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Katarin Ladu, a South Sudanese refugee living in a settlement called Pagirinya in northern Uganda, stands on the small plot of land where she is trying to grow pea leaves. Like hundreds of thousands of others, she primarily subsists on World Food Program rations of maize, beans, sorghum, and other staples.

South Sudanese Refugees and the Taste of Displacement

Food rations sustain refugees, but what’s missing is fulfillment and a sense of home.

Will GMOs Put an End to Hunger? Ask the Hungry

We battle over the pros and cons of genetically modified organisms. In the midst of this heated debate, important voices have been lost.

Hmong Gardeners in America’s Dairyland

For Hmong farmers in Wisconsin, a garden isn’t just a patch of dirt where we plant vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Lao Camp Food (Part 2)

A bomb clearance team in Laos eagerly buys bush meat from local hunters. Then they realize they're eating threatened and endangered species.

Lao Camp Food (Part 1)

Workers in southern Laos search out the bombs that never exploded. Here is the food they eat. 
As with food, how coffee is prepared varies greatly from culture to culture. Across many parts of Southeast Asia, for example, the local coffee is served over sweetened condensed milk.

Coffee To Go

Coffee is a cultural drink, prepared different ways in different places—which can be a hassle for travelers seeking their regular cuppa Joe. Here’s one solution.
A Maya woman roasts cacao beans grown on her family’s farm in southern Belize. The family traditionally drinks cacao unsweetened but flavored with allspice.

The Great Chocolate Migration

If ever a single ingredient epitomized human nature, it must be chocolate. Can you think of another flavor that has seduced so many cultures?
King Ama Nune Benu of Boti sits on his porch, making a bag from fibers grown around him in the forests of West Timor, Indonesia.

Airplane Food

How a meeting with the 96-year-old ruler of a small Indonesian kingdom gave a blogger a new lens to perceive processed food's effect on culture.
For many centuries, bison was served as a primary meat source for Native populations, including the Blackfeet tribe in present-day Montana.

Meat Culture

Meat is a divisive issue. But as humans, our diets are cultural, as is nutrition. Healthy advice for one society might not work in another.

Health in a Rwandan Hospital Garden

When I traveled to Rwanda last year, I found a hospital treating malnutrition with compost and garden hoes.

Food Is Health

How does anthropology help us understand the relationship between food and health around the world, and help us lead healthier lives?