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Food

On March 3, 1939, Harvard freshman Lothrop Withington, Jr., swallows a, live, squirming goldfish to win a ten dollar bet. He reportedly practiced the feat for days before by swallowing baby goldfish and tadpoles.

Cool Finds

The Great Goldfish Swallowing Craze of 1939 Never Really Ended

A Harvard undergrad’s $10 bet set off a sensation among college students that still echoes on the Internet today

Best Travel Destinations for Food Foraging

Forage for wild foods like truffles, herbs and scallops on these guided tours—feasting included

New Research

Fat Is a Texture, Not a Taste…For Now

Scientists predict fat will join the other primary tastes within ten years

Snack first, then try on that cardigan.

Hunger Makes You Buy More Stuff, Even If It’s Not Food

Whether you’re shopping at the mall or online, having the munchies will compel you to purchase extraneous things

Midnight Snacking Is Bad for Your Brain

Experiments in mice show that misaligned eating patterns can mess with the brain’s ability to form memories and learn new tasks

The common ancestor of this Gentoo penguin likely evolved to be incapable of tasting most flavors—but why?

New Research

The Cold May Have Cost Penguins Most of Their Taste Buds

Recent genetic analysis shows that penguins can’t taste sweet or bitter, and scientists think sub-zero temps may be to blame

Chocolate Week

D.C.’s Artisan Chocolate Makers Show Off Their Sweet Labor of Love

Leaving no task undone, this husband-and-wife team demonstrate their process for producing chocolate

New Research

At Last, Make Perfect Popcorn With Science

Physicists now know why popcorn pops

Melts in your mouth, not in microgravity.

The World of Chocolate

The Rich and Flavorful History of Chocolate in Space

From vacuum-sealed pudding to Blue Bell ice cream, astronauts have been taking the treat into orbit since the dawn of the space age

Chocolate beer spans a wide spectrum of flavors and varieties.

The World of Chocolate

A Taste Test to Find the Best Chocolate Beers

Perfect for a cold, winter day – or as an alternative to red wine on Valentine’s Day – we took measure of these stouts, ales and lagers

New Research

Gene Changes Make Humans’ Sense of Taste Unique

Our ability to eat bitter plants help distinguish us from our ancestors and chimpanzees today

In some parts of the country, this is what duck sauce looks like. In others, not so much.

Ask Smithsonian

What Exactly Is Duck Sauce?

Trying to get to the bottom of this Chinese food mystery sends our writer on a wild goose chase

New Research

Sugar Is Causing Girls to Get Their Periods Sooner

Why shunning soda might help reduce premature puberty rates

Cool Finds

Mostly the Old And Ill Ate Breakfast Until the Rise of the Working Man

Romans disdained the meal, few ate it in the Middle Ages, but most eat breakfast now

The World Hit “Peak Chicken” in 2006

The popular poultry is just one of many key food resources that hit peak production between 5 and 30 years ago

New Research

It’s Easy to Make People Like Healthy Food…Just Rewire Their Brains

A new study imaged brains of women of different weights and found dramatic differences in how their brains responded to food

New Research

Is Orange Juice More Nutritious?

New research challenges the assumption that fruit trumps juice

Celebrate National Cheese Lovers’ Day With This Map of Cheese Found Around the World

This sharp interactive will make you feel gouda all over

Bananas (non-GM) at market in Vietnam

Trending Today

Iowa GMO Banana Trial Halted

Twelve volunteers were supposed to one whole GMO banana each — but so far they have eat zero

Here is the artist's rendition of what a Tree of 40 Fruit will look like at 10 years.

Art Meets Science

A Tree Grows 40 Different Types of Fruit

What started as an art project has become a mission to reintroduce Americans to native fruits that have faded from popularity

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