Cake and retro carpeting might feel like an odd pairing, but not really. Los Angeles–based baker and designer Alana Jones-Mann took inspiration from the classic shag carpet when she meticulously piped on buttercream to create her fluffy, edible work of art. Food editor Eshun Mott (above) teaches you how easy it is when you bake her home-style vanilla layer cake that’s meltingly delicious. Or cheat, and try her meringue buttercream recipe to decorate a plain, store-bought cake.

Get the recipe for Very Vanilla Shag Cake.

Trust the Japanese to take an ordinary flapjack and transform it into something extraordinary. The new “it” hotcake is made with whipped egg whites folded in and cooked slowly using a mould for a dramatic rise. The result is a breakfast that stands tall and tastes like a cross between a soufflé and angel food cake. You’ll find these decadent pancakes at cafés and on Insta feeds everywhere, or you can impress with them at home.

Get the recipe for Fluffy Japanese-Style Pancakes.

Chefs have always tried to minimize food waste, but with North Americans tossing up to 40 per cent of the food they purchase, it’s time the rest of us reconsider what goes in the compost bin, too. Zero waste may sound like an impossible goal, but you can get on board with small but impactful changes at home. Consider scrubbing rather than peeling vegetables, turning bones and veggie scraps into broths and learning how to transform leftovers into new meals. Waste Not, from the James Beard Foundation, serves up an entire book of inspiration for repurposing food remnants.

The dips and dressings of your childhood are making a comeback — but not without some twists. The star of this updated nostalgia is the queen herself: green goddess dressing. While the 1920s original was made with mayo, today’s version gets its creaminess from tahini or avocado, and a mixture of herbs replaces the original tarragon.

Get the recipe for Fresh Green Goddess Dressing.

This is no backyard barbecue: open wood fires are blazing right inside restaurants. A handful of Canadian eateries such as Flame + Smith in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and Quetzal in Toronto have installed large custom hearths in their kitchens, following an irresistible desire to cook over open flames. Vegetables are roasted in embers, and cuts of meat are hung above the fire, then finished on the grill for a reverse sear. This is a return to cooking physically: managing flames, shifting logs and maintaining a white-hot grilling heat. Is there a backyard firepit in your future?

Persuading carnivores to eat veggie burgers is a tough sell. But the newest crop of “meaty” tasting, plant-based patties has some converts. What’s behind this embrace of flexitarian eating? Maybe you’re worried about your heart health, maybe those articles about the environment have you concerned or maybe you’re just curious about whether these burgers with their umami taste and beet juice “blood” are as convincing as promised. The latest patties to hit the market are the Beyond Burger, available frozen in specialty stores and at A&Ws across North America, and the Impossible Burger, found on menus at high-end restaurants in the U.S. Will they make you change your order?

Are you embracing the garden-to-table approach to dinner or dialing Uber Eats or SkipTheDishes? The extremes of how people eat can seem pronounced, but most of us live a bit in both worlds. Ingredients in a box, a.k.a. meal kit services such as HelloFresh and Chefs Plate, bridge the gap between ordering-in convenience and the joy of cooking.

Looking for a new meat alternative? Try cooking with the latest hot ingredient: jackfruit. An age-old staple in South Asian cooking, it’s suddenly appearing on menus everywhere. Young, green jackfruit has a neutral taste on its own, but when cooked in something saucy, it soaks up flavors and has the look and texture of shredded meat. Foodies are using the healthy fruit in everything from sandwiches to tacos (check out our recipe below!). Dealing with fresh jackfruit is a time-consuming task; luckily, you can buy jackfruit canned in brine in Asian supermarkets or prepared in the gourmet sections of some grocery stores.

Get the recipe for Pulled Jackfruit Tacos.

Instagram has become the platform where food trends are born, become obsessions and then thankfully fade away (sorry, avocado toast, your time is up). While some foods seem to exist only for Instagram — charcoal soft serve comes to mind — there’s also pure inspiration out there, too. We can’t stop liking pie artist Lauren Ko (@lokokitchen) and healthy still-life creator David Frenkiel (@gkstories).