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Food

International

How Lemonade Helped Paris Fend Off Plague And Other Surprising 'Food Fights'

Tove Danovich

Tom Nealon's new book searches through patchy historical records to trace subjects like how chocolate helped lead to war in the Caribbean, or the role a grain fungus played in the Crusades.
Health

Eating More — Or Less — Of 10 Foods May Cut Risk Of Early Death

Allison Aubrey

Too much bacon, or too few nuts, can influence the risk of death from heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, a study finds. Nearly half of U.S. deaths from these causes were linked to diet.
KPBS Midday Edition

San Diego's Female Chefs Celebrate Their Kitchen Leadership

Maureen Cavanaugh

Michael Lipkin

Women have been cooking and preparing meals for millennia, but female chefs are still a significant minority in U.S. restaurants.
International

Ecuador's fanesca is a Lenten soup flavored with centuries of tradition

Amy E. Robertson

This thick, creamy stew features 12 "grains" to represent the Twelve Apostles and cod to denote Jesus. It takes days and many hands to prepare, a meal befitting Ecuador's elaborate Lenten traditions.
International

PHOTOS: In Sri Lanka's Tea Paradise, A Social Enterprise Is Brewing

Victoria Milko

The island nation is one of the world's biggest exporters of tea, an industry that employs a sizable part of the population. We visit one organic tea farm that shares revenues with its workers.
Spread The Word: Butter Has An Epic Backstory

Nicole Jankowski

From its origins as a happy accident 10,000 years ago, to its role as the centerpiece of a school "rebellion," the tabletop staple has had quite a life. A new book tells the story.
Science & Technology

Cannibalism: It's 'Perfectly Natural,' A New Scientific History Argues

Angus Chen

It's gruesome, but from a scientific standpoint, there's a predictable calculus for when humans and animals go cannibal, a new book says. And who knew European aristocrats ate body parts as medicine?
Environment

Saving The Planet, One Burger At A Time: This Juicy Patty Is Meat-Free

Allison Aubrey

Pat Brown was a renowned biomedical researcher. But he left that to tackle what he saw as the biggest problem facing Earth: animal agriculture. His solution: a veggie burger so beef-like it bleeds.
International

Fact Or Fiction? Even When It Comes To Food, It's Hard To Tell With Rasputin

Nina Martyris

Worshipful female followers fought for the Mad Monk's leftover bread crusts. His infamous sweet tooth led to his death. Or did it? A century later, rumors about Russia's czarina whisperer still swirl.
National

Bears Ears Monument Is A Win For Tribal Food Sovereignty. Will Trump Undo It?

Kristina Johnson

The newly created monument preserves 1.3 million acres in Utah where natives have foraged for millennia. But critics who point to the land's energy extraction potential want the designation undone.