Eating and cooking utensils may make our lives easier and more etiquette-friendly, but they've had a few unintentional historical consequences. For example, consider the fork—which, incidentally, is the title of a book by Bee Wilson documenting the evolution of cooking and eating technology. Wilson writes that overbites didn't become common until people started eating with a knife and fork. Here's how it happened: More

Can't a girl just get honey when she buys honey? Apparently not. Food fraud ("the adulteration, dilution or mislabeling of goods" as defined by the FDA) is on the rise, with olive oil, milk, saffron, honey and coffee topping the list of food items most likely to have fudged ingredients or sourcing information. More

Did you watch the presidential inauguration yesterday? While reading all the follow-up on it today, we came across something really cool: the official inaugural luncheon menu is available online, as are all the recipes! And it was definitely a feast. (Lobster AND bison? Oh yes.) More

Every January Marion Nestle devotes her first Food Matters column of the year in the San Francisco Chronicle to predictions—specifically, what food policies and politics will define the upcoming year. Here's a quick look at her 10 predictions for 2013, from the future of genetically-modified foods to the farm bill: More

Once upon a time, quinoa was an obscure, humble ingredient from the Andes. A basic food staple for Peruvians and Bolivians, it occasionally appeared at hippy potlucks and week-long yoga retreats. But no more. This healthy, high-protein seed is now having its time in the spotlight, and some say the unintended consequences of this popularity aren't good for Bolivians and Peruvians who rely on this super healthy food as a part of their diet. In short, the world demand has driven the price so high that some can no longer afford it. More

If you live in California and want to sell your own homemade goods, listen up! On January 1st the California Homemade Food Act went into law, and that means that producers of certain nonperishable foods are now allowed to prepare the food at home. No more paying for that commercial kitchen! More

For coffee and tea lovers torn over what to drink in the morning, you may never have to choose again: scientists have brewed a tea made from the leaves of the coffee plant. They're calling it the coffee tea leaf. Behold the future, friends. More

Did you know that the UN declared 2013 the "International Year of Quinoa"? It seems like the nutty, nutritious grain is everywhere these days, and the United Nations wants to take it even further, expanding knowledge and production of quinoa in countries suffering from food insecurity. More

You may remember that in 2010 the ghost pepper was named the hottest pepper in the world, and every year new peppers make their way to the top of the heat heap. But what does it mean to measure the heat of a pepper? How was that scale first established? More

The latest weight-loss tool to hit the market is staying pretty close to your plate... literally. The HAPIfork ($99) is a "smart fork" that uses sensors to track the number of forkfuls per meal, per minute, and the time intervals between them. If it senses fewer than 10 seconds between forkfuls, it lights up and vibrates, essentially telling the diner to slow down and/or eat less! More