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You probably take your tongue for granted, or at least, don’t fully grasp the complexities of how it deciphers the flavors it encounters and sends those delicious or distasteful signals to your brain. This is all the more important because things don’t always taste the same to different people. In fact, when it comes to the herb cilantro, the fresh earthiness you taste might actually taste like Palmolive or a fragrant bar of bathroom soap to someone else. There is a lot to wade through when it comes to common myths about food, but the idea that to some people,...

Students returning to the University of Texas at Austin this fall will have twice as much help wrestling with some of the big questions that college presents. For instance, does water contain gluten? And, is all food genetically modified? “If you’re not eating good things, how do they expect your brain to grow?” said Hannah Logan, a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst majoring in sustainable food and farming.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- More than 380 people in 26 U.S. states have been diagnosed with a stomach illness tied to Mexican cilantro contaminated by human waste, two federal agencies said Tuesday. It's the fourth consecutive summer in which the intestinal infection cyclosporiasis has been reported in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration are investigating the cause of the latest outbreak, which appears to have begun after May 1. The FDA said it suspects the contamination came from "contact with the parasite shed from the intestinal tract of humans" in...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - An intestinal parasite outbreak that has been causing illness all across the state of Texas may have been caused by cilantro from the Puebla area of Mexico. The Texas Department of State Health Services has received reports of 205 cases caused by the parasite Cyclospora, including one here in Lubbock. An import alert from the FDA says, "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state public health officials have identified annually recurring outbreaks (in 2012, 2013, and 2014) of cyclosporiasis in the United States which have been associated with fresh cilantro from the state...

There’s more than just cilantro in the growing fields in Mexico, and that’s caused the Food and Drug Administration to institute a partial import ban on it through August. The move comes after health officials found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields, which have been linked to hundreds of intestinal illnesses dating back to 2012. The FDA will focus on product coming from Puebla, and all of it will need to be manually inspected and certified before being allowed into the U.S. Cilantro from other parts of the country will need to have documentation proving it did not...

Cilantro was described as an aphrodisiac in the Arabian Nights, but that fact fails to impress those who hate it with a passion. Cilantro was described as an aphrodisiac in "The Arabian Nights," but that fact fails to impress those who hate it with a passion. Julia Child famously told Larry King that it has a "dead taste," and she would pick it out of a dish "and throw it on the floor." The pro-cilantro crowd is just as vocal, if not as descriptive. You can find the debate anywhere you find cilantro and the people who meticulously pick it...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and...

No romaine left in the fridge didn't stop the creation of a household favorite, the super sandwich!

...Frankly, I think there’s a lot to be said for hatred. For one thing, it’s a very honest emotion. And unlike, say, love, it’s usually hard-earned and completely deserved. Love, on the other hand, can be as brief and fleeting as a snow flake. Bars and taverns, especially right around closing time, are full of people making declarations of deep and abiding love...

Week of June 19, 2004; Vol. 165, No. 25 , p. 397 Compound in salsa kills off salmonella Alexandra Goho Salsa is more than just a spicy condiment. New research suggests it may also offer protection against Salmonella, the common foodborne pathogen that can cause severe sickness and even death. In preliminary experiments, chemist Isao Kubo of the University of California, Berkeley determined that the juice from salsa, which contains mainly tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and green chilies, has antibacterial properties. Now, reporting in the June Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Kubo and his colleagues have zeroed in on a...