For all its unpretentious, knobbly familiarity, the potato is pretty fabulous. A rich source of vitamins (including a hefty amount of vitamin C), minerals (calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium), protein (essential amino acids), and complex carbohydrates, it has nourished humans ever since it was first domesticated in Peru, about 8,000 years ago.* Granted, it took a […]

  It’s easy enough to get into an olive oil rut. We all find brands we’re comfortable with—an inexpensive one for cooking, a fancier option for vinaigrettes or drizzling—and then stick with them for years. Decades, even. But given the extraordinary array of olive oils available in fancy-food shops and many supermarkets today, it’s a […]

When William Woys Weaver learned that his Culinary Ephemera: An Illustrated History had taken top honors for culinary history at the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) cookbook awards, presented last week in Austin, Texas, he responded in characteristic, generous fashion. He fired off an e-mail thank-you to everyone in his orbit. “Dear Friends,” he wrote. “I […]

It’s cool and rainy and we walk miles along the East River. The water is gray today and moving fast. So are we, breathing in the salt air and happy that we live on an island. On the way home, we run into friends and invite them over for an early supper. We stop for […]

  Ever curious about the world at large, Gourmet published its first big piece about Japanese food, “Song of Sashimi,” in 1958. Beginning in the 1970s, the person most responsible for the depth, passion, and accuracy of the magazine’s Japan coverage was contributing editor Elizabeth Andoh, the leading English-language authority on the subject. Elizabeth is […]

I’m not an impulse shopper. But these fabulous melamine plates ($35 for a set of four) at the smartly curated Mxyplyzyk, in the West Village, were impossible to resist. I had to have them. And I’ll probably have to go back tomorrow for the oval platter ($28) enlivened by a very fetching whale. What sold me […]

I love my wok. I really love it. I’ve just never actually used it. Until today, it resided, still in its box, in the hall closet. Sam and I would roll in, stuffed, happy, and inspired after a visit to Chinatown. “We really need to season that wok,” one of us would say. “Is it […]