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December 10, 2018
Top 25 Stories of 2018
Taste_2018_Stories

While on some days it feels like we’ve been publishing stories for a decade (or at least working on a story’s edits for a decade), 2018 was in fact TASTE’s first full year living and breathing and tweeting on the Internet. In selecting our year’s best work we are highlighting some important topics crisscrossing food and culture (and lasagna). And by no means is this list the final say; we (100% the truth) only publish work that we really, truly feel passionate about. But lists are what they are, and here are 25 stories that stuck in our brains.

In 2018 we looked closely at the cauliflower rice boom and figured out whatever happened to a 1990s food relic, the sun-dried tomato. We assessed the life-affirming blackness of Southern cakes and detailed how canned foods highlight America’s troubled occupation of the Philippines. And we traveled the world to report on industrialized masa harina in Mexico, the struggle for daily tea in Kashmir, the most militarized region in the world, and met Japan’s father of cooking manga. These are a few favorites, and we’re so excited to bring you more from TASTE in 2019. —Matt Rodbard, Editor in Chief

Do You Eat Dog?

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Do You Eat Dog?

The practice of eating dog meat is at the center of many racist stereotypes about Asians. Is it possible to reexamine both the stereotype and the practice?

The Tortilla Cartel

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The Tortilla Cartel

The rise of industrial instant corn flour, masa harina, represents not only a gastronomic loss (the stuff tastes lousy), but a death blow to Mexico’s corn heritage.

Appalachia’s Little Free Pantries That Could

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Appalachia’s Little Free Pantries That Could

They may be only Band-Aids for the region’s food insecurity, but “blessings boxes” are popping up in more and more parts of Appalachia, dutifully refilled by local pastors, police officers, and anyone with a box of pasta to spare.

Caul Me by Your Name

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Caul Me by Your Name

A “malicious and nefarious” grain alternative has got millions of home cooks excited—and corporate flacks and lobbyists a little steamed. But does the rice industry really have anything to worry about?

Colonialism in a Can

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Colonialism in a Can

There’s a shame-free exuberance and practicality in the Filipino transformation of canned food—even as it harkens back to America’s checkered occupation of the Philippines.

The Year of Lasagna

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The Year of Lasagna

We live in an era of performative project-cooking. It’s time to bring back the reassuring, unglamorous functionality of a big tray of baked pasta.

The Bearded Chef of Akko

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The Bearded Chef of Akko

For nearly 20 years, Uri Jeremias has been cooking fish and spreading the gospel of Israeli cooking. It’s about time the world listened.

Japan's Father of Cooking Manga

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Japan's Father of Cooking Manga

For 33 years, Cooking Papa creator Tochi Ueyama has taught the comic’s readers that spending time in the kitchen is fun—while quietly subverting Japanese gender dynamics.