Samantha Dillard
Samantha Dillard covers food news and trends with a focus on practical shortcuts and kitchen strategy that make cooking feel manageable and enjoyable. She writes for Allrecipes, drawing on experience as a cookbook author, recipe consultant, food photographer, and recipe editor to translate brand news, classic recipes, and cooking hacks into clear, time-saving guidance. Her work sits at the intersection of food industry developments, grocery discoveries, and everyday kitchen habits, always returning to the question of how people can cook more easily without sacrificing flavor.
Food news, fast-food commitments, and grocery finds
Dillard reports on food industry news in a way that connects policy decisions to what diners will actually encounter on their plates. In her coverage of Chick-fil-A’s delayed transition to cage-free eggs, she explains the chain’s original 2026 commitment, the avian influenza and “industry dynamics” now complicating that timeline, and the practical impact on sourcing and state-level regulations. The story combines corporate language with plain explanation, giving readers a direct sense of why the pledge has become “uncertain” and what that means for future menus.
She also writes about mass-market snacks and grocery products with the same service-driven lens. In her piece on an organic butter popcorn sold at Walmart, she presents the product as a standout find, describing it as her “new favorite brand” and detailing what makes the flavor and texture worth seeking out. Across these food news and product stories, Dillard focuses less on insider business metrics and more on how brand decisions, limited-edition items, and retail launches translate into everyday choices in the supermarket aisle.
Cooking hacks, appliances, and time-saving strategies
Dillard’s author bio highlights a focus on food trends, cooking hacks, and time-saving kitchen appliances, and that emphasis is visible throughout her reporting and essays. She frequently surfaces simple structural changes that can make cooking smoother, such as adopting Rachael Ray’s “garbage bowl” technique to corral scraps on the counter instead of making repeated trips to the trash. In that piece, she walks through using a large, deep bowl as a central catch-all for eggshells and vegetable trimmings, showing how the practice keeps the workspace clean and saves time during prep and cleanup.
Her service writing extends to broader strategies for avoiding burnout in the kitchen. In an article on how to enjoy cooking when it feels like a chore, she urges cooks to prep ingredients rather than entire meals, suggesting an hour of washing and chopping vegetables so that frittatas or taco nights come together quickly later. She shows how measuring out dry ingredients for pancakes or muffins in advance can turn future baking into “a gift from your past self,” and frames appliances like air fryers, Instant Pots, and rice cookers as extra hands that can take on tedious tasks. Another piece polls Allrecipes community members for their best store-bought holiday shortcuts, amplifying advice on packaged pie crusts, frozen yeast rolls, and tricks for making canned whipped cream look homemade. Taken together, these stories position Dillard as a reporter who consistently looks for realistic, time-saving adaptations rather than idealized, labor-intensive cooking.
Pop culture menus, vintage recipes, and the joy of cooking
Dillard often uses recognizable names and nostalgic dishes as entry points to practical menu planning. In her story on Ina Garten’s Fourth of July menu, she breaks down the host’s upgraded burgers, summer sides, and flag cake into a workable timeline that starts three days before the party and ends with minimal day-of effort. She explains how preparing long-cooking components like caramelized onions in advance, mixing coleslaw and potato salad the day before, and baking the cake ahead of frosting allow hosts to focus on grilling and decorating on party day instead of scrambling in the kitchen. The piece blends celebrity chef appeal with detailed logistics, making a polished holiday spread feel achievable.
Her interest in vintage recipes shows up in an article exploring “Cheese Dudes,” a mid-century snack with a playful name and an unexpected ingredient list. Dillard walks through the process—grated Cheddar, butter, flour, seasoning, and a generous addition of crispy rice cereal—drawing a comparison to homemade Cheez-Its while pointing out what the cereal does for texture. She includes a variation from a recipe developer who shapes the dough into logs for slice-and-bake crackers, underscoring the flexibility of the format and the importance of cooling for crunch. Across these pop culture and retro pieces, Dillard treats menus and recipes as opportunities to rediscover the fun in cooking, while still paying attention to timing, technique, and practicality.
Cookbook and consulting background in digital food media
Beyond her day-to-day reporting, Dillard’s background shapes how she approaches food coverage. She is a cookbook author and recipe consultant, with a decade of experience in the food industry that includes writing, photography, and recipe editing. Profiles of her work describe her as a prolific food writer and digital content creator, reflecting a career built around developing and presenting recipes, kitchen advice, and trend pieces across different formats.
This mix of cookbook work, consulting, and editorial experience informs her reporting at Allrecipes. She writes with attention to recipe structure and clear instructions even in news or trend-driven pieces, whether she is outlining a step-by-step party prep schedule, unpacking the method behind a vintage snack, or translating abstract corporate commitments around animal welfare into concrete implications for diners. Her coverage distinguishes itself by combining trend awareness and brand news with the granular details—timelines, tools, shortcuts—that determine whether a dish or habit will actually work in a busy home kitchen.
4 more food journalists.
Al Culliton
Al Culliton is a writer and historian whose work focuses on the American cocktail as a living part of food and culture, using obscure, historic drinks to show how bars, spirits and cities change. They write reported features that trace how forgotten recipes move from old bar guides back onto modern menus, reconstructing how cocktails originally tasted and explaining how new builds reshape them. Their beat is revived classics, regional specialties and low-proof aperitifs, covered one drink at a time with close attention to specs, technique, glassware and service. They write about cocktails as cultural artifacts tied to specific communities and geographies, using single recipes to explore place, identity, regional traditions and diaspora histories. Across masthead work and recipe writing, they combine primary-source research with present-day reporting from working bars, in precise, accessible prose grounded in technical detail.
Alaina Chou
Alaina Chou stands out for rigorously testing food and kitchen products and turning those hands-on trials into clear shopping advice. She is a commerce writer at Bon Appétit and Epicurious, where she makes newsletters and shopping guides for home cooks. Her beat is food commerce, with coverage of air fryers, meal kits, protein powders, pepper grinders, electrolyte drinks, and cookbooks. She focuses on what is worth buying, how it performs, how it tastes, and how it fits daily routines and wellness. She also writes sale-driven lists and roundup pieces, and she has worked on Bon Appétit’s Feel Good Food Plan. Her reporting is practical, direct, and grounded in product testing.
Amadea Tanner
Amadea Tanner is a food journalist for Daily Meal whose distinct focus is food history, culinary nostalgia, and the way everyday dishes reveal broader cultural stories. She covers canned baked beans, boomer-era casseroles, cowboy trail food, and sailors’ rations to show how preservation, technology, labor, and survival shaped familiar staples. Her beat includes retro recipes, mid‑20th‑century home cooking, old-school ice cream flavors, and vintage cookbooks, treating them as records of household budgets and aspirations. She also reports on kitchen culture and domestic design, from breakfast alcoves and pie safes to milk doors and wall phones. Tanner investigates global dish origins and contested national claims in pieces on haggis and pavlova. Beyond Daily Meal, she has worked across food, travel, and sustainability, contributing to outlets including Atlas Obscura, Beau Monde Media, Yahoo, and Tasting Table.
Amanda Garrity
Amanda Garrity stands out for turning food, holidays, and family traditions into practical service stories that help readers plan specific celebrations. She is a lifestyle editor at TODAY.com and has more than seven years of experience as a lifestyle writer and editor, including five years on staff at Good Housekeeping, where she covered home, holidays, food, entertainment, and other lifestyle news. Her work also appears in consumer titles including Prevention, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and Best Products. Her beat centers on event-based menus, holiday explainers, and classic TV and film guides, with clear, list-driven reporting that gives readers specific dates, recipes, viewing options, and simple background for family planning.