The world lost a legend and all around good person last week when Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80. Tributes have been pouring in from the world over, not just about Dolly's musical gifts, but also about her philanthropy and kindness. Over at Ravenous, Amy McCarthy notes that Dolly was a champion of working class people, and that the food she loved was proof of that. USA Today also ran a story about how her legacy lives on through food and cookware brands. We would be remiss if we did not mention that Dolly also wrote two cookbooks.

Sardine & fennel bucatini from Waitrose Weekend by Elly Curshen

Earlier this week in the UK, the government announced a new national resilience program and encourage its residents to keep bottled water and non-perishable food at home in case of disruptions caused by things like extreme weather events or even cyber attacks. The Independent's Hannah Twiggs provides advice on which items are worth stockpiling, and how to gauge how much water you need to have on hand.

In a timely article that discusses using one of the foods to stockpile, Rachel Roddy waxes poetic about how everyone seems to be hooked on tinned fish. She notes that "tinned fish rules. It gives a product with a notoriously short life an extremely long one, thus drastically reducing the risk of food waste." Roddy also mentions that tinned fish can contain a "deep umami flavour" due to the curing and canning process, especially if the fish is canned with flavored brines or high quality oils.

In Diana Henry's latest Recipe Newsletter, she talks about the cookbook that changed her life: A New Book of Middle Eastern Food. Writing in honor of Claudia Roden's 90th birthday, Diana said that she became enchanted with the cookbook the day she took it home: "It was the first time I’d read about food in the context of the culture from which it came, interspersed with fragments of poetry, adages (I always remember “even the worm inside a stone eats herbs”) and descriptions of coffee drinking in Cairo." The book inspired her to pursue to her own culinary career.

Do you struggle to cut bell peppers evenly? You might want to try the viral TikTok "upside down method," says The Kitchn's Cory Fernandez. The method is especially good at avoiding the seeds going all over the place. Some commenters mentioned that this method wastes more of the pepper, which Cory said wasn't a problem for him, but you can always trim the edges if you find this makes more waste.