Food news antipasto

Reading raw numbers of infections and deaths does little to illustrate the personal toll the coronavirus is taking on individuals. One story that puts names to the numbers in a visceral way involves food, which makes the impact even greater for a food lover like me. The Charleston Post-Courier published a story about a handful of coronavirus victims that includes the holiday recipes that they will not be making for their families this year. Make sure you have a tissue at hand when you read this article.

Beloved author Rose Levy Beranbaum recently announced a series of 26 new videos to accompany her book Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. The videos are part of the first enhanced kindle cookbook for Amazon. The first episode is on the topic of sugar. Rose also has a YouTube channel that features over 150 videos spanning over 30 years from her television and video appearances.

Alison Roman has been on hiatus from NYT Cooking for several months, following her online row with Chrissy Teigen. In a recent Instagram post, she announced that she will not be returning to the newspaper. “Feels like a good time to formally mention I won’t be returning to NYT Cooking. I’m proud of the work we made together but excited for this new chapter,” she told followers on Wednesday.

We’ve published several gift guides for all of the food lovers on your list, but if all of those wonderful options just aren’t enough, you should head over to The New Yorker to read Helen Rosner’s food (and food-adjacent) gift guide. From eleven feet of salami to a $420 martini glass, Rosner list has an eye-popping array of options (with several more practical ones than those listed here). Her guide is so persuasive I just put a $150 box of tropical fruit into an online shopping cart. Lord grant me to the willpower not to press ‘Submit Order’.

Photos of Sicilian pistachio cake and Chocolate tweed angel food cake from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum