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Culture

Essays and videos on the arts, literature, travel, rituals and celebrations

Architecture Art Biography and memoir Dance and theatre Design and fashion Film and visual culture Food and drink Home Music Nature and landscape Rituals and celebrations Sports and games Stories and literature Subcultures Travel

A person’s hands pouring olive oil into a row of wine glasses with people blurred in the background at a tasting event.

essay

Food and drink

The flavour of mechanisation

Olive oil was revered and cherished by the ancients. But its distinctive peppery taste is really a modern invention

Massimo Mazzotti

Illustration of a saucepan on a stove with raw meat and ginger, a pot lid is nearby on the right.

video

Family life

The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal

5 minutes

Ancient mosaic depicting two figures with instruments on a blue stone background.

essay

Food and drink

The fermented crescent

Ancient Mesopotamians had a profound love of beer: a beverage they found celebratory, intoxicating and strangely erotic

Tate Paulette

Photo of people in a forest, some kneeling and examining plants, others standing and walking, all surrounded by lush greenery.

essay

Food and drink

The joy of foraging

Offering an escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes the soul and body, but it needs democratic access to the land

Nikita Sud

Residential street with terraced houses and power plant cooling towers in the background, one of which has a mural depicting a sun and mountains.

video

Food and drink

Local tensions simmer amid a potato salad contest at the Czech-Polish border

14 minutes

Close-up image of a hand holding a pile of vibrant red powder, possibly a spice or pigment, displaying a textured and granular surface. The background is blurred, ensuring the focus remains on the red powder and the hand.

video

Biology

How the world’s richest reds are derived from an innocuous Mexican insect

5 minutes

Close-up of a person lighting a cigarette with a lighter in a dim, smoky environment.

video

Love and friendship

Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment

11 minutes

A group of men in formal attire sit at a long table, eating from bowls in a patterned room with numerous empty wine glasses.

video

Food and drink

Is a ‘gastronomic society’ dinner the height of decadence, or an act of artistry?

11 minutes

A group of people socialising at a restaurant, seated around a table adorned with flowers, wine glasses, and menus, with a bartender in the background.

essay

Food and drink

Crème de la crème

How French cuisine became beloved among status-hungry diners in the United States, from Thomas Jefferson to Kanye West

Kelly Alexander & Claire Bunschoten

Fishermen in orange helmets and blue attire pull a large net of jumping fish out of the water, creating a dramatic splash.

essay

Oceans and water

Here’s to blue foods

With care for the social and ecological consequences, foods from the ocean should provide sustainable protein to billions

Madhura Rao

A hand holding an ancient horn-shaped bronze vessel with a sculpted animal head, pouring liquid against a brick wall background.

video

The ancient world

What wine vessels reveal about politics and luxury in ancient Athens and Persia

16 minutes

Overhead view of a bustling outdoor market with red and white striped umbrellas, various fruits and vegetables on display, and shoppers browsing stalls.

video

Food and drink

From set-up to close, a day at the farmers market is a whirlwind sensory feast

10 minutes

Group of men standing outside a restaurant with a sign reading “NO BOOZE SOLD HERE. BOOZE HOUNDS PLEASE STAY OUT.” One man is pointing at the sign.

essay

History

Freedom from liquor

Ken Burns’s account of prohibition tells a popular story of booze in America. The historical record is far more sobering

Mark Lawrence Schrad

Illustration of a farm with grazing cows, pineapples, strawberries, tomatoes, banana trees, a river, and a bird in the sky.

video

Ecology and environmental sciences

Producing food while restoring the planet – a glimpse of farming in the future

7 minutes

Black and white photo of children seated at a table with food and drinks, with some children looking towards the camera and others interacting.

essay

Human rights and justice

Breakfast with the Panthers

It wasn’t all young men and guns: the Black Panther Party’s programs fed more hungry kids than the state of California

Suzanne Cope

A group of people, including women and children, gathered outdoors; a man records data while a baby is weighed using a hanging scale.

essay

Poverty and development

A fairly fed world

Last year, 200 million children did not get enough to eat, yet it would be cheap and easy for the world to feed them all

Sharman Apt Russell

Two pigs peer through a window with metal bars, in a black-and-white photograph.

essay

Ethics

We must not own animals

We will never truly advance our ethical relationship with other animals until we stop treating them as chattels for use

Gary L Francione

Man in a suit and bowler hat inspecting an item, with a red bus and a shield with three lions in the background.

video

Biography and memoir

Meet Haddon Salt – the would-have-been Colonel Sanders of fish and chips

9 minutes

A group of woolly sheep with ear tags standing in a field, viewed through wooden fence slats, with hills in the background.

essay

Ethics

Why you should eat meat

Not eating animals is wrong. If you care about animals, then the right thing to do is breed them, kill them and eat them

Nick Zangwill

Porcelain coffee pot with a wooden handle, gold decorative elements, and a painted scene featuring people riding an elephant.

essay

Food and drink

The chocolate route

The humble cocoa bean’s journey from its Amerindian origins to worldwide dominance is a lesson in the power of trade

Irene Fattacciu

A supermarket shelf filled with various colourful bottled juices arranged in rows, displaying different brands and flavours.

essay

Food and drink

The food wars

Vitamins or whole foods; high-fat or low-fat; sugar or sweetener. Will we ever get a clear idea about what we should eat?

Amos Zeeberg

Pile of black soldier fly larvae in a blue container.

essay

Bioethics

Don’t farm bugs

Insect farming bakes, boils and shreds animals by the trillion. It’s immoral, risky and won’t resolve the climate crisis

Jeff Sebo & Jason Schukraft

Hands sorting oranges and kiwis in a plastic bag. The fruit is packaged and labelled, and hand is gloved.

video

Subcultures

Dented cans, ugly fruit – it’s all tasty (and free) if you’re willing to get your hands dirty

21 minutes

Painting of a lively pub scene with men dancing, playing instruments and socialising; one man leans over a bar while a dog observes.

essay

Food and drink

Drunks and democrats

Violent, lively and brash, taverns were everywhere in early colonial America, embodying both its tumult and its promise

Vaughn Scribner