🤝 shared albums but make it recipes

We hope your summer has been filled with delicious eats, nice weather and even better vibes! If you’ve been looking for the perfect warm-weather dish, reply to this email with “summer” and we’ll send you one we think you’ll love.

Pepper is all about improving the cooking experience for home cooks across the world. We’re always looking to make it even better, so if you have any ideas for how we can improve, please send us an email here to set up a call! Rumor has it there may be Pepper merch involved 👀

FOOD NEWS FOR YOU.
cool things we’re watching…

🧑‍🍳 The release of Chefs and the City. Described as “The Bear, but in real life,” CATC is a new reality series following the personal and professional lives of chefs in NYC. The 30-episode season will air across all platforms beginning on 8/5. New episodes drop Monday-Friday at 10am EST. Check out the trailer, which got over 220k views, here!

🍫 The viral Dubai chocolate bar. The Knafeh chocolate bar has taken over my TikTok feed as the newest viral food trend. At a $20 cost and filled with kadayif, milk chocolate, chocolate moulds, pistachio spread, and tahini, this thing is all the rave on social media. If Dubai isn’t on your summer travel plans, let this TikToker help you make it at home. Who’s gonna be the first to post theirs on Pepper?

😋 YES CHEF FOOD FEST LAUNCHING IN NYC. If you’ve always wanted to visit NYC, this is your sign. There’s an incredible new food festival coming to town on Aug 10-11! Curated by the team behind Jack’s Dining Room, the Yes Chef Food Festival is taking place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and will feature viral dishes from NYC’s best – from Mama’s Too to Soothr to Sushi by Bou & more! For more information and tickets, click here.

WHAT’S COOKIN’.
celebrated 1M+ home cooks w/ Popeyes

The community is loving Shared Collections! Create a shared album of recipes with friends, family, or that special someone. Perfect for dinner parties, documenting family recipes, or finding a date night dish, Shared Collections revolutionizes the way home cooks share recipes! What’s your favorite way to use it?

We celebrated 1M home cooks on Pepper by throwing a boneless bash party with Popeyes! To celebrate the milestone, along with boneless wings being added to their menu permanently, we invited content creators, amazing people in the food world, and friends to celebrate. Thank you to all of you for being on this journey with us, and here’s a recap of the night!

Live cooking classes with Matthew Bounds (6/25) and Louis Gantus (7/23). One of our favorite parts of the Pepper community is when we come together to cook. As a Pepper+ user for less than the price of a cup of coffee, you get access to a monthly cooking class with top chefs. Talk about value! Next up, we’ve got the incredible Jake Goldberg in August! Who’s cooking with us?

COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF.
jake aronskind, @jake (yes, this is our CEO)

FAVORITE RECIPE ON PEPPER. Star Wars Cake by @ems.eats20.

BEST COOKING STORY. “I got to cook in the Masterchef kitchen when I was trying out for Gordon Ramsay’s FOX show Food Stars. I experienced the chaos of picking random ingredients and cooking under a time crunch for judges. I made chicken teriyaki thighs over a bed of super burnt white rice 🙂 “

HOW HE LEARNED TO COOK. “I learned to cook by watching my dad chef up his specialities: spaghetti & meatballs, lasagna, and his classic chicken cutlets. He’s a big leftovers guy, which is where I found my love of putting a bunch of stuff in a pan and seeing what comes out!”

BEST COOKING TIP. “If you pour water on an old loaf of hard bread and stick it in the oven, it’ll turn perfectly crispy and fresh again.”

IN OTHER NEWS.
here’s what else is happening

• Plan your next dinner party like a pro. See how legendary chef and author Ina Garten shops for dinner party ingredients in Paris. And if you’re looking for dinner party inspiration, check out Pepper on Instagram! We’ve been posting a ton :)

• Try these McDonald’s copycat recipes. McDonald’s profits decreased 12% from a year ago to ~$2B as sales slowed due to less foot traffic and more cost-conscious ordering. The average Big Mac Meal costs 27% more today than it did in 2019 (which is exactly why we made an app that inspires you to cook more). If you love McDonald’s but want to 1) be healthier and 2) save money, try these copycat recipes: McGriddle, Cheeseburger, or Apple Pie.

• Ever wonder what the athletes eat at the Olympics? Watch as olympians review the food in Paris’ Olympic Village Dining Hall. Spoiler alert: they don’t love it.