Our Favorite Feature Stories of 2019

All Praise the St. Louis Bagel and Its Infinite Potential

Allison Robicelli's riff on St. Louis bagels was so funny, so outrageous, and yet so well-reasoned in a gonzo sort of way, that I find myself anxiously awaiting her next bit of inspiration for us. —Ed Levine, founder

When that St. Louis bagel controversy erupted on Twitter several months ago, I thought the same thing almost everyone else did: Who the f-ck would do that to a bagel? Leave it to the crazy brilliant mind of Allison Robicelli to see the genius in the unorthodox slicing method, complete with recipe proof. Plus, she's just funny as hell. —Daniel Gritzer, managing culinary director

I'm going to have to co-sign the other Daniel here and say the St. Louis bagel story—in particular the Hassleback version! This story came out as I was applying to work here and reading it made me feel like I just had to get the job. The story took something already crazy, and then just kept escalating in such a funny way—and finally ended up with something brilliant and delicious. —Daniel Dyssegaard-Kallick, full stack developer

Authenticity? These Filipino Chefs Aren’t Concerned

I loved working on this story with the writer Vonnie Williams. To write it, Vonnie spoke to Filipino chefs around the world and used the interviews as a starting point to explore the idea of authenticity and how it applies to a cuisine and culture that has been shaped by so many waves of migration and colonization. The final piece is so interesting, touching, and inspiring. Plus, it features not one but two fantastic Filipino recipes. —Elazar Sontag, assistant editor

The Best Imitation-Meat Burgers (Including the Impossible and Beyond)

Though not necessarily my favorite feature, this is certainly the most memorable one. We have a lot of delicious perks at SEHQ—and this vegetarian/bean/beyond meat burger tasting wasn’t one of them. I still shudder thinking back on all the mysterious, spongy (and some that were truly inedible) science-experiment patties that we taste-tested on three separate occasions. Despite the lack of culinary enjoyment, these taste tests still brought the staff together, where we rejoiced in our shared suffering, laughed at our own revulsion, and exchanged the worst insults we could imagine (for the patties, that is). It was worth the pain so Sho Spaeth could give our readers these wonderfully written reviews for the best garden-style, black bean, and imitation-meat veggie burgers. —Grace Chen, office manager and associate podcast producer

Move Over, Toasted Sugar, It's Time for Toasted Salt to Shine

Not a recipe per se, but if there's one thing that's upped my knowledge of cooking science, it's Sho's very real—totally not an April Fool's joke—guide to toasted salt. I noticed James Beard didn't mention it this year, but I'm sure they're saving it for something special, just like me and my tub of 35-hour toasted salt. —Joel Russo, video producer

Easy, Peasy, Japanese-y: Benihana and the Question of Cultural Appropriation

I would like to give a shout-out to this brain-expanding piece from the beginning of the year. Sho Spaeth takes an ultimately forgettable instance of social media trolling as a jumping-off point for a deep dive into the history of the Benihana brand, its founder, and American notions of Japanese culture. —John Mattia, video editor

How Cooking Websites Are Failing People With Disabilities

George Stern’s piece about the ways cooking sites fail at accessibility for people with disabilities was a welcomed reality check for me. Sure, it is a topic us designers have read about in many a Medium article, but how many of us have had the opportunity to discuss it with a blind author and cook? After the article was published, George visited our test kitchen to demonstrate how he cooks and how he navigates the website with a screenreader. Meeting him has been an inspiration to keep designing for accessibility in the foreground because it is not an optional checklist item for one in four people in the US. —Maggie Lee, UX designer

George Stern's piece about how food sites (including ours) fail people like him with disabilities was so original, so moving, and so compellingly written that I find myself re-reading it over and over again. —Ed Levine, founder

What the Label Won't Tell You: How to Buy a Good Bottle of Olive Oil

Editor emeritus Max Falkowitz does it again! "It" being his particular brand of service journalism paired with rigorous reporting and a writing style that's rich with personality. If you use olive oil at least a couple of times a week, you should read this story before ever buying another bottle. Once you convert to the good stuff—which, for the record, needn't be very expensive—there's no going back. —Niki Achitoff-Gray, editor in chief

"You're All Monsters": Our Unpopular Very Correct Food Opinions

Let me preface this by saying that all of my coworkers, past and present, are wonderful people, but this piece on our unpopular food opinions is my favorite because it revealed some alarming truths about us all: We eat green bananas (?!), think banh mi are "fistfuls of dust" (?!), and coconut water is too wet (?!). The comments are full of "gems," too (I'm looking at you blender full of cornflakes) and are still open to whoever else is ready to share their own unpopular opinions. —Paul Cline, president

We Cooked Steaks Coated in Peanut Butter Sous Vide So You Don't Have To

I had fun testing, writing, and reading the reactions to this piece. I must confess, though, that I was mystified by people who were personally affronted by the fact that I find the texture of sous vide steak off-putting. —Sho Speath, staff writer and editor

How I Got My Toddler Interested in Food and Cooking

I don't have any children of my own, but I do have a three-year-old niece that I babysit quite often, and I enjoyed Kenji's perspective on helping little ones navigate the culinary world. She eats ice cream cones from the bottom up, dunks cookies in milk 'til they crumble apart, and loves whipped cream with pie (as long as it's in a separate bowl to the side), and I feel more relaxed about letting her explore food in her own way. She'll figure out how "adults" eat ice cream soon enough; there's no need to rush her along with corrections that take the fun out of our time together. —Stella Parks, pastry wizard

Vicky and Stella: A Serious (Eats) Love Story

Is it a faux pax to choose something that you not only wrote but are the subject of? Oops. I'm not a writer, but I had so much fun working on the essay that Stella and I collaborated on for Valentine's Day to celebrate our work marriage. We had a Google doc going, and one of us would write a paragraph and then the other would pick it up and write her perception of the same event that shaped our relationship. The kicker was I thought we were all done, but then the piece was published and Stella had added a last paragraph that legit made me cry. —Vicky Wasik, visual director

A Field Guide to Sweet Potato Varieties (and the Dirt on Yams)

I’ve learned a lot about food since I started working at Serious Eats in September, but one of the most surprising pieces of knowledge I’ve gathered is that the world is full of so! many! sweet potatoes! Elazar’s field guide is pretty extensive, and knowing how passionate he is about the vegetable made me even more excited to read it. I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for different varieties at the grocery store recently, and I’m excited to experiment with the versatile vegetable in the kitchen. Now if I can just learn to tell a sweet potato apart from a yam... —Yasmine Maggio, social media intern