Fingers and chopsticks are welcome. Forks and knives are not. Sushi has names and customs that challenge the imagination. Creative sushi chefs (Itamae) are always coming up with something new and different. People love it. In the U.S. alone, the sushi industry is worth $22 billion, wi

  April, 1930. There were no home microwaves or McDonald’s. Herbert Hoover was President, and everyone was listening to Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, and Cole Porter. A Canadian-born baker, James Dewar, worked at the Continental Baking Company in Illinois. He noticed that machine

Is there a Kentucky Cordon Bleu in your future? How about a Coney Filet or Pigs in a Poncho? Twenty billion hot dogs are eaten every year in the U.S. They are the stuff of movies, music, baseball, barbecues, and busy street vendors. Basically, a hot dog is a thin sausage. It’s hard to

  Do you shout or just think, “Me want cookie!” when you pass a bakery or stroll down the cookie aisle? We’re all secret cookie monsters. And it’s been going on for over 1,400 years. According to Wikipedia, “cookies appear to have their origins in seventh century AD Persia, short

Do you love pretzels? You’re in good company – over $7.2 billion are sold each year. Soft or hard, flavored, baldie, dipped, or salted – the world adores pretzels. In Israel you might eat pretzel beigales; Icelanders snack on kringla; and the Dutch have krakeling. The aver

  They are thousands of years apart and equally delicious. It’s up to you – enchiladas, nachos, or both? They go together like an old married couple. Let’s start with the old. An enchilada is a corn tortilla filled with cheese, meat, or veggies, and covered with sauce. There are

  Imagine a hamburger without ketchup. How about French Fries? Ketchup is loved around the world. 97% of Americans own a bottle of ketchup. 11 billion single-serve packets of Heinz ketchup are used worldwide each year – almost two packets for every person on the planet. Where did

Everyone loves a sandwich. There are so many choices, so many breads, and so many fillings. It’s a finger food made in heaven. Sandwiches have been with us for a long time. The first recorded sandwich was by Hillel the Elder, the ancient Jewish sage. He lived in the first century, dur

  Legend says it began as an accident. It was winter in Oakland, California (1905). The sun was warm during the day and the night was cold. 11-year-old Frank Epperson was having fun. Using a wooden stick, Frank mixed a popular fruit-flavored soft drink powder with water. He accid

The first time I met a cherimoya was at a Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. “Try it,” the farmer grinned. “You won’t be sorry,” Accepting his challenge, I took the green, grenade-looking fruit home. Not sure what I would discover, I cut it open and found a white, creamy fruit with inedi