New York has practically everything I need to research our monthly Masters of Social Gastronomy lectures. Weird meat? Chinatown sells alligator. Fake meat? Chinatown sells vegetarian alligator. Sweeteners? Sweet n' Low is made a half-mile from my house.
But researching this month's Masters of Social Gastronomy has put on full display a culinary weak point of NYC: cannabis edibles.
Unlike our friends to the west, where an...
The history of sandwiches is laced with vice, ingenuity, and industry.
Sarah will relate this sordid tale via the PB&J, perhaps the sandwich Americans feel the most passionate about. But jelly wasn't always thought to be peanut butter's natural companion and at MSG you'll get to experience long-forgotten peanut butter sandwiches of the past.
Later, Soma will take us on a tour of America's best sandwiches, from national standbys like...
To celebrate its one year anniversary, this month's Masters of Social Gastronomy takes on its namesake: monosodium glutamate (MSG)! Savory spice or fatal flavor?
Sarah Lohman of Four Pounds Flour will track MSG back to its source in traditional Japanese food, showing how time and money turned an innocuous plant into the darling of mass production
Soma will take on modern-day interpretations of MSG, from its role...
Next Tuesday we're hosting a Masters of Social Gastronomy on taboo foods. We'll be talking about everything from cannibalism to, well, things like what you're about to read. It's free, and full of beer, so you might as well RSVP now.
Y'know how you meet vegetarians who eat fish, and you throw a little tantrum about how Fish Are People Too and That's Not Vegetarianism and everyone just shrugs? And then some people won't eat honey...
At last month's Masters of Social Gastronomy, we reached down deep into the world of preservatives, figuring out what all of those unpronounceables are on everyday packaged foods.
Today's recap: Calcium Propanoate
If you eat store-bought bread, you're probably chowing down on some calcium propanoate. It's a mold and bacteria inhibitor that keeps your bread from being conquered by legions of decided untasty microorganisms.
The bread industry's...
