The final result is a creamy, rich tomato sauce flecked with salty pancetta, sweet tomatoes and luscious cream.

WSJ: Ruth Rogers's Pappardelle With Stewed Pancetta and Creamy Tomato Sauce | Slow Food Fast

The elegance of his panna cotta with baby peas, finger lime "caviar" and crisp rice flakes was the prelude to a meal that included the best pasta dish I've ever had: maccheroncini, freshly made by the chef's mother, tossed with tomato water, morel mushrooms, sweet datterini tomatoes, fava beans and broccoli rabe.

WSJ: La Nouvelle Veg: European Haute-Cuisine Goes Green

Sweet blueberries and cherries have made way for peaches (already at their peak), tomatoes, melons and sweet corn.

FORBES: The Summer Bounty from Farm to City

In a display of trend-consciousness, each night focused on an ingredient in season locally: Menus were built around watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, lobster and sweet corn.

WSJ: Pop-Ups Are Taking Over the Kitchen

The iron stove had a cast-iron warmer on the top, and in that warmer would be pork roasts and pork chops and fried chicken, two gallon pots of butter beans with salt pork, navy beans with ham bone, rattlesnake beans glistening with bacon fat, pans of chicken and dressing, macaroni and cheese, cornbread and cathead biscuits, mounds of mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, skillets of fried green tomatoes.

NPR: Excerpt: 'The Prince of Frogtown'

Every summer, when he smells the first sweet tomato from his yard, he remembers a story from several years ago, involving tomatoes, basil, olive oil, champagne and a light bulb.

NPR: Summer Food: Blueberries, Texas Caviar, Tomatoes