Los Angeles à la Carte

IMAGE: Ollie Hammond’s, 3683 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 1950. From To Live and Dine in L.A.: A Century of Menus from the Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library by Josh Kun, published by Angel City Press. Restaurant menus seem like the most ephemeral of...

Smog Meringues

The concept of terroir will be familiar to most Edible Geography readers; recently, we also explored the idea of “merroir,” or tasting place in sea salt. But what about aeroir—the atmospheric taste of place? IMAGE: A London-style Peasouper Smog Meringue....

The Twenty-Four Hour Loaf

In the opening episode of the BBC’s new three-part series, “Inside the Factory: How Our Favourite Foods Are Made,” we spend an hour watching a loaf of supermarket sliced white get made. There is a short diversion into the history of bread-making...

Improbable Salt

The illicit thrill of carrying vials of expensive white powder around town is just part of the charm of owning your own Improbable Salt. I am no salt expert (yes, there is such a profession: meet salt sommelier Sommai Wooniem) but, astonishingly, the salt from a...

Supply Chain Seasoning

Salt is essential. Globally, humans eat an average of 10 grams a day and we each contain roughly 250 grams, without which we would die. IMAGE: Photograph courtesy Ryan Dewey. As Mark Kurlansky explains in his book, Salt, the extraction of salt has inspired many of the...