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Bánh mì, the Vietnamese equivalent of a hoagie, sub, or grinder, is a beautiful example of what happens when two distinct culinary cultures blend. Bánh mì translates to “baked” and “wheat” or “bread.” At its core, it's a french baguette filled with Vietnamese ingredients. Crispy bread, pickled...

Ramps (Allium tricoccum), also called wild leek, is a native species of wild onion that grows across Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States—from Nova Scotia down through to Georgia and west to Iowa. In early spring, the onion’s underground bulb sprouts fleshy, tulip-like leaves. Crush the...

Capers provide tiny bursts of lemony, briny flavor to dishes such as walleye meunière, pheasant piccata, or, my favorite, simply atop a bagel with lox. Commercial capers are essentially the unripe green flower buds of the caper bush, which are cultivated in Italy, Morocco, Spain, parts of Asia, and...

A recent study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that a disturbing portion of children between ages 4 to 7 don’t know where their food comes from. The authors say their data demonstrates that about 40% of kids think bacon, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets come from plants...

In May 2019, The New York Times’ food and climate desks collaborated to help their readers understand the relationship between dietary choices and greenhouse gas emissions. The project embodied a primary function of journalism—demonstrating the power of individual actions to impact national and...

Making sauerkraut is similar to making charcuterie—salt and time are the key ingredients. Unlike charcuterie, however, sauerkraut (or any fermented vegetable) is a little more forgiving in the process. Sauerkraut is simply fermented cabbage with or without spices. Typically, chefs will include...

The stone walls in the wine cellar are cool to the touch. I have goosebumps even as the mid-August Hungarian sun scorches the grass 10 feet above us. We're in Etyek, 30 minutes east of Budapest, sipping wine under a bare lightbulb hanging from the low arched ceiling. The translator explains that the...

Sweetness is a powerful thing. If you've ever seen the eyes of a young child go wide with their first taste of sugar, then you know the face of someone absolutely gripped with pleasure. This first taste is likely the beginning of a lifelong love affair that most people never tire of. The conundrum...

Charcuterie is a catch-all term for processed meat. These meats can range from dry-cured Spanish hams to smoked snack sticks. The craft of making charcuterie evolved from the need to preserve meats before the advent of refrigeration and utilize odds and ends of protein. With the modern luxury of...

For the first few millennia of bread's existence, it was flat. The dough was made of stone-ground grains and seeds, mixed into a porridge, and baked on a stone heated by fire. Historians disagree about when exactly humans began to eat leavened bread, but the first use of wild yeasts in bread dough...

If you’ve ever found yourself dripping sweat with socks full of grass clippings in the middle of June, having just pushed your lawnmower in concentric circles for an entire Saturday, then you can thank the French and English aristocracy of the 16th century. The fact that lawns exist at all in North...