Bun of Contention
"The people will never listen to reason on the subject of dear bread."
Domestically Minded
A place to hang your hat ... and feed your head
The Cult of the Chafing Dish
Convenient and easy to use, this storied piece of cookware won the devotion of everyone from confirmed bachelors to college co-eds
Iambic Spooktameter
Nothing says Halloween like hauntingly bad doggerel
Morpheus Descending
The various sleep-inducing beverages drunk throughout history represent humanity's quest for an effective knockout punch
Cultural Medium (Rare)
The anthropological minimum is pink on the inside
Core Values
Peeling back the layers of the Johnny Appleseed legend reveals a curious tale of environmentalism and real-estate speculation
A Game of Chicken
George Eliot on consensus building in the animal kingdom
Potent Ingredients
The writer and unregenerate hedonist Norman Douglas concocted dishes designed to stiffen an old man's romantic resolve
Vim Wins
The founder of Forbes understood that comfort comes with keeping occupied
The Sage of Brooklyn
Illustration from William Hamilton Gibson's Our Edible Toadstools and Mushrooms and How to Distinguish Them (1895) I have an essay on The New Inquiry's main…
The Man Who Saved Prospect Park
The career of 19th-century writer, illustrator and naturalist William Hamilton Gibson reminds modern urbanites that all conservation, like politics, is local
Hog Heaven
At the Cajun festival known as the boucherie, every participant takes home the bacon
A Bit Peckish
"The birds are of many varieties, beautiful, grand, horrible, preying ..."
Going with the Grain
Everything Russia's Mennonites grew turned to gold
All Cats Are Alike Grey in the Night
As Djuna Barnes notes, the radical equality found in Bohemian lairs means you'll observe there neither fat cats nor sourpusses