-
![]()
Michaela Rehle / Reuters The Wonder Protein That Makes Cheese So Stretchy
Casein’s unique structure is the key to smooth brie and melting mozzarella.
-
![]()
Alain Nogues / Getty How the Military Changed What America Eats
The same technology that keeps soldiers' meals edible for weeks now lines your pantry shelves.
-
![]()
PeopleImages / Getty The Enduring Fantasies of Cookbooks
For millennia, collecting recipes has been driven more by aspiration than the reality of what’s for dinner.
-
![]()
Sean Gallup / Getty How Prehistoric Humans Spiced Up Their Dinner
Mustard has been popular for 6,000 years.
-
![]()
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters From the Origins of Spaghetti to the Shape-Shifting Pasta of Tomorrow
How will new technology change the Italian staple?
-
![]()
Umit Bektas / Reuters The Ancient Origins of Dieting
Weight-loss fads existed centuries before Oprah and Kim Kardashian.
-
![]()
Stefanie Loos / Reuters The Spice That Hooked Medieval Nuns
Saffron has been altering people’s moods for hundreds of years.
-
![]()
Eric Risberg / AP Do the Bacteria That Raise Sourdough Come From Bakers' Hands?
A scientific investigation into the mysterious microbes behind tasty bread
-
![]()
Marcelo del Pozo / Reuters How Olive Oil Became Green Gold
In the United States, profits from fraudulent oil can be more lucrative than dealing cocaine.
-
![]()
David J. Phillip / AP The Women Who Used Food to Fight Historical Stereotypes
Cooking has often been a tool for protest and resistance, even when it resulted in gross meals served at the White House.
-
![]()
Brian Snyder / Reuters How Cranberries Went Out of Style
The sour little berries, once a year-round staple, have been relegated to a Thanksgiving side dish. Can they make a comeback?
-
![]()
Rich Pedroncelli / AP How Cannibalism Became Taboo
A brief history of a surprisingly common tendency among animals, ancient humans included
-
![]()
Alessandro Garofalo / Reuters A Glimpse Into the World's First Italian-Food Theme Park
Italy’s chain of grocery megastores might be the future of American supermarkets.
-
![]()
Elise Amendola / AP How Fluff Became Famous
The history of marshmallow creme is wrapped up in the origins of egg beaters, radio, and Mad Men.
-
![]()
Rick Wilking / Reuters What Difference Does a Healthy School Lunch Make?
Debates about the importance of school-provided lunches have raged across the world for more than a century.
-
![]()
China Photos / Stringer / Getty How the Chicken Industry Got Hooked on Antibiotics
Now that drugs have transformed chicken farming, is there any way to escape their dangerous cost?
-
![]()
Toby Melville / Reuters Britain's Great Tea Heist
In the 1848, the nation’s obsession with tea resulted in one of the biggest thefts of intellectual property in history.
-
![]()
Mike Blake / Reuters The Peril and Promise of Peanut Butter
The spread that’s poisonous to a growing number of people also is the basis of a medical therapy that saves the lives of millions of children.
-
![]()
Luke MacGregor / Reuters The Surprisingly Subtle Art of Food Fraud
The long history of faked foods includes horse-meat hamburgers, oil-and dust-peppercorns, and corn-syrup honey.
-
![]()
Larry Crowe / AP The Creativity of Southern Cooking
The region’s cuisine has a complex history of violence, adaptability, and innovation.
