Range Finder Coffee is a small craft coffee shop in downtown Fayetteville that is named after the Argus C3, a rangefinder film camera produced from 1939 to 1966. Owner Craig Reger conceived the shop around the similarities between specialty coffee and analog photography — both involve precise techniques, timing and a trained hand. That photography influence carries into the shop’s atmosphere, with camera/photo-related décor and a generally cozy, vintage-feeling aesthetic. The concept originally operated inside Water Stone Outdoors before moving into its current brick-and-mortar location in October 2022. It serves ethically sourced beans roasted by La Terza Coffee in Cincinnati, ReAnimator Coffee in Philadelphia, MOMI in Akron, and Passenger and Necessary Coffee in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It also serves loose-leaf specialty tea from MEM Tea in Boston. The menu includes espresso, cappuccinos, cortados, Americanos, lattes, mochas, cold brew, pour-over and Japanese iced coffee, along with specialty drinks. The maple latte seems is the drink to try. The combination of maple and smoked sea salt is heavenly. Grade: A

Here's my latest column for the newspaper:

Chocolate milk is one of those nostalgic treats of my childhood, along with SpaghettiOs, Pop-Tarts and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Growing up in the ‘90s with two parents working full-time jobs, I was more often than not making oodles & noodles and bologna sandwiches for dinner. So when we could splurge on some name-brand snacks, it felt special.

Occasionally, my dad would have to work late at the tire shop, and I would tag along with the promise of receiving the ultimate treat, the king of chocolate milk: Yoo-hoo!

Except, it’s not actually chocolate milk. Don’t tell 8-year-old me that.

The chocolate drink — made with water, high-fructose corn syrup and whey — was created by Natale Olivieri in Garfield, New Jersey, in 1928. Olivieri was already in the beverage business, bottling fruit drinks, when he began experimenting with a chocolate drink that could be packaged and sold without spoiling.

The trick was heat processing. According to the familiar Yoo-hoo origin story, Olivieri got the idea after watching his wife can tomatoes and other foods at home. He adapted the concept to his chocolate drink, developing a process that allowed it to remain shelf-stable before opening. Being shelf-stable was key.

A chocolate drink that didn’t require refrigeration could travel, sit on a store shelf and be sold through the kinds of small retailers that served communities across the country.

Before convenience stores became standardized chains with enormous refrigerated drink cases, many Appalachian communities depended on small groceries, country stores, general stores, drugstores and roadside markets.

Yoo-hoo was a perfect fit.

Yoo-hoo could be tossed into a lunchbox, packed for a fishing trip or picked up at a country store along the way. It didn’t have to compete for precious refrigerator space at the store, and it could be sold in places where the selection of refrigerated beverages was limited.

It isn’t from Appalachia, but it became part of the everyday landscape of convenience stores, grocery stores, vending machines, school lunches and roadside stops — the places where generations of Appalachian kids encountered packaged food and drinks.

Like me. And SpaghettiOs, Pop-Tarts and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

The generation before mine had their own version of a chocolate drink: Chocolate Solider.

Chocolate Soldier was a carbonated chocolate-flavored soft drink produced by Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta. It was sold in glass bottles from 1966 until 1994 and was bottled in various locations around the country.

The drink’s label featured a smiling tin soldier, and the name itself had a much older literary connection. “Chocolate Soldier” was already a phrase associated with George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 play Arms and the Man, later inspiring Oscar Straus’ 1908 operetta The Chocolate Soldier.

For people who remember it, however, the literary history probably mattered considerably less than the taste.

Neither Yoo-hoo nor Chocolate Soldier needs to have been invented in West Virginia to tell us something about West Virginia food culture. Appalachian foodways have always included foods that came from somewhere else but became embedded in local life through availability, affordability and repetition.

A bottle of Yoo-hoo could be a childhood treat after school. It could ride along in the car on a family trip. It could come from a vending machine at a park or recreation area – or at your dad’s workplace.

Those memories are food history, too.

We sometimes think of Appalachian food as a list of dishes with clear geographic origins — pepperoni rolls, soup beans, ramps, buckwheat cakes. But food culture is also built from the things people bought, packed, drank and shared, even when those products originated hundreds of miles away.

Yoo-hoo is a good example. It traveled into the broader American food system and became familiar in places like Appalachia, where generations of people developed their own memories around it.

The Witten Farm is a multigenerational family farm based in Lowell, Ohio, along State Route 60 near the Muskingum River. The family traces its farming roots back to 1790 in Fly, Ohio, and the current operation began taking shape when Ralph Witten moved the family from Fly to a dairy farm near Beverly in 1958. The farm eventually moved away from dairy and concentrated on vegetables, particularly sweet corn. By 1980, Jerry Witten had shifted the farm entirely toward vegetables, and the farm began supplying wholesale produce to markets and grocery stores throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. The sweet corn is a big deal. One of the more interesting things about Witten is its midnight corn-picking tradition. Beginning in 1994, Jerry Witten started harvesting sweet corn around midnight so it could be delivered to the markets in the morning. The family says the tradition continues today, emphasizing how seriously it takes freshness. Witten also grows tomatoes, green beans, blackberries and other fruits and vegetables, while sourcing some seasonal produce elsewhere — for example, Tennessee tomatoes before its own tomatoes are ready. The first satellite Witten Farm Market opened in Marietta in 1986, followed by additional locations. The company now lists 23 markets throughout Ohio and West Virginia, including locations in Athens, Marietta, Cambridge, Zanesville, Columbus, Parkersburg, Ravenswood and Vienna. The roadside markets are part of the Witten identity. In 1998, the family created its first wagon market, converting an old watermelon wagon into a produce stand; in 2003, the now-recognizable red-and-white-striped wagons became part of the company’s expansion. There’s also a flower component. Starting in 1995, Witten expanded into flowers, hanging baskets and bedding plants, and several of its markets now combine produce and flowers. The Winchester Pike Market in Columbus is Witten’s year-round operation. It sells produce and flowers and has a bakery, and the farm says it now also serves freshly brewed and specialty coffee in its schoolhouse. Witten is essentially a family farm that evolved into a regional network of farm markets while retaining its own agricultural production. That’s probably the most interesting part of the story: it’s not simply a chain of produce stands buying everything wholesale — the Witten family actually farms, with sweet corn remaining one of its signature crops.

"Mountain Magnolia is a charming artisan co-op and gift shop nestled at 211 W Maple Ave Fayetteville, WV. We offer a diverse range of souvenirs, artwork, non-perishable goods, and delectable baked treats. Visit us at the gateway of The New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia's only national park, and pick up some goodies and gifts to commemorate your visit," reads their website. They had a number of vendors, including Owl Mountain Farm Sanctuary. They have lots of pickled goods and sauces. There were several treats available, including gluten-free and vegan options: chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon rolls, white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, vegan blueberry croissants, gluten-free chocolate cookies, strawberry cream chese danishes, and more. The cookie I tried was not bad, though it's likely the stock isn't turned over often since they were not super busy. Grade: B

Wylde Berry Bakery was an allergen-friendly bakery in Fayetteville that unfortunately shuttered. Every item was gluten-free, vegan, and nut-free. They had everything from cinnamon rolls to lemon mini cakes. I had a berry muffin from the refrigerator, and while it wasn’t bad, it was fairly average for a gluten-free pastry. The crumb was a little denser and less tender than a traditional muffin, with modest berry flavor throughout. It’s a perfectly serviceable option if you’re looking for something gluten-free, but it didn’t particularly stand out in either flavor or texture. Grade: C