Food History
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The Scandalous History of the Fork | Object Histories
When a Byzantine princess brought a two-pronged golden fork to an Italian wedding in the 11th century, the clergy called it sinful — proof, they said, that God’s own fingers weren’t good enough for her. For the next several hundred years, most of Europe agreed and ate with its hands. This is the surprising, genuinely…
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The General Behind Chewing Gum | Object Histories
Chewing gum has a general hiding in it. From Stone Age birch tar and Maya tzictli, to an exiled Mexican general’s failed rubber scheme, a soap salesman who stumbled into a gum empire, and the accountant who invented pink bubble gum by accident — this is the full, surprising history of the thing in your…