food

Health & Safety

New York Times Restaurant Critic Tries To Regain Sense Of Smell After COVID-19

8:33am March 07, 2021

New York Times restaurant critic Tejal Rao,, tells NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the remedies she's tried in the quest to regain her sense of smell after COVID-19.

Scotch whisky producers are welcoming news of a breakthrough on tariffs, which came as the industry adjusted to both Brexit and then the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, an employee rolls a whisky barrel at the Glenturret Distillery in Crieff, central Scotland, l

Scotch Whisky, English Cheese Prices Could Ease As U.S. Halts Tariffs

10:43am March 04, 2021

by Bill Chappell

Scotch whisky and other goods have been subject to a 25% tariff. The levies cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost exports, according to the Scotch industry.

Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, by Michael Moss

Books
Arts

There Are So Many Flavors Of Potato Chips; 'Hooked' Looks At Why

7:55am March 03, 2021

by Barbara J. King

Investigative reporter Michael Moss explores how some food companies tweak their products to take advantage of evolved biology, creating room for novelty that triggers the brain to make us want more.

Writer Investigates History Of America's Black Brewers

5:22pm February 27, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with writer James Bennett II, whose latest piece in Eater explores the deep history of Black brewers in America.

Why Is Room-Temperature Butter In Canada Mysteriously Harder Than Usual?

4:42pm February 26, 2021

In the last few weeks, Canadians have reported that their butter is harder to spread than before. Food expert Dr. Sylvain Charlebois offers a potential reason why.

Good butter should spread easily at room temperature, right? Well, Canadians have been complaining about strangely "hard" butter for weeks.

Science

Baffled Canadians Spread Reports Of 'Hard' Butter

10:49pm February 24, 2021

by Emma Bowman

Reports spreading about "hard" butter aren't softening Canadians. One intrepid food scholar, Sylvain Charlebois, thinks he's found the "buttergate" culprit: palm oil fats.

World News

France's Baguette Is In Contention To Receive U.N. Recognition

6:47am February 22, 2021

by Eleanor Beardsley

The French Bakers Association wants the baguette added to the United Nation's list of intangible treasures. A true baguette is a mix of 4 ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt and plenty of time.

Queue Listen Now

Rob Martin, who has been fishing off his boat for the last 29 years, and his partner haul up a 150-pound end trap while ropeless lobster fishing in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts.

'Ropeless' Lobster Fishing Could Save The Whales. Could It Kill The Industry?

7:45am February 21, 2021

by Eve Zuckoff

One of the main threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale is lobster-fishing rope, but there is hope in new ropeless technology.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Beyond The 'Lunchbox Moment' Scenes In Fiction About Immigrants

4:16pm February 19, 2021

The "lunchbox moment" is a pop culture trope in stories about children of immigrants to the U.S. NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Eater staff writer Jaya Saxena about the limits of those storylines.

People wait in long lines at an H-E-B grocery store in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday. The large supermarket chain said the "unprecedented weather event in Texas has caused a severe disruption in the food supply chain."

National

Several Days Into The Texas Deep Freeze, Food Is Scarce

3:02pm February 18, 2021

by Avie Schneider

Amid power and water shutdowns, the extreme cold is disrupting the food supply. Customers are finding empty grocery shelves across Texas and people desperate to stock up are forming long lines.