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Gastro Obscura

Read 2154 Gastro Stories

The Surprising Challenges of Making Things Vegan

It took Guinness, for one, years.

Ernie Smith, Atlas Obscura

Eating Spaghetti by the Fistful Was Once a Neapolitan Street Spectacle

Tourists flocked to see the "macaroni eaters" cram noodles into their mouths.

Adee Braun, Atlas Obscura

Found: A Cow-Smuggling Tunnel Under a Tea Garden

Where's the beef?

Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura

Why Is Iceland So in Love With Licorice?

Isolation, a harsh climate, and decades of candy import bans may have something to do with it.

Linni Kral, Atlas Obscura

Found: ‘Extraneous Golf Ball Materials’ in Frozen Hash Browns

Golf balls have been haunting potato fields for decades.

Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura

In the 1960s, the CIA Fired Some Employees Over a Cafeteria Fight

The fight might not have been the only one.

JPat Brown, Atlas Obscura

Found: A Giant Morel Mushroom Hiding in the Indiana Woods

Officials described it as "ginormous."

Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura

The Potato Chip Shortage Afflicting Japan

They're going for up to $12 a bag.

Erik Shilling, Atlas Obscura

During an 1870 Siege, Trapped Parisians Dined on Rat, Cat, and Elephant

In a desperate time, the zoo became a source of food.

Anne Ewbank, Atlas Obscura

Found: A Dead Bat in a Pre-Packaged Salad

Even for gross things found in food, this one is weird.

Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura

When Michigan State Used Ruined Mayonnaise for Power

The school dumped 1,250 gallons of the stuff into an anaerobic digester.

Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura

The Surprising Resilience of Failed Fast Food Chains

Losing can be an opportunity to do something different.

Ernie Smith, Atlas Obscura

How Argentina's Baked Goods Reveal Its Political Past

From "monk's balls" to "cannons," these pastries get subversive.

Elizabeth King, Atlas Obscura

Meet the Man Who Wants to Make Eating Shad a Fad Again

Canned and smoked, the bony fish is delicious, says Seattle's Warner Lew.

Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura

Why We Have Such Complicated Feelings About Eating Horses

Horse meat has rarely gone down easy.

Eric Grundhauser, Atlas Obscura

Smoking Banana Peels Is the Greatest Drug Hoax of All Time

They called it mellow yellow.

Eric Grundhauser, Atlas Obscura

The Day That Michigan Held a Funeral For 30,000 Pizzas

Even the governor came to pay his respects.

Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura

When Lemon-Shaped Juice Containers Set a British Legal Precedent

You know the ones.

Ernie Smith, Atlas Obscura