Roundup: February’s Best Food Writing

Unpeeled’s favorite food writing of the month.

At the end of each month, we’ll share some of our favorite food writing like recipes, articles, stories, and interesting essays from around the internet. Here is what we loved the most from February.

1. From The New York Times: “The Joy of Cooking Naked“

Jason Henry for the New York Times

I will never think of towels — or meals — the same way again. You’re welcome (?).

2. From Vox: “What’s the Deal With Airplane Food?“

Vox via Bettman Archive

What, indeed? I am a notorious hater of airplane food. I don’t even eat the stroopwafels. This article by Tery Nguyen answers — in depth — all the questions you didn’t know you always had about airplane food, from how it’s made, how safe it is, what it used to be like (answer = better), and more.

3. From Food+Wine: “The Best Diners in America“

I assume that everyone loves a diner as much as I do. I never stop feeling a sense of childlike glee at being able to order an egg-and-cheese sandwich on an English muffin, a vanilla milkshake, and chicken soup all in the same meal — at any time of day or night. It feels like getting away with something: a little bit wrong, a little bit decadent, but a lot delicious. I am excited to have this list available for all future diner needs, from Santa Fe, NM to Summit, NJ.

4. From Eater.com: “The Lavish Food Spreads of Mike Bloomberg’s Food-Filled Campaign“

Photo courtesy Eater.com

From writer Gary He: “Pete Buttigieg may hold fundraisers in a wine cave, but Bloomberg brings wine to the voters, serving it alongside Cuban sandwiches and kosher pigs in a blanket at a Miami rally in late January. Two weeks ago, in Philadelphia, more than 1,000 attendees feasted on hoagies, honeyed Brie, and cheesesteaks at Bloomberg’s expense.”

How the candidate worth $61 billion is appealing to American voters’ stomachs.

5. From The Washington Post: “Why this dentist left his longtime practice to become a line cook“

Washington Post/(Ann Shaffer Glatz) (Michael Roberts)

I loved, loved, loved this profile of a widowed dentist who found resilience, joy, and another career in cooking — at one of America’s best new restaurants, no less.

– Lisa Ruland