When it comes to food, language is never a barrier for Aaron Oster. It’s the reason he became a chef and it’s what has drawn him to Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard. “Everywhere in the world there is a Slow Food group of people who want the same thing.

Lately I’ve been thinking about Island hearts. With the opportunity to write this, my first Gazette article and the launch of what I hope will become a regular column about nutrition, I’d like to focus on our community of hearts.

What can we as individuals do nutritionally to protect and strengthen them? There are dozens of foods known to help fight heart disease, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke. What follows are a few of my favorites, with some tips on how to include them in your diet.

For a buck a shuck and a dance with Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group has Saturday night covered.

John Clift has been the sommelier and beverage director at Atria in Edgartown for nine years. For six months of the year he works every single day at the restaurant, and now at Hooked, too. For the rest of the year he travels for both business and pleasure, which in his case amounts to the same activity. He visits wineries all over the world. This past winter he visited California, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Italy, Egypt and Abu Dhabi.

This description of Mr. Clift’s off-season lifestyle is not intended to generate envy, although it certainly could.