Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Food History

The garum factory found near Ashkelon in Israel

Cool Finds

Ancient Roman Fish Sauce Factory Unearthed in Israel

The site produced the incredibly popular fish gut-based condiment garum—a process so stinky it had to take place far from town

The two cracked eggs emitted a "sulfurous aroma" during excavation.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Crack the Case of 1,700-Year-Old Roman Eggs

Two of the eggs broke open during excavation, but one remains intact

Stadshuskällaren is a restaurant located in Stockholm Sweden that serves historic menus from almost a century of Nobel Banquets.

This Restaurant in Sweden Offers Every Meal Served at the Nobel Banquet Since 1922

At Stadshuskällaren, in the basement of Stockholm’s City Hall, diners eat like Nobel Prize winners

The Ten Best Children’s Books of 2019

This year’s top titles deliver strange animals, mouth-watering foods and biographies of unsung heroes

First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca, the raccoon she and her family kept as a pet

Raccoon Was Once a Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a President

Calvin Coolidge refused to cook the raccoon sent to him, but the critter was a beloved staple for many Americans

A view of the Feitsui Reservoir and Oolong Tea Garden in Taipei, Taiwan

How to Tea-Taste Your Way Through Taiwan

Experience Taiwan’s tea culture through these museums, plantations and tea houses

The Crock Pot’s legacy is that it encourages cooks of all experience levels to get into the kitchen.

A Brief History of the Crock Pot

More than eighty years after it was patented, the Crock Pot remains a comforting presence in American kitchens

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2019

These titles are bound to satisfy your cravings for delicious dishes and food knowledge

Ocean X recovered 900 bottles of alcohol from a 102-year-old shipwreck.

Cool Finds

Tsar Nicholas II’s Last Shipment of Booze Recovered From the Baltic Sea

Salvagers hope that some of the 900 bottles of cognac and Benedictine are still drinkable

At the National Museum of American HIstory's demonstration kitchen, chefs like Chef Lynne Just of Sur La Table (above) prepare dishes, while food historian Ashley Rose Young engages them in conversations about the history and significance of the food and its traditions.

Food, Glorious Food

Celebrating Master Chefs and Revolutionary Culinary Moments

Smithsonian’s Food History Weekend pays homage to José Andrés and other celebrity chefs; and places new artifacts on view

The Texas trinity of sausage, ribs and brisket, with a house blend of spices added to the crust.

Food, Glorious Food

How Three Guys From Houston Are Cooking Up a Revolution in Texas Barbecue

A tiny suburban eatery is breaking all the rules to create some of the freshest-tasting grub on the horizon

Food, Glorious Food

Food, Glorious Food

Smithsonian magazine’s coverage of food, drink and their role in our culture

Modern-day baby feeding from reconstructed infant feeding vessel of the type investigated in the new study.

Bronze Age Baby Bottles Reveal How Some Ancient Infants Were Fed

Drinking vessels found in Bronze and Iron Age children’s graves contained proteins from animal milk

Archaeologists found traces of a milk protein in seven prehistoric Britons' calcified dental plaque

Cool Finds

Prehistoric Farmers’ Teeth Show Humans Were Drinking Animal Milk 6,000 Years Ago

A new study suggests Neolithic Britons processed raw milk to reduce its lactose content

Artist Rudolf Bleschka created the diseased fruit models between 1924 and 1932

Art Meets Science

Glass Models of Decaying Fruit Set to Go on View After Two Decades in Storage

Designed to serve as teaching tools, the delicate glassware reveals the ravages of such diseases as peach leaf curl, pear scab and gray mold

A vintage illustration of a wide-eyed housewife with a waffle in a waffle iron, 1946.

A Brief History of the Waffle Iron

Cornelius Swartwout’s invention, patented more than 150 years ago, helped feed America’s passion for waffles

Julia Child and her husband Paul Child at their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Food, Glorious Food

Remembering Julia Child

Smithsonian curator Paula Johnson addresses many of the questions visitors ask about America’s beloved cooking teacher and her kitchen

A previous strain of the TR4 fungus led banana producers to switch from the Gros Michel strain to the now-dominant Cavendish variety

A Banana-Destroying Fungus Has Arrived in the Americas

The so-called Panama disease targets bananas’ vascular systems to prevent fruit from growing

Bureau of Home Economics employees blindfold their taste testers so the sight of the turkey doesn't bias any responses, 1930s.

The Government Taste Testers Who Reshaped America’s Diet

In the 1930s, a forgotten federal bureau experimented with ways to make soy and other products more popular in the U.S.

Would you drink it?

Why Scientists Are Making Vodka in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

It’s perfectly safe to drink, according to a new report

Page 15 of 36