Selecting favorite stories of the year can be the most impossible task to complete for an editor. We love each and every story as if it were a child, a pet, or a preferred Reese’s product. But alas, here we are at the end of another amazing year. Do you remember any of it? We do.
Longtime cookbook collaborator JJ Goode got Twitter talking with his enumeration of the things chefs do (or tell you to do) that you (the reader) should not do. Down with lemon zest, says Goode with confidence. We published stories about the food world cacio e pepe–ing everything, hasselbacking everything, Samin Nosrat’s life-changing pastry dough, and the Paul Newman Product Industrial Complex. Ruby Tandoh dropped a couple big stories about the death of the British bun and the times when the next big thing in food doesn’t…work out. Shane Mitchell joined Mexican food historian Diana Kennedy as she said goodbye to her cookbook collection. And we published an interview with a vampiro. These are a few favorites, and we’re so excited to bring you more from TASTE in 2020. —Matt Rodbard, Founding Editor
Top Stories of 2019
Things Chefs Do That You Should Not Do
Just say no to lemon zest, “ripping hot” pans, and the ice bath.
Top Stories of 2019
The Great Regression
There’s a sudden urge to dine in a time before tofu and Title IX. Why now?
Top Stories of 2019
A Bowl of Cut Fruits Is How Asian Moms Say: I Love You
Whether it’s slices of apples and pears left out for you after classes, wedges of oranges fed to you when you’re feeling under the weather, or just a bowl of painstakingly peeled grapes left on your desk as you’re cramming for an exam, it’s all love.
Top Stories of 2019
When Jacques Pépin Made All the World an Omelet
In April of 1995, Jacques Pépin taped a cooking demonstration that detailed how to make an omelet. And while it was merely one of 105 segments the chef recorded over a frantic two-day period in a studio in Northern California, the clip has become one of the most beloved food videos of all time. This is its story.
Top Stories of 2019
There's a Poke Problem
The traditional Hawaiian dish has been co-opted and reinvented by hipster fast-casual chains around the world. This is not cool.
Top Stories of 2019
Cooking in the Age of Deadly Romaine
A veteran cookbook writer prone to “catastrophizing” answers the question: to wash or not to wash?
Top Stories of 2019
Why Are We Still Drinking the Paul Newman Lemonade?
Reassessing the pioneering food brand Newman’s Own and the more than $500 million donated to charity.
Top Stories of 2019
Diana Kennedy Says Goodbye to Her Cookbooks
She’s brilliant, terrifying, and a master of Mexican cooking. The 96-year-old writer ends an 840-mile trip from Michoacán to San Antonio with a very special delivery and some thoughts on a cook’s pickled nopales.
Top Stories of 2019
From the Mouth of the Gods
Ethiopian coffee is one of the world’s great culinary treasures. It’s also extremely undervalued. Geoff Watts, cofounder of Intelligentsia Coffee, is on a mission to get you—and the $100 billion industry—to pay more. Much more.
Top Stories of 2019
Old Hands, Slow Videos
If you really want to learn how to cook something, settle in and watch an old person do it for a while.
Top Stories of 2019
The Remarkable Life of Margaret Rudkin, Founder of Pepperidge Farm
Famous for her cookies and Goldfish crackers, Rudkin’s influence extends beyond packaged foods. Long before second-wave feminism, she encouraged women to take their place in the American workforce.
Top Stories of 2019
Cacio e Pepe Everything
It all started with a Roman pasta dish, but now the minimalist flavor combination of grated Pecorino Romano and black pepper can be found in everything from chicharrones to shortbread cookies.
Top Stories of 2019
The Chitlins Question
For some black families, chitlins are essential. For a younger generation, the polarizing dish is a dirty trick.
Top Stories of 2019
Samin! Your Pastry Dough Recipe.
Samin Nosrat’s authoritative, definitive Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is the breakout cookbook of a generation. But have you checked out the tart dough recipe?
Top Stories of 2019
Spain’s Burnt Cheesecake Breaks All the Rules
An underbaked mystery, a fine-dining fable, and the recipe of a famous cheesecake hiding in plain sight. We asked a Los Angeles chef for hints about the recipe he developed. He wouldn’t share. But it led us to the source—San Sebastián chef Santiago Rivera—to unlock the mystery.
Top Stories of 2019
When the Next Big Thing in Food Isn't Actually Next
Success can be a double-edged sword for the chefs and shepherds of marginalized cuisines, with media adoration and cookbook deals leading to unneeded compromises and ultimate failure.
Top Stories of 2019
Interview With the Vampiro
How the vampiro, a crunchy antojito from Sinaloa, Mexico, came to captivate the South Los Angeles street food scene.
Top Stories of 2019
The Homespun Joy of Coca-Cola Chicken Wings
How an American soda became the heart of Hong Kong’s favorite chicken dish.
Top Stories of 2019
The Bo Ssäm Decade
How Momofuku’s slow-roasted pork became David Chang’s signature “fajita moment.”
Top Stories of 2019
Leave Beets and Goat Cheese Alone
Chefs love to reinvent it. Critics love to hate it. Maybe it’s time to just let it be.
Top Stories of 2019
How I Loved, and Lost, a Curry Tree
At the California border, life—and the memory of homemade Xinjiang cumin lamb—flashes before your eyes.
Top Stories of 2019
The British Bun Is Dying. And Other Half-Truths.
A sturdy, old-fashioned, unpopular treat for a sturdy, old-fashioned, unpopular nation.
Top Stories of 2019
The Life and Death of Tart Frozen Yogurt
Never forget Red Mango, Pinkberry, and 16 Handles.
Top Stories of 2019
She Raised a Generation of Taiwanese Home Cooks
Then she taught their American kids to cook too. Meet the remarkable Fu Pei-mei.