food and drink

Cookies

Baking great cookies is not just an art. It’s science

Food

At this time of year, just about everybody is baking cookies (that is, if they’re not making latkes, but that’s another story). How many times have you stuck a batch of cookies in the oven only to have them emerge nothing like you imagined? Understanding the science behind the perfect cookie could help preserve your baking reputation.

A worker pours manzanilla wine into a wine taster from a oak barrel in the wine cellar "La Guita" in Sanlucar de Barrameda, southern Spain

For this wine expert, sherry is a ‘celebration of leisure’

Food
Lead in candy bags

Okay, kids: ‘L’ is for licorice — and also for lead

Health
Beer buyers contemplate their choices at The Beer Stein in Eugene, Oregon. Many of those choices are brewed by Oregon's 171 craft breweries.

How Oregon became a paradise for beer drinkers

Lifestyle & Belief
Beer buyers contemplate their choices at The Beer Stein in Eugene, Oregon. Many of those choices are brewed by Oregon's 171 craft breweries.

How Oregon became a paradise for beer drinkers

Lifestyle & Belief

The French president separates his D-Day allies when it comes to dinner

Lifestyle & Belief

French President Francois Hollande won’t go hungry Thursday night. He will host two separate state dinners — one for President Obama and another for Russian President Vladimir Putin. A White House chef explains the dance between food, politics and diplomacy.French President Francois Hollande won’t go hungry Thursday night. He will host two separate state dinners — one for President Obama and another for Russian President Vladimir Putin. A White House chef explains the dance between food, politics and diplomacy.

Sampling sancocho at Panama City's "El Trapiche"

Panamanians go ga-ga for a chicken stew called Sancocho

Lifestyle & Belief

Sancocho is a bowl of stew that you might eat at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or even if you’re nursing a hangover. Food writer Steve Dolinsky describes his first taste of what can rightly lay claim to being Panama’s national dish.Sancocho is a bowl of stew that you might eat at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or even if you’re nursing a hangover. Food writer Steve Dolinsky describes his first taste of what can rightly lay claim to being Panama’s national dish.

Sudan’s pride is a soda that tastes like, well, whatever you think it tastes like

Lifestyle & Belief

When people immigrate to the US, they not only leave behind family and friends, they leave behind the sights, scents and flavors of home. Reporter Hana Baba went back to Sudan to find her favorite soda, unmatched by any in the US.When people immigrate to the US, they not only leave behind family and friends, they leave behind the sights, scents and flavors of home. Reporter Hana Baba went back to Sudan to find her favorite soda, unmatched by any in the US.

Which came first? Mexico’s famous drink, or the town that distills it?

Lifestyle & Belief

For today’s Geo Quiz, we asked a man whose family has been growing agave cactus for four generations to tell us the origin of the name Tequila. The liquor is made by baking and distilling the cactus.For today’s Geo Quiz, we asked a man whose family has been growing agave cactus for four generations to tell us the origin of the name Tequila. The liquor is made by baking and distilling the cactus.

2013 was a banner year for apples in New England and even the old, long-neglected trees at the Thomson farm in Western Massachusetts got caught up in the frenzy.

A banner year for New England apples brought back a family’s cider-making tradition

Lifestyle & Belief

The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson thought his family’s old apple trees were pretty much played out, until this fall, when they exploded with fruit and brought back a tradition.