Food and Culture
Food is complicated. That creation you love from The Great British Baking Show? It's been the subject of arguments over culture, identity, and copyright.
Plant of the Month: Garlic Mustard
As garlic mustard naturalized in North America, it became a popular plant to forage for impoverished and rural communities.
The Paradoxical Pomegranate
Aphrodisiac and contraceptive, enflaming and cooling, the pomegranate was a balancing act, mediating between opposing states.
How the New Deal Documented Southern Food Cultures
Photographers and writers hired by the US government presented the foodways of the South to a wide audience.
How the “Organic” Label Leaves Small Farmers Out
The USDA's requirements for organic labeling make it easier for large agri-business than the smaller farmers you'd think of as "organic."
The Mystery of the Mustard Family
An archaeological dig turned up eight bottles of mustard powder in one eighteenth-century homestead. Why the condiment love?
Will Chocolate Survive Climate Change? Actually, Maybe
The forecast has been bad for domesticated cacao. But some environments in Peru might hold the key to the future of the world's sweet tooth.