Food and Cooking

Red currant jelly day. We had an abundance this year. The branches were touching the ground. I made two full batches and have enough juice for four more plus tonight's smoothies.

Yay currants.

It's tree ice cream time, yet again! And you might be asking yourself, why on earth are you talking about Christmas trees in the middle of summer? WELP, spruce tips are a summertime crop! And they make for an excellent ice cream flavor if you ask me!

Cooking portion starts at 6:30

Woodworking portion starts at 11:00

Much change is underway on the food and agriculture front, to put it mildly. But it’s also summer, a time to step back, relax, and recharge. Toward that end, we at Civil Eats offer our annual summer book guide. These 23 new or forthcoming titles run the gamut, from big-picture examinations of food-system issues and food philosophies to histories, memoirs, and cookbooks. This year, we’ve included two illustrated titles, too: a graphic memoir about the American ginseng industry and an illustrated children’s book about the life of restaurateur Cecilia Chiang.

We’re always looking for books that propose solutions to challenges in the food system, and this year we’re recommending several, including a guidebook to saving the planet, a collection of life lessons from chef and restaurateur José Andrés, and a look at what we can learn from the lives of honeybees. Happy reading!

Coffee is more than a beverage—it’s a shared experience that transcends cultures, generations, and moods. From the first morning sip to late-night creative fuel, coffee has a way of grounding us while sparking inspiration. Its aroma evokes comfort, its taste tells stories of distant lands, and its ritual brings people together. Whether you’re savoring a single-origin pour-over or grabbing a quick espresso on the go, dark roast sumatra coffee adapts to your rhythm and reflects your personality. And with growing appreciation for ethical sourcing and artisanal roasting, every cup becomes a celebration of flavor and fairness.

Here’s why coffee continues to captivate hearts worldwide:

☕ Versatile Enjoyment: Hot, iced, blended, or brewed—there’s a style for every mood.

🌱 Mindful Sourcing: Single-origin beans and fair trade practices elevate the experience.

🧠 Mental Clarity: Boosts focus, creativity, and productivity.

🫶 Social Ritual: Sparks connection in cafés, homes, and workplaces.

🌍 Cultural Legacy: From Ethiopian ceremonies to Italian espresso bars, coffee reflects heritage.

🎁 Gifting Favorite: Coffee samplers and accessories make thoughtful, personal gifts.

Maybe you spell it "barbecue" or barbeque or BBQ.

And maybe you prefer a nice charred burger to a smoky steak and a sweet sauce over one that has more of a vinegar tang to it.

Regardless of how you take it, or spell it, barbecue as we know it has the same origins — stretching back to before Europeans set foot in the U.S.

Now technically, the method of cooking outside on an open flame has likely been around since man discovered fire. Yet, it's an early encounter between Spanish conquerors and Indigenous Caribbeans that brought us the actual word "barbecue."

Before you get ready to scrape off the grill for this July Fourth, learn more about the history of this quintessential American tradition.

When I moved to Texas a decade ago, I was very quickly taught that "barbecue" is not a synonym for "grill."

In Cambridge, Massachusetts — a town best known for its elite universities — young grassroots climate activists are planting roots in the community. Ruti Pfeffer has persuaded Bhola Pandey, owner of the restaurant Base Crave, to add two new plant-based dishes to the menu as a way to help curb climate emissions. The effort is part of Eat for Impact — an initiative that has persuaded restaurants in 10 cities around the world to expand their menus with plant-forward offerings. Pfeffer has been working on this campaign as part of her fellowship with New Roots Institute, a group that helps young activists work on food system change.

The way we eat and farm is responsible for around a third of the world’s climate emissions, with most of that fraction fueled by meat, especially beef. Rising global temperatures are already testing the boundaries of human livability in many parts of the Global South, including India and Pakistan. Climate scientists have outlined the solutions, however, including cutting back on the meat and dairy we consume. One way to do that is to encourage people to eat more plants, with dishes like shiitake mushroom curry that are on the menu at Base Crave.

Base Crave is one of more than dozens of restaurants around the world to participate in the Eat for Impact campaign organized by food system advocacy group Planted Society. Through her New Roots Institute fellowship, Pfeffer became connected with Planted Society, the advocacy group that led the campaign that enrolled restaurants in cities like Austin and Los Angeles in the United States, and Abuja, Nigeria. Planted Society helped prepare the campaigners to contact the restaurants and city officials, providing them with a set of points to raise about the campaign.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/44591536

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/44591531

Time was, the ultimate honour for any ambitious chef was to gain a Michelin star or two. Better still, three. But these days, the world of fine dining is in a state of flux. Far from going to any lengths to schmooze critics or diners, restaurateurs are taking them on, from publicly berating customers who don’t spend enough to ejecting anyone who even threatens to leave an unfavourable review.

Nowhere is this gear change more noticeable than in attitudes towards the esteemed “red book”, the Michelin Guide. Last October, Giglio, a restaurant in the Italian town of Lucca, asked for its star to be removed from the guide. It had become a burden, according to co-owner, Benedetto Rullo. Many diners were deterred by the prospect of “fussy” food and a formal atmosphere. “One should be able to go to a fine restaurant in a T-shirt, flip-flops and shorts,” Rullo said.

This year in France, the chef Marc Veyrat took the unprecedented step of banning Michelin inspectors from his eponymous new restaurant in the super-chic ski resort of Megève. It must be said that Veyrat has form with Michelin. In 2019, at his previous restaurant, he was outraged to have one of his three stars removed. The reason? Inspectors accused him of using cheddar in a soufflé. Imagine! Rather than taking it on the chin, Veyrat took Michelin to court. He lost the case and Michelin called him “a narcissistic diva”.

I went to Michelin-starred restaurants as a kid. I think I want to one as an adult, though I don't specifically recall if they had one or more. The bill was nonetheless $600 for four people (in 2007). That's an unsustainable business model, so I can see why some restaurateurs want out of the system.

The service was excellent, and they kept serving us apertifs well after closing time. We finally realized we were needlessly keeping the waitstaff on past shift end and called it a night. Amazing meal, but the context was my college roommate fast-tracked a passport application for me so that my first honeymoon -- in St. Lucia -- could be effectuated.

Once we were back in the states, we offered to thank him by treating him and his girlfriend to dinner at one of Seattle's finest restaurants (a favourite of my grandfather). When he saw the prices, he quietly turned to me and said, "Do you really want to eat here and not know what the Wagyu steaks are like? We'll split the bill."

And the steak was absolutely worth $75. And the unordered mushroom bisque starter would later become the basis for a Thanksgiving staple (I emailed Canlis for a recipe, which they were happy to provide an approximation of at restaurant scale). But that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, not "Hey, hon, where do you want to eat tonight?"

HOT TIP: when boycotting, try dupe recipes at home to share with friends. Sometimes there isn't a local alternative brand available but there is always someone with a recipe blog on the internet. I can still have doublestuffed mint chocolate sandwich cookies without funding the capitalist machine crushing my American friends ☺️

This recipe I used 1 cup butter substitute (i used a canola spread) 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup cocoa powder (i use trade aid or donovans) ½ cup golden syrup 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix in a food processor then set in the fridge for 25 minutes

Filling: ½ cup vegetable shortening 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup flour Mint extract to taste

Or just do a small spoonful of peanutbutter as a filling

Roll out the dough to about 5mm thickness. Stamp and cut.

My oven is a joke so not sure the temp but i turn it on and bake for about 8-10 minutes. It will be a low temperature, probably like 170c. They are still soft when i pull them out so I let them sit on the pan to cool before filling and stacking

Sometimes, Josh Tetrick will quiz strangers in the dairy aisle. He’ll strike up a conversation with a fellow grocery store patron and ask if they’ve heard about “this egg that’s made from plants?” He might point out the golden-yellow boxes shaped like milk cartons sitting on refrigerated shelves, not too far from the egg cartons. Generally, he finds that people don’t know what he’s talking about. “Most people will be like, ‘What?’”

The product Tetrick is referring to — which, not coincidentally, he manufactures — is called Just Egg. It’s a liquid vegan egg substitute made from mung beans, a member of the legume family, and it’s designed to scramble just like a real chicken egg when cooked over heat. (The company also sells frozen omelette-style patties that can be heated up in a toaster oven and frozen breakfast burritos.) Along with his best friend Josh Balk, Tetrick cofounded the company Eat Just, formerly known as Hampton Creek, which developed Just Egg over years of testing. On a recent call with Grist, Tetrick described the products — which are meant to look, taste, and cook like real eggs — as “definitely, definitely weird.”

Over the years, Tetrick’s company, which also houses the cultivated meat subsidiary Good Meat, has received criticism for allegedly exaggerating its environmental claims and sales figures. In 2016, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that the company — then called Hampton Creek — removed the climate benefits of its vegan mayonnaise product, Just Mayo, from its website after an external audit found they were inaccurate. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Hampton Creek had instructed contractors to buy back its vegan mayo from stores. Tetrick said that the buybacks were for quality assurance purposes only, but in 2016 both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission launched inquiries into the company for potentially inflating its sales numbers. The following year, both investigations were dropped.

Those in the plant-based industry say that once vegan alternatives taste as good as real meat and cost the same or less, then sales will go up. Entrepreneurs and advocates have focused on developing the technology, supply chains, and economies of scale needed to lower the price of animal-free protein products. But the current situation with vegan eggs suggests that change can also happen when the animal-based option becomes much more expensive. Prices vary from store to store and region to region, but on the online store for the Manhattan West location of Whole Foods, one 16-ounce carton of Just Egg, the equivalent of about 10 small eggs, costs $7.89. Meanwhile, a dozen eggs, depending on the brand, run from about $7 to up to $13.

This is a case of "faces in things", but I thought it was kinda funny. I didn't add quite enough honey and sugar to the recipe, but it was still moist and enjoyable. Making cornbread from scratch and tweaking online recipes so it doesn't taste like cardboard. I want jiffy mix, without buying jiffy mix and I mostly nailed it...but at a cost of creating evil cornbread. Maybe the next batch won't be evil?

Things like frozen lasagna and stew are classics for new parents, but not exactly the greatest light fare. What are your faves that:

• can be easily eaten when you drop them off, or popped in the fridge for later
• don't require turning on the oven
• are refreshing in the heat
• are nutritious, not too junky

I'm aware that I can go out of my way to specialty stores to get superior dried meats, olive oils, and so on, but for cheap and easy pepperoni, I grab Bridgford -- but not without issues. I get these 16oz Old World Pepperoni sticks that are oily, hard to slice, and harder to peel (it has a thin casing), so I was happy to see Hormel's in my local Costco -- until I tried it. Hormel pepperoni has no flavor. It isn't noticeably oily unless you cook it (such as on pizza), but if you do cook it, you get a similar quantity of reddened oil pooling out of it as with Bridgford.

I'd guess that small kids might prefer the mildness and ease of Hormel, but for me, Bridgford's flavor will keep me going back for more every time. Note that I've only tried Hormel's Original Pepperoni, so I can't say if their Cup and Crisp version is any better or not.

I have eaten corn beef hash within the last year, so I don't know that it's dying...

Similarly corned beef sandwiches are pretty common in delis around here.

Cream of Wheat, I buy and eat regularly.

Chicken Cacciatore I can make at home.

Lobster Newburg is soooo good, but I hardly eat a sit down restaurant dinner these days.

Brains and Eggs just sounds like a good way to kill yourself with Mad Cow disease.

Recipe adapted from Betti Bossi.

Preheat 400f

Blind bake a crust for 15 minutes or until it is very lightly golden.

Blanche (ok, microwave) 200g frozen peas, then run under cold water. Drain well.

Toss peas with 1 TBS Balsamic, 2 TBS olive oil, and 1 TBS Mustard. Some herbs are nice too, I used Bärlauch (literally "bear garlic") and some savory. Set aside.

In a bowl: 1 small log of goat cheese, and enough cottage cheese to total 250g. 2 eggs. Salt and pepper. Mix well.

Add egg mixture to pie crust, bake for 10 minutes.

Add the peas and dressing on top of the tort, bake another 10-15 minutes.

Let cool at least slightly, but it's nice anywhere from piping hot to room temp.

En guete!

Beyond its traditional ceremonial and social importance, kava’s calming effects have sparked new research into kavalactones, the plant’s active compounds known to reduce stress, as an anti-anxiety remedy. Studies have also found that the elixir may have broader medicinal potential, from anti-cancer benefits to treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Despite these findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to embrace these benefits. A longstanding federal advisory memorandum labels kava as an “unsafe” ingredient and classifies it as “an unapproved food additive,” citing unresolved health concerns including potential liver damage and cancer.

The FDA’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) designation deems substances safe to use in foods and beverages, covering everything from staples such as salt and vinegar to certain food dyes and other controversial additives. However, the FDA has withheld GRAS status from kava, classifying it instead as a dietary supplement alongside vitamins, herbs, and probiotics, subjecting it to stricter labeling requirements and health warnings—as well as lower consumer demand. Beyond limiting kava’s mainstream acceptance, the cautious stance has also cast a shadow over its reputation, overshadowing its deep-rooted significance in Polynesian culture.

Last year, however, Hawai‘i took matters into its own hands by labeling the root as GRAS. While states can’t overturn federal standards, they can set their own restrictions—California, for example, bans potassium bromate, a baking additive—or, as is the case here, make exceptions for certain substances.

By adopting the FDA term for safe-to-consume ingredients, the decision honors the plant’s cultural legacy. It also aligns with the international Codex Alimentarius, the food safety standard of the World Health Organization (WHO), which recognized the safety of traditional kava preparations in 2020, citing their cultural significance to Native Polynesians.