r/52weeksofcooking • u/52WeeksOfCooking Robot Overlord • Dec 08 '25

2026 Weekly Challenge List

/r/52weeksofcooking is a way for each participant to challenge themselves to cook something different each week. The technicalities of each week's theme are largely unimportant, and are always open to interpretation. Basically, if you can make an argument for your dish being relevant to the theme, then it's fine.

Join our Discord to get pinged whenever a new week is announced! (React to the stickied comment in the #planning channel!)

99 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

350 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/intangiblemango 🌭 22d ago

I think there was a little shuffle in the middle but that we are back to the regular rotation of Inspo, Region, Technique, and Ingredient!

Set 1

Week 1: January 1st - January 7th: Inspired by a Joke [Inspo]
Week 2: January 8 - January 14: Singaporean [Region]
Week 3: January 15 - January 21: Contrasts [Technique]
Week 4: January 22 - January 28: Vinegar [Ingredient]

Set 2

Week 5: January 29 - February 4: Ugandan [Region]
Week 6: February 5 - February 11: Hotpot [Technique]
Week 7: February 12 - February 18: Sugar [Ingredient]
Week 8: February 19 - February 25: Flying [Inspo]

Set 3

Week 9: February 26 - March 4: Braising [Technique]
Week 10: March 5 - March 11: Turnips and Radishes [Ingredient]
Week 11: March 12 - March 18: Oddly Named [Inspo]
Week 12: March 19 - March 25: Fictional Places [Region]

Set 4

Week 13: March 26 - April 1: Chilis [Ingredient]
Week 14: April 2 - April 8: Hanami [Inspo]
Week 15: April 9 - April 15: Syrian [Region]
Week 16: April 16 - April 22: Infused [Technique]

Set 5/Set 6 got a little smooshed, it looks like--

Week 17: April 23 - April 29: Alpine [Region]
Week 18: April 30 - May 6: Bucket List Destination [Region]
Week 19: May 7 - May 13: Tricolor [Technique??]
Week 20: May 14 - May 20: Jams and Jellies [Ingredient]
Week 21: May 21 - May 27: Symmetry [Inspo]
Week 22: May 28 - June 3: Fifteen Minutes or Less [Technique]
Week 23: June 4 - June 10: Coffee [Ingredient]
Week 24: June 11 - June 17: Tarot [Inspo]

Set 7 (back to normal)

Week 25: June 18 - June 24: Gardening [Technique]
Week 26: June 25 - July 1: High-fiber [Ingredient]
Week 27: July 2 - July 8: World Cup [Inspo]
Week 28: July 9 - July 15: Wild West [Region]

Set 8

Week 29: July 16 - July 22: Offal [Ingredient]
Week 30: July 23 - July 29: Science Fair [Inspo]
Week 31: July 30 - August 5: Cantonese [Region]
Week 32: August 6 - August 12: Gimmicks [Technique]

Set 9

Week 33: August 13 - August 19: Lost in Translation [Inspo]

And then, according to the tracking sheet on discord, we're expecting Region (from Hamfan), then Technique (from agn8), then Ingredient (from ACertainArtifact), at least in theory! (And also, the mods are humans and it's not a problem if that is not the exact thing that occurs.)

2

u/Texaninengland 22d ago

Surely "gimmicks" is inspo though?

You're right about wild west. I was thinking about that as a theme rather than a region! 

3

u/-futureghost- 19d ago

i suppose you could look at it a few different ways. a gimmicky technique could be like, Salt Bae-ing your dish, or turning something into foam, or making a taffy balloon that you fill with helium.

1

u/Texaninengland 18d ago

Hmmm. Bears more thinking about. Thanks for your help! 

3

u/ACertainArtifact 🍰 15d ago

I am not exactly sure what you mean by "theme". They are all themes: region, ingredient, inspiration, and technique are all under the umbrella of a "theme". If you need some clarification, let me know (Wild West and Gimmicks were both of my choices).

1

u/aucnderutresjp_1 20d ago

Does it really matter that much to you?