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Tag: food and drink

  • As ICE detains longtime Chicago street vendors with no criminal history, neighbors rally with emergency funds

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    For nearly 16 years, María Irma Pérez Padilla set up her tamale cart at a busy intersection in Pilsen, selling the beloved Mexican dish to help support her family. The 52-year-old mother worked long days to pay for her diabetes medication and provide for her children after her husband’s death two years ago.

    Like many older immigrants in the U.S. without legal permission, Pérez relied entirely on street vending to survive. But on a Friday morning in October, masked federal agents in an unmarked vehicle detained her as she prepared an order of tamales. Within minutes, the familiar presence who anchored the corner for more than a decade was gone.

    “They were just standing between her and her cart — they didn’t even let her finish her job,” her son, Jaime Montano, said. Despite having no criminal record, Pérez was taken to a detention center.

    She is one of at least 15 vendors immigration authorities have detained from Chicago’s streets since the Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz in September, according to the Street Vendors Association of Chicago and immigrant rights groups. While the operation was promoted as an effort to target people with violent criminal records who didn’t have legal status, the families of detained vendors say most have no such history.

    As longtime vendors quietly disappear from the corners they’ve held for years, community organizations and neighbors are scrambling to support those taken, their families and those still working on the streets. A new local effort has emerged to provide financial assistance, helping vendors avoid working outdoors under fear of arrest or to ensure someone else can temporarily run their stands.

    The Street Vendors Association of Chicago launched a fundraiser last month to collect donations now being distributed to vendors who apply for emergency support. Maria Orozco of SVAC said the campaign gained momentum following Tribune reporting that highlighted the toll ICE raids have taken on street vendors citywide.

    Salvador Salas, center, 75, who sells elotes from a cart, accepts a $500 check Nov. 2, 2025, in the Little Village neighborhood from the Street Vendors Association of Chicago. The group collected donations to help during a time of decreased sales because of immigration enforcement. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

    Street vendors are uniquely vulnerable because of the public nature of their work, Orozco said. The fear generated by recent raids has forced many to forgo the income they rely on to sustain their families and small businesses.

    For Montano, community support made the difference. Donations collected through a GoFundMe allowed him to hire an attorney, who secured his mother’s release a week after her arrest. He drove to Indiana, near the Kentucky border, to bring her home.

    For now, Pérez remains inside their apartment. She has a court date later this month that will begin a long legal process. She hasn’t stepped outdoors since returning, though she keeps a printed copy of her judge-ordered release by her side in case agents approach her again.

    The family has lived in Pilsen for more than two decades, and Pérez’s sudden disappearance shook the community. Montano, who once split household expenses with his mother, said she was always determined not to burden him.

    “She said she was here to work, so she wanted to get out there and do her job,” Montano said.

    That determination was shared by many of the detained vendors, their families say. Most continued working despite warnings that agents were nearby, believing the raids would focus on “the worst of the worst.” Instead, many vendors were questioned about their birthplace and nationality and detained without explanation, a practice community leaders say has become routine since Border Patrol arrived in Chicago.

    “We aren’t the criminals they said they would target,” Laura Murillo told her fiance, Jaime Perez, before masked agents arrested her at her tamale stand in Back of the Yards. Even after hearing “la migra” was close, she kept working the morning of Sept. 25.

    After Murillo’s arrest, the community rallied. Neighbors, friends and family helped keep her stand open, selling tamales to support her legal defense and her three children. Murillo, who has run her business for nearly 20 years, is now being held in a Texas detention center as she awaits a court date.

    “We are fighting her deportation because she is not a criminal, she is a business owner that has paid more taxes than some people, and an exemplary mother,” Perez said.

    Every morning, he sets up in the same spot where she was taken. He sells tamales to help keep Murillo’s eldest daughter in college and to ensure her youngest, who has autism, continues receiving care.

    Across the city, similar scenes are unfolding. On the North Side, just days before Pérez Padilla’s arrest, another tamale vendor was taken from her corner at Belmont and Kimball.

    Since then, Francelia Lagunas, a close family friend, has stepped in to run the cart. A few yards away, “Abolish ICE” was spray-painted in large white letters across a brick wall, a stark reminder of the tense atmosphere.

    Street vendor Francelia Lagunas retrieves tamales for a customer in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2025. Lagunas has stepped in selling tamales for another vendor who was detained by federal agents. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
    Street vendor Francelia Lagunas retrieves tamales for a customer in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood on Oct. 15, 2025. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

    The business owner who makes the tamales sent someone with legal status to recover the cart and try to learn what happened. Bystanders later told Laguna’s sister that masked agents arrived about 9 a.m., grabbed the vendor by the hand and forced her into a van. The woman did not speak.

    On a recent Tuesday, Lagunas worked from 6 a.m. to noon, hoping sales would help the tamalera’s daughter as she tries to understand what comes next. According to a rapid response volunteer in contact with the family, the vendor is being held in a Texas detention center while awaiting deportation to Peru.

    Sometimes, family or friends make it to the scene in time to save a vendor’s belongings. Other times, carts, coolers and fresh produce are left behind.

    After agents detained Edwin Andres Quinones at his fruit stand under the bridge at Cicero Avenue and I-55, they left behind crates of bananas, oranges and mangos. His family only learned of his arrest after he stopped answering his phone and a video of his abandoned stand circulated online.

    Boxes of fruit are left on the median in the 4200 block of S. Cicero Avenue in Chicago, near the entrance to the northbound Stevenson Expressway, after fruit vendor Edwin Andres Quinones reportedly was detained by immigration officials on Oct. 2, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
    Boxes of fruit are left on the median in the 4200 block of South Cicero Avenue in Chicago, near the entrance to the northbound Stevenson Expressway, after fruit vendor Edwin Andres Quinones reportedly was detained by immigration officials on Oct. 2, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

    Quinones had been selling fruit for more than six months while waiting for his work permit and asylum case, his wife said. Now, as he sits in a Texas detention center awaiting deportation to Venezuela, she and their child struggle to buy groceries and pay rent. She also has an ongoing asylum case and has not left her home since enforcement ramped up, fearing their child might be left alone.

    In Berwyn and Cicero, a neighborhood watch group is raising money to help the family, but finances are tight, and uncertainty grows as the holidays approach. Like the Quinones family, many others now face the compounded burden of lost income and the urgent need to hire an attorney.

    The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has been contacted sporadically by families of detained street vendors, said Brandon Lee, the organization’s communications director. Some need financial help. Others are navigating the legal system. Nearly all are desperate for answers.

    “These are folks who are community staples, who interact with their neighbors every single day, their presence is part of the vibrancy of so many neighborhoods,” Lee said. “What’s happening to street vendors is just one of the many examples of the cruelty and disregard, the disdain, that ICE has for our immigrant communities.”

    Meanwhile, Orozco and other volunteers hope they can provide support as the holidays near — especially amid expectations that Border Patrol and ICE enforcement will continue.

    In Little Village, many corners once filled with vendors selling elotes, fruit, vegetables, empanadas, snacks, and eggs now sit empty. Some vendors were swept up during enforcement sweeps; others remained indoors.

    “But eventually, they have to eat,” said Elizeth Arguelles, a community organizer, street vendor advocate, and SVAC member. Arguelles is helping build a volunteer network to take over vendor shifts or accompany vendors throughout the day, offering support and monitoring for suspicious activity.

    SVAC’s GoFundMe, which set a goal of $300,000, reached its target Nov. 5 — and donations continue to come in. As of Friday, 979 vendors have applied for a $500 emergency check. Orozco said that in the first week of accepting applications, a line stretched out the door of their office.

    Orozco hand-delivered the first 160 checks last week and is waiting to receive 800 more checks to resume distribution. The group prioritized elderly applicants and will continue to distribute based on need, including medical conditions, lack of food or medicine, and households where the vendor is the sole earner.

    “My parents are street vendors and I don’t allow my mom to go out right now,” Orozco said. “It’s a tough choice because when you’re a street vendor, you get an income basically daily. It gets very depressing when there is nothing coming in.”

    Other grassroots groups are organizing “buy-outs” so vendors can earn money without staying outside for long periods. Neighbors are pooling money to bulk-purchase tamales, elotes and candy to reduce vendors’ exposure to enforcement.

    On the Monday after Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino said on X that agents would be returning to Little Village; the Edgeville Community Rapid Response Team launched what they called a “tamale train.”

    “We (suggested to our community) that if we raised $1,000, we could buy out four vendors immediately,” said Quinn Michaelis, a member of the Edgewater/Andersonville group. “Within a half hour, we had $1,300.”

    At 6:30 the next morning, a volunteer in Little Village bought out as many vendors as they could find and distributed half the tamales to protesters gathered near the 26th Street Arch. Michaelis brought the remaining tamales back to Edgewater for their community. The group bought out vendors again the following day.

    “It was such a wonderful, uplifting way for us all to get involved in a very real way,” Michaelis added.

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    Laura Rodríguez Presa, Zareen Syed

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  • This Thanksgiving, don’t forget the cornbread, and here’s a nicely cheesy version

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    Even though there are many options on our Thanksgiving table, we pay attention to the breadbasket. And every year, one of the non-negotiable items is cornbread. This year, it’s going to be this nicely cheesy version, with shredded cheddar incorporated into the batter, and then some more strewn across the top before baking for good measure.

    This recipe is everything I want in a cornbread: moist (dry cornbread is a no-go for me, unless we are talking about stuffing), a little crumbly in the best way, and loaded with sharp cheddar cheese so you get that pop of flavor in every bite.

    There is a reason that cooks have long reached for their cast-iron skillets when making cornbread. The dark, heavy metal gives the crust a wonderful color and a wonderful crispness on the outside. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can absolutely use any other heavy ovenproof pan. Just make sure it’s about 12-inches in diameter and has sides that are at least 2-inches tall.

    Leftovers are great toasted the next day, with a smear of lightly salted butter or hot honey, or butter and hot honey mixed together.

    If you want to make the cornbread ahead of time and freeze it, that’s a great plan. Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Then wrap the bread well in foil and freeze it. You can freeze the whole circle of cornbread, or if it’s easier (and I think it is), cut the cornbread into 4 quarters and freeze them separately. Defrost at room temperature; it will take about 12 hours to thaw. If you want to warm the bread before serving, just place it, still wrapped in foil, in a preheated 350° oven for about 10 minutes. Unwrap, slice and serve.

    Cheddar Cornbread

    Ingredients:

    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

    2 cups all-purpose flour

    2 cups yellow cornmeal

    2 tablespoons baking powder

    1 tablespoon sugar

    1 teaspoon kosher salt

    Hefty pinch cayenne pepper (to taste)

    1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus 1/2 cup for sprinkling

    2 large eggs

    2 cups buttermilk

    Directions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the butter in 12-inch cast iron skillet and put the pan in the oven until the butter melts and starts to very lightly brown.

    2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, salt and cayenne. Stir in 1 cup of the shredded cheese.In another smaller bowl use a fork to stir the eggs with the buttermilk.

    3. When the butter is melted, twirl the pan a bit so that the butter coats the sides as well as the bottom, then pour almost all of it, except for a couple of tablespoons, into the buttermilk mixture and stir quickly to combine. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, just until combined (you want to see lumps; don’t overbeat or the cornbread will become tough). Scrape the mixture into the hot butter-coated pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle over the remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

    4. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until a wooden skewer or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, and the cornbread just starts to pull away from the outside of the pan. Cool in the pan on a wire rack, until warm or room temperature. Serve in squares or wedges.

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    Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com. She can be reached at [email protected].

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    For more AP food stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/recipes

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  • Germany’s Christmas markets open with festive cheer and tight security

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    BERLIN (AP) — Traditional Christmas markets were opening across Germany on Monday, drawing revelers to their wooden stands with mulled wine, grilled sausages, potato pancakes or caramelized apples.

    Security has been stepped up, with memories of two deadly attacks on Christmas markets still fresh for many Germans.

    In Berlin, the famous market at the city’s Gedächtniskirche church opened with service open to the public on Monday morning. Other openings included the Christmas markets at the Rotes Rathaus city hall, Gendarmenmarkt and Charlottenburg Palace.

    Christmas markets are an annual tradition that Germans have cherished since the Middle Ages — and successfully exported to much of the Western world. Vendors sell not only snacks and drinks but also handmade candles, wool hats, gloves and shiny Christmas stars in all colors and shapes. Children enjoy rides on chain carousels, Ferris wheels and skating on ice rinks.

    Security is an issue at all markets across the country.

    Last year, five women and a boy died, and many were injured in a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg on Dec. 20 that lasted just over a minute. The attacker is currently on trial in Magdeburg.

    On Dec. 19, 2016, an attacker plowed through a crowd of Christmas market-goers at Gedächtniskirche church in Berlin with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more in the German capital. The Muslim militant attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

    In the western city of Cologne, the Christmas market in front of the city’s famous double-domed cathedral was packed with big crowds on Saturday.

    “We sense a very good atmosphere here, so we feel that in these difficult times we are currently experiencing, we can give visitors a little moment of respite here,” said Birgit Grothues, the spokeswoman for the market. “We see many smiling faces under our illuminated tent.”

    Nonetheless, she said that after last year’s attack in Magdeburg, the city created a special security plan for its markets in close cooperation with police. It includes an additional anti-terrorism barrier and private security, she said.

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    Associated Press writer Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.

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  • Beer and food pairing 101: Consider the three C’s

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    Now that the holidays are here, it’s time to start planning your upcoming family feasts — including what beer you’re going to serve. Over the years, I’ve offered advice on tasty ways to pair beer with a variety of things, such as salads, candy, grilled meats, ice cream, cheese and even Girl Scout cookies. While I’ve been experimenting with pairing food and beer for three decades, there’s really no magic to it. Here are some basic concepts to help you successfully find the right beer for whatever you’re eating. The simplest way to approach pairing beer and food? Consider the three C’s: complement, contrast and cut.

    Complement

    Beer can complement food by harmonizing similar flavors, like chocolate notes in chocolate brownies with the chocolate in a dark stout. Try matching a spicy dish with a hoppy IPA, or a Rauchbier (smoked beer) or porter with barbecue. When two similar flavors combine, they’re often better than the sum of the parts, leading to a more pleasurable dining experience.

    You can look at this from either direction. You can start with a beer and then decide on what food to make. Is your beer malty with caramel or toffee notes? Maybe order a thick steak. Or, if you already have your food, what are its signature flavors? If it’s spicy, maybe drink a spicy beer.

    Contrast

    The second “C” is contrast. Start by looking for opposites. For instance, a classic contrasting pairing is oysters and stout. A dry Irish stout, with roasted chocolate notes and strong coffee bitterness, meets its match in the sweet, briny flavors of oysters. If you’re having something sour, like sauerkraut or kimchi, try a sweeter beer, especially one with fruit flavors to emphasize that contrast between sweet and sour. Or pair a sour beer like a Lambic or a Gose with something like beef stew.

    Basically, hop bitterness, roast malt, carbonation and alcohol can all balance sweetness and fatty richness in food, and the malty sweetness in certain beers can balance the acidity and hot spiciness of foods with those characteristics.

    Adding just the right beer to a special meal can help bring out the flavors and textures in each bite in mouth-watering ways. Here’s a guide to get started with pairing food and beer. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) 

    Cut

    Lastly, the third “C” is cutting. Many beers, especially ones that are highly carbonated, are well-matched for food that is fatty, rich or sometimes even spicy, and can cut through and cleanse the palate between bites. A rich creamy cheese will be no match for a fruit Lambic, for example, and an amber ale will slice through a spicy chicken wing like a hot knife through butter.

    This concept works especially well with fried foods, because frying intensifies the food’s caramel flavors, while the beer’s carbonation and acidity (from the yeast) will cut right through the fat.

    Other considerations

    There are a few other factors to consider when creating pairing combinations. The most important is the strength of the beer. You wouldn’t want to drink a barley wine over 10% ABV with your salad; a more delicate, lower alcohol beer would be a better match. If you’re having a multi-course meal, it’s usually best to start with lighter beers and move up as you go. That will make pairing your dessert with a big sipping beer all the more appropriate and tasty.

    More generally, you want to keep in mind the relative strength of both the food and your beer. Neither should overpower the other. Whether contrasting or complementing, they should remain in balance. Other considerations might be: What is the weather like? What’s the occasion? What mood am I in?

    There are, of course, tried-and-true lists of good pairings. Pizza and lager is a classic for a reason: Simply, it works. I also like to pair brown ale with shepherd’s pie, sour beer with cheesecake, and pilsner with fish and chips. While you can’t go wrong with any of those, it’s more fun to try and come up with your own perfect pairings. One of my absolute best happened by accident. I was at an event that served chili con carne alongside wheels of blue cheese. Adding the blue cheese to the chili (itself quite amazing) while enjoying a lightly spicy IPA cut through the spicy heat of the dish and complemented the tangy cheese indescribably well. It’s a combo I’ve returned to many times. But I never would have discovered how good it was unless I thought about it and tried it. Let me know what perfect pairings you discover.

    Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.

     

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    Jay R. Brooks

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  • These 6 Kitchen Tools Can Make or Break Your Thanksgiving Dinner

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    It’s the start of Thanksgiving week, the time when home cooks across America suddenly recognize the daunting task ahead.

    More than 90% of people in the U.S. celebrate the food-centric holiday and more than 1 in 4 attend meals that include more than 10 other people, according to the Pew Research Center.

    Under that kind of pressure, what host wouldn’t want the best tools to make sure the holiday dinner goes off without a hitch?

    With that in mind, we asked national food safety experts which kitchen devices and aids are essential to ensure a safe and tasty Thanksgiving meal.

    Here are their top four suggestions for aids that can make or break your holiday dinner, plus two bonus tips for after the meal:

    Our panel of experts unanimously agreed that an instant-read digital thermometer is vital to making sure roast turkey and other dishes reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius) to eliminate the risk of food poisoning from germs like salmonella and Campylobacter.

    “This is non-negotiable,” said Darin Detwiler, a Northeastern University food safety expert. “A reliable thermometer ensures you’re not guessing, because guessing is not a food safety strategy.”


    Color-coded cutting boards

    In the hustle of a holiday kitchen, the risk of cross-contamination is real. That’s when germs from one food, such as raw turkey, may be spread to other foods, such as fresh vegetables or fruits.

    It’s best to use dedicated cutting boards for each type of food, and color-coding — red for meat, yellow for poultry, green for veggies — can help, said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.

    “I try not to use wooden cutting boards,” said Kowalcyk, noting that they can retain bacteria that thrive and grow to large enough quantities to cause illness.

    As an emergency medicine doctor who has stitched up many Thanksgiving injuries, Dr. Tony Cirillo urges home cooks to make sure their kitchen knives are sharp.

    A sharp knife cuts cleanly, while a dull knife requires more pressure that can cause dangerous slips, said Cirillo, a spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians.

    Pulling a hot turkey out of the oven is tricky, especially if the pan you cook it in is flimsy, Cirillo added. Use a sturdy metal roasting pan or, in a pinch, stack two foil roasting pans together for strength.

    “I’m a big fan of double-panning,” Cirillo said. “Dropping the turkey is generally not good on Thanksgiving.”

    Just as important as getting food to the table is making sure it doesn’t sit out too long, said Don Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.

    Use a cooking timer or clock alarm to make sure to pack away leftovers within two hours to prevent bacterial growth that can cause illness.

    And when you’re storing those leftovers, make sure to put them in shallow containers, Schaffner said.

    Measure using a ruler — or even the short side of a credit card — to make sure that dense foods like stuffing and sweet potatoes reach a depth of no more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) to allow for quick and complete cooling in the refrigerator.

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025

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    Associated Press

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  • Have Fresh Bread Your Way All the Time With an Automatic Bread Maker

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    Keen to enjoy homemade bread but put off by all the kneading by hand, flouring, and yeast-starting that comes with it? Then using one of our tested bread makers that does the hard graft for you—like the KBS Pro ($150) or Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus ($400)—may just be your ticket to carb heaven. A great way to liven up a club sandwich or add heart to a hot soup, homemade, unprocessed bread not only tastes great but can be easily made in one of the latest bread makers in just a few simple steps.

    With a good bread maker, you can produce a generously sized 1-pound basic tin loaf in around four hours from start to finish, which is ideal for slicing up and popping in one of our recommended toasters. Bread makers come with various settings for bread styles beyond your standard loaf too—with French, gluten-free, whole wheat, and sweet options such as banana and date loaf all just a “set and forget it until it’s ready” step away. Some bread machines also have settings for making pizza and pasta dough or fruit jam, which is great if you’re feeling even more adventurous in the kitchen.

    “Time and temperature are essential in bread baking, and consistency is one of the biggest variances we face as bakers,” Peter Edris, head baker at New York’s artisan Frenchette Bakery, told WIRED when we asked him how he creates the perfect loaf. “If you want to make good bread, then you need to have the right equipment for the job—invest in a good scale, a good thermometer, and time everything.” Without a team of professional bakery staff on hand, we embraced the shortcut solution to domestic bliss and called in a range of the latest bread makers to test. Here we’ve highlighted our favorite designs, included tips on what to consider before you buy, and shared expert advice on how to get the best from your home bakes.

    For more kitchen gear, check out our guides to the Best Stand Mixers, Best Espresso Machines, and Best Air Fryers.

    Updated November 2025: We’ve added a couple of bread-making accessories and ensured up-to-date links and prices.

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    Emily Peck

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  • Founder of $100 million company never unplugs from work, but encourages her team to have work-life balance: ‘They didn’t sign up to be entrepreneurs’ | Fortune

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    Founders can find it hard to step away from work when their company rests on their shoulders. The concept of having “work-life balance” has sparked fierce debate among entrepreneurs, who question if it’s even possible to have the best of both worlds: scaling a multimillion-dollar business, with enough downtime to recharge. Two-time founder Nicole Bernard Dawes is a strong advocate of unplugging from the job—but only for her employees. 

    “I think I probably am a little bit of a hypocrite, because I don’t unplug. I never do,” Dawes tells Fortune. “I never want to be the person that’s holding up a member of our team.”

    The serial entrepreneur encourages her staffers to totally disconnect from work once they’re off the clock, but doesn’t give herself the same breathing room. Having scaled two companies to success, she’s assumed the responsibility of always being on for decades. Dawes first founded organic, non-GMO tortilla chip brand Late July in 2003, which currently lines the aisles of Targets, Whole Foods, Krogers, and Walmarts across the country. Campbell’s acquired a majority stake of the business in 2014, eventually buying the rest of the $100 million company in 2017. In 2018, Dawes broke into another consumer packaged goods (CPG) market again, this time with zero-sugar, sustainably packaged soda line Nixie. The brand raised $27 million in new funding earlier this year, with its products being sold in over 11,000 major grocery stores. 

    With more than two decades of entrepreneurship under her belt at Late July, Dawes had pushed through economic downturns and many sleepless nights. But the hardships didn’t stop her from returning to the startup scene as Nixie’s founder—having grown up in the business world, Dawes is not so easily deterred. However, she doesn’t want work to overtake her staffers’ lives.

    “I signed up for this. I am the entrepreneur, I did this to myself—a self-inflicted situation. [My employees] didn’t sign up to be entrepreneurs,” Dawes says. “I am very comfortable taking downtime, but also making sure I’m available.”

    Dawes says never unplugging is “my life”—and she grew up in it

    Many leaders out there, like Google cofounder Sergey Brin, expect their staffers to clock in more than the typical nine-to-five job. But Dawes doesn’t hold her her employees to have the relentless work-ethic of entrepreneurs who pride themselves on having no personal lives. 

    “I think that where a lot of [leaders] differ, is extending that to their team. I feel very strongly that it should not extend to the team,” Dawes explains. “But I also feel like that is how I grew up. My father missed a lot of stuff because he felt like that was what you had to do. So I was determined I wasn’t gonna do that. I wanted to be present at things for my kids, and I wanted [it] to be okay for our team to be that way, too.”

    Dawes witnessed the pitfalls of entrepreneurship as a kid growing up in her parents’ food businesses. She spent her childhood years working the front counter of her mother’s health-food store, and roaming the floors of her late father’s $4.87 billion snack empire: Cape Cod Chips. As a kid in a family running two businesses, Dawes says it could be difficult for her parents to step away from the job. So when she decided to follow in their footsteps as a two-time founder of successful CPG brands, she knew exactly what to expect. 

    “When you decide to become an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of people [saying], ‘It’s stressful, it’s lonely, it’s all these things.’ And that’s true, but this is where I was really fortunate: I grew up in this business, so I entered eyes wide open,” Dawes says. “That’s why it’s really important to be passionate about your mission, passionate about your products. Because you do have to sacrifice a lot on the other side.”

    Dawes still makes time for the important things

    While Dawes admits she has difficulty stepping away from the grind, she still makes time for the things that keep her sane. 

    “You have to choose what’s the most important thing in that moment. I don’t think as an entrepreneur—at least for me—I’ve never really, truly, been able to shut off completely,” Dawes says. “But I also make time to have family dinner almost every night. There were things that were priorities to me, and I still make them priorities, like going out for a walk every day or exercising.”

    The entrepreneur also loves hitting the beach, reading, and cooking—and despite it feeling like a chore to many, Dawes really enjoys going to the grocery store. She calls it her “hobby”: observing what new products are stocked on shelves, and what items shoppers are gravitating towards. It’s gratifying to witness people pick up a bag of Late July or a case of Nixie drinks to bring home to their families, something she feels immensely grateful for. While getting her brands into those grocery aisles has been no easy feat, it’s all been worth it in the end. Dawes says passion is what eases the weight of her work-life balance. 

    “Sometimes when I wake up in the morning like, ‘I can’t even believe I’m this lucky that I get to do this job,’” Dawes says. “And because I feel that way, it doesn’t feel like working. I’m getting to do something fun all the time.”

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    Emma Burleigh

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  • Yes, Chef! Win Your Own Culinary Challenges With These WIRED-Tested Chef’s Knives

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    Compare Our Picks

    Honorable Mentions

    Photograph: Molly Higgins

    New West Knifeworks Joy Bauer 6-Inch Chef Knife for $225: Like my New West Knifeworks pick above, this luxe knife is absolutely gorgeous, with a bold red-and-white handle and an accompanying embossed leather sheath. Created in collaboration with nutritionist and TV personality Joy Bauer, this 6-inch knife is a Japanese Santoku-style knife with a downward blade and a sturdy top slope, made from American-made 440C stainless steel. I found that food stuck to the sides of this blade, and it dragged more with starchier foods, but it is absolutely gorgeous and better for smaller tasks.

    Henckels Classic Precision 7-Inch Santoku Knife for $80: I’ve found this Santoku-style knife’s flat blade and straight edge are most effective for slicing and tap-chopping, with the low point and flat blade being effective for easy sliding and transport of chopped vegetables. This Spanish-made knife’s blade is made of German stainless steel with a satin finish, which also has divots to reduce food sticking to the sides. The Mannkitchen Santoku model below is a bit sturdier, but this is a more affordable, lighter Santoku option of those I’ve tested.

    Henckels Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife for $70: This 8-inch, Spanish-made Henckels knife has a classic German-style blade made from German stainless steel. It just feels like a heavy-duty workhorse knife. The finely honed blade transitions to an ergonomic triple-rivet handle. Although only 0.28 pounds, this knife feels heavier than the comparable Zwilling, in part because of this handle, which is less comfortable with more severe, squared edges than some others I tested. The blade was super sharp and I quickly cut most produce with ease, although it wasn’t as clean a cut on denser foods like potatoes. Plus, the starchier produce seemed to stick a little more to this knife than others.

    Image may contain Blade Knife Weapon and Cutlery

    Photograph: Molly Higgins

    Männkitchen 7-inch Santoku MK71S for $130: This Santoku Japanese-style knife feels a bit heavier than the majority on this list, although the triple-beveled handle is ergonomically designed and easy to hold, despite its large size. The hefty handle seamlessly blends into the stainless steel knife, and despite being heavy, I felt in control while cutting. This heavy-duty knife has a lower point, which makes it easier to dice and chop quickly without too much arm/shoulder movement or exertion. The blade is also wide and thick, making it feel a bit sturdier and easier to transfer veggies from the cutting board. This isn’t going to be my go-to for everything I cut on the reg, but I especially loved it for quicker, rougher dicing and chopping of things like herbs and garlic cloves.

    Hast Selection Series Japanese Carbon Steel 8-inch Chef Knife for $79: This sleek Hast knife is made of Japanese carbon steel (see above for more about carbon materials) from renowned steel maker Koike. It overall feels lightweight and svelte, and the ergonomic handle was very easy to grip, although it got a bit slippery (and potentially dangerous) when wet. Overall it doesn’t feel as heavy-duty as others tested, and flip-flopped a bit while cutting more dense foods like potatoes. It was able to make super smooth cuts on softer foods, and I felt able to control it easily while mincing garlic. This is a remarkably affordable option for a Japanese carbon steel chef’s knife that excels in making more precise cuts.

    Image may contain Weapon Blade Knife and Dagger

    Photograph: Molly Higgins

    Material the 8-Inch Knife for $105: This hefty, beautiful knife from Material has quickly become my go-to large knife for bigger cutting tasks. I noticed vegetables don’t stick to the side as much as other models, and it was surprisingly able to make ultra-thin cuts with control despite its large size. It’s a little longer, at 13.5 inches total, making it bigger and sturdier to use than the smaller styles I tend to go for. Each knife is hand-polished, heat-treated at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and cryogenically tempered at -250 degrees to make the steel harder and more durable. The blade is made of sturdy Japanese high-carbon and stainless steel, with an oval-shaped, grippy, and matte composite handle, and the blade extends into the handle so weight is distributed more evenly. Plus, you can personalize this knife for a fun upgrade.

    Misen 8-Inch Chef’s Knife 2.0 for $94: This chef’s knife is made from Japanese high-carbon stainless steel with a high chromium content to resist rust, and features a long blade over 8 inches. The handle has an ergonomic rounded spine, which is sturdy, but wasn’t the grippiest or easiest to hold from those I’ve tested. This knife works excellently if you need longer, more precise cuts (I would imagine it’d be good for making scoring cuts or filleting a soft fish), but things tended to stick on the sides, and the sheer length of the blade made things less fast as I dealt with drag.

    I tested the only way I knew how: fumbling, cutting, slicing, and dicing in the kitchen, with a knife of the week, a cutting board (I used both wooden and plastic boards), and a variety of foods. I used each of these knives for a week while I made all of my meals, using them to do big tasks like cut through thick root vegetables, thinly slice cucumbers, roughly chop herbs, mash garlic, and even open plastic packaging. It’s also important to know how to do a few essential knife skills in the kitchen to make best use of your knives.

    I’m vegan, so I had some of my carnivorous friends and colleagues use these knives to also carve beef and cut up a whole chicken, to make sure the blades could withstand all types of textures. As stated earlier, the best knife is a sharp one, and each of these came out of the package deadly sharp. I cut myself more than once in the process, all for the greater good to find which chef knife belongs in your kitchen. (But a lesson was learned: Be extra careful when using a new, super sharp chef’s knife for the first time.)

    Let’s get this out of the way: The best knife is one that’s sharp. After duking it out in the kitchen for hours on end, I’ve found that what makes a knife truly great is a seriously sharp edge. A dull knife is dangerous—you’ll need to apply more pressure as you’re cutting, which means that when your knife slips, you cut yourself more deeply. Plus, a dull knife isn’t as precise or quick with cuts.

    Especially with a pricier knife, you’ll want to make that investment last as long as possible. That means regular sharpening to keep it in tip-top slicing shape. Unfortunately, there isn’t One Sharpener to Rule Them All. Different blade materials and shapes require different sharpening techniques. For example, many stainless steel blades are too hard to effectively be sharpened by traditional water stones. Former chef and current WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson recommends water stones for carbon steel and loves these Shapton stones.

    The majority of chef’s knives can be (relatively) easily sharpened when needed, which is typically done with a whetstone at around a 15 to 20 degree angle, followed by honing rod or leather for the smoothing knife’s edge. I’ve always used popular (and easy-to-use) pull-through sharpeners, which are more precise than steel and sharpen quicker than whetstones. But they are generally not recommended, especially for Serious Chefs™, because they shed quite a bit of metal in the process, weakening the durability over time.

    Most home chefs will only need to sharpen their knives around twice a year and use a honing steel to keep the blades in shape at other times. Although a few years old, we keep going back to this article from Epicurious on how to sharpen a knife the right way in order to keep your knives in the best shape for as long as you can.

    Should You Buy a Knife Set?

    In a word: no. Despite what the door-to-door salesman or your MLM-loving cousin says, knife sets are usually not a good investment. You just need a few good knives. An 8-inch chef’s knife will work best for most tasks in the kitchen. I have a smaller hand, so I also like a small paring knife for some tasks, and a serrated knife for bread, in addition to the chef knife. Knife sets often cost double or triple as much as buying just one good chef knife. Not to mention, the wooden storage blocks also take up useful counter space, especially if you live in a tiny New York apartment like me. We recommend you save your money by skipping a set and investing in a solid chef’s knife instead. (Plus, one or two others if you want a bit of variety.)

    What Makes a Knife a Chef’s Knife?

    As said earlier, it’s multipurpose tool used used to cut meat, dice vegetables, chop nuts or smash garlic. A chef’s knife, generally, is made of many layers of forged steel and has a sharp end point and a prominent edge with a sloping curve, which helps with the fast rocking motion that allows chefs to cut food quickly.

    A chef’s knife is among the most versatile knives in the kitchen and can be used for anything from chopping to cutting. Common uses for a chef’s knife include cutting meat, dicing vegetables, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. The flat side of the knife can even be used to crush garlic. The versatility of this multipurpose knife makes it a must-have in any kitchen. It’s important to avoid any hard surfaces that would render the blade dull. In addition, learning how to hold a knife is an important first step to ensure the best results when using it.

    There’s also the material the blade is made out of to consider—these days, most blades are made from carbon or stainless steel.

    Stainless steel: This material is resistant to moisture, can hold a razor-sharp edge for longer, and is more flexible than carbon, making it more effective at absorbing impact. However, stainless steel takes longer to re-sharpen, which makes it more difficult to maintain without a professional sharpening system.

    Carbon steel: This material has a high carbon content, which makes it a very hard steel, and edges out stainless when it comes to general sharpness. Most often, they also hold an edge for longer and are easier to re-sharpen. Carbon steel is more sensitive to elements like humidity or water, so they require more timely and thorough cleaning and maintenance.

    All of the knives on our list are measured in the Rockwell rating/measurement, referred to as HRC of the steel. HRC measures how much of a mark a diamond point can make in the metal with the amount of weight; so, the smaller the mark is, the harder the steel, and visa versa.

    Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

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    Molly Higgins

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  • The Ninja Slushi Is as Cheap as It’s Been for Black Friday

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    For the first year of its life, the Ninja Slushi didn’t go on sale much. Mostly what it did was sell out of stock—over and over and over.

    But of course it did. The Ninja Slushi offers something that feels so rare these days: adult fun. It was the first device that really brought the bar slushie machine into the American home kitchen. It basically just takes whatever flavors you already have on hand and makes it into the kind of boozy slushie that would be sold at the 7-Elevens in heaven.

    Anyway, it’s now on a hefty sale—matching its lowest price for the full-time machine since it first went on sale in July 2024, then sold out almost instantaneously. On Amazon and the Ninja site, the Slushi is on sale for just $270, just in time for holiday gifts and holiday parties.

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    I can attest to enjoying the Ninja Slushi immensely. I have made cold-brew slushie lattes, mimosa slushies, frosé slushies, daiquiri and margarita slushies, sour-beer slushies, Mike’s Hard Mango Lemonade Slushies, and of course slushies made with fruit juice and simple syrup for parties full of children. All things cold and sweet are delicious.

    The Ninja Slushi was discounted to $300 as recently as October. At the time, this was the lowest I expected to see the price fall this year. Glad to be wrong, I guess.

    But discounts often come when brands release next-generation devices. And in late October, Ninja released a big-boi update to the Slushi. The Slushi Max XXL is named a bit like an energy drink and holds a whopping 150 fluid ounces—making it the likely choice for frat houses and patio parties next year. We haven’t tested it yet, but Ninja promises that the larger capacity also comes with faster freezing to keep pace.

    The Ninja Slushi Max, too, is on a steep sale. If you go to the Ninja site, you can get the new, larger device for just $350; same as the regular asking price for the smaller Ninja.

    Image may contain: Cream, Dessert, Food, Ice Cream, Appliance, Device, Electrical Device, Mixer, Beverage, and Juice

    The Amazon price is a little bit higher on the Slushi Max XXL, at least for now—though Ninja has a cascade of overlapping sales before and during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so don’t expect this price to remain wholly stable.

    Either way, cheap slushies for everyone.

    Check out a whole host of other Early Black Friday Deals, including a raft of early Best Buy deals and early deals on Google Pixels.

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    Matthew Korfhage

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  • The Best French Presses for a Full-Bodied Cup

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    The French press is an unassuming piece of coffee-making equipment. It doesn’t require electricity, yet experts agree that it can brew a richer and more full-bodied cup of joe in comparison with its more technologically advanced peers. For example, natural oils that would otherwise be filtered out in a drip coffee maker remain fully intact, making the coffee aromatic and robust.

    The French press method of making coffee is straightforward, cost-effective, easy to do, and hard to mess up. The device also doesn’t take up too much counter space, especially if you’re using our top pick, the Espro P3 ($40). Once you have your measurements down, it’s a quick process of steeping coarse coffee grounds in near-boiling water.

    We tested these models using the James Hoffmann French press technique, in which he uses 30 grams of coffee to 500 grams of water, waits for four minutes, and stirs through the crust. Whether you choose a French press made from glass or stainless steel, a few factors make a difference based on your personal coffee needs.

    Want to make the process even easier? Take a look at our guides to the Best Aeropresses, Best Electric Kettles, and Best Coffee Subscriptions.

    Updated November 2025: We’ve added new French presses from Barista Warrior, DHPO, Yeti, Pure Over, and Aarke, moved some picks to Honorable Mentions, and ensured links and prices are up to date.

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    Tyler Shane

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  • Two Kitchen Robots Turned Me Into Their Prep Cook for Thanksgiving

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    The holiday is still almost a week away, and I’m sick of Thanksgiving. I’ve already made four rounds of mashed potatoes, three of mac and cheese, and three turkeys (with more still waiting in my fridge) as part of testing smart probes to help smoke turkeys outside and preparing seven-course holiday meal kits for friends and family.

    I was eager to finally outsource some of the cooking by testing two very different robo-chef devices, the Thermomix TM7 and the Posha kitchen robot. Both promise to plan my meals and also do most of the cooking, which sounds pretty good to me.

    The Thermomix descends from a German device launched in 1968—a time when the best-known robot chef was cartoon Rosie on The Jetsons—that was essentially a blender with a heater. It’s since caught on big in countries from Italy to Portugal to Australia, and over the years it’s added multi-tier steaming, baking, proofing, a touchscreen, an encyclopedic recipe app, and a whole lot of smart features. WIRED reviewer Joe Ray called 2020’s last-generation Thermomix TM6 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) the “smartest of the smart kitchen.” The newest version, the seventh-generation TM7, was released in August and looks like a giant trophy with a computer screen. It retails for $1,699 and its goal is to replace almost every appliance in your kitchen. It’ll even happily order groceries for you on InstaCart.

    The newest robo-chef entrant is Posha, a Silicon Valley-via-Bangalore startup device that aims at truly autonomous one-pot cooking, once you’ve chopped up the proper ingredients into little bins. The Posha kitchen robot was released in January at a price of $1,750 and promptly sold out, as has each successive batch. The device comes complete with a robot stirring arm, and a camera to monitor moisture and browning. Press a button, and Posha will add ingredients at the appropriate moment, spice and stir your food, add water and oil, and cook it down, all without your participation.

    I used both the Posha and Thermomix to make a spread of Thanksgiving sides: candied yams, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, brussels sprouts, and a more complex wild card entry chosen because I thought my Aunt Katherine might like it—and assessed cooking experience overall. Consider it a robo-chef face-off.

    Here is my experience with each of the Thermomix and the Posha—and how each fared on five Thanksgiving side recipes.

    Cooking Experience With Thermomix

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    WIRED

    • Steams, blends, bakes, proofs, roasts, mixes, weighs, orders groceries….
    • Choice of 100,000 recipes, often quite well tested
    • Beautifully powerful and fast blending

    TIRED

    • You’re still doing all the prep
    • Many recipes still call for an oven
    • Cleaning the multiple parts is a chore if you don’t run the dishwasher

    The Thermomix has almost 60 years of history. This is a good thing. It began as, essentially, a blender that can cook. It is still a very powerful blender that can cook. Lord, it makes pesto or mashed potatoes as quickly and easily as anything. I stood by in actual awe of its raw cooking-blending power.

    But it’s also evolved into a whole lot more, an all-in-one device that purports to replace just about every appliance in your kitchen. Today’s Thermomix has become a beast of multifarious functionality.

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    Matthew Korfhage

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  • The Best WIRED-Tested Nut Milk Makers, for Everything From Almonds to Oats

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    When Andrew Watman tested, he made three types of milk with each. For almond milk he used unroasted, unsalted almonds. For cashew, he used unroasted, unsalted cashews. For macadamia, he used dry roasted, unsalted macadamia nuts. I used old-fashioned rolled oats, unsalted raw almonds, and unsweetened coconut shreds.

    For the machines, we looked for a well-engineered products that will last a long time, as well as ergonomic and intuitive design. Many of these required the machine’s parts to be separated and cleaned thoroughly, especially because the mushy plant matter can have a tendency to stick. Any machine that had a thoughtful design with cleaning was rated higher.

    I also considered the length of time it took to produce the milk, as well as the simplicity of using the product (and ease of cleaning it). We also examined the taste and smoothness, comparing it to each other and store-bought milks. I also added additional sweeteners like agave, dates, and lavender simple syrup to see how the flavors changed with each machine.

    These freshly made plant-and nut-based milks are all going to have a shorter shelf life than plant milks you buy at the store (typically about five days) because of the lack of added preservatives. We looked for machines that weren’t just blenders, but specifically curated for making the best plant milk possible.

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    Molly Higgins

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  • Weekend Food Bets: Traveler’s Cart Serving It All – Houston Press

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    Sandoitchi Pop-Up at Norigami

    Friday–Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or until sold out)

    2715 Bissonnet

    As viral sando slinger Sandoitchi wraps up its final week of Norigami pop-ups, it’s serving up fresh menu additions. Grab the decadent Lobster Roll with poached lobster, brown butter, herbs, and shiso kewpie mayo, or the Wagyu Tartare Sando with Wagyu strip loin, labneh, herbs, and truffle kewpie mayo. Favorites from the regular menu are also available, but hurry—these specials sell out. Walk-ins only; cashless. 

    Saturday, all day
    1517 Alabama

    Teaming up with School of Rock Houston, Axelrad will debut Radfest, an all-day, three-stage music festival and artist showcase that doubles as a fundraiser for Houston Food Bank. Expect a killer lineup featuring Daikaiju, Los Skarnales and a stacked list of local acts, plus cocktails, mocktails, beer and wine flowing all night. Guests can fuel up with eats from Homies (tacos, fried chicken, and mac and cheese), Luigi’s Pizzeria, and Tita’s Tamales while you catch sets from Houston bands, DJs and School of Rock students and instructors. Tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the door), with $40 VIP passes that include drink specials, a Radfest tee and reserved seating.

    Tapas Giving

    Saturday, noon to 2:30 p.m.

    2203 Preston

    Chef Jamal Collier of Everything Irie Cuisine returns with Tapas Giving, a laid-back but elevated gathering at ShareSpace on Preston in EaDo. Expect chef-crafted tapas, mellow tunes, and signature cocktails from Perfect Pour Bartending (with Suntory Global spirits). Tickets are $105 and include food, drink, and private parking.

    Friendsgiving for Freedom at Tikila’s

    Saturday, 3 p.m. 

    2708 North Shepherd

    Gather with friends for a community-minded feast at Tikila’s in the Heights, featuring chef Martin Weaver’s award-winning brisket and ribs cooked on the legendary pit that won his father the 1985 Houston Rodeo championship. The event celebrates gratitude and community, helping to  raise funds for the Freedom for Danny campaign, a legal defense fund for Vietnamese American father Danny Quach, a childhood friend of Tikila’s owner Sammy Saket, who is facing deportation.

    All weekend long

    1401 Montrose

    Earlier this week, Montrose favorite Traveler’s Cart transitioned from counter-service to full-service all-day as owners Thy and Matthew Mitchell evolve the concept to put an even greater emphasis on service and hospitality. The change comes several new offerings, including Thai Chili Queso, Baja Shrimp Tacos, Chicken Lo Mein, Salmon Donburi, Chicken Parmesan, Vietnamese Cha Ca and Steak Frites. New cocktails include a Mexican Espresso Martini and a Pandan Sticky Rice Old Fashioned.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    Brooke Viggiano

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  • AI’s power and water consumption is worrying the agriculture sector: ‘Don’t forget that it is also required for us to grow food’ | Fortune

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    Nations around the world are rapidly building out the infrastructure needed to take part in the AI boom–including massive, multibillion dollar investments in data centers, which house and manage the servers needed to process, store and share information.

    Yet data centers guzzle up energy and water, needed to power servers and cool systems. And that may end up putting strain on another industry that’s just as important for a country’s future: Agriculture.

    “The electricity that we’re using for our data centers and AI chips? Don’t forget that it is also required for us to grow food,” said Gerard Lim, CEO of Agroz, a vertical farming startup, at the Fortune Innovation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday.

    Singapore, for example, briefly paused data center investments in 2019 due to concerns about electricity use and water consumption. And in the U.S., electricity prices are rising in states with greater data center construction, like Virginia.

    “Don’t forget the humans in the equation—because the energy all these data centers are utilizing is going to leave the human sectors out at some point,” Lim warned.

    Food security

    On top of resource competition, burgeoning populations and rising wealth also means higher demand for good quality food.

    “What’s driving the rapid demand for food is our changing eating habits. As we become richer, we want more protein,” said Richard Skinner, a partner in private capital from Olivia Wyman.

    Lensey Chen, Asia-Pacific president at Novonesis, a biosolutions company, echoed these concerns. “By 2050, there will be an additional 50% [increase] of demand to feed the world’s population, and it’s critically important to increase the yield, increase output from existing resources,” she said. 

    New technologies could help to fill the gap. Lim claimed that Agroz had been able to use technology and controlled environments to increase yields by as much as 500% while using 20 times less water compared to traditional open-field farming. “Technology and innovation are very important for us to grow in less land and use less resources,” Lim said.

    Yet Skinner said that state-of-the-art innovation might not be the only, or easiest, way to boost agriculture productivity.

    “We want to have to have technologies we can deploy today,” Skinner argued, citing greenhouses, irrigation techniques, fermentation, and better data monitoring for livestock as well-understood technologies that have yet to be widely adopted in Asia. 

    Rice farming, for example, contributes 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, due to how farmers flood rice fields, Skinner added.  The water in these rice fields creates a low-oxygen environment which kills most weeds and keeps pests away. But the anaerobic conditions cause microorganisms to produce and release methane, a greenhouse gas.

    Instead, Skinner suggested that farmers can use drip irrigation, an efficient method of applying water slowly and directly to the soil around the roots of plants. This would reduce water consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions. 

    Tastier food

    While it’s easy to focus on producing more food, or more sustainable food, when talking about the agricultural sector, panelists noted that it was just as important to discuss making food healthier, more nutritious, or just tastier.

    “We go food shopping not just because it’s sustainable. It’s because it’s tasty, it’s nutritious, it’s healthy, right?” Chen said. She continued that the company was now working with the food industry–including Noma, a three-Michelin-star Copenhagen-based restaurant, to develop new ways to develop food. “They are masters of taste, and we are masters of fermentation,” she said.

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    Angelica Ang

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  • Fiber is something most people could use more of. But experts advise caution with ‘fibermaxxing’

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    U.S. consumers who have had their fill of finding protein added to everything from cereal to ice cream are about to meet the next big food fad: fiber.

    Americans have been boosting their protein intake for years; even Pop-Tarts and Starbucks are selling protein-enhanced products. But the number of new products promoted with high or added fiber saw a big uptick in the U.S. this year, according to market research firm Mintel. Hundreds of videos on social media celebrate the benefits of dietary fiber and share recipes to help viewers get more of it.

    There’s even a term for trying to meet or exceed the recommended daily fiber intake: fibermaxxing.

    “I think fiber will be the next protein,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said during a recent conference call with investors. “Consumers are starting to understand that fiber is the benefit that they need.”

    Boxes of cereal promoting fiber sit on a shelf at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)

    Fiber’s benefits

    Unlike muscle-building protein, fiber isn’t sexy. It’s a carbohydrate found in plants that your body can’t break down. It helps feed gut bacteria and move food through the digestive system.

    “Folks don’t want to talk about it at a dinner party,” said Debbie Petitpain, a registered dietitian nutritionist and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

    There are two main types of fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel-like material that feeds gut bacteria. It’s found in foods like oats, peas, beans, apples and carrots. Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water and moves food through the digestive system. It’s found in whole wheat flour, popcorn, wheat bran, nuts, green beans and potatoes.

    This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

    Studies have shown that fiber lowers cholesterol levels, regulates blood sugar and promotes weight loss, since high-fiber foods tend to make eaters feel more full. It may also protect against heart disease, diabetes, diverticulitis and colon cancer, according to the American Heart Association.

    Petitpain said rising use of GLP-1 weight loss drugs could be one reason for the renewed focus on fiber, since GLP-1s naturally slow digestion and fiber can prevent constipation. She said fiber has seen similar spikes in interest when people wanted to alleviate symptoms from high-fat diets like Atkins or keto.

    How much fiber do we need?

    Most people in Western countries could use more fiber because their diets are low in vegetables, fruits and whole grains, said Sander Kersten, director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University.

    Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines, adults should aim for 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories they consume. That’s about 25 grams of fiber for women and 38 grams for men each day. Petitpain said Americans generally only get about two-thirds of that amount.

    For reference, 1 cup of raspberries contains 8 grams of fiber, while a banana contains 3.2 grams, according to the USDA. One-half cup of avocado contains 5 grams of fiber and 1 cup of lima beans contains 13.2 grams. Fiber One, a bran cereal, packs 18 grams of fiber into a 2/3-cup serving.

    Boxes of cereal promoting fiber are for sale at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)

    Boxes of cereal promoting fiber are for sale at a Kroger grocery store, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)

    What are good ways to increase fiber?

    Kersten said long-term studies about the benefits of fiber have looked at the consumption of whole foods and not packaged products with added fiber.

    “The way it is consumed as an additive and part of a diet that doesn’t contain a lot of fiber may be different than a naturally fiber-rich diet,” Kersten said. “You can eat a very processed, Western diet and consume foods that are enriched, but we don’t know if it confers the same benefit.”

    Whole foods also help the body in other ways, Petitpain said. An apple contains 4.8 grams of fiber as well as water, vitamins and minerals, for example.

    Here are some recommendations from the Mayo Clinic for adding fiber to your diet:

    — Choose a breakfast cereal with 5 grams or more of fiber a serving. Top it with a sliced banana or berries.

    — Choose breads with at least 2 grams of fiber per serving and try other grains like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and quinoa.

    — When baking, substitute whole-grain flour for white flour. Add wheat bran to muffins and cookies.

    — Try to eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily. If you eat canned fruit, make sure it’s canned in fruit juice and not syrup, and make sure canned vegetables are low in sodium.

    Think twice about fibermaxxing

    There is no defined upper limit for fiber intake, Kersten said. But increasing fiber can cause painful gas and bloating, especially if it’s done quicky.

    Petitpain said people should increase their fiber intake gradually and drink plenty of water.

    “You’re feeding gut bacteria a food, and you can’t break it down. You rely on them, and if you give them second, third and fourth servings, there’s not enough of them to handle the extra load,” Petitpain said.

    Certain populations should also be extra careful about their fiber intake, Petitpain said. People who are sensitive to gluten or allergic to foods like soy, shellfish or psyllium husk should read labels carefully since some foods with added fiber contain those ingredients.

    More broadly, Kersten questions the trend of focusing on one nutrient, whether it’s protein or fiber.

    “We don’t need nutrients, we need foods. Ultimately, what you want to be striving for is a healthy diet, and you should choose foods that are considered to be an important part of a healthy diet,” he said.

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  • Chef Lidia Bastianich hits the road in search of community in a divided country

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Lidia Bastianich grew up in a small town in Italy where neighbors were like extended family. If kids came home from school and mom was out, they went to the neighbors for a snack. If someone had a problem with a sibling, they went next door.

    The Emmy Award-winning TV host, author and restaurateur remembers her grandmother making an extra pot for lunch and sending young Lidia next door with it to feed her blind, elderly neighbor, along with a glass of wine.

    That sense of community is not specific to Italy, of course. “It exists in America in smaller situations, but we need to nurture that ever more,” Bastianich says.

    She’s hoping to spotlight and cultivate togetherness with her 14th TV special, “Lidia Celebrates America: A Nation of Neighbors,” which premieres Nov. 25 on PBS and streams on PBS.org.

    “It’s my way of really thanking America. I think that there’s no better place in the whole world than the United States of America and somehow it’s been maligned,” she says. “What I know is that out there, in the midst of America, there’s a lot of good American people.”

    Bastianich travels to wildfire-scarred neighborhoods outside Los Angeles, a pay-how-you-can café in Denver, a Japanese-American community center in Portland, Oregon, and a first-of-its-kind free grocery market in San Francisco. At every stop, there are hands reaching out to help.

    “That connection makes you feel good, it makes you feel more of a human being. And it gives you back that kind of desire to live on positively,” she says.

    The hourlong special starts in Altadena, California, hurting from the recent wildfires. Bastianich joins volunteers making 175 five-course meals that are delivered to victims. One of the volunteers is someone himself living out of his car because the flames had made him homeless.

    “I got the shivers. I just needed to hug him,” she recalls. “I know that he needed that. I know he was in his car by himself, and yet he found it within him to give. That takes fortitude. It takes character.”

    She also meets self-taught cook Kiki Ruff in Porter County, Indiana. Ruff hosts a viral TikTok series that helps families struggling with food insecurity stretch their groceries, using recipes from the Depression, recessions and wartime.

    In Denver, Bastianich visits a restaurant — SAME, which stands for So All May Eat — where guests can offer money, produce or volunteer their time in exchange for a meal.

    “You could pay for dinner or lunch and that goes to subsidizing the whole thing. But if you have a garden and you grow certain things and have excess, you can bring in vegetables or fruit and you get a meal,” she says.

    “Or you can work, you can go behind and begin to pack vegetables or whatever. But it doesn’t only get you a meal. It gets you interacting with other people and giving.”

    Another spot she visits is a Portland community hub for Japanese-American elders that offers meals, tai chi, and connection for seniors and families.

    Bastianich, whose latest book is “Lidia’s The Art of Pasta: An Italian Cookbook,” with her daughter, Tanya Bastianich-Manuali, has herself benefited from community aid. She was born in 1947 in Istria, an Italian territory ceded to Yugoslavia after World War II. She spent the first years of her life under communist rule, then fled with her family across the border to Italy. There, they lived in a refugee camp for two years until an aid organization helped bring them to New York in 1958.

    Bastianich’s last stop is in San Francisco, home of the nation’s first legislatively supported free grocery market, which serves thousands of residents. Shoppers there find shelves full and are free to pick what they want.

    “It was not like just a handout or a box of food. These people came in and they felt good,” Bastianich says. “They had integrity in going in and choosing what they’re going to eat, not just accepting what was given to them.”

    What Bastianich found on her travels is that small gestures of kindness to someone in your community can do wonders not just for them — but also for you.

    “You don’t have to give big checks or anything. Do something for your neighbor,” she says. “That connection makes you feel good. It makes you feel more of a human being. And it sort of gives you back that desire to live on positively.”

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  • I Keep Cooking Thanksgiving! Here’s the Best Holiday Meal Delivery

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    Making a full Thanksgiving feast for guests can be daunting, for some perhaps even terrifying. The world, and especially Hallmark movies, is full of holiday disaster stories: burnt turkeys, failed desserts, steamed hams. But I’m not bragging when I say that the first Thanksgiving dinner I prepared for my extended family—a little early, this year—was an unmitigated success.

    My aunt couldn’t stop talking about the black pepper in the biscuits and the sage on the carrots. My uncle went in for the turkey and the apple-sausage stuffing. My father didn’t speak at all, unless prompted. He just ate and ate. This was a compliment.

    But of course, I had cheated. I had ordered my Thanksgiving in the mail—one of the new breed of Thanksgiving meal kits.

    The meal was genuinely home-cooked, of course, prepared mostly from scratch. But the entire seven-platter feast—its ingredients and recipes—had arrived two days before, in a box large enough to house a primal cut of beef. It was Thanksgiving in a box: a $200 “Chef’s Table Thanksgiving” meal kit available from sister meal delivery plans Sunbasket and Gobble.

    The spread from Sunbasket was vast and generous. The table contained a nearly 3-pound roast of turkey, mounds of mashed potato, pebbled cranberry compote, roasted carrots dressed in miso-sage butter, brussels sprouts dappled with pecorino romano and pancetta, an endless platter of fennel-apple-sausage-stuffing, Gruyère black-pepper biscuits caked more than an inch tall, a tureen of deep brown turkey gravy, a ginger apple crisp waiting in the wings.

    Sunbasket is among a new bounty of meal kit companies that aim to ease the stress of the holidays by doing the planning and the shopping for you—big meal boxes tailor-made for those who still want to make a home-cooked meal but for whom the prospect of planning a vast and complicated feast is prohibitive. In fact, two weeks later I cooked another Thanksgiving meal from Blue Apron, this time for my sister’s family.

    Here was my experience with Sunbasket and Blue Apron—and some of the other Thanksgiving meal delivery options to get your whole Thanksgiving meal delivered to your home.

    Update Nov. 18, 2025: Added a review of the Blue Apron Thanksgiving and holiday meal kit dishes, after preparing an eight-dish meal. Also updated prices, ordering deadlines, and offerings throughout.

    Want meal kits for more everyday occasions? See WIRED’s guides to the best meal delivery services, and the best plant-based meal delivery kits.

    The Blue Apron à la Carte Thanksgiving (and Holiday) Meal Kit

    Available till December 29. Order by November 19 to ensure delivery by Thanksgiving.

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    Blue Apron

    Thanksgiving and Holiday Meal Delivery

    Blue Apron, one of the OG meal kits in the US, has undergone a wholesale transformation this year. One of the biggest changes is that subscriptions are no longer required, and à la carte meal ordering is possible—indeed, it’s now my favorite no-subscription meal kit offering. What this means is that for this Thanksgiving, you can order individual Thanksgiving recipe kits to prep fresh at home, without ever setting foot in a crowded grocery store.

    That means roasted grape and goat cheese salad ($12), a big ol’ turkey breast with gravy and cranberry sauce ($50), rosemary herb stuffing ($15), a truly excellent casserole worth of truffle-oiled Southern mac and cheese ($20), almond apple crumb pie ($15), brown butter mashed potatoes ($8), challah rolls with maple ($8) and roasted brussels sprouts with pistachios, ($10). I made all of these recipes for my sister’s family and our parents, a little early this year—and it was a surprisingly delicious feast fit for at least eight people. Probably even 10, if you add an extra order of mashed potatoes.

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    Matthew Korfhage

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  • Is the Bartesian Cocktail Machine Worth It? I Tried It to See

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    Right now the Barsys is making me an Oaxaca Old Fashioned, but it could have been any of literally 2,000 other drinks, if I only had the ingredients. Among “Oaxaca” drinks alone we potentially also have a “Flower,” a “Gold,” and a “Tail.” The Barsys promises nearly 50 takes on Old Fashioned, and more than 70 versions of the mule. (A third cocktail machine option, the Bev by Black + Decker, uses Bartesian’s capsules with a different device design. It is likely being discontinued according to reps, but is still available on Amazon.)

    It’s all very ridiculous, my friends assure me, when I send them videos of the Barsys aggressively spitting ingredients into a glass whose magnetic bottom spins the liquid inside into an icy, frothy whirlpool.

    “I am embarrassed to be watching this,” wrote my editor at WIRED.

    “That is so dumb,” echoed a friend, before adding, “You should definitely bring it over.”

    No one really needs a machine to make a decent cocktail, of course. But you might want one anyway. I have a theory, the kind of big idea you hear sometimes in small bars. The promise of an automatic cocktail machine is not ease, nor necessity, nor even usefulness. It is, instead, excitement. It is fun. It is whatever will make today different from yesterday. It’s that little bit of dumb gee-whiz that makes your neighbor happy to come over, gives people something to talk about at a holiday party, or keeps your partner mildly entertained after a Tuesday that just kind of sucked the life out of her.

    As holiday party season arrives, here’s how to choose between two flawed but kinda fun cocktail machines. Machines that mirror the life they indulge.

    Best for Parties: The Barsys 360

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    • Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

    WIRED

    • Machine pours very precise measurements by weight
    • Phone app suggests any of 2,000 cocktails, depending on ingredients
    • It looks cool, doesn’t it?

    TIRED

    • Cleaning, flushing, and changing ingredients is a lot of effort
    • The app can be a little buggy, and hard to navigate
    • It’s a sloshy thing. Cleaning, again

    The Barsys 360 is a flashy machine, literally. Select your drink on the device’s phone app, and the machine will light up like a discotheque or a try-hard bowling alley. The Barsys pours in hard, aggressive squirts—impressively accurate to within three-hundredths of an ounce, by my measure.

    As it pours your drink, the device’s lights will change from white to blue to green when your cocktail is ready. And if you’ve also bought Barsys’ mixer glass ($45) with a magnetic spinner, the cup will now very rapidly swirl your drink, ice and all, as it spins your tropical diamond daiquiri into a green-lit froth. Whoopee! Glowing, spinning drink!

    We are firmly in party-trick territory here. And lord, it’s stupid. And fun. And stupid. If you keep it on your kitchen counter, the device may cause you to make too many drinks just because you can, and because you’ve filled the reservoirs anyway. This can be dangerous on a work night.

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    Matthew Korfhage

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  • Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. closes downtown Denver restaurant, gets sued for unpaid rent

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    After 18 years of serving seafood, the kitschy, tourist-friendly Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. across from the Colorado Convention Center is now closed and being sued for back rent.

    The restaurant at 1437 California St. called it quits last week, according to its landlord.

    “Unfortunately, we have permanently closed,” says a sign on the front door, which features its smiling shrimp mascot. “Thank you for allowing us to serve the Denver community.”

    The restaurant chain came to Denver in 2006 and planned to stay awhile: It signed a lease for 20 years and eight months, through January 2027. After a build-out, it opened in 2007.

    The restaurant’s first struggles came in 2016, when construction of two hotels nearby resulted in fewer customers, according to Kent Cherne, whose father purchased 1437 California St. around 1960. Cherne, whose investment firm owns it now, says he lowered rent as a result.

    Cherne also helped the seafood restaurant when the pandemic struck in 2020, when revenue fell in 2024, and when his tenant was struggling again in early 2025, according to a lawsuit that Cherne Investment Co. filed against Bubba Gump and its parent companies Nov. 10.

    “From April through November, Bubba Gump was late each month in paying the amounts it owed, and the payments due on Oct. 1 and Nov. 1 have not been received,” according to the lawsuit, which estimates that Cherne reduced rent by $335,000 over 10 years.

    Cherne’s firm is suing for October and November rents, along with late fees, taxes, interest and unpaid wastewater fees, according to this week’s lawsuit. It does not list dollar figures.

    Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. gets its name from the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” in which Tom Hanks’ titular character befriends the shrimp-obsessed Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue. After Blue dies in combat in Vietnam, Gump eventually opens Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in his memory.

    In 2010, the real-life Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was purchased by the Landry’s restaurant group out of Texas. Landry’s owner Tilman Fertitta is currently the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

    “This location was licensed to the Kelly Group, who ultimately closed the location,” Landry’s Chief Operating Officer Scott Marshall said. “There are no plans to reopen that location.”

    The Kelly Group, of California, did not respond to requests for comment. There are now 20 Bubba Gump locations in the United States and 10 more outside the U.S.

    Meanwhile, 1437 California St., which is known for its western-facing murals of Teddy Roosevelt and boxing great Jack Dempsey, is up for sale after 65 years with one family.

    “If my dad was still alive, he would probably still be pretty attached to it, but that’s not the case with me,” Kent Cherne said. “I recognize the challenges in trying to manage it myself and I think it’s just time to let it go to somebody else and move on, try to find another use for it.”

    At 6,250 square feet across two floors and a basement, it is one large restaurant space.

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    Justin Wingerter

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  • Weekend Food Bets: Brunch, Beer, and Bourbon – Houston Press

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    Bake it Forward: The Great Bake Charity Event at CityCentre

    Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon

    10515 Katy Freeway

    Enjoy a sweet morning of tasting local baker treats, sipping mimosas and grazing charcuterie‑style while supporting the mission of Meals on Wheels at the Bake it Forward: The Great Bake Charity Event. Tasting wristbands are $21.65 and include mimosas and a taste from each bakery station. 

    80’s-Themed Brunch Party at Zanti Cucina Italiana

    Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

    1958 West Gray

    Zanti River Oaks is throwing it back with an 80’s-inspired brunch party featuring themed cocktails, retro tunes from a live DJ, and nostalgic flair from neon to sequins. Guests can enjoy new menu items alongside brunch favorites from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reserve via OpenTable.

    Saint Arnold Woodlands Pub Crawl

    Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m.

    Saint A brings its fan-favorite Pub Crawl to The Woodlands Waterway. Grab a punch card and pop into stops like Acqua Restaurant & Lounge, The Goose’s Acre, Hearsay Gastro Lounge and Mahoney’s, sipping Saint Arnold beers as you go. Finish up at Kirby Ice House at 6 p.m. to redeem your full crawl punch card for a commemorative Saint Arnold pint glass.

    Friendsgiving for Freedom at Tikila’s

    Saturday, 3 p.m. 

    2708 North Shepherd

    Gather with friends for a community-minded feast at Tikila’s in the Heights, featuring chef Martin Weaver’s award-winning brisket and ribs cooked on the legendary pit that won his father the 1985 Houston Rodeo championship. The event celebrates gratitude and community, helping to  raise funds for the Freedom for Danny campaign, a legal defense fund for Vietnamese American father Danny Quach, a childhood friend of Tikila’s owner Sammy Saket, who is facing deportation.

    10th Annual Whiskey Social at The Citadel

    Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m.

    12130 Kirby 

    Hit the 10th annual Whiskey Social to explore hundreds of whiskeys and fine spirits from around the world, plus highlights including specialty tastings (including rare vintage and single‑barrel selections), a cigar tent and bites while supplies last. Tickets are $92.41 and up.

    The post Weekend Food Bets: Brunch, Beer, and Bourbon appeared first on Houston Press.

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    Brooke Viggiano

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