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History

Political cookbooks come from all sides of the spectrum.

The Edible Is Political: Cookbooks from Both Sides of the Aisle

The cookbook has been a campaign tool for the women’s suffrage movement, John F. Kennedy and now Ron Paul

Felicity Aston, shown here in Iceland, is currently attempting cross Antarctica alone.

Farthest South: News from a Solo Antarctic Adventurer

Aston is in no-man’s land, where schedules and responsibility carry little relevance, but she is bound by one logistic: “I can’t miss the last plane out”

An embellished "Brontosaurus" menaces the heroes of Frank Mackenzie Savile's "Beyond the Great South Wall"

Who Wrote the First Dinosaur Novel?

A decade before The Lost World debuted, one science fiction writer beat Arthur Conan Doyle to the dinosaurian punch.

Only in Quebec, the tourtiere -- a holiday meat pie.

Tourtière: Québecois for Christmas

For French-Canadians, the must-have holiday food is a spiced meat pie

The craze for collecting toy soldiers began with the French in the 18th century. In this scene, British foot soldiers attack a French officer.

The Great Battles of History, in Miniature

At a museum in Valencia, Spain, over one million toy soldiers stand at attention, prepared to reenact the wars that shaped the world

Lisa's vintage stove is a little too vintage.

Cooking Through the Ages: A Timeline of Oven Inventions

How much has technology really changed since the first ovens, wood-fired hearths?

Artisanal baker Eli Rogosa

Q&A With a Back-to-the-Roots Grain Grower

Baker Eli Rogosa talks about how supermarket flour differs from flour made from heritage grains such as einkorn

Wild camping is first-class lodging in rural Turkey, where dinner is had in bed and nights are passed beneath the stars.

Zen and the Art of Sleeping Anywhere

By camping wild, we bypass unloading the luggage, taking off our shoes at the doorstep, and all the other logistics of dwelling in a well-groomed society

The olive bar at Salisbury Market

Salisbury’s Medieval Market

The open-air market began in the early 1200s, when what we now call “farmers’ markets” were merely “markets” and “eating local” was merely “eating”

Snowpocalypse scrapple with ketchup, served with a side of toast.

Scrapple: the Meatloaf of the Morning

Like the McRib, scrapple is a distinctively American pork product and a regional favorite

The skull Gilmore described as "Gorgosaurus lancensis"

The Origin of a Little Tyrant

Is “Nanotyrannus” a small-bodied tyrannosaur, a juvenile of some unknown species, or a young Tyrannosaurus rex?

The author with his packed bicycle at San Francisco International Airport at the outset of the journey.

Beam Me Home, Please

Putting one’s means of transportation into a box while miles of travel remain is as clever as stepping into a shopping bag and attempting to carry oneself

A loaf of parkin

Treacly Treats for Guy Fawkes Night

The anniversary of a failed assassination is celebrated with fireworks, bonfires, effigy burning and some very sweet desserts

Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein (1922) by Man Ray

The Other Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

In her cookbook, the author pairs food with the people and events that highlight her life

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November Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

The stewardesses of Pan Am

TV’s “Pan Am:” A Case of Misplaced Nostalgia

Who doesn’t miss the retro glories of the early Jet Age celebrated in the ABC series? But enough with the sexy stewardesses already

Deviled eggs, one of many Halloween treats

Deviled Eggs and Other Foods from Hell

What, exactly, is so wicked about mixing hard-boiled egg yolk with mayonnaise and mustard?

These artifacts are thought to have been offerings from the earliest farming communities that lived in this area. Chemical analysis of charred food residues preserved inside a number of vessels shows they were used for processing freshwater fish, which supplemented their fledgling agricultural economy.

Ancient Pots Show How Humans Adopted Farming

The switch from hunting and gathering to farming was revolutionary—but was it fast or slow?

A food distribution line at the Occupy Wall Street protests in Manhattan

The Long Marriage of Vegetarianism and Social Activism

As early as 1850, vegetables were identified with virtue and meat was considered “the keystone to a wide-spread arch of superfluous wants”

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