Personal Essays
Our personal essays offer thoughtful perspectives on the roles that food, drink, cooking, and gathering over meals play in all of our lives.
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How Does a Restaurant Last 35 Years? The History of Chicago's Heaven on Seven
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Dear Restaurants: Please Stop Playing Live Music
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How Spam Won Over America's Restaurants
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Calculating the Ghostbusters Twinkie Size In Real Life
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30 Rock Secrets: Liz Lemon’s Favorite Sandwich Is From Fiore’s in Hoboken, NJ
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An Ode to Dahi
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Wisdom You Knead: What I Learned Baking With My Mother
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A Peach by Any Other Name Is Just as Gross: My Terrible Fear of Fruit
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When Family is Far, Food Offers a Sense of Belonging During Ramadan
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The Njahi Wars: Behind Kenya's Controversial Black Bean
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The Case for Bad Coffee
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I Grew Up Abroad. Do I Have a Cuisine?
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Please, No: The Pasta Shapes We Won't Eat
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Knights, Horses, and...Hummus? An Evening at Medieval Times
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Easy, Peasy, Japanese-y: Benihana and the Question of Cultural Appropriation
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Why I Only Buy Whole Chickens (and You Can, Too!)
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Butter Chicken: Even When It’s Bad, It’s Good!
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The 10-Minute Window for the Perfect McDonald’s Mash-Up
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We Pit Cup Noodles Against Cup Noodle and the Difference Is Real
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Smell Loss and Its Impact on Enjoying Food
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What's Your Heartbreak Food?
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Saying Goodbye to the Most Exciting Ramen Restaurant in the Country
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Friday Night Meatballs: How to Change Your Life With Pasta
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How I Got My Toddler Interested in Food and Cooking
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What Does Food Media Smell Like?: Diversity and the Beard Awards
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How Cooking Websites Are Failing People With Disabilities
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"Oh, @%#^": Our Most Embarrassing Kitchen Fails
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Please Stop Ordering Iced Cappuccinos
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Sweet, Memory: On the Subtle Magic of the Cookie Jar
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Daniel's Favorite Recipes of 2019
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Sasha's Favorite Recipes of 2019
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Serious Eats Through the Years: Our Early Days, in Photos
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Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Gordon's London Dry Gin
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6 Ways to Build Your Spicy Food Tolerance
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In Defense of St. Louis-Style Pizza
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Essential Shanghai Street Food: 14 Must-Eat Dishes
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Facing Gestational Diabetes as a Food Lover
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Cheese Confessionals: I Ate Casu Marzu, aka 'Maggot Cheese'
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A Hill of Beans, and How I Cooked Them
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Miyazaki’s Magical Food: An Ode to Anime’s Best Cooking Scenes
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BraveTart's Ultimate Guide to Sous Vide Desserts
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We Made the Portal Cake: No Lie, It's Delicious
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How to Become a Certified Cicerone
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Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?
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America's Regional Hot Dog Styles
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Where Have All the Chocolate Sprinkles Gone?
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Obsessed: We Talk to Reddit's /u/Ramen_Lord
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Top 10 Tips For a First-Time Vegan
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In Defense of Eating Alone
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The Good Bagel Manifesto
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5 Sandwiches You Should Eat in Mexico
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The Comfort Food Diaries: English Muffins, My Saving Grace
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How To Ruin (and Rescue) A Real New England Clambake
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Celebrate the Sides With a Korean-American Banchan Thanksgiving
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Dispatches From the Silk Road: The Must-Try Uyghur Food of Kashgar
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Snapshots from Sweden: Swedish Breakfast
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Making Mom's Shrimp Dish My Own
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Kenji's Excellent Asian Adventures, Part 1: Beijing-Bound