You wouldn’t expect some pita and olive oil to set off a bout of soul searching. But, take a good hard look at that bowl of oil, because there could be a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears behind it. More »

Written by Urban Nilmander, Photos by Carin Tegner

For millions of Spaniards, gourmet chefs in Spain, Paris, Chicago and New York, there´s no doubt: Spanish cured ham in general and the ham from Jabugo in Andalucia in particular, made from happy, black pigs bred on only acorns and grass, is the best in the world. More »

What do honeymoon romps, Norse dining halls, the mythical hero Beowulf, and a pain-relieving medicine have in common? And yes, it has more to do with the superficial excesses of booze and narcotics. As lore would have it, they all feature the world’s most ancient alcoholic beverage, mead, in some context. More »

Carol Goldman with her mixer Big Mama

Growing up, Jeff Goldman was a pretty popular guy. While we’re sure he wasn’t lacking in looks or personality, it was precisely because of his mother, more specifically his mother Carol’s cookies that gave him VIP status among his friends. More »

You can also go inside the Alinea kitchen with a photo slideshow from Hungry photographer Tuan Bui.

A Note from Tuan:The Alinea kitchen staff are a marvel to watch. I visited the kitchen during prep time, when the staff was getting the food ready for that evening’s dinner guests. I can’t come up with a metaphor fitting enough for how each of the chefs moved with such purpose and precision, whether it be slicing and carefully coring heirloom tomatoes or paring cinnamon sticks down to exact length and diameter. What struck me was the quiet in which they worked - no orders had to be given, no questions or instructions yelled across the kitchen - each person knew exactly what they needed to do for the day.

In the middle of this, Grant Achatz would seem like just another cook if you did not already know his face beforehand. For much of my time there, he was hunched over a cutting board, delicately slicing the seeds away from the pulp of a horned melon. As fast as his fingers worked the knife - three careful flicks, a scrape of the pulp over the board, then onto the next seed - I did not see much more than a few ounces of pulp accumulate over the course of an hour. It was this sort of deliberate intensity, despite the seeming futility of the task at hand, that was imbued in his entire kitchen staff.

The heady fragrance of black pepper and cinnamon began to tease my senses while I was still a block from the store. As I entered the attractive Evanston shop, a rich, almost intoxicating blend of aromas enveloped me, drawing me into the warm, woody interior, towards the walls and shelves of jars filled with tantalizing delights from the four corners of the earth. Before me was an astonishing array of lovingly prepared, freshly ground herbs and spices—from ajowan seed to za’atar. No wonder Julia Child loved this place. More »

Check out this photo essay on the Asian Rice Harvest from Hungry’s Cynthia Clampitt.

Go inside the Intelligentsia coffee roasting process with the documentary below (2:00 min)

In order to view the video, you need Macromedia Flash installed. If you do not want to install it, you can watch a regular slideshow of the Intelligentsia Roasting Works.