Category Archives: Food

How to Plant a Home Garden and ‘Free the Seed’

Of all the wonders in this wide world, there is none quite like the seed. With time, sun, and a little luck, a brown speck that fits on your fingernail can grow into a vast sequoia. Last year’s spit picnic seeds can become this year’s watermelon patch. And flecks from a few potato flowers can feedContinue reading “How to Plant a Home Garden and ‘Free the Seed’”

These 7 Companies Ship Unique Seeds for Your Quarantine Garden

IN 1944, AT THE HEIGHT of World War II, 20 million home gardeners across the United States dug deep to support the war effort. As the country poured the bulk of its resources into the conflict, Americans grew Victory Gardens to bolster the domestic food supply. Nearly a century later, Jes Walton is trying to bringContinue reading “These 7 Companies Ship Unique Seeds for Your Quarantine Garden”

Taste the Globe With Recipes From New York’s All-Grandma Kitchen Crew

WHEN JODY “JOE” SCARAVELLA OPENED Enoteca Maria in 2008, he was sorely in need of a grandmother. Scaravella grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, where his Nonna Domenica cared for him while his parents worked. “I remember her going to the market everyday, bringing her shopping cart,” Scaravella writes. “She stopped at the vegetable shopsContinue reading “Taste the Globe With Recipes From New York’s All-Grandma Kitchen Crew”

Eat Like a 1970s Radical With ‘The People’s Philadelphia Cookbook’

“A VERY GAY MEAT LOAF” requires several key ingredients. First, wrote Michael Goldberger, a gay activist and neuroscience researcher, combine ground beef, pork, and veal with spices. Then, add partially-cooked spinach and—if you have the money—mushrooms, taking care not to overmix. Hard-boiled eggs and sour cream top it off. Goldberger adapted the recipe from gay New YorkContinue reading “Eat Like a 1970s Radical With ‘The People’s Philadelphia Cookbook’”

The Return of Japan’s Female Sake Brewers

MIHO FUJITA WAS A HIGH-POWERED executive working at a Tokyo toy company. Miho Imada worked in traditional Noh theater. Chizuko Niikawa-Helton was in the fashion industry. But at some point in their careers, all three women had a realization: Their true passion was sake. Since sake is the most iconic alcoholic drink of Japan, these careerContinue reading “The Return of Japan’s Female Sake Brewers”

Copenhagen Wants You to Forage on Its City Streets

COPENHAGEN IS ABOUT TO BECOME the embodiment of grab-and-go snacking. In a recent vote, the City Council resolved to introduce free, portable, city-wide munchies: public fruit trees. They’ll opt to plant edibles, from blackberry bushes to apple trees, wherever city planning calls for greenery. For Astrid Aller, a Copenhagen City Councilor from the Socialist People’s Party whoContinue reading “Copenhagen Wants You to Forage on Its City Streets”

Tour Honolulu’s Japanese Food Scene With This 1906 Map

WE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT Takei Nekketsu. The proprietor of a dry-goods store, he was one of the many small business owners who made up the thriving Japanese community of early 20th-century Honolulu. But Nekketsu had a number of special talents. He wrote some of the earliest Japanese-language histories of Hawai’i, and he made maps. OneContinue reading “Tour Honolulu’s Japanese Food Scene With This 1906 Map”

The Gobi Desert is a Red Sea of Chili Peppers

In Northwest China’s Gobi Desert, autumn tints the landscape a flaming scarlet. The fields of red aren’t deciduous leaves blushing with the season. They’re chili peppers, spread out to dry under the hot desert sun following the late-summer harvest. Each September and October, farmers across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which produces a fifth of China’s world-leading pepperContinue reading “The Gobi Desert is a Red Sea of Chili Peppers”

Found: Milk Residue That Proves Ancient Europeans Used Cute-as-Heck Baby Bottles

FOR DECADES, ARCHAEOLOGISTS EXCAVATING ANCIENT children’s graves in Germany and Austria were puzzled by a set of artifacts: small, rounded vessels, some with handles, and some with designs that looked like the ears and feet of unrecognizable creatures. “We think of [them] as mythical animals,” says Julie Dunne, a Senior Research Associate in chemistry at theContinue reading “Found: Milk Residue That Proves Ancient Europeans Used Cute-as-Heck Baby Bottles”