Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Desserts

Meringue cookies

Meringue Chemistry: The Secrets of Fluff

If these things were made by Renaissance chefs in the days before electric mixers, surely I could manage to whip some up myself

Thin Mints

When Did the Girl Scouts Start Selling Cookies?

What are your favorite varieties, and what do they say about you? And did you sell the cookies as a kid?

None

Four Food-Themed Resolutions For 2012

Never mind losing weight. Isn’t it possible to make a few resolutions that embrace food?

Christmas pudding

The Wonderful English Pudding

Pour flaming brandy over the hot pudding - the blue flames dance and sparkle around the traditional sprig of holly stuck into the top of the pudding

A bakery in Puglia

Inviting Writing: What Do You Call That Cookie?

It is nearly impossible to find anything on the Internet when you have only a phonetic spelling from a foreign language

Gingerbread men

The Gingerbread Man and Other Runaway Foods

The tale of the gingerbread man is part of a genre of folklore about goodies gone wild, specifically “The Fleeing Pancake” stories

A plate of pizzelle

Inviting Writing: Must-Have Holiday Foods

Tell us, by Friday, December 9, what lengths you’ve gone to for your favorite celebratory dishes

Fuyu persimmons

Five Ways to Eat Persimmons

Both fuyu and hachiya persimmons are usually available in late fall and early winter. Here are a few ways to use either variety

A loaf of parkin

Treacly Treats for Guy Fawkes Night

The anniversary of a failed assassination is celebrated with fireworks, bonfires, effigy burning and some very sweet desserts

Licorice

Is Licorice Dangerous?

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?

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

Thirty cents could get the author an assortment of candy, including Boston Baked Beans.

Inviting Writing: Sweet Independence

My mission was to sample as much sugar as my stomach and allowance allowed

A fried peanut butter and banana sandwich

Five Funky Ways to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich

Although peanut butter and jelly is the classic combination, there are plenty of other, very strange permutations for your lunchbox

Though it’s not quite as bustling as cosmopolitan Bogota or as picturesque as Medellin, Colombia’s third-largest city is the country’s economic and industrial hub.

Sugar and Spice in Colombia’s Alluring Cali

Candied treats and salsa music go hand in hand in this South American city high above the Cauca Valley

Whoopie Pies

The Whoop-De-Do Over Whoopie Pies

The cakey chocolate cookie-and-frosting sandwich is now the official treat of Maine, as of an April act of the state legislature

Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

More Fantasy Foods Made Real

The imaginary has come to life: Scooby Snacks, Cheesy Poofs and even Soylent Green

Sometimes you feel like a nut...

Marrons Glacés: $4 a Nut, But Worth Reminiscing Over

The ultra-sugary confections, popular in France and Italy, have a creamy texture and unmistakable warm chestnut flavor

Page 4 of 9