Tomato pie is a Southern classic that's perfect for showcasing the bounty of tomato season. Whether you serve it hot or cold, for breakfast with a fried egg on top, lunch, or dinner, this dish is always a crowd-pleaser.

In Japan, mid-August is time to celebrate Obon, a multi-day Buddhist festival that honors the spirits of the ancestors, much like the Mexican Day of the Dead. Huge numbers of city people travel to their hometowns to visit their family graves and altars, where they update the departed on what’s happening in their lives and present offerings of food for their spirits.

For a few summers in college, I worked at a peach orchard and vegetable farm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It was there I had my first heirloom tomato and subsequently, my first heirloom tomato sandwich.

Sun tea is straight from the summers of my childhood. On hot sunny days when we were home, my mom would break out bags of black tea, place them in a pitcher with lots of water and set it out in the sunshine for sun tea.