Not your mother’s dinner spoon

A spoon is a spoon is a spoon, right? Not according to thousands of chefs working in esteemed restaurants. In the world of professional kitchens, one spoon rules them all: the Kunz spoon. Developed by chef Gary Kunz during his time at New York City restaurant Lespinasse, over the years this seemingly humble piece of kitchen equipment has developed a… read more

The redemption arc

Celebrity scandal is nothing new - in fact, tabloid newspapers rely on it to sell their publications, where the headlines were 'clickbait' long before the internet was invented. Whether someone can make a comeback after getting caught in a scandal depends on the person's popularity level and on how heinous the actions were; some sins are unforgiveable. When talking about… read more

Never too old to cook

When you enter your golden years, the cooking load tends to lighten. Children have grown and left and there are probably fewer dinner parties. Once you go to a nursing home or assisted living facility, it is possible you won't cook at all. If that scenario leaves you feeling dismayed, you should read about a cooking club at a senior… read more

Padma’s back with a new reality cooking show

You can take the host out of Top Chef but apparently you cannot take the Top Chef out of the host. Padma Lakshmi, who departed from Bravo TV's Top Chef in 2023, is returning to the small screen as the host and executive producer of yet another reality cooking program. This one is titled America's Culinary Cup and it features… read more

Are you interested in community cookbooks? Free event today.

Apologies for the short notice but I just found out about an interesting discussion entitled Cooking Up Change: Women’s Agency and Community Building Through Cookbooks. It's being hosted by the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and it's at 4pm ET today (as I said, rather short notice). Registration for the Zoom event is free. Here are the details: Join us for the opening… read more

Food news antipasto

Fans of Caroline Chambers' cookbook What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking take note: Chambers recently announced that she is writing a follow up to this bestseller. This one is for people who are looking for time saving recipes. The title of the upcoming release is What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking: Make it Fast.… read more

RIP recipe cards?

With all of the retro kitchen trends that are happening now, you might expect that all things vintage would be making a comeback in the kitchen. However, even though retro bowls, kitschy decorations, and appliances that resemble those manufactured decades ago are popular, there is one item that does not seem to be welcome: handwritten recipe cards. These are fading… read more

The germiest place in your kitchen isn’t what you expect

Spices in jars
When people think about germs in the kitchen, they probably have a few items in mind: the sink, cutting boards, refrigerator door handles, garbage cans, and dishwashing sponges. However, a recent study found that there is another place that harbors more bacteria than any of those: spice jars. When I saw the title of the article and tried to guess… read more

February 2026 New Cookbook Review

March will soon be blowing in like a lion as they say here in the Northern Hemisphere and with it comes the Spring version of Cookbooktober. My 2026 Cookbook Preview Post is growing every day with great titles to covet. Excited to see these additions recently: Spinasse: An American Love Letter to Piemonte Cuisine by Stuart Lane and James O. Fraioli, Food is… read more

The banana split gets a glow up

The banana split was invented over 100 years ago, reportedly by David "Doc" Strickler, a University of Pittsburgh pharmacy student who was working as a soda jerk in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Since then it has been enjoyed - in nearly the same format as the original - by countless people across the United States and beyond. Although its star has been… read more

One woman’s quest to rescue lost Black American recipes

Last Thanksgiving, content creator Sonja Norwood saw a video for vinegar pie. She tells Today that upon seeing the video, “I was like, ‘What is this?’ And I heard it was a Black recipe, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna make this for Black History Month.’” What started as a single post quickly grew. Norwood, who goes by Wick’d Confections on… read more

February 2026 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we allow posting in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club from any cookbook, magazine or blog and most months we also offer one featured cookbook. We hope that sharing our favorite recipes will help our Members discover new cookbooks and recipes to try. Also please see our March 2026 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary which is now organized by location and… read more

Food news antipasto

It's official - they've called off the divorce. Who is they? Kraft Heinz, of course. The company was going to split in two, with one company focused on groceries and the other on sauces and spreads, but new CEO Steve Cahillane stopped the split from happening. He says that poor conditions across the food industry led the decision, noting however… read more

Garden dreams

Last week the weather here was unseasonably warm, feeling more like spring than mid-February. The warmth got me thinking about my garden and going through leftover packets of seed to see what I need to buy for the upcoming season. This week the cold weather returned with a vengeance, as if to say "not so fast" to my garden plans.… read more

Lucky foods for Lunar New Year

February is interesting this year as the start of Ramadan, the Lunar New Year, and Fat/Shrove Tuesday all landed on the same day. As I read on a Bluesky post yesterday, "this means that the majority of humans on the planet have a reason to eat fried food, and that is beautiful." Focusing on the Lunar New Year, this holiday called Tet in Vietnam, Tsagaan… read more

Foods to celebrate Ramadan

Tonight marks the start of Ramadan, which runs through March 19 this year. This is a month of reflection, spiritual growth, and community celebration where observant Muslims will abstain from both food and drink from dawn to sunset. As with most religious holidays, traditional foods play an important role, both for pre-dawn meal (suhoor) and the meal consumed after sunset… read more

Grocery store etiquette

Two articles caught my eye today that revolved around behaviors that drive grocery store employees bonkers. The first involved bagging etiquette at Aldi stores, and the second touched on shopping cart courtesy at Trader Joe's locations. These stories prompted me to think about how the grocery shopping experience has evolved in the last several years. The COVID-19 pandemic really threw… read more

Food news antipasto

KitchenAid recently debuted its 2026 Color of the Year: Spearmint. The light, cool green gets a subtly textured matte finish to further distinguish it from previous greens available. In connection with the debut, KitchenAid has a sweepstakes where you can enter to win an Artisan mixer and a commercial-style dual-fuel range, both in Spearmint. Caesar salad from How to Eat… read more

Cooking at the bottom of the world

Everyone who cooks a lot eventually faces a challenge or two: finding out that a vegetable went moldy when you are in the middle of making dinner, a malfunctioning oven or stove, or some other malady. Usually solving the problem is fairly easy, like running to the store for a replacement or calling a repairman to fix the equipment. But… read more

Galentine’s Day treats

Valentine's Day gets a lot of attention, but a trend that started with a sitcom keeps growing every year. Galentine's Day began with a bit on the TV show Parks & Rec, where Amy Poehler's character Leslie Knope hosted an annual breakfast and mimosa event with her friends. In the episode that introduced Galentine's Day, Knope declared “You know my… read more

Forget the spoon and use your fingers, says Daniel Boulud

NYC chef Daniel Boulud has a storied history with nineteen restaurants, including Michelin stars. The chef recently spoke with Food & Wine about how to season like a French chef to get the perfect amount of salt in a dish. His biggest piece of advice is to forego measuring spoons while cooking, and instead just use your fingers to gauge… read more

March 2026 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around world and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  I will update this post as clubs make their additional choices. Something that has… read more

Are microwaves a thing of the past?

I still remember when my grandparents got their first microwave oven in the late 1970s. Until they purchased their Amana Radarange, I had never seen a microwave. The unit was a pricey affair, costing hundreds of dollars, its shiny door practically screaming 'Space Age' to the six-year-old standing before it. For early adopters it was a status symbol as much… read more

Food news antipasto

Prue Leith may have left the Great British Baking Show, but she isn't quite done with television altogether. This week we learned that she is working on a new program with former GBBO host Sandi Toksvig. Leith and Toksvig became fast friends before the GBBO moved to Channel 4, and have continued their friendship over the years. It sounds like… read more

Conditional love

There are some foods that I will happily eat almost anywhere, anytime. Tacos and ice cream are two that immediately come to mind. Even when they're 'bad' they are good, and I love them without reservation. On the other hand, some foods I only appreciate under certain circumstances. I do not like chicken noodle soup 99% of the time, but… read more
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