This is not what you (probably) think it is. It is, in fact, a glass cucumber straightener from the mid-nineteenth century, invented by George Stephenson, who also happened to build the first public railway line in the world.
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Endangered Cake Museum
I learned of the existence of the world’s first and, to the best of my knowledge, only cake museum in the same moment as I heard the shocking news that its continued survival is under threat due to budget problems in the Los Angeles Unified School District. IMAGE: Frances Kuyper and part of her cake […]
Lunch: An Urban Invention
Lunch may be the second meal of the day today, but it was the last of the three daily meals to rise above its snack origins to achieve that status. IMAGE: “Lunch” entry in A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson, London: J. and P. Knapton; J. and T. Longman, 1755. NYPL, Rare Book […]
Urban Probiotics
For many, the consumption of probiotic supplements is already a daily routine — a regular, intentional, and frequently yogurt-based effort to re-design our intestinal flora. This makes sense: the five hundred (or so) different species of bacteria living inside our guts have an important influence on everything from our ability to digest certain foods to our emotional well-being and behaviour.
Travels with Venue
Site visits and interviews have formed the basis of many of my favourite posts on Edible Geography over the years, whether it be documenting a trip to the mushroom tunnel of Mittagong in Australia or discussing the particular flavour and effervescence of Antarctic ice cores with climatologist Paul Mayewski. I’m thrilled, then, to announce the launch of a new project, Venue, in which Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG and I will travel around North America combining the two formats.