Food! Glorious Food!

USDA suspends avocado inspections in Mexican state over security fears
The USDA’s avocado inspections in Michoacan are suspended until security issues are resolved, the AP reported. Mexico makes up 89 percent of U.S. avocado imports.
By Victoria Bisset

The flaming-hot Korean noodle brand going viral and making millions
Buldak — or “fire chicken” — noodles are the latest South Korean cultural export to take over the world. A recent ban in Denmark pushed them further into the spotlight.
By Kelly Kasulis Cho

Oxtail Is Gaining Fans. Not Everyone Is Happy About That.
The tender-stewed cut is being pushed to the culinary forefront by creative chefs and home cooks, leading to higher prices.

Oxtail’s price has nearly tripled in recent years.Credit…Kelsey Cherry for The New York Times
By Korsha Wilson

The Sweet Rewards of Bitter Melon
Asian American chefs are embracing the medicinal gourd anew.

Two bowls hold rice topped with a stir-fry of eggs and sliced bitter melon.
A stir-fry of bitter melon and scrambled eggs is a home-cooked favorite of Chutatip Suntaranon, the chef of Kalaya in Philadelphia.
By Cathy Erway

A GOOD APPETITE
The Woman Who Created the Modern Cookbook
From her work with Julia Child, Madhur Jaffrey and Edna Lewis, Judith Jones revolutionized American cookbook publishing.

An image of an older woman in a light blue shirt, standing in a wooden kitchen. Her short white hair is held back with a headband, and glasses, hanging from a cord, fall from her neck.
Judith Jones, the famed cookbook editor, was best known for discovering Julia Child, but she also set the stage for the modern cookbook.
By Melissa Clark

How to make the perfect borani – recipe
A delicious but varied Persian dip or side dish of aubergine, garlic, yoghurt and onion tested and bested by the expert hands of a perfectionist
Felicity Cloake

THE POUR
20 Wines Under $20, Hot Weather Edition
Bottles that are built for the heat: light-bodied, agile and low in alcohol, whether red, white, rosé or sparkling.

Twenty bottles of wine are grouped together for a portrait shot in a photo studio.
By Eric Asimov

Wine
From Lebanon to Spain, around the Med in wine
David Williams on wine

Warren Winiarski, Whose Fledgling Cabernet Bested the French, Dies at 95
His $6 bottle of Napa Valley cabernet won a historic tasting in Paris in 1976, astonishing connoisseurs and putting his Stag’s Leap winery on the map.

Mr. Winiarski, in a wine cellar, holds up a glass of red wine as he examines its clarity. He is wearing a sky-blue dress shirt, eyeglasses and a gold ring on his right-hand ring finger.
Warren Winiarski, the founder and longtime owner of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa Valley. His winery has been an attraction for tourists and connoisseurs alike.
By Eric Asimov

James Kent, Chef Who Was Building a Restaurant Empire, Dies at 45
He had opened two restaurants and a cocktail bar in downtown Manhattan, and he was preparing for a big expansion backed by LeBron James.

James Kent, in a white T-shirt and a black apron, stands next to a counter in a commercial kitchen with one hand on his hip.
James Kent in 2021. The Robb Report said investors saw him as “primed to become the next great American restaurateur.”Credit…Kris Connor/Getty Images for Nycwff
By Alex Traub