From Scratch

Yet another reason to eat your fruits and vegetables. A wide-ranging 12-year study by a team in Cambridge, England suggests a diet rich in Vitamin C might reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Fruits and veggies are the main source of Vitamin C in typical western diets.
More than 20,000 women and men, ages […]

By suburban standards, Manhattan supermarkets are tiny so I always assumed if they sold something, larger stores everywhere did. Not so. Even though many recipes call for it, crème fraîche is not a staple in every dairy aisle is America, as I learned when I moved to New England. Of five markets I use, only […]

Now that tomatoes have been greenlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the recent salmonella outbreak — after 1,251 people got sick and two died — federal health officials today announced finding a jalapeno pepper with the same strain. Takeaway: we should not eat fresh jalapenos but processed or pickled peppers are safe.
NBC’s crackerjack […]

The mere thought of “practicing” for a diet sounds crazy, but when I decided to try this diet I knew I’d need a practice day or two to try to sort it out. All we have to go by, until someone writes the inevitable book and gets rich, is the study methodology - 1,240 calories per […]

The scope of the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes has increased, with more than 800 confirmed cases in 36 states and the District of Columbia, while federal health officials now say tomatoes might not be the source, but they remain the primary suspect.
The Associated Press reports officials are looking into whether another ingredient, which they […]

There’s an old saying: Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch and a pauper at dinner. New research finds that can be a good way to lose weight and keep it off.
A small study divided 96 obese women into two groups. Those who had big breakfasts, with lots of carbs and proteins, […]

Federal health officials say the number of confirmed cases of tomato-related salmonella now stands at 383, and Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says, “We do not think the outbreak is over.”
Two states, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, have reported their first cases. The outbreak has now sickened people in 30 states […]

Cereal giant Kellogg has instituted de facto price hikes for five popular cereals by making the boxes smaller without changing their prices. The new boxes began shipping this month.
A spokeswoman says the boxes were reduced by an average of 2.4 ounces for 14 items sold under the Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops […]

I’m normal! At the very least, I’m not alone. Certain things in recipes make me put them down or turn the page, never to make them. They’re my recipe deal breakers and I hope you’ll share yours.
A week and a half ago Kim Severson wrote about this in The New York Times, a fun piece […]

The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded its warnings to consumers nationwide about the purchase and handling of tomatoes in the wake of a salmonella outbreak that has now sickened 145 people. The source of the outbreak is still undetermined. The FDA says the following are the only types of tomatoes consumers should buy […]

The federal Centers for Disease Control says an outbreak of salmonella, reported yesterday, has spread from Texas and New Mexico to 14 other states and authorities are trying to pin down the source of the raw tomatoes believed to be the cause. Texas now reports 56 cases of salmonella food poisoning and New Mexico 55. 
The […]

Whole Foods Market has halted sales of Roma and large, round field-grown tomatoes without attached vines or stems at all of its more than 270 stores after an outbreak of salmonella linked to raw tomatoes. In addition, stores are no longer using tomatoes in sandwiches and salads.
The voluntary recall follows a warning from the Texas Health Department […]

Recipes are not assembly manuals. Recipes are guides and suggestions for a process that is infinitely nuanced. Recipes are sheet music.
The quote is from Michael Ruhlman’s The Elements of Cooking and The New York Times calls them “Three of the most important sentences anyone reading about cookbooks may see this or any year.”
The Times’ special […]

So the other day I was in the produce department at the supermarket and was about to buy a few bananas at 79¢ per pound when I noticed a couple brown paper bags marked 99¢. Inside were eight or nine bananas and only a few were beginning to develop spots. I took one, a middle-aged […]

We have a long holiday weekend coming up in the US for Memorial Day and it’s the unofficial start of grilling season with millions of cookouts planned. But they’re going to cost more this year. My country, like many others, is enduring higher food prices and the government says it’s going to get worse.
Last year food […]