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Culture

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

Food and drink

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

11 minutes

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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

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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

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video

The ancient world

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

16 minutes

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video

Food and drink

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

10 minutes

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Biology

Dazzling timelapse shows how microbes spoil our food – and sometimes enrich it

22 minutes

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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

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video

Ecology and environmental sciences

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

7 minutes

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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

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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

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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

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video

Biography and memoir

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

9 minutes

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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

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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

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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

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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

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video

Subcultures

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

21 minutes

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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

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video

Food and drink

Making sauerkraut is a spiritual matter for the ‘fermentation fetishist’ Sandor Katz

12 minutes

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video

Anthropology

The uncanny allure of the annual Cajun crawfish festival in Louisiana

10 minutes

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Chemistry

Dramatic close-ups capture something percolating and exploding – but what is it?

5 minutes

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essay

Economic history

Tea and capitalism

The China tea trade was a paradox: a global, intensified industry without the usual spectacle of factories and technology

Andrew Liu

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idea

Food and drink

The ‘organic child’ ideal holds mothers to an impossible standard

Kate Cairns, Norah MacKendrick & Josée Johnston

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video

Sports and games

Grab bags, café raids and booze – how Tour de France cyclists refuelled in the 1960s

3 minutes