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Arts & Culture / Food

Shoppers flock to a stall to purchase organically grown produce, a rarity on the island of Mauritius. As incomes rise here, so does the demand for organic, but only a handful of farmers have figured out how to balance organic growing with the special demands of a tropical climate.

Age of Humans

Against All Odds, This Indian Ocean Island Is Trying to Go Organic

Mauritius is one of many places suddenly seeking organic produce. But as local farmers are finding, it’s not that easy

Mary Seton Corboy, founder of Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, took a Superfund site 20 years ago and turned it into a thriving urban oasis.

Age of Humans

Inner-City Farmers May Have Toxic Soil on Their Hands

Lead is a particular risk as people try to turn potentially contaminated urban sites into productive and sustainable farms

Craft beer sales grew by 17.6 percent last year compared to a rate of just 0.5 percent in overall beer sales.

There’s No Stopping The Craft Beer Craze

How innovations in the craft brewing industry have changed (and improved) our taste in beer

Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s vineyards benefit from the breezy, sunny microclimate created by their equidistance from the Austrian Alps to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the south.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Best Italian Wine Region You’ve Never Heard Of

The world does not yet come to the Friuli region, and so much the better

Nikiko Masumoto works with raisins on her family's farm.

Age of Humans

Where Will Our Future Food Come From? Ask a Farmer

Two farmers with different viewpoints talk about organic farming, GMOs and farm technology

A spaghetti squash explodes with color. Maciek Jasik does not reveal his technique for making produce expel colorful smoke.

These Fruits Explode With Color. Literally.

Artist Maciek Jasik won’t share the secrets behind his work, but the mystery is part of the fun

Pepin has recently announced his donation of the menu from that long-ago meal when he dined with Julia Child at her home shortly before her kitchen was dismantled and delivered to the Smithsonian Institution.

Jacques Pépin Donates a Hand-Painted Menu From His Last Supper With Julia Child

This month the modern traditionalist chef is honored with the first-ever Julia Child Award

Eateries like La Palma in San Francisco's Mission District are revered by some communities, but off-the-radar for others

Find Flavor Around Every Corner (and Off the Beaten Path) With These Culinary Walking Tours

From beloved institutions to hole-in-the-wall eateries, great food is everywhere

How to Harvest and Dry Herbs

A guide to keeping a little bit of summer in your meals far into winter

Tired of Apples? Pick These Exotic Fall Fruits Instead

Here’s where to find pawpaws, persimmons and other unusual fruits in the wild

A Guide to Buying Ethical Coffee

How to make sense of the beans that promote sustainable agriculture and humane worker rights

What gives your local Chardonnay that je ne sais quoi? It just might be the regional microbes.

New Research

Wine Gets Some of Its Unique Flavors From Regional Microbes

Small genetic differences in a single species of yeast produce distinct mixes of chemicals that contribute to terroir

Toni Tipton-Martin's book The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks gives readers a new look at African-American cooking history and culture.

What 200 Years of African-American Cookbooks Reveal About How We Stereotype Food

In a new book, food journalist Toni Tipton-Martin highlights African-American culinary history through hundreds of pages of recipes

A Lima street vendor dishes up anticucho, grilled skewers that are traditionally prepared with marinated beef heart or tongue. It is a culinary tradition probably started by enslaved Africans here during the Spanish colonization.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

How Food Became Religion in Peru’s Capital City

Great cooking is what defines Lima today, but the culinary boom started decades ago, during a time of conflict

Milk is udderly fascinating.

Seven of the Most Extreme Milks in the Animal Kingdom

A lactation expert breaks down why rhinos, rabbits and even pigeons produce their own special blends for babies

Dried fruit powder will keep for up to two years.

Swedish Designers Are Turning Fruits and Veggies Into a Nonperishable Powder

The dried and powdered produce, called FoPo, could become a staple in disaster relief

What Is a Personal Food Computer?

A farm the size of a desktop could change the way we grow food in cities

What Should You Look for When Buying Olive Oil?

Cold-pressed? From Greece or Spain? What really matters when getting your EVOO

Great Wine in Great Britain? The Unlikely Vino Culture Emerging in England

In the south of England, a new class of vintners is giving French bubbly a run for its money

Cool Finds

Root Beer Is For Adults Again

This is not your soda fountain’s root beer

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