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Three women and one baby enjoy lunch at the Lord and Taylor tea room.

The Lost Glamour of the Department-Store Restaurant

Pot pies and fanciful desserts made shopping delicious.

BY Anne Ewbank
Pearl meat is the ear-shaped adductor muscle in a pearl oyster.

How Pearl Meat Became Australia's Newest Luxury Ingredient

Once humble divers' fare, the meat of the pearl oyster now commands up to $200 per kilo.

BY Lizzie Pook

The Indigenous Family Bringing Acorns Back to California Cuisine

Why American Leaders Relish Hot-Dog Diplomacy

The Gastro Obscura Newsletter

Updates from Gastro Obscura, delivered twice a week.

Places to Eat & Drink

A guide speaking about Estonian tea traditions.
Varnja, Estonia

Samovar House

Learn to drink tea like an Estonian at this museum.
Milos, Greece

Sirocco

This "volcanic all-day restaurant" is right on the beach.
Sample a few unusual flavors before buying at Poslastičarnica.
Belgrade, Serbia

Poslastičarnica sa stavom

This ice cream parlor serves scoops of flavors like rakia, medlar, and poppy seed.
Silver Lake, Oregon

Cowboy Dinner Tree

Eat like a "buckaroo" at this remote restaurant.
See All Unique Places to Eat

Food & Drink

Chocolate-y foam—but not that chocolate.
Drinks

Chocolate-atole

This traditional drink is made with a little-known variety of cacao.
Fruits & Vegetables

Arkansas Black Apple

This dark, rare fruit lasts a very long time.
The cellars where the monks age their liqueur.
Drinks

Green Chartreuse

Only two silent monks know all 130 plants that go into this herbal liqueur.
A spinning, circular basin of nagashi somen.
Prepared Foods

Nagashi Somen

Catch these floating noodles before they flow by.
See All Food & Drink

Stories

Citrus-scented dandelion jelly is a regional specialty.

Spring's Sweetest Jelly Calls for Hundreds of Dandelions

Cramaillotte makes wonder out of weeds.
BY Anne Ewbank
Fifty new places have joined our database this year.

Our Favorite Gastro Obscura Places of 2022 (So Far)

From Rome's oldest bakery to an all-American grape winery.
BY Anne Ewbank
Purple straw turns golden as it matures.

The Return of Purple Straw, an Iconic Southern Wheat

It has a whole team of champions working on its comeback.
BY Rachel Kester
Some recipes seem tasty, others somewhat frightening.

The Oldest Cookbooks From Libraries Around the World

Vintage recipes include flaming peacocks and kangaroo brains.
BY Anne Ewbank and Miranda Brown
Sange Norbu milks a yak in Northeast India.

The Last Cheesemakers of the Eastern Himalayas

India and Bhutan's yak herders face steep challenges.
BY Jitaditya Narzary
Crushing cranberries to make wine.

Why Is Wine (Almost) Always Made From Grapes?

On the merits of blueberry, cherry, and pumpkin wine.
BY Alex Mayyasi
The Gladstone, a desi pub, on Sanctuary Street and Lant Street.
The Triumphant Story of Britain's Desi Pubs

Once places of refuge, these Anglo-Indian bars are now institutions.

BY David Jesudason