The presidential race is pervading restaurants, bars, bakeries and candy stores with a variety of politically-themed tastes. Now through November you can sip on cocktails representing the major party candidates in D.C., cast a vote with your order at a restaurant in Chicago, or snag satirical sweets for a debate-watching party in New York.

With Burger King’s advent of a hamburger dressed up as a burrito and Pepsi’s revival of its eerily clear cola, it seems like fast-food purveyors and soda bottlers are spending more time creating crazy new mash-ups in laboratories than fresh recipes in kitchens.

French fries may be the most magical food in the universe, from the simplest shoe-strings to a loaded-up mess of tots. They’re a delightful snack. They’re the perfect side dish. They’re a glorious meal on their own. I ate dozens of different fries in all their different iterations these past couple of months, at places both fancy and decidedly less so. Here I present the 12 absolute best.

This is the story of Burmese food in New York City: a thwarted quest. Few restaurants here have ever fully dedicated themselves to the cuisine, and only one — Cafe Mingala on the Upper East Side — still stands. Stray Burmese dishes sometimes surface in Thai or Chinese restaurants, then disappear.

Move over hamburger, you have company. “The era of the taco has arrived,” says Aarón Sánchez, a judge on Food Network’s hit culinary competition show Chopped. The Mexican staple appears on menus across the USA, its popularity fueled by the versatility of the dish, which can be endlessly adapted and easily accommodates gluten-free, vegan or other dietary requirements.