How cookbooks can help build resilience

February 20, 2025 by
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I am an eternal optimist: no matter how bleak things look I always look for the silver lining or imagine a way the situation can turn out for the better. With all of the negative news out these days, this philosophy is becoming more difficult to maintain. Today's article from The Independent doesn't help; it provides another pessimistic forecast for… read more

What foods do you look forward to the most for each season?

February 19, 2025 by
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Since the advent of refrigeration and air transport of foods across the globe, you can pretty much get any fruit or vegetable you desire any time of the year here in the US. However, there is a vast difference between commercially grown strawberries, plucked before they are actually ripe and shipped halfway around the world, and the first berry from… read more

Why is this Australian cookbook selling for $250?

February 18, 2025 by
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Back in 2015, Australian blogger Belle Gibson rocketed to fame after claiming that she beat brain cancer not through modern medicine but rather by changing her diet. She published a cookbook, The Whole Pantry, and developed an app of the same name, promising to contribute a portion of the proceeds from both to charity. After charities claimed they had received… read more

Food news antipasto

February 16, 2025 by
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With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appointed as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, raw milk advocates believe there is potential for increased availability of raw milk products. Currently, regulations vary from state to state with some allowing raw milk sales and others banning the practice. The Bittman Project recently posted a lengthy piece about the pros and cons… read more

Sweet and salty contraband

February 14, 2025 by
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white bowl on a white background with red Swedish fish candy and black licorice jelly beans
Many food additives that are allowed in in other countries are banned by the EU and UK: ingredients such as brominated vegetable oil and bleached flour and additives including certain food colorings. These ingredients have been linked to a variety of health issues including cancer. Normally this isn’t something that would cause a stir, but demand for US snacks and… read more

How the ‘Shirley Temple King’ is changing restaurants

February 12, 2025 by
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When I was a young girl, my grandfather would occasionally pick me up to take me to my grandparents' farm for the weekend. On the way home we would stop at a local bar, where he would have a beer with his buddies while I nursed a Shirley Temple. At five years old, I thought that was the height of… read more

Food news antipasto

February 9, 2025 by
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five glass bowls containing scoops of sorbet. Some have two or three scoops of varying shades of pink and purple.
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay opened the doors earlier this week on his "most ambitious project yet" in the tallest building in the City of London. The chef has launched two restaurants, a bar and a cookery school at 22 Bishopsgate on February 3. Netflix is producing a documentary series about the project that follows Ramsay in the run up to… read more

Ketchup is a category, not a sauce

February 8, 2025 by
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a single bottle of ketchup with wire bail lid on a pure white background
When most of us think of ketchup, we envision the tomato-vinegar-sugar sauce that is often served alongside burgers and fries. However, as explained at Gastro Obscura, ketchup is actually a catch-all category rather than a single sauce. It has a long and interesting history that spans the globe and includes all manner of ingredients including fruits, vegetables, fungi. What most… read more

Retailers limit egg purchases to combat hoarding

February 7, 2025 by
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carton of eggs
Well, it seems that we learned nothing during the Covid-19 pandemic, as hoarding has again reared its ugly, selfish head. Trader Joe's and Costco recently imposed limits on how many cartons of eggs that shoppers can buy at one time. This action came after viral videos showed people piling huge quantities of eggs into their carts. It wasn't clear if… read more

Culinary ride-or-die – or have them take an Uber

February 6, 2025 by
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In response to Darcie's post about finding a culinary ride-or-die, I felt compelled to share my story from the other side of the kitchen counter. My husband Jim loves my cooking, but he comes with an encyclopedia of dietary preferences. When a friend invited us for dinner and thoughtfully asked about food restrictions, I simply replied, "No bell peppers for… read more

Finding a culinary ride-or-die

February 5, 2025 by
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My spouse and I have been together for nearly three decades. When we first got together, neither of us could cook well. I was just starting to become interested in making meals from scratch after growing up on a diet of mainly boxed and canned foods, and my spouse mainly went along for the ride. Since then I have been… read more

Food news antipasto

February 3, 2025 by
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strawberries in a colander
The Bocuse d'Or culinary competition was held last week, and this year France claimed the title, followed by Denmark and Sweden. The French team was led by 28-year-old Paul Marcon, whose father Regis won the prestigious competition in 1995. The UK team finished in fifth place while the US team ranked seventh in the competition, which is held every other… read more

How did iconic pasta shapes get created?

January 31, 2025 by
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Until fairly recently, I took pasta shapes for granted. I never thought about when, why, or how different shapes came about, to me they just always were. That is silly, of course, because everything has an origin story, regardless of whether it has been lost to history. The good news is that for many iconic shapes, their origin stories are… read more

Cookbook Deals

January 30, 2025 by
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I will update this post when time permits – new additions are always at the top of each bulleted list below. If no update is available, be sure to check the publisher links and "cookbook deals" links under each region as they are updated periodically. If you spot a deal that isn't in the links below (publishers and or separate entries)… read more

A deep dive into everything mango

January 28, 2025 by
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Several days ago I posted the photo below on social media, saying that while medieval European peasants may have had more free time than modern people, they didn't have access to fresh mangoes in the dead of winter so I'll call it equal. Growing up in the middle of North America (very near the geological center, in fact), I suffered… read more

Food news antipasto

January 26, 2025 by
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The Super Bowl is coming up in a couple of weeks, and fans are preparing their A-game for snacks. There is a new product coming out that might be making an appearance at select Super Bowl parties, as General Mills announced a unique mashup between Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and Totinos Pizza Rolls. This puzzling snack (is it made for… read more

And the winner is: 7-Eleven?

January 25, 2025 by
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The internet-based market research firm YouGov recently held a popularity contest for the most popular grocery store in the US. The company holding the top spot is 7-Eleven, which came as a surprise to me because I don't think of 7-Eleven as a grocery store per se. However, after I thought about it a little more, I believe this makes… read more

Food news antipasto

January 19, 2025 by
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Famed NYC chef André Soltner whose restaurant Lutèce set the standard for Manhattan fine dining, died this week at the age of 92. Lutèce was awarded four Michelin stars and was ranked as the best restaurant in the US by Zagat for six years in the 1980s. After he sold the restaurant Soltner remained activity in the culinary world, teaching… read more

What do you take when you have to evacuate?

January 18, 2025 by
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The fires in LA county have been devastating, with thousands of homes burning down, including entire neighborhoods and a huge swath of a whole city. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, leaving nearly everything behind and hoping for a miracle. One of those people is food writer and editor Kat Thompson, who shared why she didn't… read more

What’s your favorite underrated ingredient?

January 16, 2025 by
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Just as cooks have a favorite spice that flies under the radar, they also have a favorite ingredient that gets overlooked by others. For me, it's parsley. While it is frequently relegated to being a sad, wilted sprig of garnish in midrate restaurants, parsley possess a get-along-with-everyone flavor that warrants at least co-starring status and can even shine as the… read more

Food news antipasto

January 12, 2025 by
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Coffee drinkers have another reason to enjoy their morning cup as a new study found a link between having a pre-lunch coffee and a reduced risk of developing heart disease. The link is only for those who indulge in caffeine in the morning - those who drank it throughout the day don't seem enjoy the same benefits. “Our findings indicate… read more

Wine pie: too good to be true

January 11, 2025 by
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Have you seen the latest viral food video of wine pie? Content creator @itsmejuliette garnered over 8 million views with her recent video in which she mixes an entire bottle of wine with store cupboard ingredients in a prepared pie crust. She pulls it out of the oven and it appears to be set into a jelly-like state. The final clip shows… read more

Are seed oils scary?

January 10, 2025 by
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If you spend any time at all on video-based social media, you have probably seen warnings from fitness influencers, purported health advocates, and even some physicians that villainize seed oils. These videos usually make claims that seed oils such as sunflower oil, canola oil, and corn oil are responsible for obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. While there may… read more

The best ways to store cookware and lids

January 8, 2025 by
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stainless steel pan lids of varying sizes overlapping each other
A common New Year's resolution is to become more organized. I would not be surprised if more containers, organizers, and other storage solutions are sold in the first month of the year than the rest of the months combined. Unfortunately, many of the so-called 'best' organizing products end in disappointment. Some are flimsy while others seem better in theory than… read more

Food news antipasto

January 6, 2025 by
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We will start the new year by looking back at 2024 with Food and Wine's report on its top food stories of 2024. I had forgotten about a couple of these, such as the foray into surge pricing by some restaurant chains and California becoming the first state to ban sell-by dates. Others stuck in my mind including the many… read more
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