Melissa Clark’s Ginger Pork Meatballs with Cilantro and Fish Sauce, featuring pastured pork from Sage Farm via Sutter Meats.

Christina Barber-Just
College Relations
Instagram: @cbarberjust

Cooking

Christina Barber-Just is the associate editor of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly. She lives in Leverett with her wife, Sara; their 13-year-old twin sons, Henry and Jackson; and a cat named Tulip.

Judy Rodgers’ Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad, featuring a pastured chicken from Underline Farm via Tuesday Market.

Christina has been combining her love of words with her love of food since college, when she wrote her first restaurant review—of a sushi joint in Worcester, Mass.—for a student magazine. She went on to write a popular biweekly dining column, No Reservations, for Hampshire Life magazine while working at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton.

Mark Bittman’s Ginger Cucumber Salad with Scallops, featuring Provincetown dayboat scallops from Red’s Best via BerkShore Seafood.

When No Reservations ended its run, Christina shifted her focus to home cooking. A self-taught cook, food stylist, and photographer, she makes dinner from scratch almost every night. She posts many of her finished dishes on Instagram, often accompanied by step-by-step photos and videos. Her images have been shared by NYT Cooking (with its 2.3 million followers), Anova Culinary, Mark Bittman, Sous Vide Nation, and more.

Alexa Weibel’s Roasted Tomato Tart with Ricotta and Pesto, featuring organic tomatoes from Astarte Farm, hand-dipped ricotta from Maplebrook Farm, and homemade pesto.

Christina loves kitchen gadgets, especially her sous vide machine, blowtorch, and wood-fired grill. She values local, sustainable ingredients and enjoys building relationships with Valley farmers and purveyors. She is a particularly big fan of BerkShore Seafood and Sutter Meats (where she once took a pork butchery class), and she’s a familiar face at Northampton’s Tuesday Market. Last summer, the market invited her to do its first-ever Instagram takeover; she made chef Judy Rodgers’ famous Zuni Roast Chicken using a whole bird from market vendor Underline Farm.

Erin French’s Razor Clam Ceviche, featuring razor clams from BerkShore Seafood.

For the past five years, Christina has served as a regional panelist for the James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Awards, which honor culinary professionals. As much of a privilege as this is, nothing makes her happier than planning meals and cooking dinner for her family using the terrific ingredients the Valley has to offer.

Pictured above are some of her recent favorites.