Author: Ms. R.

Bent low beneath a canopy of leathery green leaves in the sweltering heat of a Calabrian summer, Michele Cirelli is searching for a perfect fruit. Weaving his wrist through the inch-long thorns of his citrus trees, he picks out a good one—deep green and waxy. He takes it, gently, by its plump middle, careful not to damage its precious stem, and turns it slightly, so I might see how the light bounces off the knobbly ridges at its top…….

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From the Shakers—a 19th-century bunch of dissenting Quakers who made a mean lemon pie—to the Source Family—a 1970s Californian hippie cult with a celebrity-favorite vegetarian restaurant—to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)—whose members abstain from alcohol but fully endorse indulging one’s sweet tooth—religious groups have been making their mark on American cuisine since the Pilgrims wandered onto Plymouth Rock. In her book, Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat — An……

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In Japanese, the word mahō means “magic” and typically refers to the Western concept of wizardry and witchcraft, as opposed to such words as majinai or jujutsu which are reserved for the more traditional, divination-or curse-based sorcery. So while the unusual name of Mahō Jinja in the city of Sōja translates to “magical shrine,” it is not actually a sanctum of sorcerers—though an atypical place of worship nonetheless. On a hilltop deep in the forest of Okayama Prefecture, a……

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On June 29, a local man was walking along the beach on the island of Khortytsia, in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, when he noticed what looked like a log half submerged in water. When he approached, he realized the log was part of a boat, one that was possibly centuries old. The man called wardens at the Khortytsia National Reserve, the large national park on the island. Soon the police arrived to cordon off the area, followed……

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The Kappabashi Kitchen Town is a popular destination just off the historic district of Asakusa, another popular neighborhood in Tokyo. For over a century, it has been home to many shops specializing in kitchen supplies, growing bigger in the post-war era. Today, there are over 170 such shops in the area, dealing in every kind of kitchenware from traditional dishes to chef uniforms, and vending machines to the world-famous food samples of Japan. Established in 1907, Niimi is one of……

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It is hard to say when the Sorginetxe was first discovered, but the dolmen in northern Spain has been known for a long time. It is a relatively simple stone structure, a polygonal chamber made up of six interlinked slabs with a seventh that forms a ceiling. It currently has no passageway or covering barrow, though this does not mean that it has always been that way. The name Sorginetxe means “witch’s house” in Basque, and is derived from a folk……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE SEPTEMBER 23, 2023, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. I drank iced, frothy tejate for the first time last summer, at a market in Oaxaca, Mexico. Refreshing and lightly sweet, it reminded me of a chocolate protein shake. Tejate does contain cacao nibs, along with dry corn and pixtle, the seed kernels of the mamey sapote fruit. These are toasted and ground together with the fragrant flowers……

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Before Bisbee, Arizona became a center for the arts it was a mining town, and its history still permeates and scars the landscape. The most visible legacy of Bisbee’s copper mining history is the Lavender Pit, visible from an overlook on the route between Bisbee and Historic Lowell. The name of the pit may conjure up a beautiful sunset and shades of sandstone, but the pit is actually named for mining bigwig Harrison M. Lavender. Lavender was an engineer……

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Originally a bookbinder from Chicago, Emil Meininger moved to Colorado after losing everything in the Great Chicago Fire. He opened the first art supply store in Denver, H. R. Meininger Co., in 1881. Meininger sold art supplies to and befriended Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. With the expansion of the Fine Arts Department by later generation Meininger’s, by 1986, the store had become the largest art supply store west of the Mississippi. In its current location since 1993,……

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