Food feeds the body, but cooking for other people feeds human connections.
food history
“Labor-Saving” Kitchen Gadgets End Up Creating More Work for Women
Instand Pot: great. Dover eggbeater? Not so much.
The Instant Pot Understands the History of Women’s Labor in the Kitchen
The history of domestic cooking is littered with useless gadgets that were supposed to make home cooks’ lives easier, and failed. The Instant Pot is a rare exception.
A Once and Future Beef
Beef is a major culprit of the climate crisis, but if you want to consider beef’s future, then look to its past. The industry’s tactics have not changed as much as you might think.
Fighting the Vanilla Thieves of Madagascar
Demand for vanilla from Madagascar has skyrocketed in recent years, but the process of exporting the spice to markets around the world is fraught with risk, unpredictability, and — increasingly — violence.
The Fish That Gave Too Much
The history of colatura — a fermented anchovy-based sauce produced in Italy — goes back millennia. Now, overfishing and rapidly warming waters threaten its future.
Just Try It, You’ll Like It, It’s Good for You
Remember when you could only buy milk that came from cows and goats, rather than nuts and seeds? We live in a post-dairy world now, and soy milk started it all.
“We All Had the Same Acid Flashback at the Same Time”: The New American Cuisine
How the scruffy kids of the ’60s youth movement turned cooking from a shameful job into a lauded profession.
American Media is Still Getting Chinese Food All Wrong
Chinese writers can bring a lot more to the table when it comes to writing about Chinese food.
I Can Totally Believe It’s Actually Butter!
Libby Copeland talks to butter aficionado and food writer Elaine Khosrova about the history of butter and how to savor it. But is it good for us or not?