Food news antipasto

December 29, 2025 by
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This liminal period between Christmas and New Year's has my brain scrambled, so please accept my apologies for this delayed recap of food news. Since 2025 is nearly over, everyone is looking back at the top stories and recipes for the year. Australian Gourmet Traveller published its most popular recipes of 2025, and The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food recounts… read more

Self-checkout theft is rising

December 27, 2025 by
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One consequence of continued high prices at the grocery store may be that shoppers are taking advantage of self-checkouts to help ease their grocery budget issues. More people are reporting that they have intentionally not scanned items at self-checkouts, with 27% of shoppers admitting to it in a recent survey. The rates vary by age and economic status, with younger… read more

In pursuit of perfection

December 26, 2025 by
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In October, a Redditor who goes by Chivelord began a quest: cutting chives every day until Reddit deemed them 'perfect'. Each day he would post a photo of the day's cut. The comments would pour in: "uneven", a "train" (when the chives aren't cut fully through and are still attached), "towers" (cut too long). Chivelord persevered, cutting again and again… read more

The worst gifts ever

December 23, 2025 by
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What's more fun than sharing your favorite food and cooking holiday gifts that you received? A list of the worst gifts you ever got. While the list is not specifically for kitchen items, several people recounted presents that were food or cooking- related. One woman, who bought her husband an expensive Tag Heuer watch, received a cheap blender from him.… read more

Food news antipasto

December 22, 2025 by
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Assorted cheeses on a rustic wooden board
We recently learned that Sri Owen, who popularized Indonesian cooking worldwide, died last month at the age of 90. Born in Sumatra, Indonesia, she moved to Britain in 1964 and was an internationally celebrated author, lecturer and cook. Her books include The Rice Book (winner of the Andre Simon award) and Indonesian Regional Food and Cookery. She served on the… read more

Put down the cocktail, pick up…the dishrag?

December 20, 2025 by
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A hand in a yellow cleaning glove wipes across the face of an oven
Just when you think you have seen all the hot takes possible when it comes to cleaning your kitchen, up pops a new one. This one involves a DIY hack, but it does not instruct you to use vinegar, baking soda, or any of the usual items that get pulled into service as a cleaning product. Instead, says Rolland Judd… read more

Huge salad dressing recall at Costco, Publix, and more

December 16, 2025 by
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Ventura Foods LLC has issued a recall of salad dressings sold in 27 US states at retailers including Costco and Publix. The recall, which was initiated first on November 4 and later classified as a Class II recall, affects over 3,500 cases of the product. The issue is the presence of foreign objects, namely a black plastic planting material that was… read more

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

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

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

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
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