Why salad is so overrated

As the world population grows, we have a pressing need to eat better and farm better, and those of us trying to figure out how to do those things have pointed at lots of different foods as problematic. Almonds, for their water use. Corn, for the monoculture. Beef, for its greenhouse gases.

A BATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

We know that you know that guac is extra, but have you ever thought about what makes it so delicious? Well, it starts with sourcing the best whole ingredients possible, and ends with a quick mash in our restaurant. In fact, it’s so easy, we’re going to show you how to do it below. 1.

Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests

Americans throw away almost as much food as they eat because of a “cult of perfection”, deepening hunger and poverty, and inflicting a heavy toll on the environment.

The Best (and Quickest) Ways to Thaw Frozen Food

Freezing food is an incredibly convenient way to save it, but thawing it is such a hassle. Here are the best (and quickest) ways to thaw just about any food. Before we get to thawing, you should know some of the best practices to freeze food.

“Everything in Moderation” Is a Terrible Rule to Eat By

When your favorite diet advice is the same as junk food peddlers’ favorite diet advice, maybe you should reconsider. “Everything in moderation” is attractive advice, but also a trap.

How to Shop, Cook, and Eat Healthy When Eating for One

Solo folks face unique challenges for eating healthy, beyond a lack of cooking skills. It’s less fun to cook and eat alone, and very little food comes in packs of one. The trick is to muster up the will to cook once a week so you can enjoy healthy meals for the next few days.

The Real Soylent Sickness

I have never tasted Soylent, the meal substitute dreamed up in Silicon Valley’s hacker-engineering culture and beloved by tech workers, but it hasn’t exactly received raves for flavor.

Most Popular Food Hacks of 2016

Food is pretty important. Whether you consider yourself a “foodie” or not, you’ve gotta eat, and everyone can use tips on how to eat and cook better, faster, and more healthfully. Here are some of our most popular food hacks from 2016.

People around the world are eating banana peels because they know something that Westerners do not

That's right, you can eat banana peels. And not only are they edible — they're also good for you. If you live in the US, you're probably used to tossing banana peels in the trash.

A Plea for Culinary Modernism

The obsession with eating natural and artisanal is ahistorical. We should demand more high-quality industrial food. Modern, fast, processed food is a disaster. That, at least, is the message conveyed by newspapers and magazines, on television cooking programs, and in prizewinning cookbooks.

Cooking Lessons

Disillusioned with fine dining, one of the world’s great chefs took on fast food. It has been harder than he ever imagined.

Eating Toward Immortality

Diet culture is just another way of dealing with the fear of death. Knowing a thing means you don’t need to believe in it. Whatever can be known, or proven by logic or evidence, doesn’t need to be taken on faith.

This Infographic Shows How Long Frozen Foods Can Last in Your Freezer

Putting food in the freezer is like a pause button on its shelf life. Meat that will go bad in a week can instead last months. However, even frozen food can go bad. This chart shows how long different types of food can last in the freezer.

No diet, no detox: how to relearn the art of eating

Our relationship with food has become disordered and obsessive. As the new year brings diet madness, it needn’t be such a struggle to learn good eating habits Our relationship with food has become disordered and obsessive.

How To Buy The Healthiest Coconut Water And Avoid The Worst!

I love coconut water! When I’m traveling in the tropics, there is nothing better than drinking water straight from a coconut. Mother nature designed the perfect vessel for a drink that is so refreshing, slightly sweet, and keeps you hydrated in hot climates.

Pete Wells Has His Knives Out

Pete Wells, the restaurant critic of the Times, who writes a review every week—and who occasionally writes one that creates a national hubbub about class, money, and soup—was waiting for a table not long ago at Momofuku Nishi, a modish new restaurant in Chelsea.

New York Pizza Styles: A Complete Guide

While New Yorkers can certainly be parochial and protective of their home slice, they can also be open and accepting of different pizza points of view.

Five Useful Cooking Techniques No One Teaches You

Most of us learn to cook through trial and error, the Food Network, or being forced to feed ourselves when no one else will do it. So naturally, no one’s born knowing how to sauté chicken, or blanch vegetables.

No food is healthy. Not even kale.

Not long ago, I watched a woman set a carton of Land O’ Lakes Fat-Free Half-and-Half on the conveyor belt at a supermarket. “Can I ask you why you’re buying fat-free half-and-half?” I said. Half-and-half is defined by its fat content: about 10 percent, more than milk, less than cream.

Freedom from food

There are plenty of superpowers that would make a nice addition to my current lifestyle. I would be delighted to wake up one morning with the ability to fly, to become invisible, or even to turn matter into gold, provided my Midas touch came with a reliable on-off switch.

20 Strategies for Radically Cutting Your Food Expenses

The average American family spends $151 a week on food, according to this Gallup poll. That’s actually quite a lot of money when you consider that the average week contains just 21 meals and that it’s relatively easy to eat a meal that costs less than $1.

It Doesn't Matter When You Eat

There are so many myths and strangely specific rules about when to eat to lose weight, but alone they do nothing to help. Eat a hearty breakfast and light all day. Eat small meals every few hours.

How Food Manufacturers Pick Expiration Dates and What They Really Mean

No one wants to serve spoiled food to their families. Conversely, consumers don’t want to throw food away unnecessarily–but we certainly do.

Inside the food industry: the surprising truth about what you eat

Think you eat only healthy, unprocessed foods? Think again. Joanna Blythman went undercover and discovered that even your fruit salad is not what it seems

Fuck work

Work means everything to us Americans. For centuries – since, say, 1650 – we’ve believed that it builds character (punctuality, initiative, honesty, self-discipline, and so forth).

How Much Sugar Can You Avoid Today?

I’ve recently tried to reduce the sugar I eat, having been persuaded by the research on its damages — and alarmed by how much sugar has snuck into our diet.

A Seismic Shift in How People Eat

IT’S easy to make fun of people in big cities for their obsession with gluten, or chia seeds, or cleanses. But urbanites are not the only ones turning away from the products created by big food companies. Eating habits are changing across the country and food companies are struggling to keep up.

Hang These Graphics on Your Fridge to Never Waste Food Again

Every year, people waste tons of food—a serious and saddening issue. If you sometimes throw out food because they’ve spoiled, these printables can help. Back in December, I decided to eat more fruits and vegetables. No matter what, I was going to eat…

Unhealthy Fixation

Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, which certifies goods that are free of genetically modified organisms. Last year, sales of such products nearly tripled.

A Graphical Guide to Quick and Easy Protein Smoothies

Rather than letting yourself go hungry and zipping to the nearest drive-thru, protein smoothies make a more filling and nutritious on-the-go meal. This infographic helps you whip up quick and easy drinkable meals for times when you needed to roll out the door 15 minutes ago.

Eat By Date's Massive Database Tells You When Food Really Expires 

Expiration dates are usually misleading. They often refer to quality, not safety. Eat By Date is a giant database of food products that gives you true expiration dates, plus a lot of other useful information. Dear Lifehacker, I'm a little confused by all the expiration dates on my food.

The Grocery Store Items That Will Be More Expensive in 2017

According to the USDA, food prices have dropped 1.6% since last year. The USDA rounded up a few food items that are expected to continue to drop in price in 2016, but fair warning: these same items will probably be more expensive next year.

Before You Ever Buy Bread Again…Read This! (And Find The Healthiest Bread On The Market)

Yes, I eat bread. It’s time to address the many questions I get about one of most wonderful and satisfying foods on earth – Bread! I don’t want to live without it and you shouldn’t have to either. Bread is a really hot topic and is targeted as the root of many health problems.

Forget Red Delicious: Here Are the Apples You Should Use in Everything

At first blush, apples might seem pretty boring (that’s the fruit that got mankind expelled from paradise?) but a perfectly crisp, sweet and tart apple, fresh from the tree, is a beautiful thing—but each variety has its strengths and uses.

Expiration Dates on Your Food Mean Nothing

Sell by, best if used by, expires on, display until; the shelf life of food seems like it’s a well regulated, concrete affair, but it’s not: It differs by region and type of food. In the end, those labels mean almost nothing, which leads to both food waste and an assumption of safety.

How to Eat Healthy Meals at Restaurants

Most meals at American restaurants aren’t healthy. They’re packed with processed food and enough calories to cover two or three sensible meals. Yet it’s entirely possible to eat both healthy and tasty restaurant meals.

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

On the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury and discharged 11 men who controlled America’s largest food companies.

The Safest Ways to Reheat Leftovers and Avoid Food Poisoning

The microwave is everyone’s go-to when it comes to reheating the previous night’s meatloaf, but you should take extra care to make sure those leftovers are safe enough to be today’s lunch. Here’s how.

Why McDonald’s sales are falling

MCDONALD’S restaurants stand among American capitalism’s greatest success stories. Starting out with just one burger stall in 1948, the fast-food chain’s emphasis on quick service and a standardised menu has helped it to grow to more than 35,000 outlets across the world.

Buying organic veggies at the supermarket is a waste of money

It has happened to all of us. You’re standing in the produce aisle, just trying to buy some zucchini, when you face the inevitable choice: Organic or regular?

Living Well: 11 Secrets To Properly Freezing Produce

This summer inspiration is brought to you by Target. Find more fun and surprises all season long on Target’s #SummerUp Pinterest board.  Images and text by Lindsey Johnson for Design Mom.

14 Ways to Start Eating Better This Year

As motivated as you are now to turn over a new leaf, you won’t really transform your eating habits overnight. Eating healthy is both a skill and a habit that takes time to develop. To get you started, these are 14 of our no-frills, no-BS articles to set you straight on the path to better health.

31 Crockpot Freezer Meals for Back-to-School

Want to simplify the busy back-to-school season?  Stock your freezer with crockpot freezer meals!  Here are 31 crockpot recipes that I’ve tried myself (grocery list included!).

Argentina On Two Steaks A Day

The classic beginner's mistake in Argentina is to neglect the first steak of the day. You will be tempted to just peck at it or even skip it altogether, rationalizing that you need to save yourself for the much larger steak later that night.

Why Did the Obamas Fail to Take On Corporate Agriculture?

Eight years ago this month, I published in these pages an open letter to the next president titled, “Farmer in Chief.

Think organic food is better for you, animals, and the planet? Think again

What we eat is seen as more important than ever. And everywhere we are urged to go organic: we are told it is more nutritious, it improves animal welfare and helps the environment. In reality, that is mostly marketing hype.

Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit Add to ...

Sweetness was meant to be irresistible. We are born with a sweet tooth. Babies drink in sugar with their mother’s milk.

26 Foods You Should Learn To Cook In Your Twenties

This is the most common way restaurants cook vegetables; it can be done to nearly any vegetable. Do not be scared by this. It is easy and awesome.

Located on every block in urban areas (and every other block in rural ones), the Japanese convenience store is much more than a ubiquitous repository of junk food and cheap buzzes. It sells sushi and soba, manga and medicine, single-malt whisky and next-day hangover cures.

Delusion at the Gastropub

It takes a lot of high-capitalist pixie dust to turn the basics of subsistence into coveted luxuries.

Learn How to Cook Anything on the Grill With This Infographic

Even the most experienced grill master has trouble memorizing cooking times for everything. This chart tells you all you need to know for almost anything grill worthy. The graphic is comprehensive and includes beef, pork, seafood and veggies.

Food Truck Economics

Bobby Hossain’s day starts early. Along with his family, he runs a food truck called Phat Thai that serves his mother’s Thai recipes “with a modern twist.” Although he won’t be serving customers for nearly 4 hours, he wakes up by 7:30am.

The Incompatible Food Triad Is The Most Delicious Philosophical Problem Of Our Time

Intellectuals at a dinner party, doubtless after solving their own era’s trickiest problem. P.S. KrøyerMathematicians live out their days haunted by many questions. They may wake up some mornings already trying to prove the Hodge Conjecture.

​How Food Marketers Make You Think You're Choosing Healthy Food

Plans to eat healthy can fly out the window when you step into a grocery store. Maybe you add junk food to your cart full of vegetables. Or maybe you believe the hype that a food is healthy, when it's really not the best choice. Here are some of the traps that food marketers use against you.

How Long You Can Store (Almost) Anything in the Fridge, Freezer and Pantry

Is that chicken breast at the bottom of your freezer still safe to eat? How about the mustard that’s been in your cupboard for who knows how long? It’s sometimes hard to know when food needs to be tossed, or when it’s perfectly safe to salvage.

Eat Healthy Meals with the "Never Two in a Row" Plan

We all tend to indulge our food cravings once in a while, which means added pounds and broken diets—especially on vacation. Try alternating healthy and unhealthy meals to avoid going on a binge.

10 Kitchen Secrets That Only the Best Chefs Know!

If you tend to know you’re way around the kitchen with a few tips and tricks, cooking can be really fun and joyful, but if you lack some essential skills, then it can be extremely difficult.

The Dorito Effect: Healthy food is blander than ever — and it's making us fat

We talk a lot these days about the impact Big Food has had on our collective waistline: too much salt, sugar, and fat.

Yes, Healthful Fast Food Is Possible. But Edible?

When my daughter was a teenager, about a dozen years ago, she went through a vegetarian phase. Back then, the payoff for orthodontist visits was a trip to Taco Bell, where the only thing we could eat were bean burritos and tacos.

Sugar Season. It’s Everywhere, and Addictive.

YOUR co-worker brought in brownies, your daughter made cookies for a holiday party and candy is arriving from far-flung relatives. Sugar is everywhere. It is celebration, it is festivity, it is love. It’s also dangerous.

This Man Will Transform How You Eat

The light in the room softly brightened and grew warmer, yellower, somehow more embracing. A quiet rustling—wind through leaves?—reached my ears.

Cooking for Geeks Teaches You the Science Behind Better Cooking

If you’re interested in not just how to make food taste great but why certain techniques and ingredients work the way they do, check out Jeff Potter’s Cooking for Geeks. The book can help you start experimenting in the kitchen and delve into the science of food to become a better home cook.

19 Easy Single-Person Cooking Ideas That Won't Waste Food Or Get Boring

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Why Eating Seasonally and Locally Is Better for You (and Your Wallet)

Health experts and chefs both often say you should eat "seasonally," or include foods in your diet that are grown at the same time of the year you eat them. For example, that means squash in the summer and fall, and artichokes in the spring.

Five Sauces Everyone Should Know How to Make for Endless Meal Options

"What's for dinner?" might be the most dreaded question of everyday life. Even if you have a ton of ingredients at the ready, you have to figure out what to do with them and, more importantly, whether you can make something you're in the mood for.

A Hidden Cost to Giving Kids Their Vegetables

WHY do poor children have poor diets? Some commentators contend that healthy diets are too expensive. Others argue that wholesome options are affordable and that junk foods that seem cheap are hardly a good deal. But both camps overlook what most parents know well: Children are picky.

This Video Shows How to Make McDonald's-Like French Fries at Home

Many of us firmly believe McDonald’s french fries are the best french fries. You don’t have to head to the fast food joint for a nearly identical version you can make at home. PopSugar takes the ingredients and process McDonald’s uses to reverse engineer their fries.

The Easiest Ways to Open a Stubborn Pistachio

Most pistachios are a snap to open, but every bag has a handful of holdouts: those nuts with just the tiniest opening in the shell, like an obnoxious smirk. No need to ruin your nails or teeth trying to get inside, though! We have two easy ways to crack a tough nut.

Why You Should Be Planning Your Meals

This is a post from Team NF Member Staci. Think about walking into a gym and randomly doing a few sets here, a few sets there… a wandering sheep without a shepherd. We’ve all been there. Do we REALLY expect to make huge progress without knowing what we’re doing?

The Changing American Diet

After seeing the Open Data Institute’s project on the changing British Diet, I couldn’t help but wonder how the American diet has changed over the years. The United States Department of Agriculture keeps track of these sort of things through the Food Availability Data System.

These people know what you're going to want to eat before you do

"We see our role as translating trends," she told me after ordering a kale salad. "We are putting ideas in front of consumers that are both appropriate and challenging. We're here to test that line.

And freeze some ingredients for smoothies:

Everybody wants to look and feel their best for summertime, which is why so many people took BuzzFeed Food's Clean Eating Challenge last year. So with the help of nutritionist Dana James, MS, CNS, CDN, of Food Coach NYC, we put together another challenge for 2015.

What Temperature Should You Keep Your Refrigerator Set At?

Is your milk getting frosty? Are your eggs spoiling quickly? Your refrigerator probably isn't set right, and your food items may not be where they should be in your fridge. The kitchen fanatics at Stack Exchange offer a couple tips on ensuring your perishables don't perish.

I Don’t Smoke or Drink, I Eat Well & Exercise. How Did I Still Get Cancer? An Oncologist Answers.

Dr. Vishal Rao, an oncologist and head and neck surgeon at the Bangalore-based HealthCare Global (HCG) Cancer Center, writes about the debate on food safety in India and how it is related to cancer. A 45-year-old man presented himself to an oncologist with the typical symptoms of stomach cancer.

My Dinner With Longevity Expert Dan Buettner (No Kale Required)

Dan Buettner and I were off to a good start. He approved of coffee.

The Food Lab's Complete Guide to Pan-Seared Steaks

Summers are made for the grill, but what's a steak lover to do when the weather's too cold and wet to light the suckers up? Just cook them indoors.

How To Cook A Brisket, Which Is Totally Worth The Effort, I Swear

Just once in your life, cook a brisket, over smoky charcoal heat, on the grill. Do it for the solemn pride of having done so, and for the rime of authority it will lend to your future haughty pronouncements on the quality of others’ briskets.

The Economics of Eating Out

When it comes to restaurants, the correlation between price and enjoyment can seem low to non-existent. For every great meal that justifies a splurge, how many other restaurants serve up food that can't beat a favorite deli or regular takeout place?

Top 10 Food Infographics to Hang in Your Kitchen or Save to Your Phone

Sometimes, a chart or infographic is the best way to communicate complex topics—like what the different types of cuts of beef are (and how to cook them) and how to fix common cooking mistakes. Here are some of the most save- or print-worthy food graphics we've shared on Lifehacker.