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Food History

The staff at Thip Khao in Washington, D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood.

Meet The Devotees of the Growing Lao Food Movement in a New Video from Folklife

Seng Luangrath opened a Lao restaurant in Washington, D.C. and made it a community for other immigrants

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’

Among the artifacts in the exhibition is "Female Emigrants Guide," a guidebook for new immigrants to Canada about things like what produce to grow.

New Exhibition Serves Up 150 Years of Canadian Culinary History

‘Mixed Messages: Making and Shaping Culinary Culture in Canada’ features cookbooks, photos and artifacts from the 1820s to the 1960s

The Factory That Oreos Built

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

Why This Year’s Royal Wedding Cake Won’t Be a Disgusting Fruitcake

Wedding guests of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry can have their cake – and this time they’ll want to eat it, too

Trending Today

Why There’s a Japanese Whisky Shortage

There’s surging demand and limited supply of the most popular of the Japanese libations

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

In Yeghvard, Armenia, home bakers offered us a platter of cheese and herbs to eat with the fresh lavash.

Armenia

On the Lavash Trail in Armenia

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

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

The Club in Yerevan serves up Trinifish, a signature dish that marries ingredients from the Armenian Highlands with French cooking techniques.

Armenia

Four Restaurants Bringing Traditional Dishes into Contemporary Cuisine

These chefs are putting modern spins on ancient recipes

Cacao trees with chocolate fruit pods on Kauai, HI.

How Hawaii Became the North Pole of Cacao

These chocolate makers have set up shop in the only state—and the coldest place—that can sustain cacao plantations

Bulgogi is a classic Korean dish of thinly sliced, marinated beef.

A Brief History of Bulgogi, Korea’s Most Delicious Export (Recipe)

And how you can get some of the tender, marinated beef stateside

Eighmey's colonial-style corn cakes (top), forcemeat balls (lower right) and pickled French beans (lower left).

The Ben Franklin-Inspired Super Bowl Recipes You Never Knew You Needed

We don’t know who Ben Franklin would root for, but we do know what he’d eat on Super Bowl Sunday

Cover art for sheet music from the original Tabasco opera, 1894.

Long-Forgotten Opera About Tabasco Sauce Heats Up Stage Again After Almost 125 Years

Thanks to some musical sleuthing, George W. Chadwick’s ode to the now ubiquitous hot sauce brand has been revitalized by the New Orleans Opera

After the Revolution, Americans sought a national identity. American Cookery, the first cookbook written and published in the country, proposed one approach to American cuisine.

What America’s First Cookbook Says About Our Country and Its Cuisine

An 18th-century kitchen guide taught Americans how to eat simply but sumptuously

A 2013 Romanian stamp features Cochran and her dishwasher.

This Time-Saving Patent Paved the Way for the Modern Dishwasher

Josephine Cochran just wanted to stop having broken dishes

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