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Freelance writer

Naomi Tomky

Seattle-based writer Naomi Tomky explores the world with a hungry eye, digging into the intersection of food, culture and travel. She is an Association of Food Journalists and Lowell Thomas award-winner, and the author of "The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook." Follow her culinary travels and hunger-inducing ramblings on Twitter @Gastrognome and Instagram @the_gastrognome.

Stories By Naomi Tomky

How Maru Toledo Is Preserving Jalisco’s Forgotten Culinary History

When Maru Toledo asked a 100-year-old woman about a “turco de garbanz[o],” an old wedding dessert made with shreds of chicken, the elder shook her cane at the chef, less than half her age, demanding answers. “Where did you get that recipe from;... Naomi Tomky

How to Make an English Summer Pudding Bomb, GBBO Style

It all comes down to this week’s final bakes for the contestants under the tent competing to win this season of the Great British Baking Show . The elaborate showstopper challenge, which calls for the final contestants to create an edible... Naomi Tomky

What Is a Charlotte Dessert, As Seen on GBBO?

This week the signature challenge hit all the sweet spots (pun intended) of great culinary television: a simple, widely known dish that loans itself to plenty of interpretation and personalization. Done right, a Charlotte almost always looks... Naomi Tomky

What Even Is a Vol-Au-Vent, As Seen on the ‘Great British Baking Show?

Somehow, even pastry week managed to sneak in a technical challenge that didn’t involve baking, continuing the theme of this season of Great British Baking Show . But while this theme often brings delicate and stylized pastries that tend to put... Naomi Tomky

How to Make Apple Cake, As Seen on 'The Great British Bake Off'

Halloween isn’t for two more weeks, but The Great British Bake Off gives time only as much respect as it gives culture, and thus chose to run the skeleton-filled episode a few weeks early. It doesn’t really matter since nothing could ever be... Naomi Tomky

This Great-Grandmother Dominates Her District Fair Recipe Competition Every. Single. Year.

Absolutely crushing the competition at the local fair is nothing new for Linda Skeens. This year, the Virginian great-grandmother went viral after winning more than 25 of the 80 contests at the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair —and sweeping the... Naomi Tomky

It's Peach Season, Y'All! Here's How to Order Them Online

For a fragile fruit that seems to bruise if you look at it funny, peaches ship remarkably well. Peach farmers have a system figured out that keeps the little guys nestled cozily through their journey, allowing them to arrive quickly and... Naomi Tomky

For Some Farmers' Market Vendors, Inflation May Be The End

Dinner just got a lot more expensive: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed that supermarket and grocery store prices went up by almost 11 percent between April 2021 and this year, with predictions slating it to rise further (it rose by 1.3... Naomi Tomky

This New Strawberry Is Yellow & Tastes Like Pineapples

Last year, as early summer fruits rolled out in grocery stores, aesthetic-minded shoppers got excited about the new rosé strawberries , a beautiful pink ombre version of the classic bright red fruit. This year, the same berry producer is... Naomi Tomky

Pickle Pasta Salad Will Be This Summer’s Potluck Hit

On the cusp of potluck season , with another year of mostly outdoor gatherings on the horizon, a recent viral TikTok video seems like a strong candidate for this summer’s trendiest dish: pickle pasta salad. The only thing cooler than this... Naomi Tomky

What Is Dirty Soda—& Why Is It All Over TikTok?

In a world obsessed with “clean” eating, a food trend called “dirty soda,” seems like an unlikely candidate for virality—even less so considering it comes from Utah. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful state, but in the popular imagination it... Naomi Tomky

The Most Popular Houseplant in Each State

If it seems like literally everyone has a monstera plant , well, you wouldn’t be totally wrong. In fact, it’s the most popular houseplant in 16 states, according to All About Gardening , which analyzed Google Trends data from the last five... Naomi Tomky

Of Course Ina Garten's Ice Cream Hack Is Totally Brilliant

Ina Garten’s cooking is always alluring in its simplicity, making it seem like it is easy to be as effortlessly fancy as she is. Part of that is her expertise in knowing exactly which parts of a meal you should spend time on, and which parts... Naomi Tomky

TikTok’s Crinkle Dessert Is the Easiest Way to Use Phyllo Dough

The latest dessert to make the rounds on TikTok stands out from the site’s usual, sometimes questionable fare in that it both looks and tastes good and requires no bright colors or canned goods. The “crinkle,” as it’s become known, uses phyllo... Naomi Tomky

A Peek Into Mollie Katzen's Fairytale Home

With zucchini feta pancakes, mushroom strudel, and handwritten instructions on how to carve a fruit salad—complete with doodles and line drawings—Mollie Katzen taught generations of vegetarians not just how to feed themselves, but how to do it in... Naomi Tomky

Heads Up: There's a Trader Joe's Salad Recall

People who purchased Trader Joe’s salad in certain states are being advised to throw away or return the packaged product this week. The Crunchy Slaw with Chicken, Crispy Noodles & Peanut Dressing maybe came out a little to crunchy in versions... Naomi Tomky

Goodbye to Chowhound, the Internet’s First Food Hub

Sometime in the mid-2000s, a man invited me to kill his ducks. He had a few males from his latest batch of babies, and they couldn’t live in the middle of the city with his laying females. If I came and helped slaughter, he would split the meat... Naomi Tomky

Pączki Deserve More Than a Day

Mardi Gras is also Pączki Day, but these Polish doughnut-esque delicacies (say: poinch-kee) deserve more than 24 hours in their honor. Around the world, various cultures celebrate the last days before Lent with various dishes or parties designed... Naomi Tomky

The Avocado Storage Hack We Truly Weren't Expecting

If you bought some extra avocados during the ban and shortage scare last week , you no longer need to worry about how you'll keep them fresh: A new hack making the rounds on social media shows how to keep the fruit ripe and ready to eat. And... Naomi Tomky

Costco’s Instant Boba Tea Is Basically Magic

In many major cities in the U.S., the fastest way to get boba tea requires simply walking out the door—these days, shops serving the tapioca-sphere-filled plastic cups crowd in alongside Starbucks and Dunkin’ to fight for the country’s drink... Naomi Tomky