Food news antipasto

Two world-famous NYC-based culinary schools announced their merger earlier in the week. The International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute) is closing its doors after over thirty years and will be absorbed by The Institute for Culinary Education. We don’t know the plans for the ICC’s legendary instructors )Jacques Pépin, Jacques Torres, André Soltner and Alain Sailhac) although ICE President and CEO Rick Smilow has indicated he would like them to be involved with ICE.

Have you ever eaten Heinz ketchup and thought, “why don’t they make an ice cream with this flavor?” If so, you might want to check out Eater’s article on Heinz UK’s “Creamz,” which are kits that allow you to make ice cream of various Heinz condiments, including ketchup, mayonnaise, salad cream, and various sauces. Not only does each kit include condiments and a recipe, you’ll also receive a reusable ice cream tub, an engraved spoon and an ice cream scoop. I suppose mayonnaise ice cream doesn’t sound too outlandish; it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away from olive oil ice cream (pictured above from Bon Appetit). Ketchup ice cream, on the other hand, seems a bridge too far for me. Just because you can do it does not mean you should do it.

Season 2 of BBC Good Food’s podcast with Tom Kerridge released its first episode on 8 July. The focus of this episode was on Mexican food, featuring special guests Ravinder Bhogal of Jikoni and Edson Diaz-Fuentes and Natalie Feary of Mexican restaurant Santo Remedio. Nine additional episodes will follow this season. Season 1 is also available if you want to listen to the podcast from the beginning.

Food and Wine has just released its list of the ten best supermarkets in the US. This year supermarkets, shopping, and even eating look vastly different than they did in 2019, and the article touches on how Americans, “so accustomed to having it all at the snap of their fingers, were left prowling picked-clean aisles, eagerly snapping up the last box of unusually-shaped pasta” and why grocery workers have been placed on the front lines of a battle they did not sign up for.