Appetites®

Every week, we bring you local and regional food and drink news, trends, reviews, flavors, recipes and advice. Appetites airs every Wednesday on MPR News' All Things Considered with host Tom Crann.

Appetites: Stars of the spring harvest
It's been a slow start to the growing season, but now we're in the swing of things at farmers markets around the region. Two stars of the spring harvest are asparagus and morel mushrooms.
Appetites: Inside the newly expanded Cossetta's
Cossetta's has long been one of the biggest names in Italian food in the Twin Cities, and it has just gotten a lot bigger. The new pastry shop is the new crown jewel of the expansion, says the Heavy Table's James Norton.
Appetites: It's cool NOT to cook
The pressure to cook is enormous. For people who don't cook, it can be shaming. Hold your head high, non-cooks. You fulfill a role not yet acknowledged in this country.
Appetites: Hot restaurant designs transform mere meals into dining experience
Restaurants design in many ways is like service: when it's good, you don't notice the nuances. But when it's bad, it can be glaring. Good restaurant design can turn a mere meal into a dining experience.
Appetites: Snow puts a freeze on spring dining
Unrelenting snow and sleet have made late April feel like February, and that means a seemingly endless winter for local diners who seek out seasonal food from our region.
Appetites: What's new in concessions in Minneapolis parks
It used to be that snack options at local parks were limited to popcorn and ice cream. Now, concessionaires at several city parks offer various goods from lattes and lemon-ginger scones, to tap beer and fresh oysters.