The Brilliant Life of B. Smith, Culinary Icon & Entrepreneur

Earlier this week the trailblazing B. Smith, lifestyle entrepreneur, restaurant owner, TV personality, and former model died after a yearlong struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The news of her departure arrived via Facebook, where her husband, Dan Gas…

Earlier this week the trailblazing B. Smith, lifestyle entrepreneur, restaurant owner, TV personality, and former model died after a yearlong struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The news of her departure arrived via Facebook, where her husband, Dan Gasby, announced to her fans and friends her passing. “Heaven is shining even brighter now that it is graced with B.'s dazzling and unforgettable smile,” he wrote. Her full name was Barbara Elaine Smith.

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How Frieda Caplan, the ‘Kiwi Queen’ of California, Changed the Way We Eat

Take this recipe for minced beef and bean sprouts. Or perhaps this one, which pairs shiitake mushrooms with silky braised eggplants. Consider, even, this sweet and simple loaf speckled with slices of zippy kiwi.

These recipes owe their popularity larg…

Take this recipe for minced beef and bean sprouts. Or perhaps this one, which pairs shiitake mushrooms with silky braised eggplants. Consider, even, this sweet and simple loaf speckled with slices of zippy kiwi.

These recipes owe their popularity largely to the pioneering work of Frieda Caplan, a dynamite saleswoman, who rose to the top of the produce business with her company, Frieda’s Specialty Produce. Her life's work would change the way we eat forever.

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She Invented Banana Ketchup & Saved Thousands of Lives. Why Have We Never Heard of Her?

I’ve seen the look on my friends’ faces when the words banana ketchup are uttered. Confusion, maybe even disgust. How can two things with such different flavor profiles exist in one product? Despite its seeming incongruity, banana ketchup is a pantry s…

I’ve seen the look on my friends’ faces when the words banana ketchup are uttered. Confusion, maybe even disgust. How can two things with such different flavor profiles exist in one product? Despite its seeming incongruity, banana ketchup is a pantry staple that rings nostalgic to many Filipinos all over the world.

Magdalo V. Francisco, Sr. is credited with mass-producing banana ketchup in 1942, thus making it a fixture in the Filipino household. To this day it’s used as a condiment that accompanies many popular dishes such as tortang talong (an eggplant omelet), fried chicken, hamburgers, and Filipino spaghetti (pasta with banana ketchup and sliced hot dogs).

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