

Hoppin' John
"You can dig up old 19th century "receipts" (as they were called back then), follow them to the letter, and still end up mystified that anyone could ever have loved such stuff, much less decided it was an iconic Southern dish." Robert Moss/Serious Eats I owe this post to a substack newsletter from Gastra Obscura yesterday, which highlighted it because is it is an American - well the Southern states of the Carolinas and neighbours - New Year's Day dish. So I thought that be
Jan 5


Feast of the seven fishes and the Italian/Americans
"The best part of the Feast of the Seven Fishes is that anyone with an appetite for seafood can make the tradition their own. You don’t have to be Italian or Italian American. You don’t even have to celebrate Christmas! You just have to cook way too much food for the people you care about." Emily Saladino/Bon Appétit I'm a little bit late with this one because the Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmas Eve feast. Well it is Christmas and time is at a premium for indulgent
Dec 27, 2025


Green bean casserole
"The word “gloopy” comes to mind" Alison Roman This is in no way 'gloopy' looking but I'm starting with Ottolenghi's Blistered green bean casserole with parmesan and rosemary because this was my starting point - a recipe in Ottolenghi's newsletter, which was sort of about Thanksgiving, one American festival that I don't think will make it to our shores because it's specific to a historical American event. I also saw that this looked like a really good thing to try some day
Nov 16, 2025


Tomato and corn pies (and tarts)
"The problem more often than not is a basic one: tomatoes are very wet and tart crusts need to stay fairly dry" Deb Perelman/Smitten Kitchen I needed something that wasn't going to take long because I had already used up half of the day on reading a book group book and trying to speak Italian in my Italian class. Very depressing. So I decided I would pick a recipe - and then just ramble - and this was it - Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen's Tomato and corn pie I'm not exactl
Nov 11, 2025


Wild rice
I have been reading my chosen book for book group - The Sentence by Louise Erdrich a multi-award winning author - including the Pulitzer...
Aug 6, 2025


Deep dish pizza
After the first slice you are full, and you should be. You’ve eaten roughly three pounds of food that is baked on top of a crispy,...
Jul 2, 2025


A Jamie book
"We're all familiar with the clichés of American food: junk food and supersizing ... but what is real American food all about?" Jamie...
Jun 30, 2025


Pasta Primavera
"I find it very hard to imagine that prior to 1975, nobody in the history of the universe had thought to combine fresh spring vegetables...
Jun 6, 2025


Black bottom oatmeal pie
"Women judge a pie by its crust, men by its filling." Sue Hubbell/The New Yorker To be honest I'm on the verge of abandoning this post,...
Apr 4, 2025


OK let's do America - sort of
"If you're going to America bring your own food." Fran Lebowitz It seems to me that American food, just like British food, has a bad...
Dec 12, 2024


Coleslaw - not what it used to be
"Like many other culinary words – carpaccio, confit, trifle – its meaning has broadened, and now cabbage may not even be present at all."...
Oct 30, 2024


Canada - " it's not just about the poutine"
"Okay, quite a lot of it's about the poutine" Hostelworld Indeed it is - it appears at the top of most top ten lists, but I have...
Oct 22, 2024


More mayo - this time with pineapple
"a pineapple sandwich is one of those foods that it seems only Southerners love and appreciate." Southern Living This one began with a...
Sep 17, 2024


When love goes wrong, travel and start a blog
"The story is about how a professional eater met a professional chef and now we share stories, recipes and video on our site." Ayngelina...
Sep 5, 2024


Blending cultures/culture wars in New York
"Chopped cheese isn't a Philly cheesesteak nor is it similar. This is New York, not Philly, bro!" Romel Bruno/Serious Eats This is a...
Aug 29, 2024


Who was Betty and was she brown?
Or was she a blondie? Or even a teapot? Sometimes I worry that my brain is not connecting all its bits and pieces properly and today's...
Aug 11, 2024


Spaghetti pie, cake, slice ...
"simple, luxurious, yet slightly trashy" Jamie Oliver I didn't get to finish this post yesterday because I spent too much time in the...
Jul 18, 2024


75 years ago - the food view from here
"We're Keele and we're different. Founded 75 years ago to meet the demands of a new kind of society, economy and world, our principles...
Jun 29, 2024


Cobblers - anything goes comfort food
"The whole point of cobbler is that it's easy" Daniel Gritzer/Serious Eats It's a miserable kind of day - the sort of day when your...
Jun 8, 2024


Poutine - trendy junk food
"when seen for the first time, poutine looks like a culinary catastrophe." Rebecca Nicholson/The Guardian Indeed it does, but then...
May 29, 2024

