Althouse: "The 36-year-old New York-based private chef Jen Monroe... uses cotton candy... wind[ing] the filaments around edible wildflowers, adding savory notes like smoke, tea or parsley...."

December 1, 2025

"The 36-year-old New York-based private chef Jen Monroe... uses cotton candy... wind[ing] the filaments around edible wildflowers, adding savory notes like smoke, tea or parsley...."

"Much of cotton candy’s appeal is its inherent evanescence. When the Italian arts patron Nicoletta Fiorucci asked the London-based chef Imogen Kwok, 34, to create a dish that recalled water for a show at her namesake Chelsea foundation, Kwok piled what she calls 'wispy cumulus clouds' into a cascading form, from which guests could pull clumps with their hands...."

From "How Cotton Candy Won Over the Adults/Long associated with childhood and county fairs, the food has found its place among a new generation of experimental chefs" (NYT).

18 comments:

Mary Beth said...: I do not want to pull a clump of cotton candy from a pile other people have been pulling clumps from. You know they're going to use the other hand to steady the pile so they don't pull off too much. I love cotton candy, but not after it's been touched by everyone. I learned how few people bother washing their hands regularly during COVID and I still haven't recovered from that knowledge.; 12/1/25, 8:48 AM
FormerLawClerk said...: The New York Times is so in touch with the average American.; 12/1/25, 8:48 AM
Old and slow said...: "experimental chefs" Haven't we had enough of this nonsense?; 12/1/25, 8:49 AM
tcrosse said...: Not for me. It looks too much like fiberglass insulation.; 12/1/25, 8:59 AM
Original Mike said...: "It looks too much like fiberglass insulation."

That's what I've always thought.

I hate the stuff (at least, I have childhood memories of hating it; haven't actually had any in decades). It's just sugar, right?; 12/1/25, 9:06 AM
Howard said...: Geometry counts for a lot in chemistry.; 12/1/25, 9:15 AM
ChrisC said...: These are the same people who think that the paintings in the modern art section of the museums are actually art.; 12/1/25, 9:51 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Cirrus clouds are wispy but who cares?; 12/1/25, 9:52 AM
Breezy said...: I’ve often wondered how long it will take to completely exhaust our collective creativity wrt food preparation. Seems we still have a ways to go.; 12/1/25, 9:56 AM
Howard said...: Yes, wispy cirrus clouds can be a sign of rain, as they often form ahead of an approaching warm front. While cirrus clouds themselves do not produce precipitation that reaches the ground, they indicate a change in weather is likely within 24-48 hours.; 12/1/25, 10:06 AM
Eva Marie said...: It was fun watching cotton candy being made. One of those free attractions at the fair.; 12/1/25, 10:32 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It was always interesting to watch cotton candy being made but I have always detested the stuff as a food. Just way too sweet even for 5 year old me.; 12/1/25, 11:18 AM
Mike Yancey said...: Cotton Candy is sugar.
Just spun sugar. They’re not talking about a food.
It’s sugar.; 12/1/25, 11:30 AM
rehajm said...: I can partly recall a dessert arriving at the table with spun sugar/cotton candy as an element. It brought smiles for presentation. As I recall taste was pretty good too with the sugar adding interesting texture and sweetness to...what? I forget. Sad...; 12/1/25, 11:37 AM
Scott Patton said...: Cotton candy’s appeal (including evanescence) is its surface area.
Like Isaly's chipped ham.; 12/1/25, 12:23 PM
Curious George said...: "experimental chefs." Pffft. They aren't making a new food. The example given Kwok didn't even make a new dish, she made an arrangement.; 12/1/25, 1:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I can't believe they served a big pile of food for everyone to grasp at with their bare hands. It's germy AND sticky!; 12/1/25, 2:26 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Maybe the wisps were already separated into single serving bits, but that's not how this sounds: "a cascading form, from which guests could pull clumps with their hands."; 12/1/25, 2:27 PM