Methuselah, the first date palm tree grown from ancient seeds, in a photo taken in 2008. Guy Eisner hide caption
Food History & Culture : The Salt Here's where culture and history intersect. Here's where you'll find food's back story and the role it is playing in shaping our present and future.
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What's On Your PlateFood History & Culture
Genie Milgrom, pictured in 2013, stands in the entryway of her Miami home wrapped in a long family tree, filled with the names of 22 generations of grandmothers. Raised Catholic, Milgrom traced her family's hidden Jewish roots with the help of a trove of ancient family recipes written down by the women of her family over generations. Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption
Trove Of Recipes Dating Back To Inquisition Reveals A Family's Secret Jewish Roots
The 20-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a boat loaded with refugees and migrants is the work of Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz. Its bread-and-fruit motif encapsulates how food is interlocked with the history of human migration. Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images hide caption
At La Palma Calle Ocho in Miami, the churros are pulled hot from a fryer, placed into brown paper bags and drenched in granulated sugar. Greg Allen/NPR hide caption
A flock of Texel-Dorset sheep gather near a hay trough in a Hudson River Valley barn in Medusa, N.Y. Millennials and more experimental diners might be open to eating mutton. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images hide caption
Nattapong Kaweeantawong, a third-generation owner of Wattana Panich, stirs the soup while his mother (left) helps serve and his wife (center) does other jobs at the restaurant. Nattapong or another family member must constantly stir the thick brew. Michael Sullivan for NPR hide caption
Ann Kim, owner of Hello Pizza in Edina, Minn., holds a Sicilian pan pie and a Hello Rita pizza. "Women can make progress in pizza that is harder in the macho restaurant world," Kim says. Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty Images hide caption
Kamel Guemari is a manager of a McDonald's in a neighborhood in Marseille, France, that's known for crime and drug gangs. He has been leading an employee charge to save the restaurant, which has become a vital community anchor in an under-resourced immigrant neighborhood. Eleanor Beardsley/NPR hide caption
Save The .... McDonald's? One Franchise In France Has Become A Social Justice Cause
A vineyard in Tarija, Bolivia, the center of the country's wine industry. A growing number of wineries here are improving their techniques, ramping up production and starting to export, as global interest in Bolivia's award-winning wines grows. Insights/Universal Images Group/Getty Images hide caption
A Swedish government program called the Edible Country recruited Michelin-starred chefs to create recipes that use ingredients that can be foraged from the areas around 13 picnic tables scattered across the countryside. Diners book a table, show up and hunt for their own food. Tina Stafrén/Visit Sweden hide caption
An engraving dating from the 19th century depicts passenger pigeons, once one of the most common birds in North America but now extinct because of overhunting and deforestation. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty hide caption
Illustration from a 19th-century edition of Robinson Crusoe, a novel by Daniel Defoe first published in 1719. It relates the story of Robinson Crusoe, stranded on an island for 28 years and his subsequent fight for survival. Out of desperation, he became a master of innovation, especially at preparing meals. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption
Hector Osorno is the Kraft Heinz Ketchup Master, whose job it is to make sure around 70% of the ketchup sold in America tastes the way it should. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption
Jasmine Cho's cookie portrait of Afong Moy, who is often cited as the first Chinese woman to step foot in the United States. Beginning in the 1830s, Moy was put on display before crowds as a curiosity. Jasmine Cho hide caption
This toad-shaped sandwich bar called the Toed In, near Los Angeles in 1939, allowed you to grab a bite to eat while your car got serviced. There's a lot of wordplay going on here: the toad-shaped building, the "towing in" of the car, and the stepping or "toeing" in for a snack. Good job, punsters! Ullstein Bild/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images hide caption
We may think of salads as leafy and green, but the Watergate salad is only the latter. A combination of pistachio pudding mix, canned pineapple, whipped cream and chopped nuts, the salad is the shade of a Shamrock Shake ... sort of a minty chartreuse. Tyrone Turner/WAMU hide caption
Spanish matador Alberto Lopez Simon makes a pass on a bull at the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas bullring in Madrid. The restaurant Casa Toribio, located just down the street, keeps the meat from from bulls killed in bullfighting on its menu all year long. Alberto Simon/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Japanese steakhouses often serve a creamy orange-pink sauce alongside a steaming meal. The popularity and intrigue around the sauce led one teppanyaki restaurant owner, Terry Ho, to start bottling it in bulk under the name Yum Yum Sauce. Olivia Falcigno/NPR hide caption
Some of the space food that was scheduled to be carried on the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission included (from left to right): chicken and vegetables, beef hash, and beef and gravy. Bettmann/Bettmann Archive hide caption
In less than 100 years, thousands upon thousands of diamondback terrapins had succumbed to the American appetite, depleting the species. Jesse D. Eriksen/Getty Images hide caption
Medalla Light, Puerto Rico's Beer Of Choice, Is A Hit In Connecticut
A woman prepares couscous in a small Amazigh (Berber) hamlet on the eastern slopes of Morocco's High Atlas Mountains. Jeff Koehler for NPR hide caption
Chef Jay Fai wears a wool cap and safety goggles to ward off the heat from the charcoal fires in the alley where she cooks all of the restaurant's meals. She is such a perfectionist that she doesn't let anyone on her staff do the cooking. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Meet The 74-Year-Old Queen Of Bangkok Street Food Who Netted A Michelin Star
Regina Mark, co-owner of Mee Sum Restaurant in Fall River, Mass., holds a chow mein sandwich, which the restaurant has served for more than 50 years. Sarah Mizes-Tan/WCAI hide caption