DailyTakeaways

05/02/2026

Who would be your ideal lunch guests and what would you serve? It's a modern conversation piece but for American writer Carson McCullers (5 Feb 1959) it was no less than film idol Marilyn Monroe and Babette’s Feast author Isak Dinesen for soufflé, oysters, grapes and champagne

04/12/2025

They're very different products but there's a 4 December link between Spam, Fray Bentos and Burger King.
In 1860 , Spam company founder George A. Hormel was born; in 1865, Fray Bentos manufacturers Liebig Extract of Meat Company was formed in London and in 1954, Miami hosted the opening of the first Burger King outlet.
You heard it here first 🙂

03/12/2025

If you've ever wondered what kind of fuels brilliance and innovation, in the case of French movie director Jean-Luc Godard (born 3 Dec 1930) it was a constant feed of omelettes and beer, according to a colleague. Oh "and an apple for breakfast"

The cinematographer recalls working with the radical French director, a man who transformed cinema and survived on omelettes and beer

28/11/2025

Storytelling American photographer Bill Arnold (born 28 Nov 1941) recommends never being without a camera. Which explains his specific instruction for making his Melted Cheese Sandwich in 'The Photographers Cookbook' (see comments) to place it in a hot oven "being careful not to let your camera slip off your shoulder”

27/11/2025

While the focus is on in the USA, in France it's also St Siffrein’s Feast Day - said to be the traditional start of the Black Truffle Market in Carpentras, Provence - and in the UK, it's Lancashire Day, a region that's home to the celebrated hotpot of lamb and potatoes

26/11/2025

Of all the gin joints... one of the iconic cocktails served at Rick's Bar when Oscar-winning movie Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman (pictured) premiered in New York (26 Nov 1942) was the French 75 (gin, Champagne, lemon juice and sugar). So let's drink it again in celebration!

11/09/2025

It's said that the earliest Spanish cookbook was written in the Catalan language so imagine the culinary delights for La Diada - Catalonia's national day (11 Sept). Yet its staple food couldn't be simpler - 'pa amb tomáquet', toasted bread, salt, rubbed with tomato, ended with olive oil

10/09/2025

English painter Beryl Cook (born 10 Sep 1926)
typically painted working-class subjects in familiar places: "the pub, the market, the picnic in the park. Crucially, she often depicted those subjects enjoying classic English meals – fish and chips, fry-ups, pasties."

09/09/2025

Mob leader Paulie's painstaking preparation of garlic with a razor for a prison meal pasta starter - so it would "liquefy in the pan" - was one of the many extraordinary moments of the Oscar-winning film 'Goodfellas', which premiered (9 Sept 1990) at the Venice Film Festival

08/09/2025

Seems very fitting that the start of in the UK (8-14 Sept) should fall on the birthday of rice aficionado Prince Louis II de Condé (8 Sept 1621) - a French general after whom several dishes were named, including Riz Condé, a chic caramelised pineapple rice pudding

05/09/2025

'Crisp and clean, no caffeine' is a message from tea drinking Wu Tang Clan hip-hoppers GZA and RZA that definitely didn't get through to Bill Murray judging by his swilling style during their cameo conversation in Jim Jarmusch's film 'Coffee and Ci******es' which premiered (5 Sept 2003) at the Venice Film Festival

04/09/2025

He wrote intense novels and was a political giant but the name of Frenchman François-René de Chateaubriand (born 4 Sep 1768) lives on thanks more to a prime cut of beef tenderloin that he enjoyed prepared especially by his chef - the luxury that is known today as Steak Chateaubriand