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Clockwise from top left: white, black, long, cubeb, grains of paradise, red Sichuan, and green Sichuan peppers.
food

A Guide to the Peppers of the World

Which came first: the pepper, or the pepper?
Andrew Coletti March 10, 2025
Left to right: green, black, Chinese, white, and Ethiopian cardamoms.
food

A Guide to the Cardamoms of the World

The Cardamom Expanded Universe is bigger than you think.
Andrew Coletti February 17, 2025
Coriander <em>or cilantro</em> has a long history in Italy.
medieval

Why Italy Fell Out of Love With Cilantro

Coriander went from ancient staple to persona non grata.
Andrew Coletti July 1, 2024
Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Chorsu Bazaar

Prowl through this sprawling bazaar under a massive Soviet-era dome for delicious eats.
Ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg are so-called warm spices and the quintessential flavors of winter holidays.
holidays

How Ginger, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg Became Winter Spices

These tropical "warm spices," which flavor many Christmas cookies and other holiday favorites, are mainstays of traditional medicine.
Serina DeSalvio December 18, 2023
My Thanksgiving apple cake had some unconventional ingredients.
food

Try These West African Spices in Your Holiday Baking

Have some fun with fusion.
Andrew Coletti December 11, 2023
A 'Triumph of Gluttony' from the bookstore Archestratus, for the puzzle fiend in your life.
holiday

The Ultimate Gastro Obscura Gift Guide

Our favorite food gifts your loved ones don’t already have.
Diana Hubbell November 30, 2023
food

Do Colder or Warmer Places Eat More Spicy or Bland Food?

The correlation between temperature and flavor is obvious across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Frank Jacobs November 17, 2023
A depiction of Apollo and the nymph Daphne turning into a laurel.
flora

What Is a Bay Leaf, Exactly?

There are at least six different answers.
Andrew Coletti August 28, 2023
Chef Damian Brockway and his wife, Kornpawee Brockway.
food

Podcast: Distant Relatives

Tried and true barbecue favorites meet unexpected spices and flavor profiles.
The trove of spices was found in the stern of the ship by Brendan Foley and a team of archaeologists.
science

How Did a Medieval Spice Cabinet Survive 500 Years Underwater?

Exotic saffron, black pepper, ginger, cloves, and more offer a look into how Scandinavian royalty lived.
Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing March 28, 2023
architecture

Wonder Is Everywhere: Civil War Gold, a New Moai, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White March 1, 2023
Fort Oranje
Ternate, Indonesia

Fort Oranje

This 17th-century fort, built by the Dutch to control a piece of the international spice trade, is now a city park.
Jambú, also known as the "buzz button," adds a numbing note to soup and liquor in the Brazilian Amazon.
spices

A Tongue-Tingling Tour of Mouth-Numbing Spices

Is "electrifying" the sixth human taste?
Sam Lin-Sommer January 9, 2023
Forget "naughty or nice?" The more important question this gift-giving season is "sweet or savory?"
food

Delicious Gifts for the Food-Obsessed

A gift guide from the Atlas Obscura team.
Atlas Obscura November 30, 2022
shops

Podcast: Growing the Atlas

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team September 12, 2022
Cloves and apples make a simple but meaningful memento.
spices

Reviving the Romance of the Kurdish Clove Apple

These fragrant fruits are deeply symbolic.
Ramsha Zubairi June 1, 2022
Gastro Obscura

Oaxacan Mole Blanco

The fairest and rarest of them all.