Food news antipasto

Today is Juneteenth (although it will be officially celebrated tomorrow), which commemorates the day of June 19, 1865, where in the aftermath of the bloody U.S. Civil War, slaves were declared free under the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. Author Nicole A. Taylor recently released the first major cookbook dedicated to the holiday, Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations. Eater’s Adrian Miller provides a review of the book, which he describes as “both a nod to ancestral tastes as well as an open-ended invitation to a table that one can set on one’s own terms.” Foods with vivid red hues are traditional for Juneteenth celebrations, as we explained last year in our post about the inaugural official US holiday.

It’s also Father’s Day in the US, Canada, and UK. Our feel-good story for this holiday comes from MEL Magazine, which offers a lovely interview with Claudine Pépin and her father, esteemed chef and author Jacques Pépin. Claudine never entertained the idea of working in the food world – she majored in political science at Boston University – until she helped her father at an Aspen Food & Wine Classic event. This was the first of many collaborations that included three television programs, with Claudine ultimately becoming President of the Jacques Pépin Foundation.

As a lot of us head into several days of triple-digit (Fahrenheit, of course) heat indices, standing in a hot kitchen is the last thing we want to do. Lucky for us Yotam Ottolenghi just provided us with his best no-cook recipes so we can still enjoy a lovely meal without sweating over a steaming stove. And to be mindful of our members in Australia and New Zealand who are facing chilly winter temps, we offer Gourmet Traveller’s favorite self-saucing pudding recipes, comforting desserts best served warm from the oven.

The news concerning the war in Ukraine continues to be heart-wrenching. As difficult as it is to see from the point of view of an outsider, it is immeasurably harder for those who have strong ties to the region. Such is the case for chef and author Olia Hercules, who hails from the country and has written extensively about its cuisine. She recently told The Guardian that following Russia’s latest invasion she couldn’t eat and didn’t feel like cooking either, saying “How can I even cook anything when there’s such horror happening everywhere else in Ukraine?” But after recently relocating her parents from Ukraine to Italy, she welcomed them with a hearty meal. “That was the first time throughout this whole period that I actually enjoyed and was excited about cooking,” she said. In the interview, Hercules also tells us about her favorite foods and favorite places to eat in London.

In lighter news, Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne recently announced that she wants to write a cookbook. She released her seventh studio album earlier this year, but apparently the rocker has other creative itches to scratch. In a recent interview with the Guardian, she spilled the beans on her plans, saying “My food is, like, gourmet. I can do everything! Pasta, sauce, vegan, salads and soups – I can do every kind of soup.” If she follows through, she’ll join other singers including Patti LaBelle and Snoop Dogg who have penned cookbooks.

If you love to squirt Sriracha on nearly everything you eat, I hope you have plenty of the hot sauce on hand, because a severe shortage is looming. Huy Fong Foods announced that it would have to halt production of the popular condiment due to a disastrous pepper harvest. The region in the southwestern US and northern Mexico where the special jalapeños used in the sauce are grown has faced years of drought, and this spring was the worst yet as a “megadrought” devastated the area.