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Food

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America’s in the Midst of a Lobster Boom

With the lobster catch up sixfold in the last 30 years, can we eat without worry?

Eateries like La Palma in San Francisco's Mission District are revered by some communities, but off-the-radar for others

Find Flavor Around Every Corner (and Off the Beaten Path) With These Culinary Walking Tours

From beloved institutions to hole-in-the-wall eateries, great food is everywhere

Harvesting a cocoa tree

Cool Finds

Who Will Save the World’s Chocolate?

As climate change threatens cocoa crops, rival food companies are banding together

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Wet Weather Causes Shortage of Pumpkins (and Pie)

Intense summer rains cut pumpkin yields in half

Cool Finds

Feast Your Eyes on an Optical Illusion Cake

This may be the most delicious optical illusion

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How Decorative Gourd Season Conquered Fall

Strange-looking squash have become big business for farmers

The dining room on the Titanic

Cool Finds

A Lunch Menu From the Titanic Just Sold for $88,000

The “unsinkable” ship served corned beef, mutton chops and custard pudding

Cool Finds

Americans Used to Eat Four Meals a Day

Rest in peace, “second supper”

How to Harvest and Dry Herbs

A guide to keeping a little bit of summer in your meals far into winter

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How Italian Police Finally Busted Thieves for Nabbing $875,000 in Cheese

Cheese is the most stolen food in the world

Tired of Apples? Pick These Exotic Fall Fruits Instead

Here’s where to find pawpaws, persimmons and other unusual fruits in the wild

A spectacled fruit bat hangs out in search of its next meal. Many bats eat nectar with grooved tongues that are posing quite a mystery for scientists.

New Research

This Bat’s Tongue Works Like a Conveyor Belt

The unique tongues are raising new questions for scientists

Trending Today

Artisanal Pizza is Boosting the Coal Industry

Pizzerias are a new and growing market for coal companies

A Guide to Buying Ethical Coffee

How to make sense of the beans that promote sustainable agriculture and humane worker rights

Can you resist the temptation of a midnight snack?

New Research

Americans Are Eating Later, and That May Contribute to Weight Troubles

Our bodies didn’t evolve to handle midnight pizzas

Cool Finds

How Doughnut-Loving Cops Became a Stereotype

A sugar-sweet symbol for beat cops around the country

New Research

American Kids Are Obsessed With Apples

Apples make up 29 percent of the total fruit eaten by teens and kids in the United States

Screenshot from "How to Make a Sandwich - Chapter 11 Assembly"

Cool Finds

Making a Sandwich From Scratch Took This Man Six Months

The chicken sandwich also racked up a total cost of $1,500

A Lima street vendor dishes up anticucho, grilled skewers that are traditionally prepared with marinated beef heart or tongue. It is a culinary tradition probably started by enslaved Africans here during the Spanish colonization.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

How Food Became Religion in Peru’s Capital City

Great cooking is what defines Lima today, but the culinary boom started decades ago, during a time of conflict

A robot serves a customer at a restaurant in northeast China in 2012

Cool Finds

Dining in the Future: Predictions for Restaurant Eating in 2040

Eateries may include more tech and fewer humans on staff

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