Free Best Food Writing 2015 by Holly Hughes

everyone else should do this thing that I like to do; less easy to see why people who don’t do it don’t even want to do it. I know because that used to be me saying it. I have changed my tune.
    Along with providing resources for those who want to cook or cook more, those of us who care about the food system should create ways to make family dinner truly easier, more enjoyable, more healthful and more delicious for everyone, even those people who don’t want to cook it. That realism, more than all the chiding in the world, would raise food consciousness and make sure everyone cares as much about the quality of that food and how it’s produced as we do.
    When told we must cook the family dinner to harness all of its power, we need to push back, de Beauvoir style: Is the food system for our cooking or our cooking for the food system?
    There is no moral good or bad in cooking. I am always struck by the language people—or, to be exact, women—use when commenting on the amount of cooking I do. They say that I am “good.” It is often followed by a confession about how they are “bad” because they hardly ever cook. It’s the culinary Madonna-whore dichotomy.
    People who are passionate about quality food and a more sustainable food system shouldn’t be out encouraging such nonsense. We shouldn’t be proselytizing cooking and fetishizing the homemade. We need to debunk those ideals and get the focus back on making all food—whether homecooked, convenience, order-in or just plain fast—good food.
    Me, I would like a better food system for the sake of my cooking. But also so that, when no one in the house feels like lighting the stove, we know whatever food we choose to eat will be as healthful and sustainably produced as possible. No one should have to cook to make that happen.

Dinner Lab Hopes to Build the World’s First Data-Driven Restaurant. But Is That a Good Thing? Dinner Lab Hopes to Build the World’s First Data-Driven Restaurant. But Is That a Good Thing?
    B Y B ESHA R ODELL
    From LA Weekly

    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  LA Weekly ’s restaurant critic since 2012, Australian-born Besha Rodell is still a reporter at heart, continually taking the pulse of Southern California’s food culture. In a city where image is everything, it’s no wonder that restaurateurs would convene focus groups for new dishes and dining concepts.
    The dinner takes place in a Studio City storefront, one that used to be a yoga studio but now feels as barren as any gutted storefront waiting for its next inhabitant. Tables are set up in long rows, a makeshift kitchen in back, a makeshift bar in the corner.
    We’re well into the meal, and only slightly past the social awkwardness that comes with dining alongside strangers, when the waitress deftly delivers our third course. A hush comes over the table as all 12 diners pick up tiny spoons and dig into what she’s given us. Held in small glass pots, a warm, duck egg custard comes topped with a jellied, tart, black pepper jus, studded with halved red grapes. The grapes burst in our mouths, providing fresh contrast to the silken custard.
    The diners around me spend a few noiseless minutes tasting, staring intently at their own hands and spoons and food as they eat. Then utensils drop, quickly replaced by pencils. We scribble furiously on the white comment card before us. It’s at this point that we begin tohear some opinions, though they’re slightly guarded; the outpouring of honesty is going on paper. You wouldn’t want someone to steal your thoughts.
    â€œThe temperature just weirded me out,” one woman says to her companion.
    â€œThe texture is an issue,” another diner offers.
    â€œThis is one of the coolest things I’ve eaten in a long time,” I think, apparently alone in my opinion.
    Welcome to Dinner Lab, the country’s most sprawling series of pop-up dinners.