Horace Fletcher preached the gospel of fanatically chewing food until it completely dissolved in the mouth. Even celebs like Upton Sinclair and Franz Kafka drank the Kool-Aid.

Patricia Pérez uses her grandmother’s ancient map of the desert to forage for plants and herbs no one else on Earth can access.

The world’s most obsessive breakfast-food fans demonstrate just how far humans will go for the sweet taste of nostalgia.

A Q&A with Jenny Dorsey on how she serves up some very tough questions.

William Banting tried every 19th century weight-loss fad, from caustic laxatives to vapor shampoos. Polite society was shocked when he unveiled the method that finally worked.

When meat prices spiked during the Great Depression, the women of Detroit got mad as hell—and launched a boycott that changed America.

From kindergarten to culinary school, people made me feel like my family’s food was backward. Now I cook dishes that push diners to confront their own prejudices.

Their collections may look like trash to you, but these guys know every can has a story—and some have shockingly high price tags, too.

My OCD manifests as an overwhelming suspicion that my food is infested with disease and bodily fluids. After years of hungry suffering, I finally found a way to cope.