Food

A woman adds artificial sweetener to a drink. The paranoia over the health dangers of aspartame can be traced back to an early Internet hoax.

The Decades-Long Struggle to Figure Out Whether Aspartame Is Bad for You

As groups within the World Health Organization are reviewing the artificial sweetner’s potential to cause cancer, take a look back at a hoax from the '90s

A recently unearthed fresco at a house in Pompeii shows a flatbread that could have been a precursor to pizza.

Does This Pompeii Painting Depict a 2,000-Year-Old Pizza?

The fresco features a flatbread with a variety of toppings—but no tomato and mozzarella

Losang Samten, a Tibetan American scholar and former Buddhist monk, will create, with the help of festivalgoers, a sand mandala.

The 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Explores the Many Ways Americans Express Their Spirituality

Tibetan Buddhist monks, Yiddish musicians and many more creatives will share their cultural practices with visitors to the National Mall

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Can American Craft Sodas Save the Soft Drink Industry?

The sector is one of the few in the industry that are forecast to grow

A chicken nugget made from cell-cultivated meat. The companies plan to start by selling their product to restaurants. 

USDA Approves First Lab-Grown Chicken in the United States

Two companies have received the green light to produce and sell chicken they have cultivated from cells

Crowds gather for the summer solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.

Nine Ways People Celebrate the Summer Solstice Around the World

Across the Northern Hemisphere, worshippers of the longest day of the year build bonfires, plunge into the ocean and visit prehistoric monuments

Research on creating food in space will help future missions to Mars and beyond. The Deep Space Food Challenge, co-sponsored by NASA, encourages development of novel space foods.

Move Over, Freeze-Dried Fruitcake—Here's the Latest in Astronaut Food

Eight companies developing next-generation space meals have advanced to the final round of competition in a contest co-sponsored by NASA

Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired Ebony magazine's bright and bold test kitchen, originally built in 1972.

'Ebony' Magazine's Vintage Test Kitchen Finds a Home at the Smithsonian

The 1970s-era kitchen will undergo conservation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Spam musubi, a Japanese-American dish created in Hawaii, is made of Spam, rice and seaweed.

How Spam Became a Staple of Asian Cuisine

When American G.I.s fought abroad in wars in the 20th century, they left behind an unlikely legacy: canned meat

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey with Mary Claire Cook, a fourth-grade student and creator of the new cookie

This Fourth Grader Created Alabama's New Official State Cookie

Called the Yellowhammer, the dessert is made with ingredients that are important to the state

Public swimming at Clift Park in Skaneateles, New York

The 15 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2023

From an ultramarathon capital in the Rockies to a laid-back village in the Florida Keys, these vibrant towns are calling your name

Stronger policies around ill workers could improve food safety, the CDC says.

Sick Workers Connected to 41 Percent of Food Poisoning Outbreaks, CDC Reports

Paid sick leave policies could reduce the risk of spreading disease, notes the agency

Representative Robert F. Broussard believed hippos imported from Africa would rid Louisiana and Florida of the water hyacinths smothering their waterways.

How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers

In 1910, a failed House bill sought to increase the availability of low-cost meat by importing hippopotamuses that would be killed to make "lake cow bacon"

An overhead view shows the full layout of the 3,000-year-old bakery.

Archaeologists in Armenia Unearth a Bakery—Complete With 3,000-Year-Old Flour

Originally thought to be ash, the ancient powdery substance helped researchers identify the building's purpose

Mitzi Avila, who owns Cookies and Chill bakery in Austin, Texas, made a dessert version of Thomas Glassford’s Siphonophora and Teresita Fernández’s Stacked Waters.

These Artworks Are Good Enough to Eat—Literally

The Blanton Museum in Austin asked bakers to create edible versions of pieces in its collection

An experimental "peanut patch" could help ease stress in families of young children with allergies.

A Skin Patch Could Help Allergic Toddlers Tolerate Peanuts

Some young children with allergies could eat low doses of peanuts without a severe reaction after wearing the patch for a year in a clinical trial

Wendy's will roll out its A.I.-powered chatbot at a restaurant near Columbus, Ohio, next month.

A.I. Could Soon Take Your Fast-Food Order

Wendy’s is testing a chatbot that can converse with customers, answer questions and send orders to the kitchen. Other chains are making similar moves

Vincent van Gogh's recently renamed still life Red Cabbages and Garlic (1887)

Van Gogh Painting Gets a New Name Thanks to an Eagle-Eyed Chef

Ernst de Witte realized that the onions in "Red Cabbages and Onions" are actually garlic

Silver carp throw themselves into the air at the sound of passing boats.

Seven Wild Ways Scientists Are Trying to Stop Invasive Carp

Researchers and local officials are using unusual methods to keep invasive carp from intruding into the Great Lakes and other waterways

Between 300 and 500 pounds of uncooked pasta piled up near a creak in Old Bridge, New Jersey.

How Did 500 Pounds of Pasta End Up in the New Jersey Woods?

Since stumbling across the scene, residents of Old Bridge have been perplexed by the pasta puzzle

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