America, Pizza Hut, and Me

“Once dimly foreign, pizza had succeeded in convincing people it could be white. It was aspirational that way. I wanted to do the same thing.” Jaya Saxena reconciles her New Yorker-ness and Indian-ness with a childhood love of the doughy, pizza-like food of Pizza Hut, finding a way to hold on to her many identities simultaneously.

Source: Eater
Published: Mar 2, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,235 words)

Behind Every Great Chef Is a Great Partner

We are deep in the era of the celebrity chef, but many successful restaurant groups have not one mastermind but two—the star chef, and a co-creator just as important to the business’ success but with a far lower profile.

Source: Eater
Published: Mar 9, 2016
Length: 19 minutes (4,912 words)

Ina Garten Does It Herself

The fascinating story of Ina Garten, queen of cookbooks.

Source: Eater
Published: Sep 30, 2015
Length: 19 minutes (4,783 words)

What It Really Means to Eat a Big Mac at the Arctic Circle

The technicolor fantasy of McDonald’s looms large for a girl growing up in Alaska.

Source: Eater
Published: Apr 9, 2015
Length: 9 minutes (2,300 words)

How to Achieve Teenage Immortality at Perkins

Recalling teenage hijinks at a chain restaurant.

Source: Eater
Published: Feb 18, 2015
Length: 7 minutes (1,821 words)

A Wild Goose Chase

Most of the foie gras consumed by diners is typically created through the process of gavage—force-feeding geese or ducks. Eater’s Wyatt Williams follows a chicken farmer in Georgia named Brandon Chonko who hopes he can produce “ethical foie gras” to support his family.

Source: Eater
Published: Jan 14, 2015
Length: 26 minutes (6,530 words)

The Pros and Cons of Culinary Education

The writer investigates the financial realities of attending culinary school, and the hard life of a working chef:

“Chef Brad Spence wouldn’t go culinary school if he had to do it all over again. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, the chef/partner of Philadelphia’s Amis moved to New York City, where he made $8 or $9 an hour. Even though he was getting help from his dad to pay off the student loans, Spence says he “could barely live” between the low salary, high rent, and regular loan payments. And that’s the norm for New York City line cooks. Dirt Candy’s Amanda Cohen says that generally cooks can expect a raise of $1 a year, meaning one can hope to be making $20 an hour 10 years into a career. That’s still not very helpful for someone who needs to pay off tens of thousands of dollars in culinary school debt.”

Source: Eater
Published: Jul 11, 2013
Length: 34 minutes (8,587 words)

I Packed My Knives & Went: Aboard the Top Chef Cruise

The author on his experience aboard the “Top Chef Cruise” and seeing former “chef’testants”:

“There were also live Quickfires. There were two of these a night, and they were always packed to the gills. Audience volunteers joined chefs onstage for challenges familiar to anyone that’s watched the show. The MC was shaky, and the whole enterprise exposed the cracks in the entire conceit of this trip; cooking on TV is compelling because of editing and human drama. The live Quickfires had neither. The closest thing to human drama was during a late-night Quickfire when Italian chef Fabio Viviani showed up a bit inebriated and swore and yelled. I thought it was charming, but I overheard guests say that his off-color language had lost him a few fans. And there was certainly no editing. During a sandwich Quickfire, a timer appeared on the screen counting down twenty minutes. These chefs don’t need twenty minutes to cook a sandwich, and I certainly don’t want to spend twenty minutes watching them make one with an arm tied behind their backs, literally, from 28 rows back. I walked out.”

Source: Eater
Published: Apr 23, 2013
Length: 20 minutes (5,047 words)