Food news antipasto

This is a reminder that the free webinar sponsored by IACP and Milk Street is this Tuesday, March 18, at noon Eastern (US) time. Join J.M. Hirsch and Deb Broide as they explore how Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street blends culinary storytelling with a journalist’s eye. They’ll discuss everything from book and magazine planning to travel, reporting, and recipe development. 

I am a big fan of breakfast for dinner, but I rarely eat dinner for breakfast. That is a stance I should reconsider, says Eater’s Amy McCarthy. She provides an argument for eating anything you want for breakfast, whether it’s considered “breakfast food” or not. The rules around what foods are appropriate for what meals are arbitrary, she notes, so why not flaunt them? If you trying to break out of a breakfast rut, McCarthy recommends that “the simplest solution to that problem is also the most obvious: just eat something else, even if it doesn’t seem like morning is the “right time” to consume that dish.” This emboldened me to have guacamole and chips for breakfast yesterday, because if avocado toast is a great morning meal, why not add more crunch?

If you are a baker, butter is your best friend. However, there are a dizzying array of butters available in supermarkets so it can be difficult to know which brand is going to provide the best flavor without breaking the bank. Former GBBO contestant Benjamina Ebuehi bravely did the work for us (at least for UK Members), taste-testing all the available butter brands (unsalted versions). The good news is even the worst were acceptable, and one of the best happens to be the least expensive!

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food provides us with eight things we need to know about Guinness. The first has to do with the TikTok trend (or is it a clever marketing ploy) about “splitting the G.” This refers to taking the first swig and ending up with the level of beer right in the center of the G in Guinness on a pint glass. The article also tells you how to do the perfect pour (timing is everything), and explains that although it looks black, the actual color of the drink is red.

In the same vein, Saveur has a feature explaining 11 “astonishing” Irish food facts. The information was drawn from  Irish Food History: A Companion, which was released in September 2024. The book, edited by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Dorothy Cashman, provides fascinating tidbits about “bog butter”, why beekeeping was so important, why alcohol is such a prominent feature of Irish life, and more.

Eating in the United States may be getting more risky. As part of a recent Executive Order, President Trump has eliminated two food safety advisory panels focused on preventing foodborne illness and providing science-based recommendations on meat and poultry inspection programs. “The termination of these two important advisory committees is very alarming and should serve as a warning to consumers that food safety will not be a priority at USDA in the foreseeable future,” Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, shared in a statement provided to Food & Wine.