Latest issue June 22 2026

Plantir derangement syndrome

Food & Drink

Who stands to gain in the pistachio wars?

If you’ve ever lived in Marseille – where the habit of exaggeration is imbibed with mothers’ milk – you’ve heard about the sardine that blocked the port. But that’s nothing compared to the pistachio that took over the world. In late 2023, Dubai chocolate, a new kind of chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream, tahini and crunchy, toasted phyllo pastry, went viral. Chocolate brands, bakeries and purveyors of fine foods were quick to jump on the trend. Coffee chains began offering pistachio chocolate drinks (iced Dubai-chocolate matcha, anyone?) and delectable pistachio bomboloni – soft donuts filled with pistachio cream – came back on the menu in Italian restaurants.

Robert F. Moss

Fourth of July barbecue traditions through the years

Barbecue, like fireworks and flying red, white and blue flags, is one of our oldest Independence Day traditions, dating back to the early days of the American republic. A celebratory feast was the centerpiece of the holiday from the very beginning. On July 4, 1777, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia commemorated the first anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with “an elegant dinner,” as newspapers described it, followed by rounds of toasts to liberty and the memory of those who had fallen in the ongoing war. In the decade that followed, the public dinners grew larger, and perhaps a little less elegant, as they moved outdoors and began to feature whole animals cooked on pits in the ground.