How Microbes Shape Our World
Rob Knight is a pioneer in studying human microbes, the community of tiny single-cell organisms living inside our bodies that have a huge — and largely unexplored — role in our health. “The three pounds…
The Myth of Wine Geology
Soil, not grapes, is the latest must-know when choosing a wine,” Bloomberg has proclaimed. Meanwhile, wine writer Alice Feiring has published a book which helps drinkers choose their tipple by “looking at the source: the…
The Best Crabs of the Season
THE BEST CRABS OF THE SEASON TODAY’S LESSON: The warming waters of Summer convince the crab population to shed its Winter armor and become briefly what we know as soft shells. This is the special…
Are ‘Corklins’ the Reason Wine Bottled with a Cork Tastes Different?
The wine world has faced an ongoing debate over whether wine bottled with a cork is better than twist-off bottles and other non-cork packaging. On one side, you have the cork industry (a surprisingly vocal…
How to Recreate Prohibition-Era Cocktails at Home
When we look back at Prohibition, we might be tempted to glorify the era from 1920 to 1933 as one of glitz, excess, and freewheeling fun in the face of an unnecessary law. But the origins…
The End to a French Cheese Tradition?
In the heart of Normandy’s Pays d’Auge region, about an hour’s drive inland from the D-Day beaches on France’s northern coast, lies the 200-person village of Camembert, surrounded by white-and-brown cows grazing in lush green…
Anthony Bourdain, Chef, Travel Host and Author, Is Dead at 61
The travel host Anthony Bourdain, whose memoir “Kitchen Confidential” about the dark corners of New York’s restaurants started a career in television, died on Friday at 61. For the past several years, Mr. Bourdain hosted…
This Brilliant Cooking Site Solves The Biggest Problem with Recipes
You can’t copyright a recipe. It’s why the 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist who invented the banana split never got rich when Walgreen’s took the idea nationwide, or why chef Dominique Ansel trademarked the word “Cronut” to…
HOW TO TELL THE AGE OF NON-VINTAGE CHAMPAGNE
Non-vintage wine is an odd concept. If wine is made through annual cycles, culminating in an autumn harvest, it always has a vintage, right? Not in Champagne, where at least 75 percent of the production…
To capture the Terrior of San Francisco, One Distiller is Capturing Fog to make Vodka
Laboratory analyses can’t identify anything special about the water Hangar One Vodka Distillery collects from Bay Area fog to produce its limited edition Fog Point Vodka. But head distiller Caley Shoemaker can. She says it’s…