May 2023 New Cookbook Review

How did we already get through May? Almost half the year has sped by and I can't decide if it's how fast time is flying in cookbook world or the older I get the more the days race by. But, here we are in May with a slew of fantastic books from around the globe and please remember the 2023 Cookbook… read more

Going bananas

If you are a certain age, you probably remember the scene from Raiders of the Lost Art (1981) when Harrison Ford's character says "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" I was reminded of that scene when I watched a recent episode of Chopped, where one of the contestants discovers that a particular fruit was in the mystery ingredient… read more

May 2023 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we offer at least four cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. This month our selections were: Cookbook: Milk Street Noodles: Secrets to the World’s Best Noodles, from Fettuccine Alfredo to Pad Thai to Miso Ramen by Christopher Kimball - Note: As Noodles was released late April and I myself did not get a copy until the… read more

The ebb and flow of ingredients

If you looked into my refrigerator daily over the past 20 years, you would have been hard pressed to find a day where you did not see a container of yogurt prominently displayed. As a recent Food & Wine article noted, there are legions of dishes that start with or are finished by a dollop of the tangy dairy product.… read more

Food news antipasto

Most of us know that Betty Crocker isn't a real person; she was concocted by the marketing folks at the Washburn-Crosby Company (the precursor to General Mills) in 1921. However, another names that is displayed on boxes of cake mixes across the US is (or was) a real person: Duncan Hines. Southern Living explores the history of Mr. Hines, who… read more

James Beard Award-winning chef to open indigenous food lab

Chef Sean Sherman, whose Minneapolis restaurant Owamni was named the Best New Restaurant for 2022 by the James Beard Foundation and whose cookbook The Sioux Chef also won a JBF Award, has his sights set on a new venture in the Twin Cities that he is hoping to expand across the country. In conjunction with his nonprofit NATIFS, the chef… read more

This week: Author events, recipes, EYBD Previews and more.

More in person events are being planned around the world and I have updated our calendar this week. We've added four new author tours: Tracey Medeiros for The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook; Hetty McKinnon for the US release of Tenderheart; Cynthia Graubart for Zucchini Love (note event this Saturday) and Meike Peters for Noon: Simple Recipes for Scrumptious Midday Meals… read more

What are your bad habits in the kitchen?

In a perfect food world, there would never be any cross contamination, surfaces would remain pristine, and everyone would religiously follow food safety rules. In the real world, however, nothing's perfect - including Jay Rayner. He confesses to some "unsavoury" habits in the kitchen, but he feels secure that he is in good company. Rayner shares that while filming a… read more

2023 Art of Eating Prize winner announced

The Art of Eating Prize is awarded annually to the author of the year’s best book about food (or food and drink together). Where other food book awards involve nominations in diverse categories, The Art of Eating Prize focuses on a single best book. The founders of the prize, by rewarding the highest quality work, hope to encourage the excellence… read more

June 2023 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around the interwebs and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  We want to get this information out to you so you can prepare… read more

Cookbook Giveaway & Quick Bites: Cristy’s Kitchen

Enter our US giveaway to win one of two copies of Cristy's Kitchen: More Than 130 Scrumptious and Nourishing Recipes Without Gluten, Dairy, or Processed Sugars by Cristina Kisner. In 2019 Cristy Kisner, her husband, Sebastian, and their five daughters moved to Roswell, Georgia, from Peru, investing all their savings in Cristy’s dream of opening a healthy café in the… read more

Cookbook Giveaway: From Salt to Jam

Enter our US/UK/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of three copies of From Salt to Jam: Make Kitchen Magic with Sauces, Seasonings and More Flavour Sensations by Katrina Meynink. From Salt to Jam is flavour-powered cooking made easy. This beautiful book offers foolproof recipes for hardworking condiments - pastes, dressings, sauces, seasonings and jams - that unlock 100 delicious meals for… read more

Food news antipasto

As we eagerly await the announcement of the winners of the 2023 James Beard Media Awards, yet another controversy is brewing around the James Beard Foundation. This time it comes from a couple of judges resigning and a former winner smashing his award with a brick. As Eater explains, "In the wake of disqualifying a Birmingham [Alabama] chef, two judges… read more

Alkalinity can work wonders with food

The title to Samin Nosrat's excellent book indicates what she feels to be the most important elements in cooking - salt, fat, acid, heat. While acid plays an important role in cooking, it might be better to think about pH more broadly than just acid, as alkaline substances offer important benefits in the kitchen as well. Food writer Caroline Hatchett… read more

Fortnum & Mason winners

On May 11, food and drink celebrities gathered at The Royal Exchange in London to fete winners of the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards. These prestigious annual awards celebrate the achievements of the UK’s current and emerging food writers, publishers, photographers, broadcasters, and personalities. The ceremony was presented by Andi Oliver, alongside celebrated chef and Awards judging panel… read more

This week: EYB links up with ckbk; recipes; EYBD Previews and more

It's been a busy and exciting week at Eat Your Books. This week we announced that we have connected the EYB database to ckbk’s library of digital cookbooks. ckbk is a cookbook subscription site where you can access the full content of more than 700 great cookbooks, the majority of which are indexed here on EYB (and more will be indexed every… read more

EYB and ckbk are linking up

We are delighted to announce that we have connected the EYB database to ckbk's library of digital cookbooks. ckbk is a cookbook subscription site where you can access the full content of more than 700 great cookbooks, the majority of which are indexed here on EYB (and more will be indexed every week). Every book in the EYB Library that… read more

On recipe writing

"Jump to recipe." If seeing those words in a blog post to which you've navigated after seeing an image float across your social media feed makes you happy, this post may not be for you. The internet is rife with people joking about what they view as exaggerated prose that precedes the recipe in a food blog. "I just want… read more

Are home composting machines the answer to food waste?

Unless you live in a suburban or rural area and have a decent-sized yard, your food waste probably goes into the trash and eventually into a landfill. Food waste produces tremendous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Municipalities have been slow to implement city-wide composting, so what's a consumer to do? Even the most conscientious… read more

All things cookbook care, management and organizational roundup

Recently, a member asked for help in finding any posts or tips on cookbook organization. We feel that this was a great topic to do a "roundup" type post that shares links to all articles, forum posts and the like so that our members may use these as a resource. We have gathered posts on organization, care of cookbooks, management… read more

Food news antipasto

Jamie Oliver is set to return to the London restaurant scene with his first new location since the 2019 collapse of his UK restaurant group. The chef will launch a site at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the restaurant will feature a seasonal menu highlighting British produce. Oliver said: "I was devastated when I lost my UK restaurants. Without doubt,… read more

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Much like St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated by people far outside the borders of its original nation. It’s likely that many people who celebrate this day do not understand its significance and history. It is not, as many people believe, Mexico’s Independence Day, which falls on September 16. Rather, it’s a relatively minor holiday in… read more

This week: Too many cookbooks, recipes, EYBD Previews and more

Is there such a thing as too many cookbooks? And is too many cookbooks a good thing or a bad thing? Even before I began working with Eat Your Books seven years ago, I had a cookbook addiction. I love everything about them. The covers, the recipes, the photographs, the history, the culture of other cuisines - everything. Who needs… read more

Voraciously offers a new way to eat more vegetables

Voraciously, the food section of The Washington Post, is debuting a newsletter by cookbook author Hetty Lui McKinnon aimed at taking your plant-based meals to the next level. Titled "Voraciously: Plant Powered II", the newsletter will run weekly for 10 weeks beginning Tuesday, May 16 and will feature 10 vegan recipes highlighting 20 ingredients. McKinnon, author of several EYB Member… read more

Another management shakeup at Bon Appétit

Food editors and writers who were recently laid off might want to dust off their résumés because Bon Appétit will be in the market for a new editor, as Dawn Davis resigned last week to rejoin publishing giant Simon & Schuster (gift link). “I’ve made the difficult decision to return to book publishing,” Ms. Davis wrote in a note to… read more
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