Personal Essays
Our personal essays offer thoughtful perspectives on the roles that food, drink, cooking, and gathering over meals play in all of our lives.
Why Candy Corn Deserves Our Respect: An Appreciation
How Does a Restaurant Last 35 Years? The History of Chicago's Heaven on Seven
Dear Restaurants: Please Stop Playing Live Music
How Spam Won Over America's Restaurants
Calculating the Ghostbusters Twinkie Size In Real Life
A Vegetarian's Christmas Eve Pig Roast
30 Rock Secrets: Liz Lemon’s Favorite Sandwich Is From Fiore’s in Hoboken, NJ
What I Found in a Bag of Frozen Dumplings
An Ode to Dahi
Wisdom You Knead: What I Learned Baking With My Mother
Mayela's Gift: Unwrapping Pastillas de Leche
A Peach by Any Other Name Is Just as Gross: My Terrible Fear of Fruit
When Family is Far, Food Offers a Sense of Belonging During Ramadan
The Njahi Wars: Behind Kenya's Controversial Black Bean
The Case for Bad Coffee
East, West, Then Backward: Falling for Groundnut Soup in Ghana
I Grew Up Abroad. Do I Have a Cuisine?
Please, No: The Pasta Shapes We Won't Eat
Knights, Horses, and...Hummus? An Evening at Medieval Times
Easy, Peasy, Japanese-y: Benihana and the Question of Cultural Appropriation
Why I Only Buy Whole Chickens (and You Can, Too!)
Butter Chicken: Even When It’s Bad, It’s Good!
The 10-Minute Window for the Perfect McDonald’s Mash-Up
We Pit Cup Noodles Against Cup Noodle and the Difference Is Real
Ina Is Queen, Even in Quarantine
How My Relationship to Cooking Changed After Having a Baby
Smell Loss and Its Impact on Enjoying Food
What's Your Heartbreak Food?
Saying Goodbye to the Most Exciting Ramen Restaurant in the Country
Friday Night Meatballs: How to Change Your Life With Pasta
All Praise the St. Louis Bagel and Its Infinite Potential
Merry Black Day: Canoodling on Korea’s Anti-Valentine’s Holiday
Why So Serious? Escaping Food Media's Uncanny Valley
How I Got My Toddler Interested in Food and Cooking
What Does Food Media Smell Like?: Diversity and the Beard Awards
How Cooking Websites Are Failing People With Disabilities
"Oh, @%#^": Our Most Embarrassing Kitchen Fails
Authenticity? These Filipino Chefs Aren’t Concerned
Please Stop Ordering Iced Cappuccinos
Sweet, Memory: On the Subtle Magic of the Cookie Jar
Daniel's Favorite Recipes of 2019
Sasha's Favorite Recipes of 2019
Serious Eats Through the Years: Our Early Days, in Photos
Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Gordon's London Dry Gin
6 Ways to Build Your Spicy Food Tolerance
In Defense of St. Louis-Style Pizza
Essential Shanghai Street Food: 14 Must-Eat Dishes
Facing Gestational Diabetes as a Food Lover
Cheese Confessionals: I Ate Casu Marzu, aka 'Maggot Cheese'
A Hill of Beans, and How I Cooked Them
Miyazaki’s Magical Food: An Ode to Anime’s Best Cooking Scenes
BraveTart's Ultimate Guide to Sous Vide Desserts
We Made the Portal Cake: No Lie, It's Delicious
How to Become a Certified Cicerone
Can Vegans Still Enjoy Pizza?
America's Regional Hot Dog Styles
Where Have All the Chocolate Sprinkles Gone?
Doing the Chitlin Strut