food

The California Pepper Commission says mechanical harvesters to pick hot and bell peppers could help solve labor shortage problems.

National

4 Labor-Intensive Crops Farmers Wish They Had Robots To Harvest

5:13pm September 14, 2015

by Eliza Barclay

Many fruits and vegetables must be harvested by hand because it's hard and costly to design machines that won't damage them. But as farm labor dwindles, there's a new push to develop more farm robots.

The group of women in a new study with the lowest rate of breast cancer consumed about four tablespoons of olive oil each day.

Health & Safety

Mediterranean Diet With Extra Olive Oil May Lower Breast Cancer Risk

2:04pm September 14, 2015

by Allison Aubrey

A study finds that women who ate a Mediterranean diet plus four tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil per day had a significantly lower risk of breast cancer compared with women on a low-fat diet.

Queue Listen Now

"Honey cake is considered the fruitcake of the kosher kitchen," jokes cookbook author Marcy Goldman. "The same resistance people may have to fruitcake, a lot of people have about honey cake." With her recipe — now the go-to recipe for thousands of famil

The Jewish Fruitcake: Honey Cake Is A Sweet And Stodgy Tradition

11:57pm September 13, 2015

by Deena Prichep

In symbolic hope for a sweet new year, many Jews will mark the start of Rosh Hashanah with honey cake. The cake is sentimental, but not always beloved. Here, a delectable update to the ancient recipe.

Queue Listen Now

Cage-free chickens in a barn near Hershey, Pa., get to roam and perch on steel rods, but they don't go outside. This week, McDonald's became the latest big buyer to demand cage-free eggs.

National

The Latest Scramble In The Egg Industry: McDonald's Is Going Cage-Free

1:30pm September 12, 2015

by Dan Charles

McDonald's USA says that within 10 years, all of its eggs will be from chickens that have some freedom to roam. It's another signal that the egg industry is abandoning traditional cages.

Queue Listen Now

President Obama presents the 2014 National Humanities Medal to Alice Waters during an East Room ceremony at the White House on Thursday. Alice Waters was honored for celebrating the bond between the ethical and the edible as a chef, author and advocate.

Arts

Alice Waters, Healthy Food Advocate, Receives Humanities Medal

6:49pm September 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

President Obama awarded chef and author Alice Waters with the National Humanities Medal on Thursday. The advocate of sustainable eating explains what it means to have her work recognized this way.

Queue Listen Now

Copenhagen, Denmark - October 11, 2014: fruits and vegetables stalls at market in Copenhagen. Customers are choosing goods for themselves. These stalls is located between market halls where one can find over 60 stands with everything from fresh fish and m

Denmark Might Be Winning The Global Race To Prevent Food Waste

4:54pm September 11, 2015

by Sidsel Overgaard

According to a recent report from the Danish government, Danes now throw away 25 percent less food than they did five years ago. Supermarkets are doing their part by selling older food at a discount.

Yellowtail jack (Seriola lalandi) at HSWRI in San Diego.

Huge Fish Farm Planned Near San Diego Aims To Fix Seafood Imbalance

4:13pm September 11, 2015

by Claire Trageser

The aquaculture project would be the same size as New York's Central Park and produce 11 million pounds of yellowtail and white sea bass each year. But some people see it as an aquatic "factory farm."

Queue Listen Now

The Food and Drink Museum will open in its first permanent home – a mini-museum in Brooklyn — in October. The plan is to move into a bigger, final home by 2019. Above, an artist's rendering shows one potential exhibit – on ready-to-eat cereal — in

Arts

A Food Museum Grows In Brooklyn

12:15pm September 11, 2015

by Tove Danovich

An ambitious plan to create an interactive, world-class museum dedicated to the edible comes closer to reality. The Museum of Food and Drink will have its first permanent home starting next month.

Quebec produces about three-quarters of the world's maple syrup supply. "There's pride, and maybe a little bit of nationalism, associated with it," says Antoine Aylwin, a Canadian lawyer who represents maple syrup buyers who've tangled with the federation

World News

Why Some Canadian Maple Syrup Producers Are Defying Their 'Cartel'

3:18pm September 09, 2015

by Whitney Blair Wyckoff

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has been called the OPEC of the liquid sweetener. Lately, some maple producers and buyers say they've fallen victim to its bullying tactics.

Make mine a venti: An example of a drinking vessel from the Grasshopper Pueblo archaeological site in central Arizona. Researchers tested shards of similar vessels found at various sites in the American Southwest and found evidence that people in the regi

1,000 Years Ago, Caffeinated Drinks Had Native Americans Buzzing

3:32pm September 08, 2015

by Murray Carpenter

People in the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest were drinking cacao and tea-like yaupon in places where neither grew. That suggests an extensive trade network to deliver a caffeine fix.