You don't have to be from Africa to appreciate couscous. The late Craig Claiborne, for example, called it one of the dozen greatest dishes in the world.

The mustard plant is fully deserving of accolades. For centuries its been used as a food, flavoring and folk remedy. In fact it was so important as a medicinal herb to the ancient Greeks that they credited their god of medicine for its creation.

Rose Levy Beranbaum, in her book, “The Pie and Pastry Bible,” a volume which I’ve read religiously, says, “There are two kinds of people: cake people and pie people.”

Even before Cracker Jack became inextricably linked to baseball, it hit a home run with the public when it was introduced at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago by Frederick “Fritz” Rueckheim and his brother Louis.

The Instant Pot is fundamentally a pressure cooker, a device invented way back in 1679 by the French physicist Denis Papin.

The pomegranate, that beautiful fruit with the jewel-like red seeds, has recently exploded on the culinary scene. Which is appropo for a fruit which inspired the name a hand-tossed explosive, known as the grenade.

In Scotland, their oatmeal, or porridge, is a hallowed dish, celebrated every year at the World Porridge Making Championship in the village of Carrbridge.

The French think they're superior to us when it comes to clothing, wine, and food -- not to mention romance! And, admittedly, they do have a way with each; and perhaps nowhere is French sophistication more evident -- at least in the culinary world -- when it comes to pancakes.

From a culinary perspective, every season is joyous, but for me it’s always spring, at least in my kitchen. That’s because my favorite item of kitchenware is the springform pan. The function of the pan is to make it possible to take out of the pan a cake which is too fragile to trust to the conventional method of turning it upside down and keeping your fingers crossed that it comes out in one piece.

Pretzels, some historians contend, may be the oldest snack food known to humankind.