Food news antipasto
Unfortunately we start the week with news of the passing of two influential culinary stars. The first is Laura Mason, a food historian who composed a detailed compendium of the traditional foods of Britain. Mason worked…
Darcie
The therapeutic effects of baking
Even before the pandemic, I was keenly aware of how baking can help buoy your mental health and can also relieve stress, and how the act of baking for others can likewise be good for you. Since lockdowns began over a…
Foods to celebrate Nowruz
March 20 marks the beginning of Nowruz, the traditional Persian New Year festival celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Turkey and Syria, throughout Central Asia, and by members of the…
What's wrong with following a recipe?
Last week I wrote about Sam Sifton's The New York Times Cooking: No-Recipe Recipes, which has a lofty goal of freeing people from the drudgery of relying on recipes to get dinner on the table. While I understand…
Ottolenghi finally embraces shortcuts
In 2019, Yotam Ottolenghi pared down his notoriously long ingredient lists to write Ottolenghi Simple, and it seems like the chef is further embracing this relaxed, 'less-is-more' philosophy. In his latest NY Times…
Food news antipasto
We have sad news to report this week: Sydney chef and restaurateur Amy Chanta has died at age 63 following a two-year battle with cancer. Chanta built an empire of Thai restaurants that shaped the city's love and…
Pi(e) Day is almost here
March 14 (3.14 if you use the month-first convention as we do in the US) is the perfect day for bakers to celebrate both pi (the mathematical constant) and pie (the tasty food with endless variation) because of the…
Bon Appétit controversy heads to the small screen
We have previously reported on the Bon Appetit controversies that involved allegations of inequitable treatment of BIPOC staff members in the BA Test Kitchen, and charges of cultural appropriation. As Grub Street…
Antipasto Holidays & Celebrations
Mother's Day recipe ideas
Mother's Day is this Sunday in the UK (it's May 9 in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand). A great way to honor the person who likely did most of the cooking for you during your childhood is to make a special treat for…
Rare Andy Warhol cookbook headed to auction
Did you know Andy Warhol had written a cookbook? Apparently some of our members did, because the book, Wild Raspberries, appears on a handful of bookshelves in the EYB Library. Not very many copies of this cookbook…
What does a 'no-recipe cookbook' look like?
The idea of a 'no-recipe' recipe is not exactly new. At various points over the years I have seen dozens of articles with the premise of 'how to cook X without a recipe', but an entire cookbook that is dedicated to the…
Food news antipasto
Last year the 2020 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (MFWF) had to quickly pivot to an online format due to the coronavirus outbreak. Despite a recent scare with a snap five-day lockdown, the 2021 MFWF will happen in…