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Poetry on the Menu
April is National Poetry Month (it's also International Cesarean Awareness Month and School Library Media Month, but I couldn't find the food angles on those), and the literary food journal Alimentum is celebrating by distributing "menupoems" to participating restaurants in New York and a smatterin...
April 24, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Food Matters on Earth Day
Lately I'm reading a book called "Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating," by Mark Bittman (a.k.a. NY Times' "The Minimalist"), and Earth Day seems like the perfect time to tell you about it.Bittman's thesis is simple but sobering: What you choose to put on your plate has a direct impact on the...
April 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
All You Ever Wanted to Know about Chocolate, Volume One
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Howard-Yana Shapiro, the global director of plant sciences and external research for Mars, Incorporated, the world's largest chocolate company (and largest pet food company, but try not to mix the two).Shapiro co-edited a new book called "Chocolate: Hist...
April 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking With the Bible
If you've ever wondered, What would Jesus eat?—or Moses or Esau, for that matter—then the cookbook-cum-hermeneutical text Cooking with the Bible: Biblical Food, Feasts, and Lore will enlighten you, or at least offer an informed guess.Written by Rayner W. Hesse, Jr., an Episcopal priest, and Anthony...
April 09, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
A Feast for the Eyes, if not the Stomach
Ever order a burger or some other food that looked mouth-watering and perfect in the advertisement, only to be disappointed by the sad, disheveled pile of slop you were presented? It makes you wonder why the real thing can’t look as good as the picture.
Well, it could, if you were willing to wait ...
March 05, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Where Our Food Comes From
I just finished reading a new book by the prolific Gary Paul Nabhan, whose resume astounds me: He landed a half-million-dollar MacArthur Fellowship (aka "genius grant") early in his career, and has written some 30 books since then, in addition to several teaching gigs and founding a movement or two...
March 02, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Evolution Began With a Second Helping of Beef Collops (Maybe)
It's Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday next Thursday, and the books are streaming out of publishing houses like so many startled pigeons. Nestled in among all the Beagles, giant tortoises, finches, vegetable mould, and barnacles arrives a volume seemingly written with the Food&Thinker in mind, a ...
February 04, 2009 |
By Hugh Powell
Book Worth a Look: The Devil's Food Dictionary
Last month, I mentioned a funny post on a blog called The Ethicurean, and said I hoped to read the author's book someday soon. And voila! Within days, a copy of Barry Foy's The Devil's Food Dictionary appeared on my desk. (On the off-chance that magic trick will work again...hey, I also hope to att...
January 08, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Food News and Trends to Expect in 2009
—More people than ever going hungry as the global food crisis continues. And on a related note, an international rush to buy farmland.—Fewer free things, like bread at restaurants. Then again, maybe that's only fair, since many patrons are tipping less during the recession.—Pricier avocados, due to...
January 02, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Smithsonian Notable Books for Children 2008
Surprising, inspiring and outstanding titles for youngsters and the grownups that read to them
December 19, 2008 |
By Kathleen Burke
Gourmet Gift Idea: Red Truck Baker, Smithsonian Knew Him When
One of the joys of working here at Smithsonian magazine HQ used to be Brian Noyes's homework. Brian, the magazine's art director until the beginning of 2008, took pastry classes at night and often brought his projects into the office the next day—quiches, plum tortes, scones.Brian decided to devote...
December 12, 2008 |
By Laura Helmuth
Recipes from Rock Stars: A Top-10 Wish List
Over at Hungry Magazine there’s a fun review of Lost in the Supermarket, a valiant attempt by two writers to shed some light on the cuisine of the rock star.It's a great idea. Rock life can't run entirely on gin, cigarettes and Cheez-Its, can it? Surely, every once in a while there must be somethin...
December 11, 2008 |
By Hugh Powell
Is That a Halibut Under Your Hood?
Talk about niche publishing: Could you direct me to the “automotive cooking” section of the bookstore, please?If such a section exists, you’ll find at least one book there: “Manifold Destiny,” a humorous “Guide to Cooking On Your Car Engine” that has become something of a cult favorite since its 19...
December 02, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
Sarah Vowell on the Puritans' Legacy
The author and 'This American Life' correspondent talks about her book on the colonies' early religious leaders
November 04, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
How to Be a Snoop
The way you arrange your home or office may reveal surprising results
October 21, 2008 |
By Megan Gambino
America's First True "Pilgrims"
An excerpt from Kenneth C. Davis's new book explains they arrived half a century before the Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock
May 23, 2008 |
By Kenneth C. Davis
The Life and Times of a Maine Island
An excerpt from a history of Frenchboro, Long Island, one of Maine's last remaining year-round island communities
May 01, 2008 |
By Dean Lawrence Lunt
The Trouble with Bottled Water
Elizabeth Royte reflects on the backlash against commercializing a natural resource and responds to reader comments
April 14, 2008 |
By Elizabeth Royte
Turn the Page
Electronic books may soon vie with library cards for space in your pocket
January 15, 2008 |
By Eric Jaffe
The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family
An excerpt from the new book by Shannon Thomas Perich
October 26, 2007 |
By Shannon Thomas Perich
