The latest tattoo fad is inspired by kitchenware

Tattoos of whisks, animals, cupcakes, and more adorn various body parts of chefs and dedicated cooks all over the world. Now we can add a new category to the annals of kitchen-inspired tattoo art: Pyrex bowls and bakeware. The designs, which have changed only subtly since the 1950s, have arguably lasted so long that they have attained a classic status.… read more

Bong Appetit? Chefs take an interest in marijuana

With the expansion of recreational marijuana in several US states, entrepreneurs have looked for new ways to market their product. One popular concept is marijuana edibles, usually sold in the form of chocolates or candies. Of course, baking with marijuana is not a new concept, as almost anyone who was a college student from the 1960s onward could tell you.… read more

The rise of the donut peach

In 1993, Florence Fabricant reported on a new type of peach that was "juicy and luscious" but looked rather odd. It was much more squat than the typical golden red orb that everyone loved. First called a Saturn peach, it became known as the "donut peach", and now it's taking the US by storm.  Donut peaches are descendants of wild… read more

The biggest food trends of the past 40 years

We spend a fair amount of time researching and reporting on food trends here at EYB. No matter how frivolous, they are reflected through the subject matter of new cookbooks. However popular they may be at the time, the very nature of trends is that they fade away. A review of yesterday's trends invokes nostalgia - and sometimes puzzlement - but… read more

State fair season is here

The cicadas are buzzing, signaling the wind-down of summer in the US. Another sign that summer is drawing to a close is the opening of state fair season. Across the country, each state celebrates with a combination of agricultural exhibits, carnival rides, concerts, and, of course, food. Lots and lots of food.  People flock to stands selling a variey of goodies,… read more

What’s the best way to store basil?

Basil is one of those herbs that shines best when fresh - the dried version offers only a pale ghost of the plant's vibrant flavors. Growing your own is the best way to capture those essences, but not everyone can do that. Purchasing fresh basil is the next best option, but it doesn't store well. Aside from using it the… read more

Buyer beware when it comes to cookbook safety

The recent recall of Tales from a Forager's Kitchen got me thinking about food safety in cookbooks. Many modern books go out of their way to be safe, with meticulous instructions and caveats - especially books on sous vide cookery. With older books and self-published books, you're on your own.  Books by self-described foragers or naturalists are among the most… read more

What’s missing from today’s cookbooks?

With the number of cookbooks released every year on a wide variety of topics, it can be difficult to imagine that there are subject areas that aren't being fully explored. However, a recent tweet from the NYC cookbook store Kitchen Arts & Letters caught my eye because it discussed this very concept. KAL posted that there weren't enough recipes for… read more

The 40 most important US restaurants of the past 40 years

In the world of dining, there are restaurants and then there are restaurants. The former are good and sometimes wonderful eateries, while the latter take things to a higher level, redefining genres and influencing a generation (or more) of chefs. It is this type of restaurant that Food and Wine explores in its list of the 40 most influential restaurants… read more

Rethinking iceberg lettuce

Like many EYB Members, I spend a lot of time thinking about food. If I'm not making it or eating it, I'm reading about it. All of this time spent on one subject can make one jaded about certain ingredients or dishes. After searching out little-known and exotic items, you can easily come to disparage things that seem plain or… read more

Is the celebrity chef a thing of the past?

From the late 1990s into the 2010s, celebrity chefs were riding high. They were opening restaurants left and right, with Hollywood stars in attendance during opening night. Emeril Lagasse even had his own sitcom (albeit a short-lived one). Today, however, the winds seem to be shifting. The much-hyped restaurants are closing, prompting speculation about the decline of the celebrity chef.… read more

Celebrate National Book Lover’s Day

Today is a wonderful day: it's National Book Lovers Day in the U.S., and of course that extends to cookbooks as well. People have been sharing photos of their bookshelves, stacks of their favorite books, and (of course) of their pets "reading". A few fun facts about the history of books is in order (from the National Dy Calendar of Days website… read more

Don’t waffle about using this appliance

You might have a waffle iron languishing in the back of your cupboard that you dig out a few times a year to make waffles. But it doesn't have to be hidden away in between those Sunday brunches: there are gobs of recipes that make excellent use of the waffle iron. Epicurious has some great ideas on alternate uses for… read more

A guide to using peak summer tomatoes

The days here in the Northern Hemisphere are beginning to be noticeably shorter, yet the air is still thick and the temperatures scorching. This combination of events means that we have reached peak tomato season. If you are a procrastinator like me, you probably have not carefully organized all of the wonderful tomato recipes you came across during the dead… read more

How food emoji are born

According to Emojipedia, there are currently 97 emoji (aka emoticons) that are food- or drink-related. Most of us have probably used one while texting, whether to congratulate someone (clinking flutes, around since 2016) or to tell your partner what to bring home for dinner (pizza slice, available since 2010.) But have you ever wondered how the food emoji are chosen? You can… read more

IACP Membership Savings

We're excited to share with our members a great deal on membership in one of the foremost culinary networks, International Association of Culinary Professionals.  In 1978, a group of cooking school owners and instructors, including Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, and Anne Willan, came together for mutual professional support. They created the IACP and in the process, they laid a foundation… read more

The cheese made with a 70-year-old culture

Atlas Obscura, in addition to its sister site Gastro Obscura, continually unearths delightful oddities about food. EYB Member sir_ken_g tipped us off to a particularly interesting article about a canned cheese developed at the University of Washington that uses a secret culture that's over 70 years old. 'Why would you put cheese in a can?', you might wonder. The impetus… read more

The most popular cookbook for the year you were born

It's always fun to take trips down nostalgia lane, and especially so if the journey involves cookbooks. The folks at Delish have a treat for by way of a listing of the most popular US cookbook for the year you were born. The only caveat is that the detailed portion of the list only goes back to 1980; those of… read more

There’s no right way to use a cookbook

Last week we learned that Prime Minister Theresa May has a rather large cookbook collection, and that she liked to read cookbooks to unwind. I picture her, with myriad important decisions to make, taking a few minutes at the end of the day to open a cookbook and allow it to transport her to another place, free from the pressures… read more

Why is it so hard to replicate brick oven pizzas?

Anyone who's enjoyed a pizza baked in a real wood-fired brick oven understands that something about this method of cooking makes the pizzas especially delicious. While dozens of pizza oven hacks are touted on websites, ranging from disabling self-cleaning oven safety latches (not recommended) to lining ovens with brick-like products, it's all but impossible to replicate the conditions of a… read more

What’s in a name, part deux: the French battle over chocolate pastries

For decades, a rural-vs-urban, south-vs-north debate has been raging. No, it isn't in a political dispute in the United States, but instead involves France and a specific chocolate pastry. Known as 'pain au chocolat' in most of France but especially in Paris, the laminated dough encasing chocolate bars is called 'chocolatine' in the southwest portion of the country. The debate… read more

Theresa May’s cookbook collection may surprise you

Many EYB Members read cookbooks as a way to wind down after a long day. If you are one of them, you share something in common with a head of state. Indexed blog Great British Chefs has reported that UK Prime Minister Theresa May has over 150 cookbooks in her collection, and she likes to read them to relax.  May… read more

Have cooking competition programs become too difficult?

There is no denying that competition cooking programs have changed in the years since Iron Chef debuted on Food Network nearly twenty years ago. While that show provided challenges for its competitors, the stakes have become increasingly elevated over the years. This intense pressure has a downside, says Nell Frizzell of The Guardian, who wonders whether these cooking competitions have become… read more

Saveur Food Blog Nomination

If at first you don't succeed. Try, try again. It's that time of the year again - the Saveur Food Blog Nominations are open.   Our team at Eat Your Books loves cookbooks as much as our members do. We work hard to provide cookbook news, promotions and news from the culinary world. This year our weekly Kindle deals posts… read more

Is there a downside to Cookbooktober?

Cookbook lovers look forward to the end of year, when the bulk of quality cookbooks hit the shelves in anticipation of the holiday seasons. October is the month with the most releases. In fact, there are two days in October that each have more cookbooks being released than the entire month of April, according to Matt Sartwell of NYC's Kitchen… read more
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