Historian William H. McNeill contends that the potato fundamentally changed world history. European armies marched on what they foraged locally even if it meant peasants starved to death as a result.
Stories of migration through food is a powerful way to challenge typical narratives; food can be a gateway to understanding where people come from. It’s a kind of portal to our memories.
Anchor Brewing is more than just a beloved institution in this city. It’s the very myth of San Francisco in a bottle. It’s a relic of the Gold Rush, a harbinger of the it-happened-here-first innovation that our region hopes to be known for.
The story of boiled peanuts is as complex, fraught, and global as the South itself. To acknowledge the complexity, and challenges, of their history is to acknowledge the ingenuity of the people who worked to preserve their culinary heritage.
A recent petition signed by nearly 900 food professionals calling for a cease-fire raises, once again, questions of contested cuisines.
Food history is replete with honored legends, creative stories, slightly twisted truths, unsupported claims, leaps of faith, and outright lies. Actually most new dishes are not invented; they evolve.
On May 18, 1980, some 600 students and civilians gathered at Gwangju’s
Chonnam National University in peaceful protest against Chun Doo-hwan.
Gwangju’s rice ball is no less than an edible encapsulation of the city’s history and moral
fiber.
Weaving together new research and rich primary sources, the Plant Humanities Initiative recounts stories of global foods, such as peanuts, to illuminate their extraordinary significance to humans.
The prime growing area for Jersey tomatoes is a region now known as the Inner Coastal Plain, which covers more than 1,000 square miles in southern New Jersey, bordering the Delaware River to the west.
Adrian Miller is a food writer, James Beard Award winner, attorney, and certified barbecue judge. His third book, discussed here, is Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue.
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