Top 10 Stories of the Year in Toque

Happy 2nd anniversary! We’ve had two years of great stories from every corner of the food world. At times eating with the gentlefolk, other times scrounging in the dirt. Either way it’s all about exercising our curious mind on what it means to be sustained.

In honor of the occasion, here are some of our most widely read stories in our second year of business:

1. The Food Aboard Pan Am. Despite the quick demise of what I hoped would be a great TV series, Pan Am’s mystique continues to interest readers. It seems incredible for an airline to be known for its superb food and Satenig’s article on what it was really like to dine aboard Pan Am in the 1950s and 1960s struck a chord.

2. Steampunk Cuisine. Just posted last week, Steampunk Cuisine is nevertheless a contender for most popular. We hope to continue exploring the interesting convergence of gastronomy, food science and natural eating, and it seemed to work in the Steampunk category. At the very least you’ll meet your first Steampunk chef.

3. Foraging in Orange County. There’s something primally satisfying in finding your own food, mostly because it’s pretty difficult and takes most of your day. Writer Arianna Armstrong learned a thing or two about eating giant waterbugs and checking for a certain worm to know that water is safe to drink. Piece of cake.

4. Diary of a Chef, Part 5. Sadly, our last account of Chef Larry Frazer’s adventures as the head culinary instructor at the Eden Institute, an educational facility for autistic youth in Princeton. Frazer completely turned around the lives of his students–and his own–by teaching them to cook on a life skills level. Frazer passed away in April at the age of 53.

5. Bols Genever Makes Drinkers Go Dutch. Get introduced to this gin-that’s-much-more-than-gin with Cynthia Dea’s report.

6. Beaujolais Nouveau 2011: Drink It, Fast. You don’t review Beaujolais. You just drink it. Amy Zavatto’s matter-of-fact approach to this toddler of a French wine is the equivalent of George Bernard Shaw’s admonishment to simply “enjoy the ice cream, while it is on your plate.”

7. 42 Restaurants Wins Best Overall App. Our first Food App Awards took place last December. Check here for a list of the winners and be on the lookout for information on our second event scheduled for December 13, 2012!

8. How to Eat Sushi. Think you know how? Some of LA’s best sushi chefs may beg to differ but they’ll never let you know it. Some good tips and helpful background in this article may help you save face.

9. Food Apps Review of the Week: Pie Apps. Pie-making has rolled its way back into many kitchens, but it’s still tricky and takes some effort to do well. Steve Cooper’s review of some current pie apps grabbed some eyeballs last November.

10. Kitchensurfing: The New Culinary Shidduch. People aren’t borrowing sugar anymore–they’re asking for the entire kitchen. The gentlemen who launched Kitchensurfing, an online matching system for people who want to cook in bigger kitchens (or want to offer their own) discovered an untapped branch of home swapping.