Food news antipasto

Did Daylight Savings Time catch any of our US residents (Arizona & Hawaii excepted) off guard as much as it did me? I need that extra hour back, if only to spend more time browsing the available items in the Les Dames d’Escoffier (LDEI) annual auction sale. The items range from extravagant trips to a hand made tagine to a subscription to The Butter Book on-demand baking instruction videos. The auction is designed to help LDEI fund the initiatives that support its mission, which is “to inspire, advance and support women in food, beverage and hospitality to achieve excellence in leadership and philanthropy.” The auction will run from March 8, 2024 to March 28, 2024 at 6:00 pm EDT.

Jenny and I both curse Le Creuset (look at their Spring collection!) when they come out with another new color that catches our eye and makes us wonder if we should reinforce our floors to bear the weight of yet another hefty enameled cast iron pan. KitchenAid does the same thing with their stand mixers and other appliances, releasing a ‘color of the year’ each spring. Have you ever wondered how they decide what the new color will be? Eater’s Jaya Saxena dives into the world of colorful kitchen appliances to look behind the scenes at how color choices are made at Whirlpool (KitchenAid’s parent company) – and why colors are so important to both the brands and consumers.

The FDA recently issued an alert for six brands of ground cinnamon in the US, citing elevated lead levels. This comes after a popular children’s cinnamon-flavored applesauce snack was pulled from store shelves after it caused lead poisoning in young children. While this recent advisory found slightly elevated lead levels, it pales in comparison to the applesauce problem where the levels were off the charts. Why would there be lead in cinnamon to begin with? According to the FDA, “Historically, lead chromate has been illegally added to certain spices increase to their weight and enhance their color, which increases the monetary value of the adulterated spices.” The agency thinks the addition of lead was economically motivated.

Ramadan began at sundown today, and during this month of spiritual reflection and self-improvement, Muslims will abstain from both food and drink from dawn to sunset. As with most religious holidays, traditional foods play an important role, both for pre-dawn meal (suhoor) and the meal consumed after sunset (iftar). There are a variety of foods suitable for each meal, although traditionally no iftar would be complete without rice. Both the Food Network and The Washington Post recently published a bevy of recipes suitable for either suhoor or iftar.

The 2024 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival kicks off on March 15. This is Australia’s largest food and wine program, and Good Food (Aus) has everything you need to know about the program, which is one of the biggest in years. There are over 400 events spread over the ten-day affair, including collaborations between local chefs and culinary superstars and The World’s Longest Brunch and Lunch.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, Adrienne Katz Kennedy wrote about 15 women who changed America’s food industry. The article highlights Alice Waters, a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement; Edna Lewis, one of the very few of Black female chefs when she opened Cafe Nicholson; Dorothy Gerber, who had the idea that pre-made baby foods could ease the strain on parents; and Julia Child, the iconic trailblazer for women in food and one of the first people to be inducted into The Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Fame.