Food news antipasto

The Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland updates its online guide monthly, adding recommendation based on its inspectors’ travels. It recently added 24 new restaurants to its listings, including locations run by Aiden Byrne, Adam Handling, and Tom Kerridge. In 2026, Michelin plans to host the live launch of its updated guide in Ireland for the first time.

Speaking of UK restaurants, Yotam Ottolenghi penned an article in The Guardian discussing the state of the restaurant scene in London, and what he predicts the future of the industry looks like. He notes that a combination of factors is shaking up the entire restaurant world, including people drinking less, health concerns, and affordability. The last one is difficult for both restaurants and patrons, as both sides of the equation are feeling the pinch.

Talking about affordability and then mentioning the upscale grocer Erewhon seems like a contradiction, but the California-based company is offering a free smoothie to its loyalty members for the next two weeks. The catch? The inspiration for the smoothie’s flavor is toothpaste. Erewhon and oral care brand Boka collaborated on the mint-infused drink. Kinsey Butler, Boka’s senior director of brand marketing, told Food and Wine it was fun to create the flavor, stating that the goal was “to capture that bright, clean sensation you get from brushing with our Ela Mint toothpaste and translate it into a smoothie people would actually enjoy.”

If you are a jalapeño lover and feel like the peppers you buy aren’t as spicy as they once were, you’re right. Because the flavor of jalapeños is variable and there was no reliable way to know how spicy the crop was going to be in a particular harvest, researchers bred a milder one. It was, as is the case for many discoveries, at first an accident – the scientists were trying to create a pepper that was more resistant to certain viruses. After realizing what they had actually made, they kept tweaking the new hybrid to suit consumer preferences.

With the US government shut down dragging on for over a month, federal workers are feeling the pinch as they have now missed two paychecks. Nowhere is this felt more deeply than Washington, DC, which is why DC cookbook store Bold Fork Books has announced it is having a community bake sale and fundraiser to benefit federal workers. The sale happens Saturday, November 8.

The Happy Foodie (the blog for Penguin Books UK) released its 2025 Christmas Gift Guide, showcasing popular releases such as Good Things from Samin Nosrat, Boustany by Sami Tamimi, Rick Stein’s Christmas, and Mary 90 by Mary Berry. We will post our own picks and gift guides later this year.

The November 2025 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary has been updated by Jenny.

Events notice:

• Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City will be hosting Bee Wilson who will be signing The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss, and Kitchen Objects on November 15th, 2025.
• Katie Parla – Rome – US tour to promote her new book