Food news antipasto

How old is too old to bake? Minnesota’s Marjorie Johnson believes there is no upper age limit, because the spry 104-year-old is busy baking up a storm. She will be entering baked goods into the Minnesota State Fair later this month, something she has been doing since the 1970s. She has racked up scores of blue ribbons and hopes to add more this year. When asked if it was still a thrill to get a ribbon, Marjorie replied: “Yeah, I get excited as though it were my first ribbon. Oh, boy, I like winning a ribbon.”

We frequently refer to ‘plant-based’ or ‘plant-centric’ cookbooks here at EYB. While you might think this is just a euphemism for vegetarian or vegan, it’s not that simple. As Eater explains, more and more cookbooks are shying away from the latter labels. As author Hetty McKinnon says, calling something vegetarian or vegan “makes people feel that they’re missing something.” The cookbooks highlighted in the article sometimes includes a meat or dairy component, but they are bits and bobs to add a pop of flavor or texture; the vegetables are the star player.

Cookbook lovers in the Philadelphia area need to mark their calendars for events running from September 22 to October 24, when Sisterly Love Collective, an alliance of female restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs, brings “Cookbooks & Convos” to the city. The series, which features 20+ events at women-owned restaurants, bars, and businesses in Philadelphia, highlight female authors and culinary entrepreneurs. Cookbooks and Convos is reminiscent of a long-running Philadelphia festival called “The Book and the Cook” that ended in 2007.

Fans of Rao’s Homemade pasta sauce take note: Campbell Soup Co. recently announced it was purchasing Sovos (gift link), the company that produces Rao’s, along with Michael Angelo’s frozen foods and Noosa yogurt. Campbell’s says this purchase “means wider distribution and more shelf space for the Sovos products.” Chefs and home cooks who normally would not purchase a packaged pasta sauce often made exception for Rao’s, which was the top finisher in two Washington Post taste tests of jarred marinara sauces.

A cherished UK landmark, The Crooked House pub in Himley, Dudley, was severely damaged in a fire and subsequently demolished. The pub, which dates to the 1830s, sank on one side due to mining subsidence, giving the building a ‘leaning tower of Pisa’ look. The Crooked House’s owners had recently sold the building to a developer. Local officials are dismayed about the structure’s demise and the South Staffordshire Council is “investigating potential breaches of both the Town and Country Planning Act and the Buildings Act.”

If you love to learn about the science of cooking, you might want to consider taking a free course from Harvard University titled ‘From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (physics)’. The course description is: “Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more!” The start date of the course is today, so sign up right away if you are interested (it will be repeated in several weeks, so don’t fret if you can’t fit this session into your schedule).