A few years ago, we published The Curious History of Vegetables—one part folklore, one part anthropology, and 100% love letter to the secret life of food. In a global deep-dive into our relationships with veggies, Wolf Storl explores the complex, multilayered meanings we’ve ascribed to everything from the elusive artichoke to the humble potato. Since the …continue
This Sunday is World Food Day, a day when we all can take action against hunger. Despite the fact that nearly $165 billion worth of food gets thrown away each year in the U.S. alone, factors like climate change and geopolitical conflict, among others, result in hunger and food scarcity throughout the world. Even in …continue
Anyone who’s heard the phrase “freedom fries” knows that we humans have the propensity to imbue pretty much anything and everything with layers of complex meaning. In this way, vegetables take on lives of their own, overlaid with social, political, gendered, and emotional symbolism. Even potatoes have surprising secret histories, representing and contributing to cultural …continue
This was the year—finally—that I got more serious about planting my garden. During earlier attempts, I’d taken a fairly lazy, noncommittal approach: container-planting herbs here and there, buying a fruit tree, or starting squash seedlings. Despite my valiant efforts, the squashlings made it all of two months, and my herbs were a victory short-lived after my cat …continue
Earlier this month, we put together a handy garden guide to companion planting—an approach within the biodynamic gardening philosophy pioneered by Rudolf Steiner and championed by our own Wolf Storl that pairs complementary plants and helps them thrive. If you were planning on starting a garden but haven’t yet gotten around to it, it’s not too late—there’s still some time …continue
Taiwan is the latest on the growing list of countries that are increasing limits on, or outright banning, genetically modified food. As more countries and individuals are opting against genetically engineered crops, international agribusinesses continue to insist that GMOs are the only realistic solution to the world food crisis. Here, in an exclusive excerpt from her new …continue