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Food

Your Low-Calorie Sweetener Could Be Making You Fat

There are several ways that consuming artificial sweeteners might contribute to obesity

Thanks to its neutral taste, cricket flour hides well in oatmeal and baked goods. But a Canadian grocery chain isn't hiding its unusual ingredient: it's putting a picture of a cricket on its logo.

Why Canada Wants You to Know You’re Eating Crickets

In some countries, insects may finally be getting their due as affordable, nutritious protein sources

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

An urban coyote makes itself at home in a vacant lot on Chicago's near North Side.

New Research

Foxes and Coyotes are Natural Enemies. Or Are They?

Urban environments change the behavior of predator species—and that might have big implications for humans

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

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A Quest to Find America’s Best Craft Chocolate Makers

“Chocolate Noise” profiles the most original small-batch chocolatiers across the country

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

The home bioreactor in its intended environment. It also provides light for herbs.

In the Future, Will We Be Growing Fruit in Home Bioreactors?

A team of molecular biologists wants you to forget about strawberries and, instead, take “cell jam” for a whirl

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

The American eel fishery has historically focused on mature eels (as shown here), which are exported around the world. But these days, there’s more money to be made from juveniles.

The Epic Fight Over the Enigmatic Eel

The slippery fish is at the center of a Canadian national debate about economics, conservation and Indigenous rights

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

In Iceland, There’s a Word for an Ice Cream Road Trip. Here’s Where to Ísbíltúr This Winter

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

The fruit that bursts with contradictions.

The Toxic Rise of the California Strawberry

Growing this popular fruit year-round has long relied on harmful chemicals. Is there another way?

An etching of carts laden with corpses in the Piazza San Babila, Milan during the plague of 1630.

The Next Pandemic

How Proteins Helped Scientists Read Between the Lines of a 1630 Plague Death Registry

New tech reveals bacterial contamination, what scribes were eating and how many rats were around

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

Runaway Sprinkles from the Museum of Ice Cream Create ‘Environmental Hazard’ in Miami Beach

Here’s the scoop: officials are worried that the museum’s fake sprinkles will get washed into oceans and eaten by marine creatures

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