Essays

Being obsessed with fresh figs means you'll do anything to satisfy your insatiable appetite for them. Well, almost anything.

A flexitarian keen to make friends in her new town sorta commits to buying a side of beef from a local rancher. Much musing ensues.

Lisa McNamara divulges how she finally learned to appease her overly critical father through food. Recipe not included.

While traveling in Tuscany, Lynne Curry learns the unexpected and underrated pleasures of dining tutto solo.

A home gardener opens her freezer and finds the Give-Winter-The-Finger goods she stashed for her future self last summer.

When blogger Luisa Weiss, aka The Wednesday Chef, thinks of home, there's one recipe that comes to mind.

Being a mom and meteorologist don't always go hand in hand. But as long as there are muffins made from scratch, who cares?

Carol Penn-Romine takes us back to her childhood and a secular southern sacrament that's still solemnly revered.

Carol Penn-Romine long considered the first daughter her nemesis. The reason has everything to do with overcooked okra and a distaste for turnips.

Sydney Meers knows Southern fried chicken. Thanks to him and his grandmother Winnie Lee Johnson's recipe, so can you. Lorraine Eaton divulges.

You haven't truly experienced cherry season 'til you've owned a cherry tree. Darlene West has the purple-stained hands—as well as the perfect clafouti recipe—to prove it.

Single dad Rick Casner learned to use dinnertime not just as an excuse to grow closer to his sons, but to grow up himself.

Pot obsession is what writer Ed Bruske faced when his wife fell for vintage Raymond Loewy designs. The result: a trip to France to fetch this fetching cookware.

Animal fat is good for you, says author and fat advocate Jennifer McLagan. She's hell bent on converting fat-phobes into fat fanatics. Will you change?

Famed editor Judith Jones muses on the joys of cooking for one, since her husband passed. This Valentine's Day the lucky one will be her Havenese puppy, Mabon.

While saffron picking in Washington state, Jess Thomson learns a thing or three about crocuses, back-breaking work, and la rosa de saffron.

In the hands of chef Suzanne Goin, cipollini become something magical as she coaxes them into submission in her Cipollini-Bleu de Gex Tart.

Allison, our managing editor, discovers the blessings of making a phanouropita, a traditional Greek cake said to help the baker find missing things when it's given away.

Banal or bold? David and Renee are on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to the ubiquitous paprika. Where do you stand when it comes to this rusty red spice?

Author Philip Graham, a dyed-in-the-wool lusophile, writes about his love of Lisbon, Portugal, eating sardines with his son, and watching futebol.