The Shed at Dulwich was a fake restaurant that became the top-rated eatery in London

In 2008, one writer demonstrated the fickle nature of wine reviews

Robin Goldstein submitted a fake restaurant to the well-respected Wine Spectator for a competition. He created a website for the fake Milan-based business, complete with a menu of wines the magazine itself had disparaged. That didn't stop Wine Spectator from naming Goldstein's ruse among that year's winners.

Shake Shack began as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park

The high-growth restaurant chain is one of the industry's biggest success stories. With chef Danny Meyer at the helm, the restaurant arose out of chance amid an effort to rehabilitate New York's Madison Park. Learn more of the restaurant's story here.

There's no definitive proof that Boulanger, the supposed inventor of the restaurant, ever lived

Legend has it that Boulanger's Paris soup shop was the first modern restaurant, but historian Rebecca Spang found no definitive proof that he ever lived. She did, however, find multiple documents referencing a different 18th-century Parisian, Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, as the "creator" of restaurants. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The unexpected return of the steakhouse

Although the 2010s and early 2020s saw fewer people eating red meat, the momentum has now swung in the opposite direction, with vegetarian spots closing and hip new restaurants slinging beef. Food writer Bettina Makalintal makes sense of the sudden shift by unpacking the steakhouse's resurgence.

How to dine like they do in 'The Bear'

One of the most exciting aspects of FX's hit show "The Bear" is how it highlights real Chicago restaurants and businesses. This guide to some of the restaurants visited by the show’s characters (and a few that aren’t) includes the real Michelin inspectors’ notes on each spot.

The legend of Pittsburgh’s fake Burger King

Years ago, a Burger King in Pittsburgh lost its franchise due to repeated customer complaints about food quality. However, the franchise-holders continued to operate the restaurant, switching to generic packaging but keeping the signage and uniforms. Customers eventually caught on and raised suspicions, leading to Burger King's corporate leaders' involvement. Learn more about the bizarre establishment and how it managed to continue operations for months.

Watch Anthony Bourdain's meal at El Bulli, which popularized molecular gastronomy

The 'drinks' included cocktails in the form of alcohol-infused sugarcanes, a cotton candy piña colada, and a dual-textured, temperature-changing gin fizz. Foods included a gorgonzola cheese sphere with the consistency of a chocolate egg and a dish of freeze-dried and foam tofu with the appearance and texture of tiramisu.

The myths around London's tiniest sculpture

The Philpot Lane mice have been considered London's smallest sculpture for decades, delighting visitors and locals alike. But there's a common story told for why the unusual sculpture—which features two mice fighting for a piece of cheese—was placed there, saying it commemorated the death of a construction worker fighting over a lunch in the 1800s. The author of this article argues the evidence for such a story is lacking. Dive into the obscure history here.

12th-century Chinese restaurants followed a rating system

Like a predecessor to today's Michelin stars, restaurants advertised their offerings and skill level based on the number of flags flown outside: a simple, one-dish diner had one; a sit-down restaurant with a proper menu had at least two; three flags was not used for superstitious reasons; four meant the chef had mastered a culinary style; five meant patrons could expect dishes from every region of China.

Dishonest brokers called ‘curbstoners’ once competed by placing signs on properties

In the 1910s, yards would be littered with dozens of signs representing competing and potentially dishonest salesmen. The concept of the “open house” developed during this period, as real estate agents would occupy a single home all day for what they called “open inspections.”

The world's largest restaurant is the size of 10 football fields

The Bawabet Dimashq Restaurant in Damascus, Syria, has held the Guinness World Record for largest restaurant since 2008. It can seat 6,014 guests and employs nearly 1,800 people, who serve up an eclectic menu of Middle Eastern Indian, Arab, Iranian, Syrian, and Chinese dishes.

The Flyer sat in a shed for 13 years behind the brothers’ Dayton bike shop

While the wood is the same used in the 1903 flight, the muslin has been replaced twice. After laying forgotten in sheds, the vehicle eventually took on national importance. However, the Smithsonian Institution did not recognize it until the 1940s, after it spent time at the Science Museum in London.

Pub crawl generator: In the United Kingdom, a lot of pubs have the same name

For instance, the UK’s most popular pub name is Red Lion—if you wanted to have a drink at every Red Lion in the UK area, you’d have to finish 339 drinks. (For the record, we don’t advise this!) This fun resource plots the shortest route between all the pubs with the same name in the UK, in case you’re up for visiting all 339 Red Lions in a row.

Exposing a beloved British personality as a pedophile

After Jimmy Savile's 2011 death, comments damning him began populating an online networking site for an "emotionally disturbed girls" residential school. These comments pricked the ears of two BBC journalists whose desks had been slowly covered in rumors of abuse by the public figure and former BBC presenter. This podcast series focuses on how journalists bring stories to light and is one of two episodes detailing Savile's story.

An artist recreated Stonehenge as a bounce house in 2012

Though Stonehenge is sacred to many modern druids and pagans, artist Jeremy Deller reimagined it as a giant inflatable bouncy house—touring Paris, London’s 2012 Olympics, and even Stonehenge itself.

Tasting a lab-grown chicken nugget

Taste testing the first clean meat chicken nugget from a San Francisco company developing cultured meat. It’s chicken, but not as you know it.

One filmmaker turned an abandoned high school into a film studio

In 2017, Jeremy Garelick purchased a vacant school in Liverpool, New York, and turned it into a comedy production studio aimed at social media. The gambit has been successful, with the studio's two TikTok accounts earning over 1M combined followers.

Possibly my favorite English football fun fact: The Story of Ali Dia

Two decades after his one appearance for Southampton, Ali Dia is the most famous phoney in the history of British football. But how did his move come about? And where is he now?

History's weirdest weight loss fads, fact-checked

Nothing catches popular attention more than a claim to have found a quick weight-loss technique. History shows us such claims are often unfounded. Dr. Michael Mosley explores extreme weight-loss tips from history, from tapeworms to vinegar diets.

The cover of "Abbey Road" was shot in a quiet London neighborhood in 1969

The unassuming setting became one of the most famous attractions in the city and was the cover of the Beatles' last-recorded album. It was shot in the late 1960s, when the Fab Four was the most famous band in the world.

Ogilvy won the Shell account with a last-minute flight from New York to London

When Shell was searching for a new ad agency, David Ogilvy filled out the pitch questionnaire himself, planning to hand-deliver it to Shell’s President in New York. When he found out that the president was in London, Ogilvy hopped on a flight. This newsletter edition tells the full story of how Ogilvy’s grit and determination won Ogilvy & Mather the coveted Shell account.

The Takaro Lodge, a therapeutic New Zealand community turned wellness cult

Founded by Slovenian "energy" healer Aiping Wang, the lodge members were promised spiritual growth, healing, and even radical gifts like flight and foresight. Things turned dark as the group embraced extreme beliefs and practices.

A Manhattan building doomed to collapse was saved in secret

After completing the Citicorp Center, its engineer realized that cost-cutting measures to use bolted instead of welded joints made the building vulnerable to collapse under quartering winds. For three months, crews worked in secret at night to reinforce the building under Project Serene.

The 'dupe' economy is fueled by the youthful thrill of thrift

Historically, you don't want people to know you have a knock-off luxury item. But today's younger generations are embracing the "dupe" economy, an open celebration of luxury knock-off items where consumers are proud to pay less for something roughly equivalent to premium brand offerings.

What happened at Fyre Festival?

Top supermodels and influencers, including Bella Hadid, promoted Fyre Festival—which was supposed to be a luxury music festival on a secluded island—on their social media feeds. But when the people who had shelled out thousands to attend arrived, they found something closer to a horror movie turned survival situation.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

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The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.