Culinary History

Thanks to 17th-century Dutch settlers, Americans enjoy all kinds of cookies for all kinds of celebrations, including Christmas. But cookies are older than recorded history--humans were munching on them 10,000 years ago.

Muslims around the world are currently in the second week of a month-long period of fasting and feasting as they celebrate one of the holiest seasons of Islam known as Ramadan.

As one of the world's most popular foods (they're even grown in Japan), tomatoes are an ancient food with a proud history.

Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, a college professor and African-American leader, started Kwanzaa in 1966 after he realized that most traditional American holidays did not focus on the development or the essence of black Americans.

For over 2,000 years Jews around the world have celebrated an 8-day holiday with lights, dreidels, latkes and sufganiyot. Here's a little food history behind this meaningful and delightful festival of lights.

The Meleagris gallopavo, or turkey, is just as popular today as it was over 300 years ago, when it was part of the first thanksgiving feast in 1621.

To cope with rationing, many Americans cultivated victory gardens, substituted margerine for butter and used the thrifty habits and skills many developed during the Depression years of the 1930s.

During World War II Americans had to cope with food and other commodity shortages and long lines created by rationing.

First sold in 1937, this brick of spiced ham and pork shoulder is still consumed by people around the world to the tune of 141 million cans a year.

I just returned from a trip back in time to the site of the bloodiest day in American history.