America's dining scene has been overtaken by chains — not just Chipotle, Chili's and Starbucks but local restaurants that open up multiple spin-offs in cities, neighborhoods and even streets. Is all this flattening and homogenizing the dining experience? Or are there upsides too? @Eater has built this @Flipboard Storyboard exploring the issue from all angles. Tell us in the comments what you think.
Butter boards — artfully styled wooden boards with softened, flavored butter — have become a TikTok trend in the last couple of years. But their inexorable rise might not have been entirely organic. Grist reports on how the dairy lobby is claiming credit for the trend because its marketing group worked with the influencer who posted the first video. The organization also has partnerships with McDonald's, Taco Bell, Domino's and General Mills. "Thirty years after the era-defining 'Got Milk?' campaign — itself a project of the California Milk Processor Board — the U.S. dairy lobby’s PR machine appears to be getting a second wind," writes H. Claire Brown.
The thousands of students protesting on university campuses across America need to eat. Eater tells the story of the people who are feeding them, including Abdul Elenani, co-owner of New York City's Palestinian restaurant Ayat, who has delivered shawarma sandwiches, kibbeh and maklouba to Columbia and NYU, and activists Taylor Yates and Navi Valentine, whose Welcome Home Kitchens organization is feeding folks in Chicago.
A new law has come into effect in Florida stating that if you create or sell lab-grown meat, you might face a second-degree misdemeanor charge, which is punishable by up to 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. Several other states including Alabama, Tennessee and Arizona are attempting to follow suit. What's the beef with not-beef? “Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement. Food and Wine has the full story.
A new genre of cookbooks is providing recipes for all your favorite TV and movie meals, from the hobbits' lembas bread and the pies of Azeroth to Monica's onion galette from "Friends." Some of the biggest of these books sell hundreds of thousands of copies. Esquire's Callum Bains talked to recipe developers about the challenges of re-creating fictional food, and why they think people are interested in eating it. “It’s just a whole other way to cosplay,” says Elena Craig, who’s written cookbooks for the worlds of "Harry Potter," "Deadpool," and "Hocus Pocus." We want to know, what do you think is the most delicious TV show or movie? For the purposes of this poll, we're conflating series/franchises and individual movies and TV shows. Tell us in the comments if we've missed a really obvious one!
The James Beard nominations for 2024 have just been announced, and a few of the folks we've worked with over the years are in the mix. Here's the full list of nominees, via @Eater:
Abi Balingit was James Beard nominated for her Filipino dessert book, "Mayumu." Here's a @Flipboard Storyboard she put together about the rise of Filipino food.
Toni Tipton-Martin scored a James Beard nomination for "Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks." Here's her @Flipboard collection about her work in raising the profile of Black cuisine.
And the team at "High on the Hog" were nominated in the docuseries category. The show's host, Whetstone magazine founder Stephen Satterfield, curated this @Flipboard Storyboard about what food can teach us about Black identity and culture.
Apparently it's now a thing for dinner party hosts to ask their guests for money to help with groceries. Eater reporter Amy McCarthy says that's not OK, and offers some suggestions for cutting costs if you want to host but can't afford to. What's your experience with this? Pick as many answers as apply and share any fun stories in the comments.
According to National Geographic, Americans have hated tipping almost as long as they've been doing it. Here's the story of the practice's origins, the debate around whether racism made it more widespread in the U.S., and what people are tipping for today.
In order to treat his Crohn's disease, writer Andrew Chapman had to stop eating for three weeks and get all his nutrition from an IV bag. He writes for @longreads about what he missed in his time without food — social contact, black pepper crabs, roast chicken — and why he became obsessed with watching cooking shows.
After a barrage of noise complaints, the Italian city of Milan is proposing a new law to get late-night ice-cream lickers off the streets. The local government has filed papers that could lead to a ban on takeaway food and drink sales after 12.30am coming into effect next month. Here's more from Euronews.
Strawberry picking is one of the worst jobs in agriculture — it's hard on the body, poorly paid, and workers are badly treated by bosses. Civil Eats talked to some of the people who work in the fields about what it's like, and their hopes for change. “People have to unite — and we need big demonstrations. It’s necessary to pressure the ranchers so they value our work. Without us they have nothing," says Matilde, a worker who refused to give her last name for fear of reprisals.
According to Gordon Ramsay, we're in the golden age of dorm-room cooking, as a result of social platforms where students can exchange cooking hacks, and the proliferation of devices like crock pots and portable burners. "These low-budget, accessible, and creative dorm-room meals are opening up new possibilities for all cooks with limited kitchen access, from low-budget travelers staying in hostels to anyone struggling with housing insecurity to housemates tired of waiting for their turn to use the oven," writes Grey Moran. Here's their story for Civil Eats. We'd like to know: How would you rate your cooking abilities?
OpenTable says it won't allow anonymous reviews anymore. In an email to those who've previously posted comments, the reservations platform said the goal of including first names and photos on all reviews was to "give you even greater confidence in the reviews — and when booking a new restaurant.” Initial reports said that old reviews would be retroactively updated, but after a user backlash, these will remain anonymous. Here's more from Bleeping Computer. What do you think of the plan to remove anonymity from reviews?
Crocs used to just be beloved of gardeners and dads with plantar fasciitis. But over the past few years it's also been collaborating with some interesting brands and individuals, including 7-Eleven, Lil Nas X, Balenciaga, and KFC (the last of which had Croc charms that smelled like chicken drumsticks). The latest hookup is with Pringles for a collection that comprises Classic Clogs, Slides, and an ankle-high boot with a holster to store a pack of Croc-Tail Party-flavored Pringles (watermelon, chilli and lime). Here's more from Allrecipes. What's your opinion?
Who put the "Marie" in bain-Marie, the double boiler that's used in cooking and chemistry? Atlas Obscura's Andrew Coletti looks at the history of the tool, which may be named after a Jewish alchemist called Miriam, who lived around the year 300.
A lawsuit filed in Northern California's federal district court against Dunkin' claims that the chain's policy of charging more for nondairy milk is discriminatory. The named plaintiffs suffer from lactose intolerance and milk allergies, and the complaint alleges that imposing a surcharge for alternative milk violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here's more from Eater.
The U.S. National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (aka Big Hot Dog) puts out a figure each year claiming to be the number of hot dogs an American eats annually and it's big. 70 hot dogs a year — not including bratwursts, sausages, veggie dogs, or pigs-in-blankets! Defector's Kelsey McKinney wrote this exhaustive investigation on where the heck this number comes from. To augment her research, fediverse-style, we want to know roughly how many hot dogs you personally consume a year. Story may be paywalled.
There's a long tradition of culinary April Fools. Atlas Obscura rounds up some of the best, including the famous spaghetti tree hoax, the origin story of "Hansel and Gretel," and the bull ball beer joke that eventually became reality.
Was it Nancy Meyers or HGTV that made Americans obsessed with decanting their groceries into matching clear containers? Whatever the cause, Jaya Saxena has had enough of it. "As you know by virtue of not being able to buy yogurt by the handful, most food is sold in containers," she writes. "But for many people, these containers are not good enough. So they have built a whole online world dedicated to the purpose of showing you what other types of containers to put your groceries in." Here's her story for Eater.
Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku is believed to be the oldest onigiri (Japanese rice ball) restaurant in Tokyo. Its owner, Yosuke Miura, talked to CNN about what makes a good onigiri, the flavors he experiments with, and why his grandmother founded the eatery in 1954. “My grandfather didn’t work and my grandmother had trouble living a financially stable life,” he explains, telling CNN that this origin story is reflected in the restaurant name. "Directly translated, the restaurant’s name means ‘a useless person’s house,’” he says.
In the city of Negombo, on the west coast of Sri Lanka, there's an expansive fish market and nearby, fishermen dry their catch of mackerel, sprats and sardines. "Sun-dried fish can last for weeks and, because many residents don’t own refrigerators, is a staple in the local cuisine, adding a unique flavor to Sri Lankan dishes," says photojournalist Claudio Sieber, who took this great shot for @hakaimagazine.