Culinate Main Feed

On his blog, Michael Ruhlman ruminated recently on the pros and cons of cooking. Pro? Making his family happy and healthy, among others. Con? Exhaustion and lack of time, among others. Check out the comments, too, in which readers offer their reasons for choosing to cook. ...

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The nonprofit Change.org ushered in 2010 with a contest titled "Ideas for Change." You can vote on which of the ideas — submitted by the public in categories such as education, environment, and civic engagement — you like the best. In the category titled Food and Agriculture, for example, the...

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The folks behind the multimedia production company Milk Products Media are putting together a documentary film about small-scale cheese production in Ohio. Titled “From Grass to Cheese,” the movie will follow the Nolan family as they learn not only how to farm but how to become artisanal cheesemakers. Milk Products...

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Two weeks ago, I wished for a longer commute to work. I had started listening to the unabridged audio edition of Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals and frequently sat in the parking lot unable to leave in the middle of a captivating...

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What’s not to love about a sumptuous repast? from Dinner Guest Blog ...

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Are you rethinking the meat you eat?This week on Table Talk, Kim O’Donnel had a full hour of meatless-eating conversation. Join us Thursday, at 10 a.m. PST, 1 p.m. ET, with your questions, suggestions, or links. more… from...

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A year and a half ago, we noted the USDA’s efforts to close a loophole in its pasture regulations for certified-organic animals. In February, the USDA finally released its new, stricter guidelines for pasture access. As Robert Sietsema noted on Slashfood:Previously,...

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March marks the start of the transitional spring-like season, which is one reason why it’s the hardest seasons for cooks and recipe writers alike — excepting, of course, those who live in California, Austin, and other warm places where daffodils cover the ground...

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Whether pasta e fagioli — literally, pasta and beans — is an Italian soup with pasta in it or a pasta sauced with beans is a matter of proportion and preference. I like it as a soup thick with beans and pasta. ...

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In America, we have havens for mistreated farm animals, such as the Farm Sanctuary. But they tend to focus on large, fuzzy mammals, such as goats and cows. In England, however, a group of dedicated knitters has been providing aid and comfort to battery chickens — birds that have outlived...

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Judging by its title, you’d think the venerable periodical Newsweek covers, well, the news. But that’s not all, folks. Like Time magazine, its chief competitor, Newsweek devotes its back pages to Culture: movies, books, trends, and, thanks to contributing editor Julia Reed, food.Reed...

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Once upon a time, there was the flash mob, an urban stunt in which groups of people assembled together to collectively perform something goofy, such as breaking into spontaneous applause. Now there’s the crop mob, in which groups of volunteer ag types show up on a farm to help out...

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Suspicious about the health claims on all those packages of “probiotic” yogurt? So were a lot of other consumers. As Consumer Reports pointed out last fall, yogurt manufacturer Dannon has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over the labeling on its Activia yogurt products, which claimed to boost immunity and...

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With spring comes the growing season, and though the weather has been wintry in much of the country, farm fresh food is just around the corner. This week on Table Talk, Kim O. wanted to know where you’re getting your goods this year:...

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Monsanto’s genetically engineered alfalfa seed has been banned since 2007. But the USDA is scheduled to approve its use this spring. Care to weigh in on the federal agency’s actions? You’ve got through tomorrow, March 3, to get your voice heard. from Sift ...

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Last week, the New York Times reported on a classic case of industrial corruption featuring bribery and tainted goods. The industry? Canned tomatoes. The full scandal has touched some 55 companies and created a whole new layer of meaning for the phrase “food safety.” The chief culprit is SK Foods,...

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Why do potatoes (and fruits) turn brown when peeled, and how do you keep it from happening so you don’t have brown — or even red — hash browns? — Jennifer H., Los Angeles, CaliforniaBut they’re hash browns — they’re...

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A brief Wall Street Journal article last week noted that food manufacturers are struggling to pass production costs on to consumers. For years, the WSJ reported, “retail food prices climbed between 2 percent and 3 percent annually, big enough to allow [food manufacturers] to pass along rising labor, packaging, and...

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It’s hard to get through California’s Sonoma County without tripping over a sommelier. They’re everywhere, haunting the humblest of cafés and teaching sparking-wine classes in caves. (No, not the Neanderthal kind — the wine-storage kind.) It wouldn’t be surprising to find a...

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One of the modern animal-rights movement’s early successes, a generation ago, was raising awareness about the conditions under which baby calves were raised for meat. As a result, veal consumption plummeted. In the past few years, though, the veal industry has started implementing reforms, chiefly allowing calves freedom of movement...

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While most milk drinkers have a general understanding that milk comes from cows, few of us stop to ask many more questions than that. Trevor Fitzgerald, a Seattleite who’s studying information systems at Brigham Young University, recently poked around to learn more about milk. The result of his efforts is...

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Lately we’ve been trolling through the well-laid-out Web archives of National Public Radio’s food reporting. Housed under a blandly titled department known simply as "Food," NPR’s culinary efforts include the ingredient-focused "Kitchen Window" series as well as food-related stories from such radio shows as “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.”...

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Without fail, whenever the conversation turns to rice cookers, somebody always grouses, “Why do you need to waste counter space on one of those? I can make perfectly good rice in a pot on the stove.”Oh, come now. If you can cook perfectly...

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This week, on Table Talk, Kim O’Donnel hosted a discussion about Let’s Move, Michelle Obama’s anti-obestity campaign. Everyone came prepared also to talk about the First Lady’s initiative, plus Jamie Oliver’s new show — and the general state of eating/health in the United...

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These bicolored winter root vegetables are sweeter than you think. from The Produce Diaries ...

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Unless you’re a diehard fan of unagi, you may not think of eel as an everyday food, but the Dutch once did. As the New York Times reported recently, freshwater eel used to be a staple of Dutch life, until the eel population, inevitably, became overfished. Now hardly anybody fishes...

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Here at Culinate, our slogan is “Eat to Your Ideal.” For us, the phrase embraces not just different regional and personal preferences, but also what we consider to be the basic principles of food awareness: learning more about your food, helping you...

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Carole wrote a book on bite-sized desserts, but she’s not the only one who likes the idea. from Dinner Guest Blog ...

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Recently, Michelle Obama unveiled her campaign to fight childhood obesity in America: Let's Move! The program has four goals: to educate American families about healthy food; to make healthy food affordable and accessible everywhere; to bring better food to schools; and to increase physical activity among kids. more…...

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American food historian Betty Fussell (The Story of Corn, My Kitchen Wars) has penned much well-received gustatory memoir, cookery compilation, and historical exploration over the past few decades. So taking a bite of her latest, Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American...

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Earlier this month, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA would actively pursue “a new, flexible framework for animal-disease traceability in the United States.” What does that mean? Well, for one, it’s a change of direction after the USDA’s initial National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was heavily criticized, especially...

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Worried about E. coli in your hamburgers? Skeptical that “natural” beef isn’t as natural as it sounds at the supermarket? Trying to stretch the annual food budget?Consider skipping the middleman and buying your beef directly from the farmer. You get to meet the...

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Michael Pollan’s slender new book, Food Rules, is basically a list of tips to eat by, such as “Avoid foods you see advertised on television.” As Pollan wrote on the Huffington Post, the book grew out of his attempt to compile “straightforward, memorable, everyday rules for eating, a set of...

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Over at the Ethicurean, Bonnie Azab Powell is fascinated by a particular app she’s got on her iPhone: the Don't Eat That app. As Powell reports, the app is "a database of information on more than 1,500 food additives and ingredients," with info on whether the item is allergenic, carcinogenic,...

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When British native Kate Arding got her first job working in a cheese shop (London’s renowned Neal’s Yard Dairy), she knew nothing about cheese except that she liked eating it. Today, Arding is a cheese judge and a consultant...

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On CBS News this week, Katie Couric reported on an investigation she led into overuse of antibiotics in animals — a problem that leads to untreatable infections in humans. She filed two reports, the first looking at the controversy over heavy antibiotic use in animals by American farmers: more…...

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Linda selected a slightly more complicated method to speed things along. from Dinner Guest Blog ...

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We’ve been enjoying Bon Appétit magazine’s blogs, especially The Conscious Cook, which rolls health, science, eco-awareness, and shopping tips into one better-food blog. Dig, too, their roundup of five fave food apps for the iPhone, including the Locavore app. from Sift ...

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While there is food in New York state and Washington, D.C., the problem is getting it to market, and getting shoppers to market. This is true whether it’s the Fresh Farm farmers’ market or Safeway — at least for this week. It doesn’t...

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The webzine AlterNet recently launched a food section rounding up stories about our modern food system. Check out Martha Rosenberg’s skewering of the FDA for banning a drug for humans but allowing it for livestock, Sara Novak’s down-and-dirty look at urban chicken-keeping, and Eliot Coleman’s defense of small organic...

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Are you cooking up something good for your sweetheart this weekend? Kim O’Donnel’s on tap to lead a discussion of foods for lovers. Join her Thursday, February 11, at 9 a.m. PT, noon ET. more… from Table Talk...

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Ed Bruske, who keeps a blog called The Slow Cook, recently spent a week observing an elementary-school kitchen in Washington, D.C. His blog series about the experience, "Tales From a D.C. Kitchen," shows just how industrial public-school lunch is in America, as well as the staff’s efforts to move beyond...

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The first thing I ever cooked for the man who was to become my husband was frites. I thought it unexpected, and quirkily romantic. As my father might say, “Any girl can make a bowl of fettuccine the first time she cooks for...

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Ever gotten disgruntled over the fact that a “serving size” — of, say, tortilla chips or Oreos — listed on a package is much smaller than you’d like it to be? So is the FDA, which wants manufacturers to get realistic about portion-size labeling. Because, after all, who really eats...

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With Valentine’s Day near, thoughts and tastes naturally veer toward perfect couples.In our case, it’s the classically paired duo of chocolate and wine. Although the duo is a romantic notion referenced long before candy hearts conveyed “Text Me” messages, chocolate and wine don’t...

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In Consumer Reports’ latest look at food safety, the magazine purchased national brands of bagged and boxed salad greens and tested them. Their findings? Despite those labels promising that the lettuce is “triple-washed,” you’d better wash it all again to try to remove the unpleasant-sounding “fecal contamination.” And oh, yeah,...

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Last night’s dinner was an aesthetic disaster. Honestly, it looked inedible. I was cooking Deborah Madison’s Cheese and Nut Loaf, from The Greens Cookbook. It’s a crowd-pleaser — a hearty vegetarian entrée that almost everyone likes. I wanted to tinker with the recipe,...

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