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Art, cocoa, policy, data and fried artichokes. In other words, something for everyone, as usual.

A hop crop flop in Europe made the fortunes of growers in the Pacific north west of America, none more so than in Oregon’s Willamette valley. Ezra Meeker, the hop king, promoted the gemütlichkeit of hop-picking in the old country as the frontispiece to his book; the reality was somewhat different.

What does country music tell us about agriculture in America today? Not much. Plus some nutritional goodness, and follow-ups to previous podcasts.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. But it can also debase a good thing, and it is definitely happening to craft beer.

George Weston created Garfield Weston, who created Allied Bakeries to improve British bread by selling more Canadian wheat. Then came the Chorleywood Bread Process.

I’m tickled by the news that big industrial food-smoking concerns are worried enough about the carcinogens in smoke to do something about it. That something is a filter based on zeolites, present in car exhaust systems to reduce harmful pollutants. It’s early days yet, but preliminary results are in: “To the tasters, the chicken made […]

Eating is a political act, as Wendell Berry reminded us. Which is why I was very happy to sample the food on offer by Syrian refugees in Hummustown.

From Marseille via Hawaii and Chicago, food news to chew on.

Interesting drill-down from USDA-ERS. Although single-mother households have highest prevalence of food insecurity, largest number of food insecure people are in multiple-adult households without children.

It is a sure sign of my nerdish tendencies that when I see a news headline like this: Disgusted With the USDA, Farmers Make Their Own Organic Label All I can think of is this: Syndicated to The Mothership