Food news antipasto

Jenny does a masterful job of keeping us all up to date on the newest cookbook releases, offering her unique takes on the cookbooks and diligently tracking publication dates, which are in a state of flux due to coronavirus-related issues. That said, we do like to provide additional perspective, so today we’re linking to a recent Eater article on what they feel are the best new cookbooks of 2021 so far. You can cross-reference this list to Jenny’s Spring 2021 Cookbook Highlights, which she updates regularly.

If you are among the millions who took up baking during the pandemic, have half-used bags of whole grain flour sitting around threatening to go south before you can use it all, the next article is for you. It’s from Epicurious’ new Spring Bake series, a collection of recipes and ideas that will keep you in cake, buns, and cookies until summer. In the article, Joe Sevier provides us with ideas on how to use up leftover whole-grain rye, wheat, buckwheat, or whatever other grain you have sitting in your cupboard. The recipes stretch beyond baking, including ideas such as using the grains as breading for chicken.

I find the food aspects of holidays to be a fascinating subject, and I love learning about customs from cultures across the globe. I was raised in a rural area that lacked diversity, so until I began taking anthropology classes in college (which turned into my major), I did not know much outside the culture in which I was raised. If you are also interested in learning about holiday food traditions, head over to The Independent to read an article explaining the symbolism of foods eaten at the Passover Seder. In a similar vein, the website Goodto offers a primer on a dozen different Easter food traditions. And head over to Delish to find out about the colorful celebration of Holi, along with its accompanying foods.

You may have read about the gigantic container ship that is stuck in the Suez canal. ‘What does that have to do with cooking or cookbooks?’ you may wonder. While it probably will not affect cookbook shipments, the delays caused by this incident will have ripple effects on scores of other goods – including livestock and some food products – that are shipped via the canal. Cargo ships are already being routed around the African continent, which can add up to three weeks’ time to their journey. This delay, coupled with the existing backlog due to the pandemic, could mean many products being temporarily hard to find (including, again, toilet paper).

Move over bucatini, there’s a new pasta shape in town. Meet Cascatelli — a new type of pasta from American pasta maker Sfoglini and the brainchild of Dan Pashman, host of James Beard Award-winning podcast The Sporkful. Disappointed with spaghetti’s ability to hold onto sauce, Pashman set out to create a new shape with attributes of “forkability” and “toothsinkability,” along with being able to capture sauce better. Cascatelli’s form consists of a half-tube coupled with a ruffled edge. Sfoglini is selling the shape online.