Hetty McKinnon is the next guest in the CookShelf Substack

July 29, 2025 by
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Katie's recently launched Substack follows up one fantastic guest author with another amazing writer. The latest post welcomes Hetty Lui McKinnon, who shares which cookbooks are speaking to her now. In case you missed the initial announcement, Katie started a free Substack newsletter in connection with the upcoming launch of the CookShelf app. Left: Australian Cover. Right: US / International Cover.… read more

Food news antipasto

July 27, 2025 by
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Goodbye grocery stores? The San Francisco Chronicle reports on how grocery shopping habits have changed store design (gift link), and how the shift in shopping may be the death knell for large, suburban supermarkets. With more people switching to online shopping, some stores have seen traffic dry up while others are turning into what might best be called shopper's warehouses.… read more

How seedless watermelons took over the grocery store

July 26, 2025 by
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When was the last time you saw watermelons with seeds in your local grocery store? You might find some at a farmer's market, but almost every supermarket will only have seedless fruit. Since the 1990s, seedless varieties have surged in popularity, and over 90% of watermelons shipped from farms are now the seedless type. Eater's Amy McCarthy explores the reasons… read more

Costco’s ‘Holy Grail’ item

July 22, 2025 by
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In a recent thread on the Costco Reddit forum, one Redditor asked a simple question that garnered a flurry of responses. The question was "What is your holy grail Costco item?" The most upvoted response was not the rotisserie chicken, the tequila, or even the iconic $1.50 hot dog. What people really love, it turns out, are big bags of… read more

Food news antipasto

July 20, 2025 by
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If you are the sort of person who likes to look at a dessert menu before you even order your main course, we have two articles you might want to peruse. First up is a growing trend in dessert-only restaurants. These places offer inventive menus that often include dessert and wine pairings. Says pastry chef Will Goldfarb, “There’s this appetite… read more

Baking Nation newspaper debuts

July 19, 2025 by
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We might be losing Cook's Country, but a new print publication has just launched that could ease the pain. The Kindness Company, has just released its first issue of what it bills as a "baking newspaper," titled Baking Nation. The first issue is billed as a "true collector’s piece for baking lovers everywhere!" It sounds like there are additional items… read more

Lost tool lament

July 18, 2025 by
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Back in 2021 I wrote about my favorite kitchen tools and noted that one of them was an inexpensive loop-type melon baller. A few years earlier, I wrote about not-quite-desert-island tools and a squeeze-to-open tea infuser made the list. Both of those beloved objects bit the proverbial dust a couple of months ago. While it was easy to find a… read more

Food news antipasto

July 13, 2025 by
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Are you getting the recommended daily amount of vegetables? If not, you might want to order dessert. No, that is not an error - more and more restaurants are adding vegetables, along with other savory elements, to their desserts. Eater's Bettina Makalintal tells us more about this intriguing restaurant trend. Earlier this week we learned the sad news that America's… read more

Your Nutella is safe with me

July 8, 2025 by
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Closeup of a jar of chocolate hazelnut spread with two slices of artisan bread out of focus to the left.
Classic food pairings like apple and cinnamon, peanut butter and jelly, or tomato and basil work together for many reasons. Complex chemical compounds play off each other and cultural factors can also play a role in how we perceive certain combinations of flavors. For most people these couplings seem natural and elevate the separate components to exceed what each offer… read more

Food news antipasto

July 6, 2025 by
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The strawberries and cream sandwich from Marks & Spencer has taken England by storm. People who enjoy this dainty treat, inspired by the Japanese "sando" may be dismayed to learn that it could soon be subject to the 20% VAT on desserts. According to VAT expert Simon Knivett: “If the bread is sweetened and the product is held in the… read more

Getting to the heart of it

July 6, 2025 by
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After I learned a few years ago that Italian amaretti are traditionally made with apricot kernels, I thought it would be fun to make them someday. Recently I bought apricots and decided that someday was now. After using the fruit in a cake, I stashed the pits in a mason jar until I had enough time to tackle the project.… read more

The history of barbecue

July 4, 2025 by
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This weekend, grills across the US will be blazing with a multitude of meats, vegetables, and fish set atop the racks. Some will enjoy quickly cooked items like hot dogs and hamburgers, but in many households (mine included), low and slow barbecuing will take place. The roots of barbecue date back centuries, and its modern day incarnation owes a lot… read more

Can the can continue?

July 2, 2025 by
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Del Monte Foods, one of the largest canned fruit and vegetable processors in the world, filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. The filing aims to stabilize the company with interim financing until a sale of the company can go forward. In addition to the canned goods carrying the 139-year-old company's iconic logo, Del Monte owns the Contadina tomato brand, College… read more

Any way you slice it

July 1, 2025 by
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A reader comment to a recent article in The Guardian asked why bread slices have gotten thicker over the years. The same reader lamented that you cannot find thin sliced bread in the supermarket any more, and that by making the slices thicker, food companies were contributing to obesity issues. While I do not know if bread has actually gotten… read more

Introducing libraries to EYB at ALA

July 1, 2025 by
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In Sunday's Food News Antipasto, Darcie wrote about our experience at the American Libraries Association (ALA) Conference this past weekend - meeting hundreds of librarians, having dinner with the authors of the upcoming stunner Heartland Masala and having fun chats with EYB members who dropped by our booth. The reaction from librarians to our new library feature was overwhelmingly positive… read more

Food news antipasto

June 29, 2025 by
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Jane and I spent the weekend at the American Library Association annual conference in Philadelphia, promoting our Library memberships. Highlights of the trip included seeing several EYB Members who stopped by to say hello, wonderful cocktails at Almanac, and a meal with two absolutely delightful authors Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji, who had a demonstration on the What’s Cooking stage at the… read more

Tea innovations

June 27, 2025 by
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Forget pumpkin spice lattes, the latest thing in beverages is pumpkin spice tea. That, and along with other trends, is driving an uptick in the popularity of tea, especially in the US, which has not always been tea-friendly. (We got a little salty about it back in 1776 and never got over it.) But now Americans are embracing tea, and… read more

Grocery store trickery

June 24, 2025 by
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One of the grocery stores in my city vexes me to no end by its constant rearranging of products. As soon as I get used to learning where to find the items that I regularly buy, everything moves to a new location. This shuffling of items is probably not just due to changing inventory, but rather a deliberate attempt to… read more

Food news antipasto

June 22, 2025 by
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We covered the James Beard Media Awards over the weekend, but there were more honors given on Monday, when the JBF announced the winners of its Restaurant and Chef Awards, representing the best food and drink in the US. Fine dining establishments took home many of the honors, but there were plenty of casual restaurants in the mix. Take a… read more

Strategies for when it’s too hot to cook

June 21, 2025 by
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This year the solstice brought with it a record-breaking heat wave for much of the US. When the temperatures and dew points both spike this high, standing over a hot stove for any length of time is unappealing, to say the least. Keeping cool while cooking in the midst of a heat wave is difficult, but there are ways to… read more

Are you in the rhubarb lovers’ club?

June 20, 2025 by
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I will never forget the time a 20-something coworker wrinkled her nose in disgust when I brought a rhubarb pie to the office. "Only old people like rhubarb," she said. Being only in my early 40s at the time, I bristled at the notion. It turns out that she might not be totally wrong, as rhubarb sales have been stagnant… read more

James Beard Awards Weekend in Chicago

June 18, 2025 by
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Jane, Katie and I attended the James Beard award ceremony on June 14th in Chicago, where the the James Beard Foundation announced the winners of its 2025 Media Awards, which includes books, broadcast media, and journalism. This was the 35th Anniversary of the awards and the air was charged with excitement and positivity. As we shared in our post delivering the… read more

Celebrity chef Anne Burrell dies at 55

June 17, 2025 by
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We received the sad news that Anne Burrell, popular Food Network host and chef, passed away today at her New York home. Burrell was the long time host of Worst Cooks in America, which ran on Food Network from 2010 to the present. Known for her spiky platinum-blond hairdo, Burrell coached teams through hundreds of episodes of the program. Born… read more

Food news antipasto

June 15, 2025 by
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We start this week with news that is sure to make you smile. A small town in Mississippi is home to the world's only apron museum. For over 20 years, Carolyn and Henry Terry have been running the Apron Museum in the small town of Iuka. The museum houses a collection of more than 5,000 aprons, spanning the globe and… read more

A well-connected kitchen

June 12, 2025 by
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As I read an article about how to ensure your dishwasher lasts for many years, I was a little surprised to read that many dishwashers are now wifi compatible. I am not sure why I was taken aback, after all, it is becoming difficult to find kitchen appliances that don't come with an app. While I can see potential upsides… read more
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