Food
The necessity of food for survival is something that all humans have in common, but the trends of diet and food consumption can vary considerably from region to region. Find out more about the ingredients, dishes, and drinks that fuel people around the world.
Food Encyclopedia Articles
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beer
Beer, alcoholic beverage produced by extracting raw materials with water, boiling (usually with hops), and fermenting. In some countries beer is defined by law—as in Germany, where the standard ingredients,...
sugar
Sugar, any of numerous sweet, colourless, water-soluble compounds present in the sap of seed plants and the milk of mammals and making up the simplest group of carbohydrates. The most common sugar is sucrose,...
fruit processing
Fruit processing, preparation of fruit for human consumption. Fruit is sometimes defined as the product of growth from an angiosperm, or flowering plant. From a purely botanical point of view, the fruit...
fat and oil processing
Fat and oil processing, method by which fatty animal and plant substances are prepared for eating by humans. The oil and fat products used for edible purposes can be divided into two distinct classes:...
baking
Baking, process of cooking by dry heat, especially in some kind of oven. It is probably the oldest cooking method. Bakery products, which include bread, rolls, cookies, pies, pastries, and muffins, are...
distilled spirit
Distilled spirit, alcoholic beverage (such as brandy, whiskey, rum, or arrack) that is obtained by distillation from wine or other fermented fruit or plant juice or from a starchy material (such as various...
origins of agriculture
Origins of agriculture, the active production of useful plants or animals in ecosystems that have been created by people. Agriculture has often been conceptualized narrowly, in terms of specific combinations...
hunting
Hunting, sport that involves the seeking, pursuing, and killing of wild animals and birds, called game and game birds, primarily in modern times with firearms but also with bow and arrow. In Great Britain...
meat processing
Meat processing, preparation of meat for human consumption. Meat is the common term used to describe the edible portion of animal tissues and any processed or manufactured products prepared from these...
coffee
Coffee, beverage brewed from the roasted and ground seeds of the tropical evergreen coffee plants of African origin. Coffee is one of the three most popular beverages in the world (alongside water and...
dairy product
Dairy product, milk and any of the foods made from milk, including butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and condensed and dried milk. Milk has been used by humans since the beginning of recorded time to...
cereal processing
Cereal processing, treatment of cereals and other plants to prepare their starch for human food, animal feed, or industrial use. Cereals, or grains, are members of the grass family cultivated primarily...
wine
Wine, the fermented juice of the grape. Of the grape genus Vitis, one species, V. vinifera (often erroneously called the European grape), is used almost exclusively. Beverages produced from V. labrusca,...
fish processing
Fish processing, preparation of seafood and freshwater fish for human consumption. The word fish is commonly used to describe all forms of edible finfish, mollusks (e.g., clams and oysters), and crustaceans...
food preservation
Food preservation, any of a number of methods by which food is kept from spoilage after harvest or slaughter. Such practices date to prehistoric times. Among the oldest methods of preservation are drying,...
vegetable processing
Vegetable processing, preparation of vegetables for use by humans as food. Vegetables consist of a large group of plants consumed as food. Perishable when fresh but able to be preserved by a number of...
cooking
Cooking, the act of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking is as old as civilization itself, and observers have perceived it as both an art and a science. Its history sheds light on the very...
whaling
Whaling, the hunting of whales for food and oil. Whaling was once conducted around the world by seafaring nations in pursuit of the giant animals that seemed as limitless as the oceans in which they swam....