Lots of important food news for the papers to digest today! Between the tomatoes, the Beard Awards, Top Chef and Father Day, you could write a whole book.
• What we didn’t know about vanilla: it’s indigenous to Mexico, and not the Indian Ocean islands where it’s more famously produced [Tribune]
• At the Beard Awards, winner Grant Achatz makes the observation that doctors have no way to test one’s sense of taste [Tribune]
• Stephanie Izard gives a pre-finale interview (one of many, actually), and talks about her upcoming restaurant [Tribune]
• Bill Daley picks the best wines for Father’s Day — key words include “big” and “bold” [Tribune]
• A very newsy article on the tomato salmonella crisis; California and Florida have been cleared of any wrongdoing [Sun-Times]
• Missy Robbins of Spiaggia pens a paean to Italian cheeses [Sun-Times]
• News about the Taste of Chicago: ticket prices are up 15%, and instead of country music, Chaka Khan will be performing (!) [Sun-Times]
And there are three life story stories that so enamor the Sun-Times:
• On Chris Favero of Frankie’s Scaloppine and his pizza-making childhood [Sun-Times]
• On Finnie Haire of Haire’s Gulf Shrimp, frying up his mother’s shrimp recipe in Chatham [Sun-Times]
• On Tony Plum of Cinners and the oft-told tale of how he got his chili recipe [Sun-Times]
[Photo: Mexican vanilla on sale at a Oaxacan marketplace, via planeta/flickr]
