food history

One hundred years ago today, the U.S. entered World War I. American GIs marched into battle armed with one important — and then still-novel — item to give them a jolt of energy and raise morale.

Anyone who has read or seen Victor Hugo's masterpiece knows the plot turns on the theft of a simple loaf of bread. There was no sharper barometer of economic status in 19th-century France than bread.

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.

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.

DeKnight was Ebony's first food editor and author of a best-selling African-American cookbook in the '40s. Her recipes presented a vision of black America that was often invisible in mainstream media.

From the time of the Aztecs, chocolate has been seen as an aphrodisiac. (Casanova certainly thought so.) But it took many centuries for it to become the taste of the love holiday.

Despite taking some historical liberties, Bud's new ad about its founder gets some things right — like the hostility toward new immigrants and suspicion of their un-American ways (like drinking).

Marie-Antoine Carême died 184 years ago today. But in his short lifetime, he would forever revolutionize French haute cuisine and gain worldwide fame. Some of his concepts are still in use.

Few coffee aficionados are putting a Mr. Coffee machine on their wish list. But 40 years ago, it would've been at the top. The appliance revolutionized the quality and speed of home brewing.

In her new book, Sarah Lohman says that even though America is culturally and ethnically diverse, its food is united by a handful of tastes that have permeated the nation's cuisine for centuries.