Frugal Nosh
I first heard the word nosh from my late father, a New York native and forever the most influential foodie in my life. He used to describe it like "noshing on a bagel and schmear while walking around Manhattan."
I'm sure that's not the most technical description, but I love the idea and also anything that involves bagels and cream cheese is very extra in my opinion.
Frugal Nosh combines three things I'm passionate about: a love of food, sharing food with people, and the ideals of making the best with what we have. Frugality has such negative connotations, surrounded by mean words like "stingy" and "penny-pinching" and even "tightwad," but I really like the derivatives from the original Latin that mean "virtuous" and "to enjoy." Sharing a warming meal and gathering around a table together is one of the greatest pleasures in life.
Even King Solomon was hip to this jive. He wrote over and over again about how cool and fun it is to love and enjoy food. "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man." Have truer words ever been spoken?
Welcome. I am so glad you're here.
Kelsey Ramos-Conroy
I am a wife, mother, and friend. I spent over 20 years living in California without realizing how good I had it food-wise. I still miss fresh peaches from the orchard down the road and perfect Mexican rice and beans, but am pretty happy at the foot of the mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah, now.
Frugal Nosh was born after I moved to Los Angeles as a college student. I was in this metropolitan food haven, surrounded by every Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean culinary delight, seemingly on every corner - but how could I possibly afford to try all of them on a student's budget? With careful budgeting and a really impressive array of minimum-wage jobs to support my hobby, I was able to explore the early food truck phenomenon, write about deals and specials and ways to score free food, and I found some hidden gems that I almost didn't write about for fear of spoiling the best-kept secrets in L.A. (But I shared them anyway. You're welcome.)
I spent a stint writing and web-producing for the features sections at the Los Angeles Times, including Food, Home & Garden, Travel, and Health. After I left the newspaper and moved to Salt Lake City, I continued blogging and writing about food throughout life’s changes (read: starting a business, becoming a mother). I am now proud of and deeply committed to the food culture of my now-permanent home in SLC - come visit us sometime. It's only an hour flight from the Bay Area and I'll even tell you my favorite bagel spot.
Kelsey Ramos-Conroy spends most of her time wrangling her lovely children, and the rest of it as Community Manager at Long Winter Studios, an independent animation studio. She is also an avid climber, skier, hiker, swimmer and, of course, eater. Follow her @frugalnosh or contact her here.
