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Food and Think

Pumpkin curry

Inviting Writing: Making Peace with Pumpkin

Mostly I used my sister as a means to escape unwanted food by shoving it onto her plate when nobody was looking

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Ten Horror Movie Food Scenes That Will Make You Shudder

Movie directors know that the quickest way to the audience’s gag reflex is through its stomach

Deviled eggs, one of many Halloween treats

Deviled Eggs and Other Foods from Hell

What, exactly, is so wicked about mixing hard-boiled egg yolk with mayonnaise and mustard?

These artifacts are thought to have been offerings from the earliest farming communities that lived in this area. Chemical analysis of charred food residues preserved inside a number of vessels shows they were used for processing freshwater fish, which supplemented their fledgling agricultural economy.

Ancient Pots Show How Humans Adopted Farming

The switch from hunting and gathering to farming was revolutionary—but was it fast or slow?

Leaf plates

Turning Fallen Leaves into Dinner Plates

The paper plate was invented in 1904, and Americans now throw away an estimated trillion disposable plates and utensils per year

A male Atlantic salmon

Disease Found in Wild Salmon

Are farmed salmon the source of a viral infection off the coast of British Columbia?

What does one do with star anise?

Ask Smithsonian 2017

What the Heck Do I Do with Star Anise?

The pod from an evergreen seed is one of the signature flavors in Chinese five-spice blends and Vietnamese pho

Deer in headlights

Is it Safe to Eat Roadkill?

Enough with the jokes already. Some people are serious about looking to the roadside for an alternative to mass-market meats

Steak tartare may not have been the best choice for this meal.

Inviting Writing: Sorry I Took Your Son

I was up to my elbows in raw ground beef, anchovy paste, capers and onions, and completely panicked

A food distribution line at the Occupy Wall Street protests in Manhattan

The Long Marriage of Vegetarianism and Social Activism

As early as 1850, vegetables were identified with virtue and meat was considered “the keystone to a wide-spread arch of superfluous wants”

Why decant wines?

Is Decanting Wine Worth Doing?

Does the practice really improve the taste or is it just a wine snob’s affectation?

Brown rice

Five Nobel Laureates Who Made Food History

These five Nobelists have made food safer or more available, or increased our knowledge of it

Bound

Law and Order: New Culinary Crimes

Burglary, felony theft, criminal mischief, abusing a corpse—last month alone was rife with food-related crimes and convictions

Colonel Sanders, a great Halloween costume idea

Stuck for a Halloween Costume Idea? Think Food

Paula Deen, Colonel Sanders, the Swedish Chef—the food world is rife with costume potential

How will you be working with pumpkins in your kitchen this fall?

Five Ways to Cook With Pumpkin

It’s time to think outside the pie crust and consider other ways you can put pumpkin on your table

Always beware of sharp knives.

Inviting Writing: Independence Won By Blood

My first meal alone in a new city was delayed due to an unexpected test of survival skills

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