Discovering that shopping lists are as old as the Bible jogged my memory about a collection of found shopping lists, posted online. I can imagine the grocery lists collection as a great place to find ideas for poetry or fiction. Maybe even some ideas for dinner. For a historian, though, the collection is tantalizing because it isn’t searchable… Continue reading Last of the lists?

The UK supermarket giant Tesco has announced it will start selling “wonky” vegetables as “perfectly imperfect” in an effort to reduce food waste. I think they might have better luck if they just piled up a bunch of odd looking parsnips and potatoes (that’s what they are starting with) and labeled them “Traditional.” It has interested… Continue reading Gerard Manley Hopkins, Greengrocer

A recent article about using instagram to study nutrition in areas designated “food deserts,” published in the Atlantic raised many interesting issues and opportunities for food scholars. For me, the most interesting element of this study is not the nutritional quality of the food depicted, but the strong argument that these images make against the very concept of the… Continue reading Picture This

Reading an article about a new high tech juice business in the New York Times, I was reminded of the warnings that regularly circulate among the food-interested that either nutritionists or food scientists will soon have all the rest of us consuming nothing but pellets for our meals. The fear is that food will be engineered… Continue reading Texture and Technology