Author: Ms. R.

This month, Gastro Obscura is looking at wondrous wintertime cocktails. Our last recipe was clarified milk punch, a 400-year-old concoction that turns creamy ingredients crystal-clear. For party guests in 19th-century London, Charles Dickens appearing with his punch bowl was the Victorian equivalent of a modern host breaking out his acoustic guitar. Whether his guests were ready or not, it was showtime. To Dickens, punch was more than simple party fare. It was a ritual that blended the author’s love……

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No recipe emerges from a vacuum, and uncovering the context behind long-lost dishes is often a delicious way to immerse yourself in other times. Gastro Obscura published dozens of recipes from all over the world this year, each with stories to tell. From unpacking the problematic history of one of Emily Dickinson’s favorite sweets to challenging the narrative surrounding chop suey, our writers and editors never shied away from complicated tales. Many of our top stories centered on recreating……

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When visitors to Poole Museum reach its second floor, they are greeted with displays that showcase the stories and lives of famous and influential Poolers who have shaped the coastal Dorset town. In one cabinet on this floor sits a small rock. One could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that this is a local paleontological find, considering Poole’s proximity to the home of 19th-century fossil hunter Mary Anning, one of England‘s earliest and most famous paleontologists. This is not……

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This article is adapted from the December 18, 2021, edition of Gastro Obscura’s Favorite Things newsletter. You can sign up here. Every December, I half-heartedly try eggnog. It’s never planned. I’m usually at a holiday party and see the creamy mixture sloshing in a punch bowl and think, “What the hell. ’Tis the season.” It’s always a disappointment. Like me, many people dismiss ’nog as an afterthought, either sampling it from bland, premixed cartons or trotting out the same……

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Evidence shows that humans started using asbestos at least 4,500 years ago, but it was not until the mid-19th- century that industrial production and widespread use of this mineral started. It’s easy to see why people were attracted to asbestos: it is heat and fire-resistant, can be used as an electrical insulator, and can be utilized to produce flexible objects such as sheets, which were used extensively for insulation in the construction industry. The Canadian province of Quebec has large……

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Beneath South London‘s Wandsworth Bridge lies an uninviting and sinister-looking underpass. Despite its shabby appearance, it’s actually a cinematic landmark because of an appearance in the classic science-fiction film A Clockwork Orange.  The  underpasses were constructed in 1969 as part of the refurbishment of the Wandsworth Bridge. The bridge was built in the 1940s, in a mid-century brutalist aesthetic. In the early 1970s, the underpass was selected by director Stanley Kubrick to appear in A Clockwork Orange. Kubrick felt that the architecture……

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Cabin John Regional Park is a peaceful picnic spot in Montgomery County that features one very unusual resident: an environmentally-conscious talking pig. Porky The Litter Eater has been entreating visitors to fill his chatty maw with refuse since the park opened in 1966. The push of a button located near his smiling face on the shack in which he resides is all the prodding he needs to start his pitch. After a couple of snorts and grunts, the low……

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Visitors to Mountfitchet Castle would be excused for thinking they had been launched back in time. The Norman motte-and-bailey castle and village is a careful replica of what stood on the site almost 1000 years ago. The 10-acre site has everything from halls to homes, churches to chicken coops, falcons to fertility chairs.  The site is protected by the Department of the Environment as a national historic monument. Artifacts discovered in excavations of the site reveal its transition from……

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Boca means “mouth” in Spanish, and in English, the word can refer to a river mouth. Here, it refers to the confluence of the Little Truckee River with the main Truckee. Boca lies about 15 miles east of Donner Summit and got its start as a source of timber for the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s. Logs were floated down the Little Truckee to a sawmill at the confluence with the Truckee. Boca’s big claim……

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In Singapore, birds are trained to sing the sweetest melodies. In West Virginia, expert tasters pass judgment on the best water. Wales has its own way to hit balls off of walls. Anything, it seems, can become a contest. This year Atlas Obscura scoured the globe to find unexpected talents, almost-lost games, and the world’s largest cabbage. Looking for a new hobby for the new year? Perhaps you could try your luck with acrobatic lion dancing, a Malaysian favorite…….

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