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    The Ever-Evolving Juneteenth Table

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    Hamburgers, hot dogs, plenty of red sodas on ice: That was the chef Lana Lagomarsini’s Juneteenth menu for years as she celebrated with her cousins in Harlem. But over time, her celebrations evolved, especially when it came to food.For the past four years, along with the chefs Nana Araba Wilmot and Deborah Jean, she’s hosted a Juneteenth cookout in Brooklyn for a couple hundred guests. Its atmosphere is familiar: A DJ plays music, guests mingle. But the menu, a mix of contributions from all three chefs, tells a story that starts in West Africa and winds through the Caribbean and the Americas before stopping in New York City.Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African Americans, in Galveston, Texas, were told they were freed, about two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The holiday became a national focal point in 2020 amid protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd and was declared a national holiday in 2021.Now, the traditional foods of the holiday, like barbecue and red food and drink, meant to symbolize the blood of enslaved ancestors, are sharing space with dishes that represent the diverse histories and regional differences of Black American cooking. In the hands of some chefs and home cooks, the Juneteenth table continues to grow, reflecting its celebrants’ histories and backgrounds.“I want to make dishes that represent my ancestors, for sure, and what I’ve learned as a chef,” Ms. Lagomarsini said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jacques Pépin: Our Food Reflects Our History

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      How we cook and what we eat are an intimate reflection of our personal and collective pasts.This personal reflection is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What is history? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page.As a young chef in the 1950s, I had a bit of a complex about not having an education. I had left school at the age of 13 and learned my trade in the kitchen. I was traveling to New York City in 1959, looking to expand my horizons, when someone on my boat mentioned Columbia University as the best school in the city. A week after I arrived, I took the subway uptown to Columbia’s campus.I would go on to study at Columbia from the fall of 1959 to the spring of 1972. During my time there, I proposed a doctoral dissertation on the history of French cooking in the context of history and literature. I was amazed by how many of the great French works contained references to food, eating and the art of the table. The wedding feast in Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” is meticulously depicted, and in Colette’s “Chéri,” breakfast becomes an important ritual with sexual overtones. My proposal was turned down. The subject was too menial, too simple — not worth the intellectual pursuit. I dropped out.For many years, the work of cooking was indeed considered too menial. A chef was a physical laborer in a basement kitchen dealing with food, fat and dirty dishes, doing nothing more than creating sustenance. But there is nothing more worthy of intellectual pursuit and respect than food. Not only is it a part of history, it also actively shapes and reflects it. Indeed, my whole life, my history, was molded by it.I was born in 1935, on the eve of World War II. Life was simpler then. The Michelin Guide, whose prestigious designations are now sought by chefs around the world, had only begun awarding stars to restaurants in 1926 and was exclusively the domain of the French. It would be decades before a Michelin star was granted to a restaurant outside of France. Our history — and what we ate — was defined by and limited to our own place and time.A wall of photos at Jacques Pépin’s home in Connecticut, including pictures of Pépin with Julia Child and former President Barack Obama. Pépin’s career covers more than seven decades.Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jane Larkworthy, 62, a Top Magazine Writer and Editor on Beauty, Dies

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      She made her mark in publications like Glamour, W, Jane and Mademoiselle. In 2007, she was on the receiving end of media attention, testifying in a sensational trial.Jane Larkworthy, a veteran beauty writer and top-ranking editor during “The Devil Wears Prada” era of influential print fashion magazines, died on Wednesday at her home in New Marlborough, Mass. She was 62.Her sister, Kate Larkworthy, said the cause was breast cancer.Ms. Larkworthy’s work began appearing in magazines in the mid-1980s; her first job was at Glamour, followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. By 1997, she was the beauty director of Jane, a popular magazine aimed at young women. (It was named after another journalist Jane — Jane Pratt.)Later moving on to W magazine, Ms. Larkworthy became its executive beauty director. She was active online, too, writing for websites like Air Mail and New York magazine’s The Cut, where for a time she was beauty editor at large.Ms. Larkworthy in 2015, when she was executive beauty director of W magazine.Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Saks Fifth AvenueMs. Larkworthy looked the part of an editor at a glossy fashion magazine, the kind satirized in the 2006 movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” with her straight long hair in a refined shade of celebrity-colorist-applied straw and, more often than not, polished outfits that might have well brought Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy to mind.But while her fields of expertise might seem superficial, her views on fillers and face creams were infused with industry knowledge and a large dose of well-grounded skepticism.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      I Was Sidelined by Illness. This Ghanaian Soup Got Me Back in the Kitchen.

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      Brothy and bright, this Ghanaian light soup is the perfect summer balm, Yewande Komolafe writes.A good recipe offers a clear set of instructions and a satisfying result. A great one is much more, engaging our imagination with each step, offering a way to replicate a meal after it’s been considered, made, consumed.But what happens when our ability to cook the food we love suddenly changes? What does it look like to document a sensory experience through an intermediary?Recipe: Light Soup With MushroomsIn December 2023, after a lifetime in kitchens working on the line and then developing recipes for cookbooks and magazines, I experienced a health crisis that kept me from cooking for well over a year. During that time, I began to accept the fact that making new recipes — a balance of passive observation and active adjustments — would require careful planning and, because of physical limitations, even more steps in an already complex dance.The processes I undertook seamlessly before would have to be accomplished much more slowly, and collaboratively. I would have to watch as assistants cooked via my words, acting as more of a passenger than driver, and hand over tasks that had, before my illness, become second nature to me.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Make Homemade Pasta Like an Italian

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      TL;DR: It’s not necessarily the pasta water. It’s the marriage of starch, cheese and water, Eric Kim writes.This spoonable pasta is a dance of sorts between two pots: one with fresh green beans and orecchiette, the other with sausage ragù.David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.By More

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      The Physics of Perfect Pour-Over Coffee

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      Scientists used fluid dynamics to learn how to get the most flavor from pour-over coffee.More than a billion cups of coffee are consumed daily: French-press, espresso, cold brew, whatever it takes.Arnold Mathijssen, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, is partial to pour-over coffee, which involves manually pouring hot water over ground beans and filtering it into a pot or mug below. Surely, he figured, applying the principles of fluid dynamics to the process could make it even better.With two students of similar mind, Dr. Mathijssen began studying how to optimize the pour in a pour over. Their science-backed advice: Pour high, slow and with a steady stream of water. This ensures the greatest extraction from minimal grounds, enhancing the coffee’s flavor without added beans or cost.The findings, published this month in the journal Physics of Fluids, highlight how processes that unfold in the kitchen — from making foie gras to whipping up a plate of cacio e pepe — can inspire new scientific directions. In turn, science can enhance the art of cuisine.“Kitchen science starts off with a relatively low entry barrier,” Dr. Mathijssen said. “But it’s more than just cute. Sometimes fundamental things can come out of it.”Dr. Mathijssen primarily studies the physics of biological flows, such as the way bacteria swim upstream in blood vessels. But when he lost access to his lab during the Covid-19 shutdown, he started playing with his food — literally. He shook up bottles of whiskey, tested the stickiness of pasta and slid coins down slopes made of whipped cream and honey. The interest culminated in a 77-page review, structured like a menu, of the physics involved in making a meal.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘No Cake, No Entry’: More Than 1,000 Picnic to Celebrate the Love of Cake

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      No crumbs were left behind at Cake Picnic in San Francisco on Saturday as attendees gawked, photographed and ultimately ate 1,387 cakes.More than a thousand people gathered for a picnic on Saturday around tables draped with white tablecloths and spread over the lawn of the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco.There was just one rule: “No cake, no entry.”Kayla Kane, Mikayla Tencer and Lizzy Giap, left to right, wait to register and set down their cakes.Laura Morton for The New York TimesAttendees — including pastry chefs, home bakers and people with store-bought cakes — walked, drove and flew to bring elaborate cake creations to Cake Picnic, a touring festival where you can have your cake and eat it, too.“It was harder to get than a Taylor Swift concert ticket,” said Elisa Sunga, Cake Picnic’s organizer, noting that the $15 tickets sold out in less than a minute.This Cake Picnic turned out to be the biggest since it started nearly a year ago. Ms. Sunga described the intense interest in the festival as both “exciting” and “terrifying.”A spectacular variety of cakes adorned the tables, including: a light lemon cake with passion fruit filling, a tower made out of smaller spongecakes, Jell-O cake, pink champagne cake, a kid-baked dinosaur pyramid cake, and plenty of desserts with flowery ornaments.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More