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Arts & Culture / Food

Gift Guides

The Best Books of 2020

In our efforts to increase and diffuse knowledge, we highly recommend these 80 titles released this year

Learn about the underbelly of your neighborhood supermarket, 100-plus uses for beans and more in this year's top food books.

Holiday Gift Guide

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2020

From cookbooks to grocery-store exposés, these new books will tempt palates and fuel curiosity

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Smithsonian Voices

Seven Native American Chefs Share Thanksgiving Recipes

These original Thanksgiving foods are far different from the modern celebrations, but tradition is never static

Farms have been processing their heritage turkeys earlier to keep them small.

Turkey Farmers Scramble to Meet Need for Smaller Thanksgiving Birds

They’ll just be thankful when the year is over

Canned cocktails are a craze again.

The Intoxicating History of the Canned Cocktail

Since the 1890s, the premade cocktail has flip-flopped from novelty item to kitschy commodity—but the pandemic has sales surging

A new form of entertainment and a wandering trainload of frozen turkey triggered a convenience food boom.

A Brief History of the TV Dinner

Thanksgiving’s most unexpected legacy is heating up again

Xanthia DeBerry, with her daughters Angelica and Aniaya, is part of the seed saving project.

New Project Aims to Revive Ozark Cuisine Through Seeds

St. Louis chef Rob Connoley looks to reconnect black farmers to heritage crops, using records from a 19th century seed store

People enjoy a picnic at the Zeytiburna coastline in Istanbul, Turkey, on August 23, 2020.

How Do People Picnic Around the Globe?

Outdoor dining is having a moment. Let these traditions from eight different places help you put together the ultimate open-air meal

A Brief History of the Mason Jar

Around since 1858, the home canning classic is a sought after item for pandemic gardeners this summer

The rusted pirate fishing vessel STS-50 evaded authorities time and time again—until its luck ran out.

The Hunt for the Modern-Day Pirates Who Steal Millions of Tons of Fish From the Seas

These criminal actors threaten fragile species, forcing an international coalition to track them down

Everyone, it seems, has tried sourdough during the lockdown. But that ubiquitous jar of starter contains a dynamic microbial ecosystem that scientists are only beginning to understand.

The Scientific Secrets Behind Making Great Sourdough Bread

Scientists explain how simple steps can change a starter’s microbial community and allow bakers to up their game

Fannie Farmer oversees one of her students, Martha Hayes Ludden, at the Boston Cooking School in 1900.

How 12 Female Cookbook Authors Changed the Way We Eat

A new book examines the recipes of a dozen cooks who made groundbreaking contributions across the food industry

The third president evidently had a love of vanilla ice cream.

Make Thomas Jefferson’s Recipe for Ice Cream

The co-author of the Declaration of Independence also drafted a radical recipe

As innovations go, the ice cream truck might seem merely nutty. But summer would never be the same.

How the Ice Cream Truck Made Summer Cool

As innovations go, the Good Humor vehicle is as sweet as it gets

Bellini at Harry's Bar in Venice

Virtual Travel

Make These Eight Famous Cocktails From Bars Around the World

They might taste sweeter when you know the history behind them

The Smithsonian 2020 Folklife Festival is online (above: Reconstructing Hope: Black Religions in the Age of Black Lives Matter, June 29).

Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival Moves into Your Living Room

This year, experience the familiar smells, sights and sounds, while streaming the events online

Boxed Day-Glo orange mac and cheese like this is an invention of the past century.

How Boxed Mac and Cheese Became a Pantry Staple

Processed cheese solved the problem of the dairy product going bad, and it was incredibly convenient

Signs on the floor encourage social distancing.

Covid-19

The New Normal of Dining Out

Restaurants and bars worldwide are instituting unique safety measures against the spread of COVID-19. But will they be effective?

Smithsonian beer curator Theresa McCulla and colleagues from the Smithsonian Gardens harvest hops from the National Museum of American History’s victory garden.

This Beer Recipe Came From Hops Grown at the Smithsonian

A storied brewmaster unveils how he came to brew the “Victory Garden” Porter

For Papazian, the labor of brewing makes the result all the more enjoyable. “The best beer in the world,” he likes to say, “is the one you brewed.”

The Schoolteacher Who Sparked America’s Craft Brew Revolution

Here’s a toast to Charlie Papazian, the beer pioneer who blazed the way for thousands of brewers today

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