“The Four Corners potato has sustained Indigenous people in the American Southwest for 11,000 years; USDA is now studying its 8-year shelf life, and its resistance to disease, heat, and drought. The future of this remarkable little potato remains unwritten.”
Food
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Gradual Extinction of Softness
“The memory of hunger is a curse that never leaves you.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Inside the Secretive, Semi-Illicit, High Stakes World of WhatsApp Mango Importing
“Customs restrictions, high transport costs, and a short shelf life have made the world’s greatest mangoes — grown in Pakistan — difficult to come by in the U.S.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a McDonald’s Knockoff Became the Immigrant Dream
“Chances are you’ve never heard of Burger Baron unless you grew up in Alberta, Canada, in which case it’s a cultural icon.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Vegan Food Wars of DC
“A crew of innovator chefs and entrepreneurs have turned Washington into a hub of plant-forward dining. But they have all kinds of competing ideas about what meat-free fare should be.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Seat at the Table
In this interview, food writer Bettina Makalintal reflects on finding her voice, the trendification of ube, and why she’d rather not refer to Filipino cuisine — or any cuisine — as “the next big thing.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘We’re at the Crossroads’
“Chefs Russell Jackson and Ian Boden struggled to reconcile their visions of fine dining with their communities’ desires. Now, as they forge a sustainable path beyond the pandemic, one of them is ready to double down, and the other is ready to walk away.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Corporations Buy—and Sell—Food Made with Prison Labor
“The notion of work as punishment has enabled prison administrators to compel incarcerated people to work on farms and in dairies for low or no pay and without basic labor protections, sometimes in service of secretive billionaires they’ll never meet.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Man Who Didn’t Invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
“He’s now retired in his early 60s, after a full career climbing the corporate ladder. Montañez made it, from rags to riches, from factory floor to corporate suite. He just didn’t make Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Kitchen Dad
“Place the oyster on a bed of ice and go to the next one. It’s possible to refine this technique to perfection. Like changing a diaper.”