perfect plate of deviled or pickled eggs?
1
A photo at the header would have been so much nicer than the annoying gif of the sliced watermelon. I had to put my hand over the gif as I read other articles next to it because the movement was so distracting. If I could type one-handed, I would be covering it right now as it bothering me as I type this.
7
I'm happy I'm not the only one, Sawdust. This compulsion for movement, apparently to attract non-readers, is annoying.
I've read the Times for more than half a century, and I am less and less happy with it. The Web site is crowded, with some happy feature blaring for attention, and this comments section is more trouble than it's worth....
I can't even find the best place to complain. It's like dealing with Comcast....
1
Best fruit: homegrown peach. Aside from eating straight off the tree, David Lebovitz’ peach ice cream with sour cream is a great use of peaches.
Best vegetable: tomato. There’s a reason we just planted 23 tomato plants and no corn plants.
2
Potato Fries: the best of all are baked fries - crispy, crunchy, with rich potato taste. You can make them spicy or not - with paprika, garlic, pepper, etc. And not even included in your list of fries - shame!
A BLT made with the best homegrown, ripe tomatoes (usually in late July/early Aug in my area), homegrown corn, homegrown strawberries (maybe next week!), a juicy peach eaten by itself or with a tiny bit of brown sugar, Orange flesh melons (SO much better than a cantaloupe!), lobster on the beach - these are a few of "my favorite things" in summer.
3
A peach, or a nectarine, that has to be eaten while standing over the kitchen sink. Then soupcon of watermelon, to clean the palate, before enjoying fresh blackberries right out of the basket. Repeat watermelon, a handful of strawberries from the Mid-west (the little ones), watermelon, blueberries, watermelon, apricot, watermelon and end with sweet cherries. Repeat as necessary.
4
My summers aren't complete without an icy cold root beer float on a sunny Saturday afternoon or enjoying a class of homemade lemonade while viewing the sunset from our back yard. Nothing says summer like relishing these cold drinks on a hot August day.
4
Kielbasa: None finer than Kowalski Kowality from Michigan!
2
An ice cream sandwich. The kind you might find in a freezer at the gas station. Not the fancy ones.
4
This is Summer - Sweet Corn, Lake Erie South Shore Peaches (if a late frost in the Spring didn't ruin the crop), Peach Cobbler, Hot Dogs (preferably at a baseball game); and Lake Erie Perch.
2
Am I the only reader who is bored silly by these incessant lists of the "best" foods and meals? Particularly when it comes to eating the fresh produce of summer, come on: It's all good! (While I confess to a special fondness for tomato sandwiches with nothing more than mayonnaise and black peppe, I don't necessarily have to call that the "best" meal of summer.)
10
Fresh blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. But first batch of picked berries gets eaten with milk poured over;the various bugs go every which way but you slurp those up as well!
1
How could juicy peaches be improved upon by cooking with sugar, fat, and flour? And summer tomatoes, raspberries, bing cherries, Blenheim apricots...these are all short-lived treasures that, for me, are far too precious to cook!
3
Tiny littleneck clams, steamed in white wine with a few thin slices of leek. Can theoretically be made any time, of year, but tastes like summer to me because it reminds me of back-yard parties as a kid!
3
Nothing better than just picked farm stand corn, sweet,juicy peaches, and wonderful fat tomatoes. My idea of heaven. And only in the summer, for a limited time.
7
Also: Boardwalk fried clam strips. Served in a cone or cardboard with tartar sauce. Takes me back to toddler-memories of Point Pleasant, NJ....
5
Best beach picnic food=soft shell crab sandwiches. Bake crabs with Old Bay the night before. Mayo up a potato bun, put crab inside, wrap. Eat with rose' wine or ice cold beer if drinking is OK on said beach. Eat with Utz potato chips.
6
Thick-sliced Jersey tomato (sorry, anything else is second best). For summer in a sandwich, toasted whole-grain bread, light smear of spicy mustard, light smear of mayo, thin-sliced onion rings, 3-4 whole basil leaves.
2
I would go simpler. Just mayo, perfect tomato, and black pepper on good bread.
4
Of course on the sandwich also a couple of thick slices of Jersey tomato. I see I forgot to mention that!
1
Since when are French fries a summer food? That's the last thing I think of when I think of summer eating. Chips maybe but fries....?
5
Sometimes chips and fries are the same thing...
1
Boardwalk fries
Seeded watermelon, when available, is right near the top of the best fruit there is. These are crisper, sweeter and packed with refreshing juiciness.
The always available seedless ones, have very little taste.
2
I'd say you've about covered it. The fresh vegetables of summer are my greatest joy and I don't mind the warmer weather too much either.
4
In the category of best beach foods, I don't think anything can top a tray of fried chicken from Stop 'n Shop, unless it's when your friends show up with a second tray of fried chicken from Stop 'n Shop. (Unfortunately, the seagulls agree with me.)
6
Watermelon looks great. But the picture of the fries leaves much to be desired: ideal fries should be crunchy on the outside and their inside melt in the mouth, and they should above all have no aftertaste of oil.
6
No contest. Tomatoes and corn on the cob. The only things I like about summer.
5
Game on: a perfect peach.
17
Even a ugly peach. Blemished and misshapen is fine as long as it's ripe and as local as possible.
1