Wondrous food to explore and enjoy

Gastro Obscura

Read 1838 Gastro Stories

a seat at the table

Meet the Women Mapping New York City’s Halal Food

It's a constellation of birria, noodles, and fried chicken sandwiches

summer of wonder 2023

The Retro Lover's Guide to Road-Tripping

Inside one man's quest to visit the last vestiges of roadside Americana.

Every Summer, Galician Winemakers Turn Their Homes Into Restaurants

What started as a way to sell excess wine has become a beloved custom.

How Hot Dogs Became Norway's National Snack

Whether wrapped in flatbread, made with reindeer, or gone gourmet, Norwegians love them.

Podcast: Chile Pepper Institute

How New Mexico became a chile pepper wonderland.

first draft foods

Meet Baked Alaska's Prototype, 'Alaska, Florida'

This parlor trick of a dessert has a long, complicated lineage.

first draft foods

The Original Caesar Salad Was Finger Food

The world's most famous salad started as a Tijuana trend.

first draft foods

Chowder Once Had No Milk, No Potatoes—and No Clams

The earliest-known version of the dish was a winey, briny, bready casserole.

first draft foods

Meet Red Velvet Cake Before It Was Colorful

Before the invention of red dye 40, this confection looked very different.

Food Innovations That Came from War

Thank Uncle Sam for Cheetos, air fryers, and other modern mainstays.

The Evolution of American Military Food

What would George Washington's spruce beer-chugging troops have thought about today's cheesecake rations?

Feeding Armies Throughout History

From Sparta to the Mongol Empire, soldiers needed fuel for the fight.

scientists at work

How to Feed an Army

Go behind the scenes at the Massachusetts military lab engineering the fuel of the future.

Podcast: Butter Sculptures

These works of art are butter than you think.

Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

Why were in-flight meals so much better in the past?

Eat Like a King With the Official Coronation Quiche

Can Charles III's recipe live up to his mother's curried chicken?

rites of spring

How to Make Mystical 'Fairy Butter'

This historical sweet spread has supernatural ties.

Why 18th-Century Scots Performed Mock Human Sacrifices Over Cake

This May Day, make Beltane bannock, a simple snack with a long history of superstition and divination.