Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Arts & Culture / Food

Anderson Valley Vineyards

This Secret Corner of California Is a Paradise for Lovers of Great Food and Top-Notch Wines

Jody Rosen meets the free spirits giving shape to this flourishing wine region with a soon-to-be-legendary culinary scene, California’s Mendocino County

Grape breeding PhD student Laise Moreira collects flower tissue for analyzing sex trait in grapevine as part of the VitisGen2 project at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center in Excelsior, MN.

The Quest to Grow the First Great American Wine Grape

Genetics might be the key to creating vineyards that both resist disease and don’t taste like skunk

How Ketchup Revolutionized How Food Is Grown, Processed and Regulated

The condiment really is the perfect complement to the American diet

Kraft advertisement in the Ladies’ Home Journal, 1948

A Brief History of America’s Appetite for Macaroni and Cheese

Popularized by Thomas Jefferson, this versatile dish fulfills our nation’s quest for the ‘cheapest protein possible’

Your Next Favorite European Wine Region Isn’t in France, Italy or Spain

The wine in this country is so good, they don’t want to export it — keeping 98% for themselves

The lionfish is a maroon-and-white striped creature,  but once it’s cleaned, restaurant chefs and home cooks like to grill, bake and fry its firm white flesh.

The Lionfish Have Invaded, But a Ragtag Army of Divers and Chefs Are Fighting Back

Those waging the war against this devastating wave of the venomous species have taken on an ‘eat ‘em to beat ‘em’ approach

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

The Factory That Oreos Built

A new owner for the New York City landmark offers a tasty opportunity to recap a crème-filled history

A lithograph from printers Currier & Ives depicted swill milk as the root of many vices

The Surprisingly Intolerant History of Milk

A new book provides an udderly fascinating chronicle of the controversial drink

This past fall, astronauts harvested Mizuna mustard, Waldmann's green lettuce and Outredgeous red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth chamber on the International Space Station.

Future Con

If Humans Want To Colonize Other Planets, We Need To Perfect Space Cuisine

At this year’s Future Con, researchers will describe a future of food in space that is anything but bland

Thanks to its neutral taste, cricket flour hides well in oatmeal and baked goods. But a Canadian grocery chain isn't hiding its unusual ingredient: it's putting a picture of a cricket on its logo.

Why Canada Wants You to Know You’re Eating Crickets

In some countries, insects may finally be getting their due as affordable, nutritious protein sources

How Do You Make Beer in Space?

Strap on your beer goggles and join us on a hops-fueled rocket ride

In a letter of 1770, Benjamin Franklin described tofu ("tau-fu") to his friend John Bartram as a sort of cheese made from "Chinese Garavances"—what we would call soybeans.

Ben Franklin May Be Responsible for Bringing Tofu to America

How a letter of 1770 may have ushered the Chinese staple into the New World

Human evolution is ongoing, and what we eat is a crucial part of the puzzle.

How Cheese, Wheat and Alcohol Shaped Human Evolution

Over time, diet causes dramatic changes to our anatomy, immune systems and maybe skin color

Future of Conservation

Inside the Colorado Vault That Keeps Your Favorite Foods From Going Extinct

From heirloom potatoes to honeybee sperm, this collection works to preserve our invaluable agricultural diversity

Khash

Armenia

A Brief History of Khash, Armenia’s Love-It-or-Hate-It Hangover Cure (Recipe)

Cow foot soup: It’s what’s for breakfast

None

A Quest to Find America’s Best Craft Chocolate Makers

“Chocolate Noise” profiles the most original small-batch chocolatiers across the country

Made of fermented vegetables, kimchi was popularized globally during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

The Paris Olympics

How the 1988 Olympics Helped Spark a Global Kimchi Craze

The Summer Games in Seoul introduced a new international audience to the delicious and stinky staple

Page 14 of 81