Bon Appétit Food People

Between the candlelit dinners, the big chocolate hearts, and the bottles of bubbly, Valentine’s Day is definitely a food holiday if you want it to be. Eating is romantic! And you don’t have to take our word for it. This year, we’re swallowing our cynicism and sharing stories of meet-cutes, first dates, and romantic meals from a few of our favorite couples in the world of food. Listen to find out how a paella helped seal the deal, h...

Trader Joe’s shoppers can be… intense. Like, wait-around-the-corner-for-“Everything But The Bagel”-seasoning intense. From fan pages on Facebook to a thriving scene of Instagram influencers to the Supreme-level of hype around their new product drops, the grocery chain is basically a lifestyle brand at this point. Outside of Joe himself, no one knows that better than contributor Alex Beggs. Beggs has been writing Trader Joe’s snack ...

The January slump is hitting, and cooking is starting to feel pretty dull. But rather than giving up entirely, we’re leaning on the power of our pantries. Instead of re-inventing the wheel (of cheese?), we can rely on a few tried and true staples that we always have around, and use them in new and inventive ways. This week on the podcast, Amanda chats with associate food editor Kendra Vaculin and recipe developer extraordinaire Het...

It’s New Year's resolution season, which has a lot of us thinking about eating healthier. That word, “healthy,” can mean so many different things to so many different people—so much so that finding a good definition can be pretty tough. But senior food editor Christina Chaey's new series of recipes from our annual Healthyish issue are a good starting point. This week on the podcast, Christina joins Amanda to talk through wh...

It’s that old, familiar season, and we’re not just talking about eggnog, we’re talking about the season of “Best Of” lists. Here at BA, we’ve got plenty of best recipe round-ups in the pipeline, but those lists only tell half the story. In our eyes, the best recipes aren’t always the ones that “break the internet” (though sometimes they are—we’re looking at you Caramel Apple Cookies). They’re the ones that surprised us, taught us s...

Drew Barrymore didn’t always love to cook. When she first lived alone, at 14 years old, she stuck to instant ramen, boxed mac and cheese, and egg-in-the-hole toasts. But as an adult, sharing food with her friends and loved ones has become one of her favorite things, and her close friend and personal chef Pilar Valdes is a big reason why. The pair met in the midst of major life transitions, and they found solace and inspiration toge...

There’s a reason fans call Dorie Greenspan the “Cookie Queen.” Over her 30-year career, the James Beard Award-winning author has published 14 cookbooks, developed thousands of recipes, and built an online following years before “influencers” were even a thing. In our sweetest episode yet, she sits down with Amanda to talk about a few of her favorite cookies in her newest book, Baking With Dorie—just in time for your cookie swap. La...

Who but Stanley Tucci could charm us on social media with his Negroni-making skills, eat his way through Italy for a documentary series, and publish a food-heavy memoir all during a global pandemic? He’s had so much going on that we almost forgot that he’s also a Hollywood star. The man/myth/legend gave us his best tips for entertaining in our November issue, and this week on the podcast, he sits down with editor in chief Dawn Davi...

Maybe you’re like us: Year after year, we tell ourselves that THIS Thanksgiving is going to be the simple one. Then, year after year, we find ourselves back in the kitchen, feeling way too stressed out while juggling 15 recipes for sides, salads, desserts, and of course, a massive turkey that refuses to finish cooking. Why do we do this to ourselves? And is there another way? Associate food editor Kendra Vaculin thinks there is, an...

It used to be that opening your own restaurant was the only path to gaining recognition as a chef. But these days, more and more chefs are opening pop-ups as a first step, or even an alternative, to a brick-and-mortar spot. Pop-ups can offer flexibility, freedom, and exposure without the high overhead and financial risk. But that doesn’t mean pop-up life is a walk in the park. This week on the show, Amanda talks to two LA chefs who...

Name a more iconic cocktail. We’ll wait. Yep, that’s what we thought. Today on the podcast, Amanda is joined by contributor Amiel Stanek, senior staff writer Alex Beggs, and senior food editor Christina Chaey to talk all about martinis: Why we love them, what makes them perfect vs. “perfect,” and how to order them properly (or make them at home). Along the way, Andrea Hernández aka the Snack Oracle comes by to try to explain why th...

Even if you’re not on FoodTok, you probably know it exists . Every day, our algorithms fill our feeds with cooking hacks, recipe walkthroughs, and ambient ASMR moments. We can’t look away, but we also can’t help but wonder: Does any of it actually work? To find out, senior food editor Christina Chaey and BA’s head of video June Kim spent a day cooking meals from TikTok—yes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This week on the podcast, th...

This week, editor in chief Dawn Davis is back for a conversation with chef, writer, and James Beard award winner Bryant Terry about his new cookbook Black Food, a sprawling collection of essays, art, and recipes from more than a hundred Black visionaries across the globe. Our September issue features excerpts and recipes from the book, and with Black Food hitting shelves October 19, we’re welcoming him back to talk about cooking wi...

As Food People, we know our way around a dinner party—or at least, we did, before we couldn’t attend or throw any for almost two years. During that hosting hiatus we had plenty of time to think about what made dinner parties great but also what made them stressful, exhausting, and way too much work. This week on the show, Amanda talks to Test Kitchen director Chris Morocco and Associate Food Editor Zaynab Issa about the new rules t...

It’s practically impossible to ignore the air fryer. Much like the InstantPot a few years back, these countertop appliances promise us a faster and healthier way to cook: crunchy chicken, golden french fries, crispy vegetables with none of the downsides of deep frying. But how much can an air fryer really change the way you cook and eat? And, like, can you actually fry something with air? This week, Amanda is joined by BA senior st...

Thanks to both outside influences and native resources, Hawaiian cuisine is incredibly diverse for such a small geographic space. But when you’re Hawai'i’s most well-known chef, everyone expects you to define it. Since beginning his career at a plate lunch restaurant, Sheldon Simeon has been an acclaimed restaurateur, a Top Chef contestant, and (most recently) a cookbook writer. He lives, breathes, and cooks Hawai’i, and this w...

Opening a restaurant is notoriously hard: Long hours, thin margins, and a high chance of failure. The people who choose that path are either heroic, foolish, or a little bit of both. But to open a restaurant during a global pandemic? Well, that’s a whole new level of are-you-kidding-me.  

This week on the podcast, Amanda asks Eric See (chef and owner of Ursula in Brooklyn, New York) and Subrina Collier (co-owner of Leah and Louise i...

Despite her work as a cookbook author, Dr. Jessica B. Harris isn’t a fan of following recipes. Nonetheless, her books have made her an authority on the history of Black foodways, as well as their immense and under-appreciated impact on American cuisine and culture. Earlier this year, her 2011 book High on the Hog was the inspiration of a Netflix docu-series of the same name, in which she’s prominently featured. This week on Food Pe...

Whether we’re going back to the office or the classroom or just moving around the world again, for the first time in a long while, we’ve got meal prep on our minds. And it’s making us sweat. We’re supposed to think about what we’re going to eat...in advance?! To take some of the heat off, senior food editor Christina Chaey and frequent Bon Appétit contributor Hetty McKinnon are here to convince us that cooking ahead doesn’t have to...