Tuesday night was Masters of Social Gastronomy: The Flavor Battles. Vanilla extract and Ceylon cinnamon squared off against artificial vanilla and ersatz cinnamon (née cassia) in snickerdoodle form: but which cookie took the cake?

First, a bit of history.

VANILLA

Vanilla is an orchid and, in the tradition of orchids, is quite tempermental. It refused to grow anywhere but its native Mexican soil thanks to the presence of a specific...

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Each month, the Society for the Advancement of Social Studies brings you three short lectures on a different historical topic. It's like history class but with lots of drink specials and much prettier powerpoints. 

This month's all about the government's long and tumultuous history with illicit substances, and it promises to be quite the evening. You'll get glimpses into "the history of marijuana in the States, the era of prohibition, and...

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If you haven't read Fast Food Nation, I'll go ahead and recommend it. You probably know what it's about, so I won't waste your time explaining!

In doing some research for the artificial vs. natural flavoring Masters of Social Gastronomy, I came across a pretty fun excerpt about what makes fast food so tasty:

A typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients:...

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Do you like facts? Do you like bags? Do you like anything? In any case, we recommend popping over to the Brainery shop for all sorts of fun purchasables, such as...

THE BRAINERY TOTE

If that's not self-explanatory I don't know what is! It has gussets, so you can tote your erudite tomes around without too much trouble.

THE MEAT CARD

Ever felt fear in the meat aisle? Fret no more - our wallet-sized card will guide you through your...

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We have lots of free/not-free-yet-awesome things coming your way this week! 

First, on Tuesday, come on up to Public Assembly for our the next installment of our Masters of Social Gastronomy lectures. They're free monthly talks on all things food history and science, presented by Sarah Lohman of Four Pounds Flour and our very own Jonathan Soma. 

This month, we're taking on imitation ingredients, and, best of all, there'll be a...

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