Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Food

You should definitely eat this pastrami before you die.

What Are the 1000 Foods to Eat Before You Die?

Written by a former New York Times restaurant critic, this tome will keep your appetite satisfied for a lifetime

Harvey W. Wiley and his Poison Squad in 1902

Early Food Safety Workers Tested Poisons by Eating Them

They were hailed as heroes and even had a song

Tuna are a hot commodity in Japan at this time of year — so hot that a sushi chef paid $37,500 for a single fish. Here, dogtooth tuna swim in the Indian Ocean.

Trending Today

The Same Guy Keeps Spending Insane Amounts of Money to Buy Japan’s First Tuna of the Season

This year, he bought it for $37,500—which he considered cheap

This Hoppin’ John dish is all wrong

Trending Today

Don’t Make Hoppin’ John for New Year’s Without Heirloom Beans

The original dish didn’t use black-eyed peas, plus the rice and bacon you have is probably wrong

Resolve not to have a grocery store overload.

Many Households Buy More Food in January Than During the Holidays

New Year’s resolutions to eat better lead many people to buy health food in addition to a continued junk food glut

The French often make a bûche de Noël, a chocolate cake baked to look like a Yule log, at Christmastime.

A Christmas Feast, Experienced With Dishes From Around the World

Experience an international Christmas without any travel by preparing these traditional foods

Cool Finds

Truffles Have a THC-like Substance in Them

This produces a euphoric smell that likely evolved as a way to trick animals into eating them

New Research

The Oldest Olive Oil Ever Found Is 8,000 Years Old

Chemical analyses unveil traces of olive oil in ancient Israeli pottery

Cool Finds

Myth Busted: Americans Don’t Gain 10 Pounds Over the Holidays

It’s more like one

New Research

You Eat Millions…Even Billions!…of Microbes Every Day

Yes, plenty of live microorganisms lurk in your yogurt, but they are everywhere else as well

Cool Finds

America’s Best Butter Is Handchurned in Vermont

The price for perfection is $49 per pound

The Melitta haemorrhoidalis bee, collected from Wotton-under-Edge, England, requires patches of bellflowers to make its nests.

Bees and Wasps in Britain Have Been Disappearing For More Than a Century

Changes in agricultural practices since the 19th century may be a major culprit in the pollinators’ decline

None

Cool Finds

TGI Fridays Has Dispatched Mistletoe-Carrying Drones in Restaurants

There’s already been one collision between drone and human

The first crop for Local Roots Farms to grow is lettuce.

Future of Energy

Turning Shipping Containers Into Urban Farms

In a clever recycling experiment, the startup Local Roots Farms is growing organic, hydroponic produce in America’s food deserts

You're not fooling anyone, vegan sausage.

New Research

Most Vegetarians Lapse After Only a Year

The vast majority of vegetarians return to eating meat

Lettuce is fine, just eat something else as well.

Trending Today

That Detox Diet Is Not Going to Rid Your Body of Toxins

It doesn’t matter how many pureed veggies you drink, they won’t vaporize those mysterious “poisons” you’ve heard about

Miracle fruit, or Synsepalum dulcificum, grows on bushy trees native to West Africa.

Can This Berry Solve Both Obesity and World Hunger?

At a playful café in Chicago, chef Homaro Cantu is experimenting with miracle fruit, a West African berry that makes everything a little sweeter

New Research

Manhattan Insects Eat the Equivalent of 60,000 Hot Dogs Each Year

Millions of urban insects act as efficient, largely unnoticed garbage disposals

Trending Today

Girl Scouts Can Now Sell Cookies Online

But you’ll still need to interact with a real, live Girl Scout to gain digital access to their cookies

Trending Today

Will Mandatory Calorie Counts Rain on Cinnabon’s 8,300-Rolls-Per-Hour Thanksgiving Parade?

Cinnabon staffs up to cope with the holiday rush for their 880-calorie cinnamon rolls

Page 68 of 85