Food History

A McDonald’s in Tangiers, Morocco. The sign is in Arabic.

What Do They Call a Quarter Pounder With Cheese in Casablanca?

McDonalds has been international for 50 years now... and its restaurants have learned how to blend in to the local scene

Colorful St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Explore Crucian Cuisine on a New U.S. Virgin Islands Food Tour

Get a taste of St. Croix's culinary traditions

The Maillard Reaction's best-known application is in tasty, tasty food.

Why Food Smells So Good When It’s Browning

A complex chemical reaction called the Maillard Reaction is responsible

Can you tell which it is?

The 1870s Dairy Lobby Turned Margarine Pink So People Would Buy Butter

Margarine or butter? The question has deep roots, and you shouldn't even ask it in Wisconsin

Did Peckish Christians Make Chickens More Social?

Religious dietary laws in the Middle Ages could have helped make the fowl less aggressive

Chocolate chips as we know and love them today.

The First “Chocolate Chip” Was a Molasses Candy

The name "chocolate chip" goes back much farther than the Toll House cookies

Today, apples are one of the most valuable fruit crops in the United States, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

Apple Pie Is Not All That American

Neither apples nor the pie originally came from America, but Americans have made this dish their own

Krunan Lusikka

On Restaurant Day in Helsinki, Unofficial Pop-up Eateries Take Over Everything from Home Kitchens to Tattoo Shops

Learn why fudge like this is sold at every tourist attraction in the country

Why Does Every Tourist Attraction Sell Fudge?

One thing that places as different as Niagara Falls, Disneyland and Ellis Island have in common? Fudge

Botanists might see fruit, but to a tariff collector, there's nothing but vegetables here.

Tomatoes Have Legally Been Vegetables Since 1893

Okay, so it's technically a fruit. But we don't eat it like one

From the outside, the James Beard House is easy to miss. But as they say, it's what's inside that counts.

This Unassuming NYC Home is the Legacy of America's First Foodie

James Beard’s culinary philosophy helped shape American cuisine

A Culinary Renaissance in the Israeli Countryside

Beyond Tel Aviv, towns are adopting enticing new approaches to cuisine that celebrate the history of the region and and the diversity of its people

Is Champagne Still Champagne Without Bubbles?

In a storied part of France, a group of artisan producers is making this beloved wine the old fashioned way—sans fizz

The Unsavory History of Sugar, the Insatiable American Craving

How the nation got hooked on sweets

Women of the Salvation Army relied on ingenuity to serve up thousands of donuts to WWI soldiers.

The Women Who Fried Donuts and Dodged Bombs on the Front Lines of WWI

Even if they had to use shell casings as rolling pins, the donuts still got made

Don't worry: It's beef.

New Study Fleshes Out the Nutritional Value of Human Meat

The caloric value of the human body is surprisingly low compared to other prehistoric food options

Bevo, Anheuser-Busch's "cereal beer" or "near-beer," was the most popular of non-alcoholic malt beverages sold during Prohibition.

How Some Breweries Survived Prohibition

It mostly involved playing to their non-alcoholic strengths

Vanilla has risen to become one the most popular and costly spices in existence.

The Bittersweet Story of Vanilla

Today, less than 1 percent of vanilla flavoring comes from the vanilla flower. Is that a good thing?

Sourdough starters can be used to make all kinds of things: –pancakes, waffles, even cake–but the staple is sourdough bread.

Gold Miners Kept Their Sourdough Starters Alive By Cuddling Them

San Francisco-area miners used sourdough starters as a replacement for commercial leavening agents

A vintage ad for Coca Cola from around the late 19th or early 20th century.

Coca-Cola’s Creator Said the Drink Would Make You Smarter

Like the wine and cocaine drink that preceded it, Coca-Cola was first marketed as a brain tonic

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