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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
Many of the musicians on the circuit, such as Tina Turner, right, became superstars later in their careers.

Inside the ‘Chitlin Circuit,’ a Jim Crow-Era Safe Space for Black Performers

It's where legends like Tina Turner and Ray Charles launched their careers.

BY Adrian Miller

America's Most Obscure Regional Pizza Styles

Puzzle Monday: Indigenous Fare Crossword

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.
Colorful Esquites
Bernal, Mexico

The Flavored Esquites of Bernal

This small town specializes in a rainbow of corn snacks.
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

Making acorn mush is a laborious process.

The Indigenous Family Bringing Acorns Back to California Cuisine

The humble nuts were once a staple food.
BY Elena Valeriote
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
Franklin Delano Roosevelt roasting hot dogs. They smell like diplomatic breakthroughs.

Why American Leaders Relish Hot-Dog Diplomacy

For 80 years, wieners have been an essential component of foreign policy.
BY Doug Mack
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
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