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Our cave-dwelling ancestors got a few things right. Jenna Shannon tells us about the meat-centered paleo diet that got her to give up vegetarianism.A ready-to-eat paleo meal from Kettlebell Kitchen: grilled hanger steak, butternut-squash purée, and braised collard greens. Photo courtesy of Kettlebell Kitchen. Jenna Shannon spent 10 years as a vegetarian. Today, she’s an evangelist for a way of eating that’s all about meat.She says that while vegetarianism complemented her yoga practice, she knew she wasn’t feeling her best. So she did a dietary 180 and started eating paleo. Today, she swears by that meat-and-veggies approach: she’s written a book, and she also offers dietary coaching and writes about eating paleo on her website, Lean Machine NYC. For Jenna, the best part is seeing her clients get results. “It just makes my day,” she says.The paleo diet focuses on high-quality proteins, such as meat, fish, and eggs; vegetables; fruits; and healthy fats. It also eliminates grains, dairy, and legumes. Proponents argue that it’s the food humans evolved to eat. They’re “the foods we were eating before the Agricultural Revolution,” says Joe Lopez, president of Kettlebell Kitchen, which delivers ready-to-heat meals to CrossFit gyms across New York City.But it’s not all about cavemen. “The paleo diet, first and foremost, tries to eliminate processed foods and added sugars and things that shouldn’t be in your diet,” Joe says. While some people’s systems “may have evolved to be able to handle grains and dairy,” he says many people don’t realize these ingredients are causing “inflammation” in their systems.Both Jenna and Joe say they want others to discover the benefits of eating paleo—things like fewer hunger ups and downs, more steady insulin levels, and better workouts. New York City may not have caves, woolly mammoths, or lost time travelers blundering through the underbrush, but Jenna and Joe have plenty of tips for making the paleo lifestyle work here.Eating OutJenna says that the meat and vegetables nature of the paleo diet actually lends itself well to ordering at a restaurant. Paleo meals are “based on a protein, and that’s how chefs build their meals,” she says.She says that more upscale restaurants tend to use the kind of high-quality oils extolled by paleo proponents. But adherents still have to be careful. “There’s a lot of research that has shown that canola oils and vegetable oils are not good for you, especially when heated at high temperatures. They oxidize,” Joe says. “Some restaurants even reuse oils over and over.”Jenna and Joe both recommend Hu Kitchen, which focuses on unprocessed, natural foods. The chefs often cook with coconut oil, and they use grass-fed meat and other quality ingredients. Joe also enjoys ABC Kitchen, which brings in ingredients from local farms. Jenna’s family loves Monster Sushi for the “giant slabs of raw fish.” Paleo eaters should look for sashimi on sushi menus, she says.For people who want to go a little meat-crazy, Jenna says Brazilian churrascaria restaurants—renowned for their endless rounds of roasted meat—can be a fun choice.Grocery Shopping“New York has become a great place to be a home cook,” Jenna says. “That wasn’t always the case; it used to be all about the restaurants.” Today, you can find high-quality food at places such as Chelsea Market and Whole Foods, she says. Joe seconds the Whole Foods recommendation “because you can see exactly what you’re getting in your meals, and you can find paleo options.”But what you bring home is more important than where you shop. “It’s becoming possible for people to get very high-quality meat from very caring farmers and producers,” especially in New York State, Jenna says. “That’s important: to buy your products from people who really care about you (the consumer), the product they’re producing, and the environment.”“Keep your refrigerator stocked with [fruits and vegetables]—especially vegetables,” Joe says. That way, you’ll be a lot more likely to chow down on something healthy.Cooking at Home“The key to [eating paleo] is definitely learning to make some paleo recipes,” Jenna says. “If you can learn to make 5 to 10 really kick-ass recipes and they’re good,” the paleo diet will be a lot easier, she says.To build a paleo meal, Jenna says “you always want to start with your protein and build from there.” Next come vegetables and fats. Joe’s list of healthy fats includes coconut oil, macadamia oil, sesame oil, and olive oil.But don’t stop at a single meal when you’re cooking. One of the hardest components of eating paleo can be the need to cook more often—hence the niche market for Kettlebell Kitchen’s ready-to-eat paleo meals. When you can’t stop for fast food or microwave a frozen dinner, it’s more important to be prepared with your own healthy cooking. That’s why Joe recommends doubling up on ingredient prep. “If I steam a bunch of broccoli and carrots the night before, I’ll put it in a scramble with eggs for breakfast,” he says.Jenna says that a lot of recipes are actually pretty simple because they’re focused on high-quality ingredients that taste great all on their own. “You wouldn’t want to mess with a strawberry because it’s fantastic,” she says. You could say that’s the whole point of the paleo diet. It’s less about living like a caveman and more about regaining our ancestors’ simple appreciation for food.

Rockaway! is a summer-long art exhibit celebrating the reopening of Fort Tilden, which was closed for two years after damage from Hurricane Sandy. Put on through a collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art’s contemporary museum, PS1, and local artist and community groups, the show’s big draw is a large exhibit by musician, writer, artist, and Rockaway resident Patti Smith. But there’s a lot more to explore there, especially when combined with a beach day. Follow our guide to navigating the historic site and the accompanying exhibit, whose works center around the connection between place, objects, and memory. The Chapel Walk into Fort Tilden, and the first exhibit area you’ll see is an old white building—the restored Fort Tilden chapel. Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Piece Motet takes over the bare and musty space with 40 speakers, each of which amplifies the voice of one singer performing their part of a complicated 16th-century choral piece. Walking among the speakers offers endless ways to hear the song; it felt personal and almost wrong to be walking among them, like sidling up to a chorister in the middle of a performance. The surround-sound effect feels even more intense when you look out the windows toward the peaceful beach. At the chapel, grab a brochure (with a handy map inside) and rely on volunteers to direct you to the other exhibits. Rockaway Artists Alliance Gallery A few hundred feet to the west, you can see what looks like an abandoned factory overgrown with scrubby trees. This houses the next exhibit, which you enter by going through the Rockaway Artists Alliance Gallery. The community nonprofit group’s gallery hosts Patti Smith’s photographs, which are a lifelong catalog of the objects and places dear to her: ex-lover and close friend Robert Mapplethorpe’s grave, Frida Kahlo’s corset, her own work boots. The photos are all shot on film in black and white, adding a layer of ghostliness to the surviving objects of dead people. Smith isn’t the best photographer, but it’s interesting to see a curated selection of a woman who seems to have traveled everywhere. Try to nab one of the scarce gallery guides at the front desk because, like the entire Rockaway! exhibit, signage is rare here but would be useful. (Skip the attached exhibit honoring Walt Whitman, which is stingy: a few unexplained relics in a display box, a dozen tattered copies of his books, a forgettable movie. You probably remember more about him from high school than you’ll learn here.) The Resilience of the Dreamer Across a small garden path is an old auto garage housing Smith’s installation, The Resilience of the Dreamer. A gilded four-poster bed, draped with white linens hanging from the high ceilings and lit by punched-out skylights, looks like a dream or a ghost. It's also a reminder that, despite its upbeat exclamation point, all of Rockaway! sprang from the traumas of Hurricane Sandy. Smith based Resilience on beds she saw washed ashore after the disaster. Around Fort Tilden Sprinkled throughout the grounds, a careful eye will catch a few of the little birds’ nests created by Adrián Villar Rojas. The low, slouching bowls are very difficult to find, looking for all the world like real nests—a small offering of home for a community where many were left homeless just two years ago. Granite blocks Smith inscribed with fragments of poems by Whitman stand along the shore road of Fort Tilden, almost at the western edge and close to the beach. We recommend taking a break in the sand before heading back to the bus stop and jumping on the Q22 bus, which will drop you off two blocks from the Rockaway Beach Surf Club. Rockaway Beach Surf Club The exhibit at the surf club features artwork by locals and notable artists, though no piece really stands out on its own. Granted, the large shack that makes up the surf club seems dim compared to the distracting, sun-drenched patio right outside. Grab a drink (cans of PBR are $3, a dark and stormy is $9) and take note of a few pieces of art before you run outside: Above the ATM is Camille Henrot’s Tropics of Love, a grid of nine tawdry and tender portraits of half-animals, half-humans coupled up. To the right of the bathrooms is Allyson Vieira’s Aphrodite I, a delicate ink drawing of an octopus that shows the artist’s very light and precise hand. Tom Sachs’s Tides at Rockaway Beach is the largest piece on the wall to the left as you walk in. At first, Sachs’s work looks like a schedule of upcoming tides, but looking more closely, it’s clear this is actually a schedule of deaths, listing men’s and women’s life expectancy against their age today. In short, Sachs’s work tells you how much longer you’re statistically likely to live. The subject matter is creepy, even though its handmade, graffiti-esque aesthetic fits right in with this local bar. Now, step out into the sun. Out back, surfers stash their boards in lockers, locals talk shop in flip-flops, and pilgrims from Manhattan let loose. A new Southern-style food truck sells meaty sandwiches (with one vegan option) and killer sweet-potato fries. Enjoy this last phase of your visit to the Rockaways—from there, it’s a half-block walk to the subway and back to reality. Rockaway! at a Glance When to go: Open and free to the public Thursday–Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. until September 1. The Rockaway Beach Surf Club exhibit is also open to the public free of charge Monday–Friday from noon to midnight and Saturday–Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight. The Forty Piece Motet by Janet Cardiff will only be open through Sunday, August 17. How to get there: Take the 5 or 2 to the last stop in Brooklyn, Flatbush Ave./ Brooklyn College, and walk a block to the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue H, in front of Target. From there, catch the Q35 bus toward the Rockaways, getting off at the first stop after crossing the Marine Parkway Bridge. What to bring: At Fort Tilden, water and food are scarce but surf and sand are plenty, so pack a towel, swimsuit, sunblock, water, and snacks. Photos by Kasia Mychajlowycz.

Ah, candy. It’s the universal childhood reward for being good, for completing a job well done, or sometimes just because. For people aged eight to eighty, nothing offers quite the same positive reinforcement as a piece of candy. The good news for any homesick expatriates or weary world travelers with a layover in New York City is this town’s abundance of candy shops, many of which serve international treats that can be hard to find outside of their country of origin. First a bit of classic American nostalgia, courtesy of Economy Candy on the Lower East Side. Established in 1937, it is one of New York City’s oldest candy stores, and after seven decades it has amassed quite a collection of candy brands, including rare local brands thought to be no longer made. The cramped aisles are packed with assorted sweets and confections from New York City and throughout the world. From Haribo gummy bears to cola bottles and rare brand gums and candies, there is something for every sweet tooth at Economy Candy. Mixed nuts, chocolates, dried fruit and loose candy assortments can be bought by the pound. Just expect to fight for space in the overwhelming storefront on weekends, thanks to a large influx of late morning Lower East Side brunchers. At Aji Ichiban on Mott Street in Chinatown, candy lovers maneuver around rows of tidy transparent bins full of Chinese, Japanese and other East Asian candies, plus dried fruits and random chocolates. Preserved plums (an acquired taste for some), kumquats and kiwis are just a few of the typical traditional Chinese candies that can be found here. For Western-style candy lovers, there is the ubiquitous gummy selection: soft, colorful and fruity bears, fried eggs (they taste like vanilla orange cream), alligators and others. But it’s not all about sweets here; a selection of savory Asian snacks from dried seaweed crackers to wasabi rice crisps give customers an opportunity to try some Asian-style alternatives to popcorn and potato chips. At Sockerbit on Christopher Street in The West Village, the clean storefront is stuffed with a wide variety of Scandinavian smågodis, or little candies. Selections like marshmallows, licorice and hard candies will look and taste nostalgic even to non-Scandinavians, thanks to lots of natural ingredients in the candies themselves. Here, candy lovers can mix and match, and come out with a colorful bag of cheery, interesting goodies.