Jello and Popcorn

As we already wrote the only Superbowl blog you'll need (Margaritas and guacamole), we thought that, while we'd get in the Superbowl spirit today, we'd take an off-beat path. So we're noting two recent articles on under-praised snack foods - jello and popcorn. Buzzfeed has a wonderful photo essay on popcorn that should provide lots of inspiration, as should some… read more

Are you a flexitarian?

We like to stay current with food terminology, so the word "flexitarian" caught our eye. The Guardian has been concerned recently with defining vegetarianism and, in two recent articles, they do a good job of summing up the fluidity with which this term is being used. In a moderately light-hearted article, Flexitarianism: Isn't it just vegetarianism with cheating? they note that "Flexitarians… read more

We’re one of the 50 best global food websites!

Today we'd like to take a time out and brag just a little. We're especially proud that The Times (London) has included EYB as one of the top 50 best global food websites. If you have a Times subscription, you can view the entire article here, but if you don't, we wanted to let you read the nice things they had… read more

Aida Mollenkamp

For this month's author profile, we have a story from Aida Mollenkamp, a TV chef and former editor for chow.com, reminiscing about an accident that would shape her career of choice and the cookbook that inspired it.  Her current book, Keys to the Kitchen (Chronicle), is a kitchen primer with recipes that are simple enough for the new cook yet… read more

Margaritas and Guacamole

We've recently celebrated Australia Day and Burns Night so it is only fitting that we acknowledge that great U.S. holiday - Super Bowl. And who better to do it with than Rick Bayless? And what better to do it with than margaritas and guacamole?   Bayless has a new book out called "Frontera - Margaritas, Guacamole, and Snacks" (already indexed… read more

Should restaurants ban taking food photos?

There is a growing dispute engulfing the food world - should taking food photos in restaurants be banned (such photos are now known as "foodstagrams")? There are now multitudes of way to post photos immediately online,  and more and more restaurant diners are taking photos of their foods as the plates arrive. But, recently, some restaurants have banned the use… read more

Customizing garlic flavor

Susie wrote an interesting blog today on the problem of having too many Italian cookbooks (see Magic number) so we thought this recent article from Serious Eats,  On Developing Garlic Flavor, might make a nice companion piece. Kenji Alt, who writes Ask The Food Lab, deals with the question of how to tame garlic's harshness. In the article he reveals some… read more

Magic number

Nigellissima arrived last week. My first thought was:  What am I going to do with another Nigella cookbook?  And my second thought was:  Forget that!  what am I going to do with another Italian cookbook? If your library is anything like mine, Italian is one of the most grievously swollen categories on the shelf.  I thought I'd been very strict about… read more

The Chowhound challenge – describe your cooking in 3 words

We imagine many of our members post on Chowhound - one of the largest discussion boards on food. Recently, one of the discussions concerned a rather interesting question, "Can you describe your cooking style in three words?" That fairly simple question started a personal train of thought that eventually included how to define cooking styles, how personal cooking styles change over… read more

Celebrating Australia Day with some of our favorite bloggers

It's Australia Day and this gives us a chance to say "hi" to some of our most avid (and friendly) EYB community members. We also thought we'd give a shout out to the work of food bloggers down under. Here are some of our favorites - all indexed here at EYB - that will give you an idea of the… read more

Celebrating Burns Night with haggis, neeps & tatties, and raspberry & drambuie trifle

If we noted all the holidays and celebratory food days and months we wouldn't have time to write about anything else, but some occasions do truly merit attention. And Burns Night - honoring the Jan. 25 birthday of celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns - has to be one of them. After all, everyone in the English-speaking world shares a common… read more

The anti-loneliness bowl

Many new kitchen items have us scratching our heads and wondering what were they thinking? (see tipsy wine glasses among others). But we kind of see the attraction in the latest item that Gizmodo is reviewing: a smartphone dock bowl. Besides holding the smartphone in close enough proximity for you to read it  - hands free -  while eating soup or ramen… read more

Getting away and eating away

Those of us tapping away in icebound offices are dreaming of the spring getaway...and for many of us, that means a mainland vacation.  For me, as no doubt for many others, that means thinking hard about what we're going to eat - what regional specialties we can try, what local eateries we can dig up, maybe what local ingredients we can… read more

The ultimate shelf life guide

A few weeks ago we wrote a blog about expiry dates, Don't throw out that food, and discussed whether an expired date really meant you needed to throw out an item. Since then we've discovered a useful site called Still Tasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide. Simply type in a food or beverage name, and the site will tell you how long… read more

Why you should massage your kale

There is no question that this is the year (decade?) of kale. Lauded by one and all, kale is considered a super-healthy food. Per WebMD, "Kale is an amazing vegetable being recognized for its exceptional nutrient richness, health benefits, and delicious flavor.  Eating a variety of natural, unprocessed vegetables can do wonders for your health, but choosing super-nutritious kale on… read more

Comparing 11 countertop materials

The Kitchn recently ran a review comparing the top 11 materials used for kitchen countertops:  granite concrete butcher block soapstone quartz marble lava synthetic paper composite stainless steel ceramic If you're looking to replace a countertop, this is a good place to start. The article discusses each material's origin, environmental impact, pros, cons, price, and installation difficulty and publish reviews… read more

Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height?

Most of us have probably seen space capsules returning to earth, amazed at the blazing heat that engulfs the capsule. So the question: Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height? is not that outlandish. But why would you ask such a question? Well, if you love physics or science, this is actually an interesting "real… read more

You’re not feeling great, so what do you eat?

It's a particularly vehement flu season here in the United States and Canada; we understand that Europe is having a particularly cold time of it; Australia is having a particularly hot time of it; and New Zealand must be run over by new-found hobbit fans, so we thought that some advice on what to eat when you're out of sorts… read more

Legally selling home-baked goods gains momentum

The same California that made foie gras illegal has now enacted a cook-friendly law. As of January 1, it's legal to sell some food you make in your own kitchen. Per the San Francisco Chronicle's article, Selling home-baked goods now legalized, the California Homemade Food Act "allows producers of certain nonperishable foods, which don't require refrigeration, to forgo commercial kitchens and… read more

Top-selling cookbooks this week…guess what category?

Every once in a great while, I enjoy putting down my silicone spatula, closing whatever brand-new, promising cookbook I'm reviewing this week, and having a look to see what everyone else is cooking from.   It's especially fun doing it at this time of year.  Because although the excesses of holiday eating seem awful to contemplate in retrospect, one can't stop… read more

The disquieting truth about chefs’ cookbooks

As this recent holiday season showed, cookbooks by chefs continue to pour out. In fact, Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals topped the Christmas books lists in Great Britain, beating out The Hobbit. And Big Hospitality recently looked at what makes chefs so eager to take on an extra, usually not highly remunerative, project in Cooking the books: The dynamics and… read more

Can you eat cheese rind? Yes, but…

The Food Republic recently asked a very basic question: Which Cheese Rinds Are Edible? And the answer is surprisingly simple: - as long as it isn't man-made (like wax), the rind is edible. But that does lead to a second question: Does it taste good? And that is definitely up to the taster - some will find the rind elevates the… read more

A truly odd couple: Anthony Bourdain and famed astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson

We regard Anthony Bourdain in many ways as the Kim Kardashian of the food world - way over publicized. Admittedly, unlike Kim, he actually has talent - both for cooking and for writing (we do admire his books) - but lately he seems to be all over the airways and opining on just about everything. However, we've decided to violate… read more

Do the Brits have an unrequited love affair with American food?

The Word of Mouth blog at The Guardian has an intriguing entry today - Why do Brits love American food? According to the author, Katy Salter, "Britain is having a passionate love affair with American grub and, embarrassingly for us, it's an unrequited romance." She traces this romance from the cupcake to the burger to barbecue, and believes much of… read more

Can a new tech gadget solve your diet issues?

We have to confess that we spend far too much time reading about the electronics trade show that happens every year in Las Vegas. It's addictive to read about all the nifty new gadgets. The problem is that it's usually hard to understand exactly what they're supposed to do. But there's one gadget this year that is very to understand… read more
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