News from the food universe that are informative, will make you laugh or simply scratch your head.

The best surprise this week? I gave an interview to a very nice and well prepared journalist and she reminded me, that delicious days, this little blog of ours, just turned 8 years old! Can you believe it? I would’ve totally missed it, too! Anyhow, I’m still not the least bit blog-tired, am looking forward to many more culinary adventures (one just waiting around the corner…) and our next food video is already in the making – this time featuring a recipe from my new cookbook. To many more food-centric years!

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Cooking Taboos You Break All the Time and the discussion behind it: i know you’re not supposed to ________, but i do it any way. (Chow)

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A Fork of One’s Own –  A history of culinary revolution. Jane Kramer traces the history of the modern kitchen and looks at the evolution of the tools and technology we use to eat. (The New Yorker)

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Love her food, love her restaurant, love her book:
We Chat with Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy –  “From the beginning to the end it has to have a sense of fun. I want to put the food down and see my guests smile.” (Serious Eats)

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How we taste different colours –  We’ve all heard that the first bite is taken with the eye — but the link between our visual sense and our flavour perception may be stronger than you think (Guardian)

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Serving Convenience Foods for Dinner Doesn’t Save Time –  But commercially prepared foods do seem to undermine the invaluable family meal. (The Atlantic)

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Student budget: how to food shop –  Buying food on the cheap at university doesn’t mean you have brave ready meals of dubious origin, explains David Ellis. (The Telegraph)

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Forget America’s Test Kitchen, Kenji Lopez-Alt is a genius:
The Food Lab’s Complete Guide to Dry-Aging Beef at Home
“I bring this up because a few weeks back, I went through great pains to test and explain precisely why you cannot dry-age meat at home, no way, no how. Today, I’m going to explain to you exactly how you can dry-age at home, how relatively simple it is, and how it can vastly improve the eating quality of your steaks and roasts until they are better than what you can buy at even the best gourmet supermarket*.” (The Food Lab)

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When the World’s Top Restaurant Serves Up a Bug (TIME)  and an exceptional wise opinion on the case:  Nomavirus Is Everyone’s Virus and Everyone’s Cost (Food Safety News)

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Harold McGee explains the merits of canned food in Lucky Peach, now online available at Slate:  Age Your Canned Goods –  Why I now think of best-by dates as maybe-getting-interesting-by dates. (Slate/Lucky Peach 6)

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Profiles: David Chang (chef and founder of Momofuku)
“For me the role of science is how do I make food better. The one topic I am on 100% is to explain MSG and demystify what MSG is. The only way you can demystify this food pariah is to talk science: there is no scientific data to back up the negative effects of MSG.” (Science and Food)

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25 Regional American Foods You Might Not Know (But Should) –  Ever had lutefish? Chitlins? A crown burger? Brush up on some of country’s more obscure localized specialties. (First We Feast)

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If you read German and are not already doing it: do follow Schmausepost for German food news. Well informed, wittily composed – Patrik Stäbler’s website is a must for the culinary inclined. (Schmausepost)

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