Food : NPR

Frugal Fine Fare: Tips For Three-Course Meals On Less Than $5

Michel Nischan and assistants prepare herbs for his chopped herb salad. Allison Aubrey/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Allison Aubrey/NPR

The Salt

Frugal Fine Fare: Tips For Three-Course Meals On Less Than $5

November 30, 2011 • Chef Michel Nischan is no stranger to posh nosh. But last night, he demonstrated how to prepare a flavorful, seasonal three-course meal for just $4.50 a person.

Is Fair Trade Coffee Still Fair If It Comes From A Big Farm?

A coffee grower picks coffee fruits in a plantation near Montenegro in Quindio province, Colombia. Fair Trade USA wants to allow coffee from big estates like this one under its fair trade label. Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters /Landov hide caption

toggle caption

Jose Miguel Gomez/Reuters /Landov

The Salt

Is Fair Trade Coffee Still Fair If It Comes From A Big Farm?

November 30, 2011 • A major certifier of fair trade foods says it wants to buy and certify coffee from big farms. But others in fair trade say that goes against the industry's priority of helping small farmers.

Is Fair Trade Coffee Still Fair If It Comes From A Big Farm?

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142935891/142907208" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Dave Scantland for NPR

Opinion

Kitchen Window

Cracking The Poached Egg Code

November 30, 2011 • How to perfectly poach an egg? It seems everyone has a secret, from the egg itself to the pot or pan to the cooking time and temperature. But there's no mystery, as food writer Janet Zimmerman attests. Practice makes perfect — and opens up a world of luscious recipes.

A Dissolving Fruit Sticker That Claims Soap Superpowers

Courtesy of Amron Experimental

The Salt

A Dissolving Fruit Sticker That Claims Soap Superpowers

November 29, 2011 • A young designer has invented a sticker for fresh produce that turns into soap and removes wax, pesticides, and dirt. While food safety experts say the product could help reduce waste, it may not clean produce any better than water.

Nestle To Investigate Child Labor On Its Cocoa Farms

A worker shovels cocoa beans drying in the sun for export, in Guiglo in western Ivory Coast. Ben Curtis/ASSOCIATED PRESS hide caption

toggle caption

Ben Curtis/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Salt

Nestle To Investigate Child Labor On Its Cocoa Farms

November 29, 2011 • Nestle, the world' largest food company, has hired an organization that specializes in accountability to investigate and document child labor on the cocoa farms that supply its chocolate in Côte d'Ivoire.

Unilever: Restaurants Need To Cut Food Waste

A prep cook drops apple skins into a food scrap recycling container in San Francisco. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Salt

Unilever: Restaurants Need To Cut Food Waste

November 28, 2011 • Up to now, food waste hasn't been a big priority for Unilever, though it's one of the central flaws in the global food system. Now, the company is realizing that it's a big concern among diners.

Opinion

Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!

Sandwich Monday: The Toast Sandwich

November 28, 2011 • It's a slice of toast, seasoned with salt and pepper, between two pieces of bread with butter. It's a great way for people on a budget to get their recommended daily allowance of vitamins and sadness.

Soybeans May Have Fed Asia Earlier Than Thought

Soybean farmers in Xiangfan, in central China's Hubei province. Reuters /Landov hide caption

toggle caption

Reuters /Landov

The Salt

Soybeans May Have Fed Asia Earlier Than Thought

November 28, 2011 • Soybeans have fueled Asian civilizations for centuries, but the origins of the noble bean remains shrouded in the mists of history. Now a Korean archeologist says China may have to share bragging rights as the birthplace of soy.

Performing Arts

Healthy Cooking, A Performance Artist's Statement

November 27, 2011 • Performance artist Robert Karimi has made it his mission to fight Type 2 Diabetes by making healthy cooking the basis for his performance art installations. Karimi takes his show on the road to the unlikeliest places to show his audience that healthy cooking can be exotic and fun. Yowei Shaw reports.

Healthy Cooking, A Performance Artist's Statement

Listen · 4:49 4:49

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142821483/142821467" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

With Paula Deen, It's Not Really About The Pie

For fans of TV chef Paula Deen (seen here in a photo from 2006), her appeal lies not in the recipes, but in that feeling that she's talking just to you. Courtesy of Food Network/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Food Network/AP

Opinion

The Salt

With Paula Deen, It's Not Really About The Pie

November 26, 2011 • With Paula Deen, it's not really about the butter, the mayonnaise or the fried cheesecake. For fans, it's about that feeling that you're sitting around the kitchen table with a friend.

With Paula Deen, It's Not Really About The Pie

Listen · 4:29 4:29

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142728673/142796021" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Giant Pumpkin, But Forget About Pie

November 25, 2011 • Some pumpkins just aren't meant for the pie pan. Robert Sabin has been growing "Atlantic giant" pumpkins for ten years and says they are more like children than fruit to him. He raises his pumpkins for competition--the heavier, the better.

Giant Pumpkin, But Forget About Pie

Listen · 2:32 2:32

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142782873/142781871" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Relax, Folks. It Really Is Honey After All

When is filtered honey really honey? The answer may lie in the politics of imported food. Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

The Salt

Relax, Folks. It Really Is Honey After All

November 25, 2011 • The honey on supermarket shelves is probably real honey, after all. But claims that illicit Chinese honey was being sneaked into the U.S. market reveal how quick we are to assume the worst about supermarket foods — and imports. Closer analysis reveals a more complex tale.

Kitchen Tricks: Halving Cherry Tomatoes

November 24, 2011 • On the program Wednesday, Saveur Magazine's Todd Coleman revealed a kitchen secret for peeling garlic cloves. On Thursday, his trick is quickly halving a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Kitchen Tricks: Halving Cherry Tomatoes

Listen · 2:46 2:46

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142755938/142755929" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Adam Gopnik: 'The Table Comes First'

November 24, 2011 • What goes on the dining table has never mattered as much to our lives as what goes on around it, says Adam Gopnik, a staff writer for The New Yorker. Guest host John Donvan talks with Gopnik about his new book, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food.

Adam Gopnik: 'The Table Comes First'

Listen · 30:19 30:19

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/142752117/142752147" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Thanksgiving Abroad: How You Feast When Far From Home

A Qantas jetliner takes off from Sydney Airport in Australia Oct. 31. Rick Rycroft/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Rick Rycroft/AP

The Salt

Thanksgiving Abroad: How You Feast When Far From Home

November 24, 2011 • How do Americans celebrate this national holiday when overseas? We put the question to our Facebook fans. Among the more than 1,200 responses: Turkey with all the fixings plus pasta in Villasanta, Italy; buying a small turkey for $60 in Katmandu, Nepal; and sharing dumplings with Czech friends in Prague.