Food Facts & Fun

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the volume of cheese at your local supermarket or cheesemonger, we're here to help you tell the fresh from the stinky and the soft from the hard.

By Dave Roos

On National Cheeseburger Day, we're celebrating - what else? - the all-American cheeseburger.

By Tara Yarlagadda

Americans have come to expect certain foods for breakfast. But why did these particular foods end up as morning meals?

By Shaun Chavis

String cheese is a super popular snack with kids and adults. And it's stringiness can be a bit baffling, too.

By Meg Sparwath

They're convenient and sort of free, but do ketchup packets last forever?

By Meg Sparwath

Its smell is notorious. But get past that and the jackfruit is versatile, easy to grow and packs a nutritional punch that's hard to beat.

By Adina Solomon

This tropical fruit, grown all over the tropics, has lots of health benefits. Even its leaves get in on the act.

By Alia Hoyt

Sassafras has a long history of culinary, medicinal and aromatic use, but safrole, a toxic compound found in its essential oils, has been banned by the FDA because of its potential carcinogenic properties.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Citric acid is added to everything from food to medicines to cleaning supplies. Although it occurs naturally, it's mostly manufactured from black mold. But does that mean we need to be worried?

By Alia Hoyt

Fried cheese curds are ooey, gooey and oh-so-delicious!

Did you love cereal as a kid? Do you still love it? Discover how much you do with our cereal quiz.

By Alia Hoyt

Raw milk is actually blamed for foodborne illnesses across the United States, and it's illegal to sell in several. But is it really warranted?

By Shaun Chavis

Canned foods are super convenient, but there's often a stigma attached to serving them. Is that warranted?

By Shaun Chavis

Ice cream made with insect milk? A start-up in South Africa hopes you'll say, "Yes please!"

By Nathan Chandler

Once just an afterthought of the beer industry, today's nonalcoholic beer is tasty and outpacing the alcoholic stuff globally by two to one.

By Adina Solomon

Ruby chocolate is a growing worldwide sensation, but the exact recipe and processing techniques are closely guarded secrets.

By Tara Yarlagadda

They all taste good but they don't mean the same thing.

By Kathryn Whitbourne

Poutine is just fries, gravy and squeaky cheese curds - how did it get to be Canada's national dish?

By Jesslyn Shields

Grocery store tomatoes are all but flavorless anymore. A group of scientists is out to bring the ripe, red taste of summer back.

By Shaun Chavis

This banana has soft, sweet flesh and tastes a lot like vanilla custard or ice cream. One scoop or two?

By Tara Yarlagadda

HowStuffWorks heads to Atlanta's Varsity drive-in to learn about the historic restaurant's car hops, and chat with Frank Jones, a car hop that's worked there for nearly 65 years.

Espresso, latte, macchiato. The coffee bean didn't even originate in Italy, so why do so many coffee drinks have Italian names?

By Carrie Whitney, Ph.D.

Female chickens lay eggs whether they've mated with a rooster or not.

By Jesslyn Shields

The differences go beyond the fact that one goes in a sippy cup and the other is a main ingredient in festive holiday punches.

By Jesslyn Shields

We throw out tons of perfectly good parts of vegetables and fruits often because we don't know what to do with them. But there's a lot of treasure in the trash.

By Alia Hoyt