Food news antipasto

December 14, 2025 by
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I spotted several gift guides and ideas as I was checking on food news, and thought I would share a few highlights: Nordic Ware has gifts for the Bundt lover and more, Saveur has a limited edition cookbook featuring holiday cakes. The New York Times has a list of 24 gifts for people who love food, and Food & Wine… read more

That’s a wrap

December 13, 2025 by
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Plastic packaging is on nearly every food you can buy these days. It is difficult - almost impossible, in fact - to avoid it. Aside from the environmental impact, the plastic does little to improve the food. It only minimally keeps it from spoiling, and in some cases it leaches chemicals into the food. But what if the wrap around… read more

The 2026 flavor of the year, as predicted by McCormick

December 11, 2025 by
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The spice company McCormick, in part of its annual report on dining trends, has predicted that black currant will be the breakout flavor of the coming year. They also predict that 'little luxuries' will continue to be popular, and say that black currant goes hand-in-hand with that trend. Last year, the company named ají amarillo as the flavor of 2025. McCormick dispatched… read more

Chocolate on the chopping block

December 10, 2025 by
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It's no secret that chocolate, like so many food items, has been getting increasingly expensive. Cocoa plants are highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Add to that labor issues, tariffs, and an infection carried by mealybugs, and you have a crisis. Manufacturers have to pivot as the cost of their key ingredient continues to rise. Some companies have… read more

They don’t make them like they used to

December 9, 2025 by
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My husband and I collect vintage appliances, but not just for display, we use them on a regular basis. The oldest electric appliance we have dates to 1915, the waffle maker shown below. We have non-electric items as old as 1868 (a Howe treadle sewing machine). Beyond the beauty of these items, we appreciate how well they work - in… read more

Food news antipasto

December 7, 2025 by
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Jamie Oliver is not a quitter. Six years after he had to shutter his Italian restaurant chain's UK locations, he is bringing Jamie's Italian back with a new partner. The new iteration of the restaurant is backed by Brava Hospitality Group, which hopes to revive the chain. The first location will be located in London’s Leicester Square. Despite the obstacles… read more

Winter is meant for baking

December 7, 2025 by
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The farther you get from the equator, the longer your winter gets. For those of us who live many degrees away from zero degrees latitude, finding a hobby is crucial to dealing with the long, cold nights and short, slightly less cold, days. For some of us, baking is that hobby. There are several reasons why it makes sense to… read more

Welcome to soup season

December 4, 2025 by
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A polar vortex parked itself over the northern US and is stubbornly refusing to more. Those of us who live in northern states are now bracing for an entire month of subzero temperatures, snowstorms, and bone-chilling winds. Therefore, I hereby declare this to be soup season (with apologies to our Members in the Southern Hemisphere, where soup may be the… read more

Cooking? There’s an app for that

December 3, 2025 by
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The CookShelf app (details below) - which is getting better by the day - is far from the only food app available. NYT Cooking, The Guardian Feast, Delish, and others have introduced apps in recent years, and more are on the way. Why are so many recipe websites adding apps? Adweek's Mark Stenberg has some theories about the trend. I… read more

The Splendid Table turns 30

December 2, 2025 by
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I cannot believe it has been a decade since I went to the 20th anniversary program for The Splendid Table. At that time, Lynne Rossetto Kasper was still hosting the radio broadcast, which debuted in 1995. Kasper received numerous accolades for her work on the show, including two James Beard Foundation Awards. Francis Lam (also a James Beard Award winner)… read more

Food news antipasto

December 1, 2025 by
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I hope our US Members had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We start with some good news for the world of food safety. Scientists at Ohio State University have found a new way to combat salmonella bacteria that contribute to foodborne illness. The researchers identified antimicrobial peptides from probiotic strains that inhibited the growth of salmonella in chickens. While this needs to… read more

Loving the leftovers

November 30, 2025 by
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Thanksgiving is in the books, and you have probably had a turkey sandwich with the leftover bird. While many people live for the leftovers, I find it a struggle to use everything up in a satisfying way. There are many articles about ways to use up extra turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes but most are rehashing the same recipes the… read more

A brief history of the American kitchen

November 28, 2025 by
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With so much emphasis today on kitchens as the beating heart of the home, it can be difficult to imagine a time when they were relegated to cramped quarters at the back of the house, or even to another building altogether (if you had the means). Now kitchens are central - both figuratively and literally - to the way we… read more

Encouraging words on Thanksgiving Eve

November 26, 2025 by
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I can't believe it has been six years since I wrote about the first Thanksgiving in a decade where I was not hosting. The main reason for that 2019 situation had to do with a health condition that I had hoped would be resolved in time for the next holiday. I was so disappointed that my friends (who are my… read more

Thanksgiving ruined? Maybe AI is to blame

November 25, 2025 by
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Lots of people use generative AI tools like ChatGPT to find answers to their questions, including their food questions. Food bloggers are noticing fewer visitors to their sites as more people turn to AI for recipes, sometimes with disastrous results. As reported in Bloomberg, many of the AI recipes are replete with errors or contain AI images that are impossible… read more

Food news antipasto

November 23, 2025 by
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We just learned of the passing of Skye Gyngell, the first Australian woman to be awarded a Michelin star. Gyngell helmed several popular London-area restaurants and cafes. She was also a cookbook author, writing four cookbooks from 2008 to 2016. Many chefs and food writers posted remembrances about Gyngell, with Jamie Oliver thanking her for "all you did to inspire… read more

A new way to cupcake

November 22, 2025 by
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Cupcakes are finding their way back from being abandoned after the early 21st century cupcake craze sparked by bakeries such as Magnolia Bakery in New York City. What's not to love? They are individually portioned (making serving a breeze), can be cute as a bug, and offer as many flavor combinations as you can dream up. They bake quickly, usually… read more

Who needs a flaky pie crust?

November 22, 2025 by
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Milk Street's Christopher Kimball had a Reddit AMA session earlier this week. Kimball solicited questions on his favorite food holiday (Thanksgiving), asking Redditors to "get the conversation (argument) started!" He was ready to opine on topics such as cutting fat into flour for making pie crusts, the right way to brine your turkey, and his favorite dinner roll recipe. Rose Levy… read more

What’s the best bread for stuffing?

November 19, 2025 by
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With holiday dinners fast approaching, home cooks are preparing the menus for their family feasts. For many, this means a turkey and stuffing/dressing as a side dish. There are many decisions to be made regarding the stuffing, and chief among them is what bread to use. Food & Wine brings us chefs' top choices for this important stuffing ingredient. Kish… read more

Watch it wobble

November 18, 2025 by
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The fondness for retro desserts - items that might appear on a table in the TV show Mad Men - is still going strong several years after it emerged. B. Dylan Hollis has crafted a career from retro cakes and other sweets from vintage cookbooks, and TikTok and Instagram are filled with other creators putting old recipes to the test.… read more

Food news antipasto

November 17, 2025 by
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Chef and cookbook author Samin Nosrat recently sat down with Sam Sanders - in her lush Oakland garden - to talk about food and healing. She spoke about her favorite item from the garden (passionfruit), and broke down how hard it was to recover from the letdown she felt following the success of her first cookbook and Netflix series of… read more

US consumers may want to stock up on Italian pasta

November 15, 2025 by
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If you live in the US and your favorite pasta brand is from Italy, you may want to buy extra during your next shopping trip. Starting in January, the Trump administration is aiming to introduce tariffs of over 90% on Italian pasta. This tariff bump may be affected by the tariff case that is pending before the Supreme Court, but… read more

The Frankenpastry era continues

November 13, 2025 by
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Dominique Ansel's Cronut - released in 2013 - was likely the spark of the pastry mashup that continues to proliferate at bakeries around the world, but the roots go back a bit further. In 1996, NYC pastry chef Maury Rubin created a pretzel croissant that predates the Cronut by more than a decade. However, the rise of the internet made… read more

Pretend private chefs become a TikTok trend

November 12, 2025 by
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There is no shortage of content creators who are (or were) chefs, including private chefs. But some 'private chef' accounts are playing fast and loose with the concept of 'client' - calling their parents, significant other, and even themselves the client. Food and Wine explains why this can actually be a way to break out of cooking doldrums. Food and… read more

2025 Taste Canada Awards winners

November 11, 2025 by
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The 2025 Taste Canada Awards were announced today. The Awards are presented to outstanding Canadian cookbooks in both English and French languages. This is the biggest night of the year for Canadian cookbook authors. Unlike other cookbook awards, Taste Canada presents both gold and silver awards in each category for each language, resulting in a bevy of winners despite having only… read more
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