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Gastro Obscura

Read 2017 Gastro Stories

These Are the Most Realistic Fish Ever Carved From Wood

The National Fish Decoy Association contest celebrates the best of the best.

Can Nigerian Drumming Teach You to Pick the Perfect Watermelon?

Acoustics is here to help you find ripe produce.

The Glamorous Australian Guide to Eating Invasive Species

An edgy new cookbook has recipes for camel, cane toad, and feral cat.

french revolution

These Belgian Monks Are Reopening a Medieval Microbrewery

The operation has been dormant for more than 220 years.

Being an Ottoman Janissary Meant War, Mutiny, and Baklava

To overthrow the sultan, janissaries first threw over their cooking pots.

Found: The Earliest Evidence of Humans Cooking and Eating Starch

We were eating rhizomes and tubers as early as 120,000 years ago.

To Save India's Camel Culture, a New Dairy Is Selling Milk and Cream Cheese

The ungulate population has dropped precipitously.

The Livestock Living at the End of the World

Things get hairy when you plop pigs on a subantarctic island.

Australia's Growing Camel Meat Trade Reveals a Hidden History of Early Muslim Migrants

Afghan cameleers helped settle Australia's interior.

The Coolest Coffee Maker of the 19th Century Was a Tabletop Train

Only the very wealthy could afford these delicate contraptions.

These Dairy Devils Are Making Cheese From Celebrities' Bacteria

Aged, ripe, and not for consumption.

gastro obscura profiles

The Intrepid Herb Hunters Who Scour Alpine Mountains and Meadows for Top Chefs

Slovenia's most celebrated restaurants rely on their foraging.

Italian Vineyards Are Glowing From the Light of Hundreds of Torches

It's a beautiful, if imperfect, antidote to crop-damaging cold.

This British Colonial Report Offers a Rare Glimpse Into India's Historic Cannabis Cuisine

And a description of some very stoned canines.

Britain's Iconic Brown Betty Teapot Gets a Redesign

A new version of the humble teapot reintroduces features from the past.

How an Ancient Indian Art Utilizes Mathematics, Mythology, and Rice

Computer scientists have studied these “pictorial prayers.”

Ancient Chinese Buildings Are Held Together With Rice, Sugar, and Blood

Edible additives in mortar served both practical and philosophical purposes.

industrial revolution

Skull-Shaped Beer Steins Were Once Popular Graduation Gifts

They were part of a broader wave of adventurous stein-craft.