Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Food History

For years, boys at Fernald State School were subjected to experiments using radioactive tracers in oatmeal.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Radioactive Oatmeal Go Down

When MIT and Quaker Oats paired up to conduct experiments on unsuspecting young boys

Pound cake is generally made in a loaf pan (as above) or a Bundt pan (that's the one with the hole in the middle.)

A Pound Cake Was Originally Made With Four Pounds of Ingredients

Most Americans today don’t bake using pounds and ounces, but cups and teaspoons

Order an old fashioned at the Frolic Room on Hollywood Boulevard, an old haunt of show business greats like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.

Lights, Camera…Cocktails! Five Historic Bars From Hollywood’s Golden Age

Toast the Oscars at one of these Old Holywood watering holes

Tootsie Rolls contain small amounts of cocoa and also an ingredient you might not expect—orange extract.

Tootsie Rolls Were WWII Energy Bars

The candies were included in rations because they stayed fresh for a long time

A former McDonald's, now a museum in Illinois. Richard "Dick" McDonald, one of the two McDonald brothers who started the chain (and who is played by Nick Offerman in a new movie) invented both the Golden Arches and the "over 1 million sold" sign.

Nick Offerman’s Character in “The Founder” Is Based on This Real Historical Figure

Richard “Dick” McDonald’s story in the film is true — to a degree

Atlas of Eating

Reuben Riffel on Becoming a Top Chef in Post-Apartheid South Africa

South African food culture fosters connection, he says

La Tour d'Argent restaurant offers dramatic views of the Paris skyline.

Atlas of Eating

Does the Classic Paris Meal Still Exist?

Two food lovers set out to learn whether the Paris dining experience of their youth can still be found

The packaged foods you get at the grocery store are all regulated by the FDA. So are drugs, medical devices, cigarettes and condoms.

Where Did the FDA Come From, And What Does It Do?

From unglamorous origins, the federal agency has risen to ensure the safety of everything from lasers to condoms

Atlas of Eating

Chef Margarita Carrillo Arronte on Why Mexican Cuisine Is a UNESCO Treasure

Meet the woman dedicated to preserving traditional Mexican cuisine

Detail from the stela of Mentuwoser, c. 1955 B.C., shows the steward preparing for a feast.

Atlas of Eating

For Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, Life Was a Banquet, But the Afterlife Was the Greatest Feast of All

Life after death for the Ancient Egyptian elite included lots, and lots, of food

Appert devised the canning process using that old standby, trial-and-error.

The Father of Canning Knew His Process Worked, But Not Why It Worked

Nicolas Appert was trying to win a hefty prize offered by the French army

Many Chinese restaurant names with words like golden, fortune, luck and garden are chosen for their auspiciousness—out of the owners’ desire for success.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Do Chinese Restaurants Have Such Similar Names?

Consistency and familiarity is the tradition

Atlas of Eating

When Happy Hour Was “Green Hour” in Paris

When the clock struck five, 19th-century Parisians turned to absinthe

Félicitations, Team USA!

America Just Won the Olympics of Cooking You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

It’s the first time the USA has been awarded gold

Atlas of Eating

Celebrated Middle Eastern Food Writer Claudia Roden Shares Stories and Recipes From Her Kitchen

For Roden, food is a lens to understand history

The bigger the tomato, the blander the taste.

New Research

The Quest to Return Tomatoes to Their Full-Flavored Glory

We’ve bred the original tomato taste out of existence. Now geneticists are asking: Can we put it back?

Atlas of Eating

On the Dangers of Erotic Truffles

A 19th-century investigation into the power of the aphrodisiac

"Gung Haggis Fat Choy" may be the only celebration that combines both traditional Robert Burns Night festivities, including bagpiping, with a celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: This Canadian Celebration Combines Robert Burns Night and Chinese New Year

Started by “Toddish McWong” in 1998, the annual dinner has grown and grown

Cool Finds

A London Music Hall Hid a Long-Forgotten Storeroom Packed With Condiments

Construction workers uncovered the tasty trove while excavating its foundations

Atlas of Eating

The Ever Expanding World of Wine Takes Your Palate to Unexpected Places

Never before have so many diverse wines, from so many places, been available to so many people around the globe

Page 25 of 36