Culture – FoodWatcher

The Presidential Dining Power Rankings

George H. W. Bush nearly banned broccoli from his White House. Seriously—there’s an entire Wikipedia page titled George H.W. Bush broccoli comments, and after reading the “analysis” section, I’ve become certain: If I was eight years old, I would’ve lov…

However, since I’m no longer in third grade, the 41st White House is not my preferred presidential dining destination. As you’ll be happy to know, many of our nation’s leaders didn’t just stomach their green vegetables, they embraced them. Even seasoned them. And, in Nixon’s case, likely poured ketchup on them.

Fact vs. Fiction: 3 Epic Meals From ‘Julia’

By the time we meet Julia Child in the fictional Max show, Julia, her time in Paris, one of the most consequential periods in her life, has already passed. Her groundbreaking cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has just been accepted for pub…

By the time we meet Julia Child in the fictional Max show, Julia, her time in Paris, one of the most consequential periods in her life, has already passed. Her groundbreaking cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has just been accepted for publication, and Julia, fully embodied by actress Sarah Lancashire, is off to Cambridge, Mass. with Paul Child (David Hyde Pierce). The show’s producers skip ahead to this moment so we can get to the meaty part: the launch of The French Chef on Boston public television, which brought French cooking, cooking shows—and of course, Julia—to the American masses.

The French Chef is when Julia’s star really begins to rise over 1960s America, altering not just her life, but the trajectory of everyone in her orbit. Unlike a biopic such as Julie and Julia, which doesn’t have the time to go deep on minor players, Julia has the luxury of eight hours per season to shine a light on a multitude of people and events that make her story so relevant.

Kitchen Soundtracks: The Favorite Music of New York’s Best Chefs

The Doobie Brothers make shucking fava beans tolerable. Blaring Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” while scrubbing a deep fryer will lead to increased cleanliness. Drake’s “Nothing Was The Same” leads to better-looking cavatelli. These are the restaurant tr…

The Doobie Brothers make shucking fava beans tolerable. Blaring Taylor Swift's “Cruel Summer” while scrubbing a deep fryer will lead to increased cleanliness. Drake's “Nothing Was The Same” leads to better-looking cavatelli. These are the restaurant truths that will remain with me, forever.

While you don’t need a collection of black clogs to verify that music makes all aspects of food more enjoyable, restaurant kitchens tend to be dialed in on the interplay of music and food. With that in mind—and in hopes of creating the ultimate kitchen playlist—we asked a few of our favorite New York City chefs what they’re listening to before and after service.

Is There Hope for Canned Cold Brew?

Over the next four years, the canned cold brew coffee market is expected to grow by more than $400 million, reaching a total valuation of $1.37 billion. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. In 2021, cold drinks accounted for 75 percent of Starbucks’ total beverage sales—a result that led CEO Howard Schultz to describe the company’s global cold coffee opportunity as “simply enormous.” And yet, despite its substantial tailwind, the consensus among my friends, co-workers, and online coffee communities (yes, these are separate groups), is that canned cold brew stinks.

When not canned, cold brew has a high approval rating among my coffee-drinking peers. As its name suggests, the beverage is brewed cold, a process that typically involves soaking coarsely ground coffee in water, steeping the mixture overnight, and then finely straining it. When brewed cold, coffee extracts slower, meaning it takes longer for the beans’ flavorful compounds to dissolve into water. The process impacts coffee’s flavor and chemical makeup, ultimately producing a beverage many describe as “smoother” than traditional, hot-brewed coffee.

How the Turkish Hospitality Industry Rallied to Aid Earthquake Victims

The first time I really understood the gravity of damage that comes with a life-altering earthquake was in 2010, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit my paternal homeland of Haiti. Shortly after getting the news, my aunt, Marie France Conde, moved hell and high water to be one of the first doctors on the scene. It took her two days to arrive in Port-Au-Prince (no commercial flights were allowed into the country) and when she arrived, she said that the airport landing strip looked like “a warzone.” A pediatrician, my aunt jumped into action: building and running makeshift infirmaries for children, and trying to create some form of order in the face of insurmountable—and ongoing—need. “Even now, over 10 years later, there are still people who have not been able to rebuild their homes,” she said.

As I think about the recent earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria, I see parallels between what happened in Haiti and what’s happening thousands of miles across the world. While the tragedy of that natural disaster was plastered all over our screens for days, the news cycle has focused less on the people and the amazing professionals who are aiding at the epicenter—like those in the hospitality industry who have jumped in to help their fellow citizens.