Food news antipasto

KitchenAid recently debuted its 2026 Color of the Year: Spearmint. The light, cool green gets a subtly textured matte finish to further distinguish it from previous greens available. In connection with the debut, KitchenAid has a sweepstakes where you can enter to win an Artisan mixer and a commercial-style dual-fuel range, both in Spearmint.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing, and as usual there have been a few food stories that have come out of the games. One is the giant Nutella pump in the Olympic village, and another one involves a player on the USA women’s ice hockey team. Starting goalie Aerin Frankel has an obsession with a particular food. For just over two years, she has had an Instagram account (painbyromaine) dedicated to reviews of Caesar salads from restaurants around the world.

This week we learned the sad news that Georgia chef Joe Randall died at the age of 79. Randall was a culinary legend in Savannah, known by many as the Dean of Southern Cuisine and founder of Chef Joe Randall’s Cooking School. He demonstrated basic southern cooking techniques and shared his favorite cooking tips with clients from around the world. His unique style exemplified authentic Southern cuisine. In 2023, he received the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame Award for his cookbook A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine.

The Michelin Guide has confirmed that hygiene inspections conducted by local authorities are “wholly separate” from the criteria used to award stars. A spokesperson for the Guide said that its inspectors assess restaurants “solely on the quality of their cuisine”. The confirmation comes after a restaurant, Ynyshir Restaurant & Rooms in Powys, Wales, earned two Michelin stars but only had a one-star rating for hygiene.

With food prices on a seemingly endless upward trajectory, people are switching from brand name products to store brands or lower-cost brands. While this can be a great way to save money, sometimes the low prices are indicator of poor quality or even fraudulent products. Pantry staples such as honey, olive oil, and spices are susceptible to deception including “adulteration, mislabeling, and substitution of lower-quality ingredients.”

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema just concluded a nine-month long quest to eat at some of the oldest restaurants in the United States, in preparation for the nation’s 250th birthday this July. Sietsema talked with NPR’s Ailsa Chang about his cross-country journey where he ate over a dozen meals in a variety of different restaurants.

Some events to be aware of: Anita “Spring” Council – Southern Roots, Ella Quittner – Obsessed with the Best (note from Jenny – amazing book!), Topping and Company, and Waterstones.

In case you missed this post: Cooking at the bottom of the world.