Splish-splash: What is the best method for washing your produce?

When you buy fresh produce, especially items that are loose in bins, you don't know what (or who) it has been in contact with, so you wash it before using. There are new products on the market that claim to be able to better remove pesticides or contaminants that may be lurking on the surface of your food than just… read more

May 2025 New Cookbook Review

May delivers a load of grilling/barbecue books, a new collection of vegan focused books from Workman (Make It Plant-Based!) and other titles such as a bakery cookbook from Canada and more. Our 2025 Cookbook Preview Post is continually updated. Don’t forget that you can create a wishlist and share it with your loved ones. Our May 2025 EYB Cookbook Club Summary and June 2025 Great Big Cookbook… read more

The rise of bakery tourism

When you are in your 20s or 30s, a pub crawl is often a weekend activity, jaunting from bar to bar with friends to enjoy a pint or a cocktail. This doesn't always seem like fun when your 30s (or 40s) are in the rearview mirror. What to do instead? Join the growing ranks of bakery tourists - people who… read more

Cookbook Deals

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

May 2025 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we previously offered at least four cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. This summer we cooked our favorite recipe from any cookbook, magazine, blog or online option and had a huge increase in participation and after a poll in the group we have decided to allow posting from all cookbooks and to offer one featured cookbook.… read more

The struggle to spell

Before I started writing for Eat Your Books (over 11 years ago!), I had a bi-monthly food column at a medium sized newspaper for several years. In junior high, I competed at the state spelling bee and made it to the final round. You might assume with that pedigree I could properly spell almost any culinary term without looking it… read more

June 2025 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 worldd and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  I will update this post as clubs make their June choices. Something that has… read more

Food news antipasto

Microplastics can be found everywhere, even inside our bodies. Researchers have raised concerns about this issue, noting that certain types of plastic shed more particles than others and warning about their use in connection with foods. Some plastic manufacturers claim that their products are safe for cooking and storage, but one of those manufacturers is now facing a class action… read more

Getting to know your gingers

Ginger is one of the most common spices, used around the world in a variety of cuisines. Humans have grown it for so long that it has become a cultigen, meaning it no longer exists in the wild. This fact, along with a bevy of other information about this delicious rhizome, can be found at Gastro Obscura, which recently explored the… read more

Upcoming cookbook news, author events, recipes, EYBD Previews and more

It is time again to highlight a few more upcoming titles that I have recently added to our 2025 Cookbook Preview Post. Yann Couvreur's upcoming September release Yann Couvreur’s Pastry is one of many books that I am looking forward to. It is the English edition of his 2017 French title La Pâtisserie de Yann Couvreur. Diana Henry has Around… read more

Recipe rabbit holes

It's easy to run down a recipe rabbit hole on the internet. One click leads you to an article about a particular dish, then you follow tangents until you have forgotten the impetus for the original click. That just happened to me: I clicked on a masa pancake recipe on Epicurious, which contained a link to sources of fresh masa… read more

Just for the fun of it

Chef Chris Young wanted to test a theory about basting steaks with butter, a common practice among chefs that is often shown during cooking shows. He wanted to know if basting meant the steak would cook faster, remain juicier, and taste better, which are all reasons chefs give for doing it. After setting up a rigorous testing method that included… read more

What type of cardamom to use when?

Do you remember the first time you tasted cardamom? Perhaps it occurred when you nibbled on Swedish meatballs or drank masala chai. Cardamom’s enchanting flavor has made a home for itself in cuisines across the globe. Since there are several types available, it can be difficult to know which is most suited for a particular dish. In a recent Kitchen Aide article at… read more

The Giveaway Roundup

All of our current giveaways are now on one convenient roundup which will be continually updated! If you are having any difficulties with entering our giveaways, please see our step-by-step help post. Giveaways are tagged by the countries the contests are open to. Bookmark the searches below for easy reference! To enter our contests click on the blue link beneath the… read more

Food news antipasto

Award-winning cookbook author and television host Pati Jinich has a new gig: teaching you how to write a cookbook. Jinich is partnering with notebook brand Levenger to create the workbook How to Write a Cookbook, filled with practical advice for anyone wanting to dip a toe into the world of cookbook writing. Matcha roll cake from One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber The… read more

The princess cake’s ascendance

The first time I saw a princess cake (aka princess torte), it was in the display case of a Minneapolis bakery. I was intrigued by the domed, green shape topped with one simple decoration at the top. After that initial sighting, princess cakes seemed to appear everywhere: on the Great British Bake Off, in other bakeries, and online. The popularity… read more

Beware the digital ‘slop farmer’

Bloggers and recipe developers put in a tremendous amount of time creating, testing, writing, and photographing before they publish their articles and recipes to be seen by the world. For some, this has led to internet stardom and a profitable career. Others use it as a side gig or even just a creative outlet. There is another kind of content… read more

Pâtisserie Made Simple, Quick Bites and Giveaway

Enter our US/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of two copies of Pâtisserie Made Simple: The Art of Petits Gâteaux by Maxine Scheckter. From the French-trained pastry chef who founded the Sugar Flour Pastry School in Wellington, Maxine Scheckter, comes the perfect introduction to making your own exquisite little cakes and slices at home - Pâtisserie Made Simple: The Art of Petits Gâteaux. Complete… read more

Nagi Maehashi wins cookbook award, beating rival she accused of plagiarism

RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi won the Illustrated Book of the Year category in the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) for RecipeTin Eats - Tonight, beating nominee Brooke Bellamy, who Maehashi recently accused of copying her recipes without attribution in Bellamy's cookbook. Bellamy insists the accusations are false and says she has faced relentless online harassment since Maehashi came… read more

The enduring magic of cookbooks

While the print publishing industry continues to contract, one area bucks the trend, and has for years. In fact, it shows no sign of slowing down. That area, of course, is cookbooks. So what it is about this genre that allows it to be a publishing juggernaut? Sophia Podini, writing for Her Campus, gives us her theory for why cookbooks… read more

James Beard Foundation 2025 Media Award Nominees

The James Beard Foundation has announced the nominees for its 2025 Media Awards, which includes cookbooks. The Book Awards are open to cookbooks and other non-fiction food or beverage-related books that were published in the United States in 2024. In a press release, Clare Reichenbach, CEO, James Beard Foundation, said "Congratulations to our 2025 Media Award nominees, whose exceptional storytelling deserves… read more

Food news antipasto

Bravo TV's Top Chef has been introducing the world to the best new chefs for 22 seasons. One of the most interesting episodes each season is the "restaurant war" where contestants form two teams that each serve patrons in a hastily converted space. Although we get to see the drama in the kitchen, we don't really get to experience the… read more

Tips on using mint in cocktails

Today was the Kentucky Derby, an event known as much for its hats and its signature cocktail - the mint julep - as for the thoroughbred horses racing around Churchill Downs. Since this event also heralds the return of summer cocktail season, I was reminded of an article we featured several years ago that provided advice from top bartenders on… read more

Life-changing flavors

I will never forget the first time I tasted an Alphonso mango. I was visiting food loving friends who lived in a large city, and they happened to live near a market that had just received a shipment of Alphonso mangos, so they grabbed some to serve alongside other nibbles before dinner. I was so overwhelmed with the intense, floral… read more

Fortnum & Mason winners 2025

On May 1, 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 chair, Angela Hartnett OBE. The… read more
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