Accessibility links

Food Stories on food, nutrition, recipes, cooking, cookbook reviews, and health. Download Food and Hidden Kitchen podcasts and subscribe to RSS feeds.

Food

Science

Safeguarding the World's Chocolate Supply

June 27, 2008 • Mars, the maker of M&Ms, is teaming with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and IBM to make chocolate give up its secrets. They're spending more than $10 million in an effort to sequence the genome of the cacao plant — from which chocolate is made.

Diversions

New Orleans Declares Sazerac Its Cocktail of Choice

June 26, 2008 • The Louisiana Legislature has proclaimed the Sazerac — a potent mix of rye whiskey, bitters and absinthe — New Orleans' official cocktail. A local bar chef explains the appeal and shares the secret to making the iconic drink.

London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

Sam Clark, chef and Manor Garden allotment holder. Kitchen Sisters hide caption

toggle caption

Kitchen Sisters

Hidden Kitchens: The Kitchen Sisters

London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

June 26, 2008 • London's "allotment" gardens are an unusual system of community gardens across the city. Tended by immigrants, retirees, chefs and fans of fresh food, they make up a kitchen community like no other.

Bryant Park Project Video

Raw Milk: Panacea or Poison?

June 25, 2008 • Only eight states allow raw milk to be sold in stores for human consumption, but that hasn't stopped people across the country from drinking it. Fans argue that pasteurization kills good bacteria as well as bad, but experts are divided.

Kitchen Window

Breakfast Baking: Better Fast Food

June 25, 2008 • Breakfast has long been touted as the most important meal of the day. It gives you energy and keeps your appetite in check until dinner. But who has time to eat it? One solution to the modern breakfast dilemma isn't faster fast food, but a mainstay of home baking — the quick bread.

Hear an interview with Julie O'Hara

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/91812924/91864188" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Cooking and Cookbooks

Nigella Lawson: Simple, Not Plain, Summer Fare

June 24, 2008 • Now that summer is here, food lovers will be gathering outdoors for all sorts of celebrations. Most people like to keep it casual, but food writer and cook Nigella Lawson says there's room for a little bit of elegance, too.

A Dash of Flavor and Culture from Afghanistan

June 22, 2008 • Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S. and his wife recently hosted a celebration at the embassy, where a private demonstration by the chef produced a traditional eggplant dish that is simple to make, yet dances on the tongue.

Diversions

'Baconhenge' Rituals Confound Historians

June 20, 2008 • The exact origins of "Baconhenge" food sculpting are as murky as the history of the British stone monument which inspired the obscure breakfast art. Carin Huber, editor of AntiCraft magazine, probes the not-so-ancient pastime.

Diversions

Will Australia Swear Off Foul-Mouthed TV Chef?

June 20, 2008 • Gordon Ramsay's cooking show has prompted Australia's parliament to consider new rules against profanity. He's known for swearing at restaurant staff. And some viewers thought it was a little excessive when he used a four-letter word 80 times in 40 minutes.

Religion

How to Know Halal is Really Halal

June 19, 2008 • Some Muslims want assurances that their meat was ritually slaughtered according to Islamic law. Following reports of unsanctioned practices at a kosher slaughterhouse, shoppers who buy meat processed according to religious law are worried.

Kitchen Window

Savoring the Melon Season

June 18, 2008 • Of all the melons that appear in markets each summer, the sweet, orange-fleshed cantaloupe — or netted muskmelon — is the most popular. The fruit's light, fresh flavor shines in sweet or savory dishes.

Essay

Tomatoes Not Chopped From This Menu

June 14, 2008 • For NPR's Andrea Seabrook, tomatoes are not just a fruit or the main ingredient of spaghetti sauce and salsa. For Seabrook and her family, tomatoes are part of life. As such, they continue to eat tomatoes despite the salmonella scare.

Environment

A Not-So-Sweet Lesson from Brazil's Cocoa Farms

June 14, 2008 • A fungus that only attacks cacao trees swept through eastern Brazil in the late 1980s and early '90s, ravaging the area's cocoa industry. The blight set in motion a series of events that changed the ecology of the entire region, a devastating lesson in the laws of nature.

Health

Reacting to the Tomato Scare: Overdone or Not Enough?

June 13, 2008 • The number of Americans becoming sick from eating tomatoes contaminated with salmonella bacteria is rising. Douglas Powell, associate professor for food safety, discusses whether people are overreacting — or not reacting seriously enough — to such foodborne illnesses.

Cancer Threatens Top Chef's Sense of Taste

June 12, 2008 • The James Beard Foundation has just named Grant Achatz the most outstanding chef in the U.S. But Achatz has tongue cancer, which has damaged his ability to taste.