And the Zingerman’s box that brings it to your doorstep

Here at Zingerman’s, we’re always inspired by people who turn their love of food into a lifelong conversation. Matt Rodbard is one of those people. Matt has more than two decades of experience working in television, magazines, book publishing, and online media. He’s a writer, editor, author, founding editor of the James Beard Award-winning digital magazine TASTE, and host of the podcast This Is TASTE. 

But before all of that, he was a Michigan kid learning about food from a certain deli in Ann Arbor. Matt says that Zingerman’s taught him to love quality and help inform his lifelong passion for outstanding food crafted with intention. And now, we’re incredibly honored that he’s curated a box with us, his “favorite food store in the world”! Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Better Than San Francisco Sourdough Bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse: A classic sourdough loaf with a thin, crackly crust. It’s made with just four ingredients—organic wheat flour, water, sea salt, and the sourdough starter they’ve been caring for since 1992. (There is one “secret” ingredient, though… time! It takes 18 hours to make a loaf!)

Cabot Clothbound Cheese: Matt says, “I love this collaboration between Cabot and Jasper Hill and really respect Mateo and Andy Kehler. They’re buying wheels of clothbound cheddar from Cabot and aging them in their cheese caves in Vermont. That to me is the definition of craft and collaboration.”

Zingerman’s Pimento Cheese: Matt says, “There are a LOT of pimento cheese recipes floating around, and the Zingerman’s version hits all the right notes—great cheese, perfect texture, and not loaded with peppers. I dare you not to finish the container in one sitting.” Do as Matt does and use it in a grilled cheese sandwich!

Smoked Whitefish Spread: Matt says, “This spread reminds me of vacations ‘up north’ as a kid, and as a Jewish kid, this reminds me of great deli whitefish from Chicago. This one is from Traverse City and is such a great smoky and spreadable snack.”

Finocchiona Salami: Matt says, “This fennel salami from Illinois could be coming out of Northern Italy and represents Zingerman’s mining of American charcuterie sellers for the very best.” 

Black Magic Brownie & Magic Brownie from Zingerman’s Bakehouse: Matt says, “Not all brownies are created equally, and you are getting them with and without walnuts. The high extraction flour gives the brownies such a great texture—and yes, they are rich.”

It’s a spread that could just as easily anchor a dinner party as a solo night in with a great podcast episode queued up. Ready to dig in?

• Send the Matt Rodbard x Zingerman’s Box to someone who loves a great food story
• Listen to the This Is TASTE episode with co-founder Ari Weinzweig and marketer Brad Hedeman

Plus, all the ingredients you need to make his favorite recipe

Here at Zingerman’s, we’re always drawn to people who take food seriously, but never take themselves too seriously. That’s one of the many reasons why we’re big fans of Dan Pashman, creator and host of The Sporkful, the podcast that proudly proclaims it’s “not for foodies, it’s for eaters.” Dan’s curiosity about food is wide-reaching. He’s interested in how food works, how it brings people together, and how the smallest details—like, say, the shape of a noodle—can make a big difference.

And that’s exactly what Dan did when he created a brand-new pasta shape. It took three years of tinkering, testing, and, presumably, tasting, with the expert pasta makers at Sfoglini to introduce Cascatelli. The name comes from the Italian cascatelle, which means “little waterfalls.” (Dan used a little poetic license to end the name with an “i” instead of an “e” to make it sound more like traditional pasta names.) Dan wasn’t just in it for a fun pasta shape and name; his goal was to create “the perfect pasta,” focusing on three key factors for a noodle that tastes as good as it looks:

• Sauceability – how well the pasta holds onto sauces
• Forkability – how easy it is to get the pasta on a fork
• Tooth Sinkability – how satisfying it is to sink your teeth into it

We love that kind of thoughtful innovation. It’s the same spirit that runs through everything we do across the Zingerman’s community: respecting tradition while still asking, “How could this be even better?” Dan’s work captures that balance, too, whether he’s debating the ideal way to assemble a PB&J sandwich on his podcast or sharing playful approaches to pasta as he does in his recent cookbook, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People. Of it, James Beard Award-winning chef and author J. Kenji López-Alt says, 

If you’ve eaten your share of classic carbonara and lasagna Bolognese and want to level up your pasta game and unlock the full potential of your pantry, pick up this book and let Dan guide your mouth into whole new worlds of deliciousness.

With dozens of tempting recipes, where’s a fellow food lover to start? Dan calls his Kimchi Carbonara “maybe my favorite dish in my cookbook”! And, luckily for all of us, Dan has pulled together some of the dish’s key ingredients along with some of his favorite Zingerman’s items and tucked them all into one special box (along with the recipe, of course). Here’s what you’ll find inside:

• Cascatelli Pasta by Sporkful with Sfoglini – Dan’s iconic pasta shape
• Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese selected by Cravero  – a richly complex, aged cheese essential to any great carbonara
• Smoking Goose Applewood Smoked Jowl Bacon – deeply flavorful and indulgent, ideal for building the dish’s savory base
• Rizzoli Anchovies – the secret weapon for adding depth and rounding out the flavor
• Zingerman’s Sea Salt Potato Chips – a satisfying snack to enjoy while you cook
• Lemon Poppyseed Coffee Cake from Zingerman’s Bakehouse – Dan’s wife’s “favorite cake ever,” this cake is like a personal slice of sunshine
• Zzang! Bar from Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory – a small-batch candy bar made with peanut butter-honey nougat, silky caramel, and Virginia peanuts in dark Colombian chocolate

Together, the contents of the box offer everything needed for a joyful, down-to-earth cooking experience, one that reflects Dan’s philosophy of taking food seriously while keeping cooking fun. We don’t know about you, but we’re ready to enjoy a bowlful of Dan’s Kimchi Carbonara, especially when he describes it as  “spicy, rich, acidic, and decadent”! Dan inspires us to stay curious and never underestimate the power of a great idea. You, too? Stay up-to-date with everything Dan’s up to, from his podcast to his newsletter and more.

Get your box!

Dignity, democracy, and a whole lot of deliciousness!

Beautiful sandy beaches. Small, unsettled islands. A thousand years of history. A hot and sunny Mediterranean summer. Cuisine built around fresh vegetables, olive oil, herbs, and fish. If all of this sounds good, you might want to consider going to the small Provencal town of Hyères on the Côte d’Azur, where you can find all of the above and then some. Writers Edith Wharton, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, and others all lived there for periods of their lives. About an hour east of Marseilles and half that again to the west of Nice, Hyères is the southernmost town in France. Can’t quite get there any time soon? Me neither. Consider, then, the far easier alternative that I’ve taken advantage of: ordering a jar of the terrific heirloom apricot jam made there by the tiny artisan firm of Olbia.

Olbia was founded a few years back by Elisabeth and Jean-Eric Lavenir. Both Elisabeth and Jean-Eric have roots in the region, and before they settled in southern Provence, each had a whole career in business that involved traveling, studying, and working all over the world. In Provence, they decided to start Olbia, which features the remarkably fine fruit of the region. Olbia, to my eye, does for southern Provence what our longtime friends at American Spoon have been doing for northern Michigan for over 40 years now: finding the best-quality, tree-ripened, local fruit varieties and then, using traditional methods, converting them into small-batch preserves. Like American Spoon, Olbia’s jams have a fruit content of about 65%, double what commercial brands typically do. Fruits are harvested in the morning, made into jam in small pots a few hours later, and then bottled by the end of the day.

While all of Olbia’s jams are delicious, the apricot one has caught everyone’s attention around here. My good friend Lex Alexander, who’s been working with artisan foods for about 50 years, told me long ago that apricot is the most difficult fruit to make into a great jam. Olbia, though,  have figured it out. They use heirloom Bergeron apricots, which make some of the best apricot jam anywhere. Yields of the fruit are small, but the flavor and aroma are beyond amazing. Velvety in texture and as apricotty as eating a dried apricot but with a lovely, spreadable, spoonable texture and a complex, not-too-sweet flavor. One staff member told me she’s pretty sure she could consume the whole jar with a spoon in a single sitting. 

As you may have noticed, I’ve had apricots front of mind for most of the last year as I work to advance the idea that apricots are a symbol of dignity and democracy. You can read a short version of the backstory of how I landed on the apricot for this work and a longer version as well. The key came courtesy of Ukrainian poet Lyuba Yakimchuk. She fled her native Donbas region with her husband and young son back when Russia invaded in 2014, a few months after what became known as the Revolution of Dignity. Yakimchuk wrote a line in one of her poems that has stayed with me since I first read it:

Where no more apricots grow, Russia starts.

While I knew immediately that I did not want the autocracy of Russia’s past and present to spread, apricots sounded awesome—beautiful, natural, delicious, and the metaphorical opposite of what Russia has come to represent. Last fall, we worked with Underground Printing here in town to put our wonderful artist Ian Nagy’s illustration of an apricot on t-shirts. We donate the proceeds from shirt sales to Democracy Now! Underground prints shirts and more and more for you to order and then ships them straight to your door. We recently added a couple of great Carhartt jackets to the lineup to help you get through the colder winter months, as well as beanies and baseball hats! I have my newly arrived apricot-embroidered Carhartt jacket draped over the back of the chair behind me as I write. You can buy the Olbia Apricot Jam just for its flavor, for its symbolic significance, or, as I do, for both at the same time. Spread it on a slice of toasted Bakehouse bread, spoon it into a Cultured Butter Croissant, enjoy it with Zingerman’s handmade Cream Cheese, eat it with fresh ricotta, use it to fill blintzes or crepes, put it in a layer cake or in the apricot jam omelet I wrote about last month (scroll on down for the omelet). This jam is just totally delicious. And as you eat and share it, you’ll be spreading (pun not originally intended) the good word about dignity and democracy in a non-political, non-invasive way.

Grab a jar

Creamy, caramelly deliciousness from the Netherlands

Looking for an amazing artisan cheese that guests of every culinary stripe are almost sure to like? This remarkable—and remarkably delicious—aged goat cheese from the Netherlands is a great candidate to fill the bill.

Brabander is indeed one of the tastiest aged goat cheeses I’ve gotten the chance to eat in ages! Creamy and smooth, with a goat flavor that’s amazingly accessible and appealing to pretty much every palate. As someone who’s been eating artisan cheese all over the world for over 40 years, I find it fabulous. So, too, do folks who’ve never had a cheese of this quality— sweet, almost caramelly, what’s not to love?

The Brabander cheese comes from the Brabant region in the southern part of the Netherlands, which is along the Belgian border. The cheese is made for, and then aged by, Betty and Martin Koster, who own and run the Netherlands’ best artisan cheese shop—if you’re going to Amsterdam, please stop by L’Amuse and say we sent you! Brabander starts with the milk of the old breed of Saanen goats from a co-op in the region. The young cheeses are then carefully aged by the Kosters to develop their delightful flavor. The maturing is done mostly at ambient temperature (they use the coolers only a few days each year, when the weather gets particularly hot) so that natural air moves around the wheels as they age. And this extra-aged Brabander Reserve gets an additional eight months of maturing to make the flavor even bigger than usual!

Brabander is a bit like the most popular person at a party: Whoever or whatever you pair it with, you can be pretty sure it’s going to get along well. It’d make a marvelous grilled cheese on the Country Miche or Roadhouse bread from the Bakehouse. It’s great in the Dutch style for breakfast: Serve slices of it along with good bread, butter, some hot tea, or with the super-tasty 2025 Holiday Blend coffee I’m sipping on now while I scribe! Or have it for a snack with some Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter and a slice of the Bakehouse’s Vollkornbrot. Brabander pairs perfectly with honey, or if you’re having it for breakfast, with jam. Light, creamy, and compelling in flavor, firm and almost but not quite crumbly in texture, the Brabander is caramelly in a way that would work really well with walnuts or hazelnuts. Throw a few cubes of Brabander on a salad with some of those nuts and slices of fresh apple. Very good on a ham sandwich, too! And a wonderful way to welcome in 2026!

Add Brabander to your bag

Ship some to someone special

Plus a box of her favorite things (raindrops on roses not included)

There’s a saying that “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” and that’s exactly how Abra Berens found her way into the world of food.

Back in 2002, she was a student in Ann Arbor, out for a long walk and thinking about her future, when hunger struck. She happened upon Zingerman’s Deli, stepped inside—and quite literally stumbled into her life’s work. Abra tripped over the door jamb in front of the Bread Box, and the person behind the counter immediately came around to help her up, offering a sample of Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

She ordered a sandwich, sat in the Next Door Café, and was inspired to apply for a job. Spoiler: she got it, and more than 20 years later, Zingerman’s remains one of the defining influences in her life. It’s where she learned how to taste, to lead, to think critically about food and where it comes from, and to dream big. Zingerman’s Co-Founder Paul Saginaw even officiated her wedding—to another ZCoBber—and Rodger encouraged her to pursue culinary school at Ballymaloe in Ireland. Under the guidance of Founder Darina Allen, she deepened her understanding of the relationship between farms and restaurants, knowledge which continues to shape her work as an author and the culinary director of Granor Farm.

Not bad for a stumble, a sample of Sour Cream Coffee Cake, and a sandwich that needed two hands to hold.

Abra loves Zingerman’s so much that she curated a whole collection of favorite foods for Mail Order. And then she selected seven special favorites to pack together into one box—some she’s loved for years, others she’s just discovered. Together, they reflect our ongoing search at Zingerman’s for great-tasting foods crafted by passionate makers. 

Sour Cream Coffee Cake – The cake that started it all. This is Zingerman’s classic in its purest form. Abra’s favorite story about it goes back to her time working for Chef Paul Virant at Vie Restaurant. When he teased Zingerman’s Co-Founder Ari Weinzweig about the price of the cake, Ari sent him one the next day. After tasting it, Chef Virant turned to Abra and said, “It’s worth it. Honestly, it should cost more.”

Roadhouse Bread – Abra is a devoted fan of Zingerman’s Bakehouse breads, and Roadhouse is her very favorite. Developed by Shelby Kiebler (now the owner of Field & Fire in Grand Rapids, Michigan) for the opening of Zingerman’s Roadhouse, this loaf has a burnished crust and a tender crumb made from rye and wheat flours with a touch of cornmeal. It’s also a testament to the Bakehouse’s dedication to regional, stone-milled whole grains.

Lutenista Red Pepper Spread – On a recent trip to the Deli, Chef (and mentor) Rodger Bowser scolded Abra, half-jokingly, for never having tried this spread. “I’m so disappointed in you,” he said before dropping two jars into her basket. It’s now a household staple—tossed with pasta or spread thick on toast with smoked fish. Abra’s lesson learned? “When Rodger tells you to do something (like go to cooking school or buy a specific jar of sauce), you should do it.”

Germack Pistachios – A Detroit institution since the 1920s, Germack still roasts some of the best pistachios around. Abra’s family sends them as holiday gifts every year—and, naturally, keeps a few bags for themselves.

Rancho Meladuco Medjool Dates – While exploring Zingerman’s Mail Order offerings for this box, Abra came across these dates and thought, “I need to know what a $24 box of dates tastes like.” Now she’ll tell you: they’re worth twice that. Soft, rich, and unbelievably delicious.

Hot Peppers in Olive Oil – She loves these for their gentle, layered heat and versatility. Finely chopped and stored in oil, they’re ready to spoon over almost anything. Her favorite pairing? Sweet Medjool dates topped with these peppers, served over ricotta or whipped tahini for a sweet-spicy appetizer.

Spiced Plum Preserves – As a child, Abra was enchanted by the idea of sugar plums, and as an adult, plums have become her favorite fruit. These preserves capture their perfect balance of tart and sweet. She often spoons them over yogurt or scones, but also uses them to glaze roast chicken or serve alongside pork chops. When the parsnips are ready at Granor Farm, she plans to roast them and top them with this jam—a simple act of everyday luxury.

She hopes you enjoy what’s inside her collaboration gift box as much as she does—and that you, too, might stumble into a delicious life with Zingerman’s as your guide.

“Surf & turf” combo for some fine summer sandwiches

One of the quickest and absolutely most delicious meals I make—combining tuna and the spicy, spreadable Calabrian pork sausage called ’Nduja. A while back, I decided to call it Tu’nduja. It starts with some really good tuna. We have the Ortiz bonito (aka, albacore) on hand always—it’s one of our biggest sellers. Personally, though, I’m inclined toward the fuller flavor of the Yellowfin. Then I add some of the Tempesta ’Nduja from Tony Fiasche and friends in Chicago.

To make the Tu’nduja, start by adding about 2 parts tuna to 1 part ’Nduja in a mixing bowl—you can adjust the ratio to fit your taste. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise. Stir to combine. Season with freshly ground black pepper (you probably won’t need salt, but taste and see), and fold in some chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for brightness. That’s it. Super tasty.

Spread your Tu’nduja on toast. Make a Tu’nduja salad sandwich. Use it as a party spread or snack. Stuff it into small peppers or tomatoes. Or blend it smooth, add a drizzle of olive oil, and you’ve got a terrific spicy tonnato sauce for cold meats or vegetables. Thin it with more mayo and it becomes a great dressing for green salads or potato salad.

You can also toss Tu’nduja with hot pasta—just mix the sauce in at the end, after you’ve drained the pasta, and don’t cook it too long, or the mayo might separate. Add diced tomatoes, roasted peppers, or more chopped parsley if you like. Finish with toasted breadcrumbs—it’s darned delicious!

Try some tasty tuna

Or ship a jar to Jersey