Disney released Beauty and the Beast, a faithful yet fresh live-action re-telling of its 1991 animated classic. Cutting across generations, the film sets an all-time highest-grossing March opening in the U.S., with a $170 million…
Food and Culture
Increase Your Literacy and Multiliteracy Through Food
Literacy and its newer, more complex cousin multiliteracy are terms that are used in the teaching world as ways to talk about what skills are needed to communicate. But these concepts are useful to those…
Become a Lexicographer: Learn the Keys to any Community
You want to be part of the group, a member of the club. Everyone wants to belong somewhere. A way to enter in any social circle is to learn the group language. We can adopt…
The Art of Serving Food: Dinner Table Etiquette
Serving food is a delicate act of communication. How much pie do you serve your friend at a dinner party? How much pasta do you spoon on your children’s plates? Who gets the last piece…
Thanksgiving and TV Dinners: The Surprising History Between Them
Thanksgiving is a celebration usually composed of food (turkey, sides, and pie, of course), family (and friends for Friendsgiving), and football (humorous commercials!). Gathering around the TV, Thanksgiving revelers let the stomach digest before the…
Developments in Kitchen Design
Walk into a newly constructed house and you’ll likely find the kitchen to be a main focus. Often described as the ‘heart’ and ‘haven,’ the kitchen is now architecturally designed to be the center of…
Who Gets the Last Piece of Cake? What Dinner Table Manners Tell About You
The Marshalls always request for small slices. You can ask them if they would like just a little more, or if they are sure they are full, and they always express with certainty, “I really…
The Manly Meatloaf: Reflecting on Gender Roles in Cookbooks for Men
Walk into a bookstore, browse Amazon’s cookbook category listings, and you’ll find various genres of cookbooks. There are cookbooks for kids, for vegetarians, for couples, for one, for beginners, and even for dogs! Look closer,…
Food Memories and Madeleines
Food is more than just nutrients. Food conjures up memories and reveals who we are—and are not. What we eat is a medium for personal recollection and collective identity. Marcel Proust, the great French author,…
What We Can Learn From America’s Test Kitchen: Goal Setting
Known for its reliable recipes, the culinary media company America’s Test Kitchen and its affiliate magazines Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country have a method that we can learn from in our own goal-setting. According to…