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2023 Year in Review: Taste

We are pride ourselves about our discerning taste for recognizing the best of design, but we are particularly fortunate to have Taste columnist and culinary expert TJ Girard serve us features throughout the year spotlighting the most creative culinary efforts sourced from the world over. Check out everything TJ shared in 2023 in her Taste column below.

12.21.23 | By
2023 Year in Review: Taste

The Visually Stimulating Pastries of Pastry Chef Eunji Lee

You may have seen pastry chef Eunji Lee and chef and husband Matthieu Lobry’s New York Flatiron District Lysée Bakery’s most famous creation in your feed before: an adorably realized corn mousse dessert meticulously piped to resemble the husked vegetable in its entirety. The boutique patisserie’s reputation for high-quality and visually stimulating pastries combines Lee’s multiple influences as a Korean-French-New Yorker into a menu of edible art that feeds the eyes as it satiates the taste buds.

Compostable Cling Film Made From Discarded Potato Skins

Australian biomaterials company Great Wrap’s alternative to cling film is made using discarded potato skins and the starch from cassava root. The alternative food wrap keeps food from spoiling just like traditional plastic wrap, but then biodegrades once discarded in as little as 180 days once added to the compost, making it a promising development in the realm of environmentally-friendly food preservation that we hope we all come to cling onto.

Cocktails side by side with Nasturtium flower.

Celebrate Spring With Refreshing + Flavorful Nasturtium Cocktails

TJ Girard spotlights an easy to grow and common garden plant with distinctively cheerful flowers that are also completely edible. With its peppery and slightly spicy flavor, the leaves and flowers make for a surprising savory cocktail ingredient. Check out TJ’s enticing twist on the Dirty Martini and get ready to be the toast of the town at your next gathering.

1st Place Food Stylist Award photo winner of a tablescape of cakes and other colorful desserts

Some of the Tastiest, Award-Winning Food Photos of Year

A banquet of color and texture were (photographically) served across The Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year awards again. The annual celebration of the art of food photography and film once again captivated audiences, with winners awarded during a ceremony held at BAFTA London on May 16th. Check out the online gallery showcasing categories ranging from “Food for Celebration,” food photography taken with phone cameras, to images capturing the “Politics of Food.”

PEELSPHERE: Exploring the Potential of Banana Leather

Waste not, want not. That’s the ethos behind PEELSPHERE®, a company that transforms banana peels and other fruit and vegetable waste into a durable and versatile leather-like material that offers an excellent alternative to traditional plastics.

Doce Mezcal bottle and drinking glass staged against burgundy background with abstract ceramic shapes

Embodying Spirit: The Visual Storytelling Behind 3 Liquor Brands

TJ Girard speaks with Gabriela Lawrence, Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer of Oaxacan mezcal brand Doce Trecenas about how the mindfully made Oaxacan mezcal brand utilized a bold and contemporary color palette with modern typography across their packaging. The goal: to connect with conscious consumers seeking mindful choices as clear in values as the spirit itself.

Person's hand holding minimalist salt and pepper shaker over sliced tomatoes

Stui Spice Shaker: The Future of Spice Travel

They say variety is the spice of life, which makes German designer Jonas Finkeldei’s Stui dual spice shaker a culinary tool without compromise, seamlessly integrating a dual chamber salt and pepper shaker wrapped in an all-in-one minimalist, oak and beech design.

Yarn made to look like ground beef being knitted, spelling out MEAT

Exploring the Relationship Between Food and Seduction

Design Museum Holon’s most recent show FOOD just concluded last month, but you can enjoy some of the artistic highlights exploring the intricate thought-provoking, and seductive relationship between humans and what we eat, whether it evokes desire or repulsion.

Large industrial space turned into modern culinary space, furnished with large metal table and stools, and tiered metal sinks as a centerpiece.

WE ARE ONA x Crosby Studios Pop-Up Showcases the Dish Pit

A towering brutalist and experimentatal installation provided the perfect backdrop to unveil Dirty Dishes, a limited series of irreverent tableware in a minimalist installation and pop-up showcasing the plant based contemporary Thai gastronomy of Michelin-starred Chef Dalad Kambhu, the immersive gastronomic creation between studio WE ARE ONA, and Crosby Studios.

Check out the rest of Design Milk’s end of the year coverage here!

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.