Medicine
Inviting Writing: Fear and Food
Welcome to the second installment of Inviting Writing, our new monthly storytelling feature where we welcome food-related submissions from readers. In case you missed the first set, here's how it works: We give you a writing prompt—last month's was "manners"—and then Amanda or I will share a story ...
May 17, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Taking Childhood Obesity to Task
Here's a statistic to ponder: One in three American kids weighs more than is healthy, as measured by body mass index. Nearly 20 percent are downright obese; barreling toward an adult life of serious health complications like diabetes and heart disease.Here's another one: A mere 30 years ago, the na...
May 11, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Broccoli-Haters
Of the many things you have to thank your mom for this Mother's Day, you can add one of her first gifts to you: your food preferences, at least your earliest ones. Even before you were born, she was exposing you to different flavors in the womb via amniotic fluid. If she breast-fed you, what she at...
May 07, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Stinging Nettle Soup
There's a restaurant in northwest D.C. called Blue Ridge (the brainchild of chef Barton Seaver) that I enjoy because it focuses on local, seasonal, sustainably sourced ingredients without coming across as self-righteous. It's the kind of place where waiters wear jeans and serve popcorn in brown pap...
May 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Q and A with Barron Hall, Veterinary Dentist
Root canals on cheetahs, lions and gorillas is just another day at the office for veterinary dentist Barron Hall
May 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
How Our Brains Make Memories
Surprising new research about the act of remembering may help people with post-traumatic stress disorder
May 2010 |
By Greg Miller
Dandelions—From Lawn to Lunch
Depending on your perspective, the little dandelion flowers that dot green lawns with yellow this time of year can be a cheerful sign of warmer days, a pesky weed to be destroyed or, once they've transformed into downy orbs, wish-fulfillment predictors.To others, they represent free lunch. Dandelio...
April 22, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Give Sardines a Chance
As you may have heard, America's last sardine cannery closed down last week in Maine (though it may get a second life as a processing plant for other seafood).I was startled and a little confused by this news, because sardines seem to be so trendy these days, showing up on menus at both fine and ca...
April 20, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Inviting Writing: Manners, Scrapple and Fake Vegetarians
This is the beginning of an experiment. Hypothesis: Everyone's got at least one good story to tell. And everyone eats, so I suspect many of you are harboring some wonderful food-related tales. Let's hear them!Here's how it works: Once a month, I'll give you a prompt—a word or general theme to use a...
April 06, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
The FDA Cracks Down on Food Health Claims
If you’re like one of my college roommates, who would probably eat tar if it was labeled “low-carb,” you might want to think again before you grab a product based on what it says on the box.Today, as the Washington Post reported, the Food and Drug Administration sent letters to 17 food producers be...
March 04, 2010 |
By Erica R. Hendry
Decoding Expiration Dates
Last week Nadia Arumugam in Slate validated my long-standing skepticism about food expiration dates. I have always operated on the assumption that if food looks okay, smells okay and tastes okay, it should be fine. I have been known to cut mold off a block of cheese and eat the rest.As Arumugam wri...
February 22, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Eating Snow
It's been an unusual winter here in Washington, D.C., with dozens inches of snow so far in a region that usually escapes with a mere dusting. I grew up in Vermont, so waking up to white-washed views still makes me smile (at least, until I remember that I no longer live in the shadow of a ski resort...
February 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Agave Nectar in Your Tea?
My roommate recently asked me to pick up a few bottles of agave nectar for her at the store. She works at a restaurant and was using it for a signature cocktail. Not wanting to seem ignorant, I agreed. I had no idea what the stuff was. When I got to the store, I found it sitting innocently next to ...
February 01, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Turmeric as Health Food?
Amanda recently wrote about cinnamon having a reputation as a good food for healthy eyes, and it got me thinking about spices. I tend to think of them merely as flavor, but cinnamon isn't the only spice that people are investigating for its possible health benefits. I was looking for a recipe for s...
January 26, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells
Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine
January 22, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Five Ways to Eat Pomegranates
Post-holidays, most people take at least a passing interest in eating healthier. I know I do, anyway. That's what motivated me to pick up a whole, fresh pomegranate at the grocery store a few days ago—I'd heard that this round, red fruit is a "superfood," packed with antioxidants and vitamins. Neve...
January 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient
An accident with a tamping iron made Phineas Gage history's most famous brain-injury survivor
January 2010 |
By Steve Twomey
Are Americans Stuck to their Cubicles?
After a debilitating bicycle accident kept her inactive, Mary Collins toured the country studying Americans’ sedentary lifestyle
December 29, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Does Santa Need to Go on a Diet?
In case you haven't noticed, obesity isn't exactly in these days. We've banished trans-fats from many places, given serious thought to a tax on soda, and applauded the First Family for planting an organic vegetable garden. We're reading books with titles like "Eat This, Not That" and "The Belly Fat...
December 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Caveman Cereal Raises a Question: Do Humans Need Grains?
According to an article in the latest issue of Science, our ancestors may have been more sophisticated eaters than we've been giving them credit for.After analyzing starch residue on dozens of ancient stone tools found in a cave in Mozambique, archaeologist Julio Mercader of the University of Calga...
December 17, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
