Foodie's Paradise With Arroe Collins Arroe Collins

It wasn’t long before Debbie Wilson-Berment discovered that the kitchen was where she wanted to be. As a young girl growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, she would often help her mother, Alma, an accomplished and award-winning chef, prepare family meals, as well as dishes for her mother’s catering clients. By the time she was 16, Wilson-Berment, who is known professionally as Chef Sagajo, had clients of her own and a steady stream of requests for the beautiful special occasion cakes she made. 
 
You’ll find more than just sweet treats (but you can find those, too) in Chef Sagajo’s first cookbook, THE SAGAJO EXPERIENCE: Recipes for Lifestyle & Entertaining (Virago Global Publishing, February 14, 2024). She goes beyond a cookbook, showing you how to create moments, not just meals—a feeling she learned from her mother and continued with her family. You will find page after page of easy-to-follow, yet elegant, recipes, but she extends her culinary canvas beyond the plate. She offers suggestions about other ingredients that make meals memorable, such as the settings you choose, the stemware you use, the flowers you display, the styles (formal or informal) you create, the wines you select and, most importantly, the people you choose to gather around the table.
 
She provides an amazing smorgasbord of delicious menu ideas (with accompanying recipes) for some of life’s more common gatherings, such as family dinner, lunch (or tapas) with friends, breakfast in bed and those special occasions when you pull out all the stops with a menu that includes beef brisket, whole roasted red snapper, roasted duck, spatchcock chicken and Chilean sea bass. You can also find tips on food and wine pairings and a helpful “In My Pantry” guide, which lists all the ingredients that you will need. 
 
Her recipes and tips for entertaining are easy to follow whether you are a seasoned chef or an aspiring cook. Beautiful, eye-catching photos throughout the book bring the meals to life, as well as the family and friends who gather around her table, including her husband, grandchildren and three children, Sasha, Gabrielle and Jonathan. (Her children are the inspiration behind her professional name and brand. Sagajo--pronounced sah-ga-joe—is an acronym from the first two initials of each of her children’s names.)
 
Since that early start in her mother’s kitchen, Chef Sagajo has gone on to a successful career as a private chef, a pastry chef, a culinary educator and now, an author. Her dishes reflect the rich Caribbean flavors of her early roots along with the cooking traditions she learned while training at top culinary programs in the United States. She calls her style Caribbean meets Mediterranean. She hopes her recipes will inspire others to gather, entertain with joy and adopt an approach to life that has long guided her personal and professional path: “Life is meant to taste and celebrate.” 

All bets are off as Food Network's test kitchen opens up its doors late night in the new eight-episode series Wildcard Kitchen, where fan-favorite chefs put their money where their mouth is during a high-stakes culinary card game. In each episode, host Eric Adjepong takes over the test kitchen after hours with an exclusive invitation for three chefs to bring $5,000 to play across three hands of his underground culinary poker game. The competitors, who all know each other well, have scores to settle and personal stakes to lose as they battle to create dishes based on the cards they are dealt and bet using their own instincts and cold hard cash. The luck of the draw determines the dishes and cooking time, while wildcards deal unpredictable challenges into the mix that test the chefs like never before. From surf-and-turf with peanut butter to live crab with kimchi, anything can happen in Wildcard Kitchen as mystery guest judges use blind taste tests to determine who walks away the high roller with bragging rights and cash from their fellow chefs. Wildcard Kitchen premiered Tuesday, March 12th at 9pm ET/PT on Food Network. "Wildcard Kitchen makes viewers feel like they are behind-the-scenes for an exclusive late-night poker game with their favorite chefs," said Betsy Ayala, Head of Content, Food, Warner Bros. Discovery. "The competition and good-natured trash talk is fierce, funny and unlike anything Food Network has offered." 

Enter National Geographic’s 50 States, 1000 Eats: Where to Go, When to Go, What to Eat, What to Drink by legendary editor, writer, photographer, and speaker  Joe Yogerst. Joe gives you many diverse recommendations in the United States and Canada.  Included are the can’t-miss restaurants; as-seen-on-tv food trucks, diners, and cafes; and delicious regional delicacies. There’s fascinating food history and expert travel tips for where to stay and things to do and see while on the foodie trail. And of course there are hundreds of mouthwatering images from NatGeo.

Getting Grilled with Curtis Stone focuses on the intersection of food and culture. Filmed and recorded at Chef Curtis Stone's 60-acre ranch in Malibu Canyon, guests from the world of film, television, music and sports will cook alongside Curtis while also discussing everything from current events to memories of family meals and favorite dining experiences. Sunny Side Up Productions, the chef's production company that brought "In the Spirit with Lindsay and Curtis," "Cooking with Curtis," and "Travel, Cook, Repeat" to HSN+, is behind this production, alongside executive producer and three-time Emmy winner Rob K. Silverstein. Guests have included Sebastin Maniscalco, Teri Hatcher, Akbar Gbajabiamila, Brian Austin Green & Sharna Burgess, Lindsay Price, Chelsea Peretti and Joel McHale. New episodes stream every Sunday.

Women’s Pizza Month in March coincides with Women’s History Month, which is no accident because female pizzaiolas (pizza makers for those of you who don’t know) are changing lives and changing the pizza world. One of the foremost pizza experts is Christy Alia, founder of Women’s Pizza Month. She is sharing ways to celebrate Women’s Pizza Month, including ideas and tips for hosting a DIY pizza party. She’ll also be announcing how she’s supporting the next generation of pizza pioneers, with a scholarship program available to five aspiring women pizza makers!

For the first time ever, agave spirits (made from Mexico’s agave plant such as tequila and mezcal) will outsell vodka in U.S. bars this year, becoming the #1 selling liquor category. And sales for Mezcal in particular, (often referred to as tequila’s smokier cousin) have soared, making it the fastest-growing spirit in North America.

According to a new research report about the skyrocketing growth of mezcal, part of its popularity is due to consumers’ fascination with Mexican cuisine and culture. Others note that more and more people are developing an appreciation for premium artisanal spirits and are drawn to mezcal’s unique flavor profile. Whatever the reason, the hottest bars and restaurants across the country now feature mezcal cocktails on their menus. Previously viewed as an up-and-coming spirit, mezcal has gone mainstream and 2024 is poised to be its biggest year yet.