Food

The most popular condiment in the U.S. based on sales volume is mayonnaise. It was invented by a French chef in Spain in the 1750s. The first recipe for tomato ketchup, often called the “King of Condiments,”...

Egyptian tomb paintings and archaeological evidence suggest that there were farmers markets more than 5,000 years ago. Agricultural communities throughout Northern Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia had farmers markets in the following centuries. The Boston Market...

“My favorite Azerbaijani restaurant is ____. It’s much easier to fill in that blank when the restaurant in question is Mexican, Vietnamese or French.  Before sitting down to eat at Anar Usubov’s Bistro 4293, I’d read his website’s...

The artists in Anthony Meier’s group show, “Consider the Oyster,” are united, not by their relationship to mollusks, but by a more ephemeral relationship to M.F.K. Fisher’s short book of the same name.  Throughout the work, published in...

Both the use and the mystique of spices goes back centuries. Ancient Egyptians used spices such as coriander, cumin, myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon and ginger in cooking—and also mummification.  The ancient Chinese developed the classic “five-spice blend” of cinnamon,...

Embroidery on Paul Einbund’s baseball cap reads “chartreuse” in yellowy-green letters. It serves a dual purpose, announcing his profession as a sommelier and his upcoming travel itinerary. The restaurateur behind The Morris in San Francisco is about...

When the dishes arrive at the table, Sun Moon Studio’s dining room undergoes a subtle transformation. On the bottom floor of a newer build in West Oakland, the restaurant is a small rectangular room. The cold concrete...