Essays

You may not be thinking this now, but with this stash of hangover fixes both tempting and therapeutic, you can snatch hope from failure, triumph from despair. Milton Crawford explains.

When making lobster rolls, do you opt for mayonnaise or butter? Our fearless food contrarians, David and Renee, battle it out. Which dressing will reign supreme?

Crêpes are all the rage on La Chandeleur, the annual French celebration of the humble-noble treat. Festivities, games, and, of course, much crêpe eating ensue.

Writer Kim Sunée shares her experience of both losing and finding herself in cooking during the last couple decades and especially the last year.

Grace Young divulges her tipsy Chinese New Year tradition, one that she has no intention of changing. Perhaps we all should start to incorporate it into our Lunar New Year celebrations.

Cooking as metaphor for life? Absolutely. Here's a look at 10 lessons shared by a restaurateur who's been experiencing missteps and miracles in the kitchen for decades.

Renee and David each explain what makes for a satisfyingly written recipe, whether it plays lyrically or is sheer plain-spoken practicality.

The TV dinner, that icon of mid-century American life, offered David and Renee two disparate experiences during childhood. For one, freedom. The other, disappointment.

Renee Schettler and David Leite take their constant quibbling and opposing viewpoints to the topic of taking a cookbook versus a computer into the kitchen.

David and Renee challenge each others' preference for fried chicken by first exploring their own relationship to fried chicken. As with most things, the answer is found in their childhoods.

An unabashedly biased look at what makes the classic and iconic bistro such an essential--and quintessential--sanctuary.

A charming look at the classic children's book by Maurice Sendak and how its lessons linger well into adulthood.

The charming story of a doting Jewish grandmother and how she saw to it that her granddaughter was never hungry for love.

Relatives. Mayheim. Envy. Dirty dishes. Inappropriateness. You'll find it all here. (And you thought YOUR family was crazy.)

Ever hear of religion envy? Mary Giuliani's got it bad. Here she tells about her struggles in not being born Jewish.

Some nights—most nights—you'd give darn near anything to summon dinner with just a single pan. Here's how.

The late Joan Rivers indulges us with her inimitable, opinionated, and fond way of seeing the food of her childhood.

You haven't experienced horror until you've confronted the inside of a spice cabinet or spice drawer after a decade of neglect.

Girls like to fish, too, you know. Sometimes they even win fishing contests and shame the menfolk in their families. Just sayin'.

Augusten Burroughs refers to this essay of his as "How to Be Fat." We prefer to think of it as "How to Be Beautiful."