May 2026

May 4

My 2nd Cookbook, AI Accusations & Paris

Dear Tastorians,

In last June's newsletter, I told you that, with any luck, my second cookbook would be finished by the end of the summer. Well... I suppose I didn't have much luck, because summer ended eight months ago. But today, I can finally say (drum roll, please) the book is done!

After a great deal of revising and rewriting, I've sent it off to the publisher, and it's now in the very capable hands of Simon & Schuster.

There are a few reasons it took longer than expected. One reason is that I ended up traveling far more than I'd planned. Another is that, with a video going out every week, that is always the priority, so the book just kept getting pushed to the back of the line. As my grandfather would have colorfully put it, it was always "suckin' the hind teat" (the phrasology of a Missouri farmer). But perhaps the most important reason for the delay was this: I simply couldn't write the book I wanted to write.

There's nothing more frustrating than wanting to create something, whether it be a book, a video, a painting, or a pie, and realizing you don't have the skill to do it. I knew what I wanted this cookbook to be, but I simply lacked the talent, or rather the craft, to make it happen. Only through writing it did I attain that skill (or at least I hope I did), which meant that once I finished, I had to go all the way back to the beginning and write it again.

I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who first said "The only kind of writing is rewriting." As it turns out, he was right. No one like's a know-it-all, Ernest.

Then, a second issue arose: AI. See, after finishing the manuscript, I spent dozens of hours combing through image libraries to fill this book with more illustrations than the first one; this second book also features far more food photography. In the process, I kept running into more and more AI-generated images, which have now, unfortunately, infiltrated even reputable historical archives. But my fight with AI does not stop there.

Lately, I've had a surprising number of comments accusing me of being AI. Not that I use it, but that I am it. Apparently, my voice is AI as well. These comments tend to show up on Shorts, where viewers don't spend as much time with me as those who watch the Tuesday videos.

To be clear, I am not AI. My voice is not AI. And I do not use AI to make my videos.

But because we've become so inundated with AI slop, people are now hyper-vigilant to the point of false positives. I have several author friends who've been accused of using AI simply because they use proper grammar—or em dashes; that little line that you just passed by. The irony, of course, is that AI uses em dashes so frequently because they've been a staple of writing for centuries. Look at any newspaper from the 19th or early 20th century and you'll find them everywhere—those are the very texts AI was trained on.

Alas, at this point, I don't suppose there's much to be done about it, short of abandoning punctuation altogether and avoiding filming when I have a cold (apparently that's what some people thought made me sound like AI). It doesn't help that YouTube will occasionally apply its own AI filters to Shorts to "enhance" them.

But I assure you, when you see me on camera, it's really me. I am not AI, and neither are my words.

And to prove it, I invite you to join me on a real life river cruise down the Seine this November. WHAT A TRANSITION!!

This autumn, I'll be leading my third Tasting History cruise. We'll begin in Paris, where we'll eat an unreasonable amount of bread and cheese before learning to make tarte tatin and madeleines from a real French grand-mère. Then we'll sail down the Seine to Rouen, visit the oldest inn in France, and dine at the restaurant that helped inspire Julia Child's love of French cuisine. We'll also visit the beaches of Normandy, which has long been on my bucket list.

So, if you want to join me on a luxury river cruise in autumnal France (fewer tourists, cooler weather, and most importantly, I finally get to wear my fancy jacket), you can find more information at the link below.

https://www.journeygoaltravel.com/tastinghistory

And now, a few videos I came across which delighted me this month:

World's fastest talking man sings Michael Jackson's BAD in 20 seconds - An interview with the voice of my youth - The Micromachines guy, John Moschitta, Jr.
Live Aid 1985 - Phil Collins Concorde 195 (Departure) - After making this month's video on the Concorde, I found footage of Phil Collins boarding his Concorde flight. This allowed him to open the Live Aid Concert in England and close the concert in Philadelphia.