"NewYorkTimesMagazine" news and stories

This Sunday's New York Times magazine is entirely dedicated to food. Here's the rundown:

Michael Pollan tells the next president what he needs to do to change America's relationship with food and food sources.

A new kosher movement seeks to bring social justice and sustainability to the slaughterhouse.

Will tipping in America ever go out of fashion? It already has at one San Francisco restaurant.

Is Vietnamese catfish a real thing?

Eat at Shopsin's, where the food is seasoned with expletive-laden tirades and a dash of verbal abuse.

A wanna-be sustainable gardener learns about Mother Nature's wrath the hard way.

A slideshow of young leaders of the new food movement.

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When Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart and Emeril are turning the glass inward, cooking up comfort foods like meatloaf and mac-and-cheese and Americanizing European classics by making them bigger, saltier and less dependent on exotic ingredients, the husband-wife team of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid are going the other direction. They seek to be "engaged" rather than to be comforted by their food choices. Writing for the New York Times Magazine, Amanda Hesser seems to ask, which movement reflects that of America at large?

Be engaged, she seems to whisper hopefully in response, although none of the evidence points there.

The cookbooks of Alford and Duguid, which explore Southeast Asian cuisines and flatbreads and things of this nature, sound amazing (even if I've never picked up a copy). Hesser points to the 80s and 90s infatuation with the authentic cookery of Diana Kennedy and Paula Wolfert, and heralds Alford and Duguid as the prophets of a renewed interest in real world cuisine. While I can't promise I'll go out and buy pomegranate molasses, you've sold me, Amanda: I'll at least try one of their cookbooks (how about  Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, their "meditation on Southeast Asia").

Bringing new meaning to ‘slow food,’ today’s New York Times Magazine features an article about solar cooking. While Jonathan Reynolds does touch on the environmental implications of solar energy—no burning of wood for fuel, no depletion of the ozone or forests—the article is little more than a journal of his experiences with an artsy Woodstock, N.Y., family that favors cooking with the sun.

Still, what they cook is impressive. This isn’t just toasting a hot dog in a concave foil tube for 7th grade science class. Mary Frank, the solar chef in question, prepares dishes such as fesenjan (a middle-eastern chicken and pomegranate stew) and a peach cake. Recipes are included, for those who want to give solar cooking a try. There are also times for conventional ovens.

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