12th-century Chinese restaurants followed a rating system

The three-star system arrived in 1931

In the 1920s, the Michelin brothers employed anonymous inspectors to review restaurants in their guides. Inspired by other popular European guidebooks, they added the Michelin Star in 1926 to mark the best restaurants in France. In 1931, it was expanded to the current system of up to three stars.

Many early Chinese restaurants were aimed at travelers

As trade expanded throughout China's north and south in the 12th century, restaurants opened to offer traveling tradesmen their home region's cuisine while they were on the road: southern cooking for people visiting the north, and northern cooking for people visiting the south.

Michelin awards stars (along with other distinctions)

Stars are the most prestigious of Michelin’s ratings and are often—but not exclusively—awarded to high-end, expensive restaurants. In addition to the Guide's famous stars, restaurants are also recognized for "Comfort and Quality," which includes a five-point scale.

The first street vendor to win a Michelin star was Singaporean chef Hawker Chan

The first street vendor to win a Michelin star was Singaporean chef Hawker Chan, whose food was uncharacteristically inexpensive for a Michelin-approved chef. After expanding, he lost the star, but was eventually awarded a Bib Gourmand Michelin Man symbol, which recognizes restaurants serving exceptional food at more accessible prices.

Medieval taverns offered patrons a limited menu

Inns, taverns, and alehouses were more like bars than restaurants, though they did offer patrons (often travelers) food, it wasn't laid out on a diverse menu. Instead, the establishments offered a limited menu, often consisting of a single stew, and hungry customers could grab a bowl to go along with their alcohol.

See who sat where at the US-China state dinner and why

This graphic maps the seating arrangements at the May 2026 dinner, showing how Chinese banquet etiquette shaped the placement of officials and executives from both delegations, along with details on the food served.

Red is deeply symbolic in Chinese culture

Since the bold hue warded off the mythical Nian, the color red has come to represent luck, prosperity, and celebration. If you come across a home or neighborhood preparing for new year celebrations, you'll see red lanterns, wall hangings, clothing, and more.

A list of one guy's hundreds of fortune cookie fortunes

Simple idea: Eat lots of Chinese food, collect wisdom in the form of fortunes. Josh Madison held onto hundreds of these and lists them here, noting the ones he received more than once with a number.

One writer suggests using the California roll to evaluate sushi restaurants

Christine Carone uses the logic of the Big Mac Index—a metric for evaluating purchasing power by comparing countries’ Big Mac prices proposed by the Economist—for evaluating takeout sushi. Her recommendation is looking at the cost of a California roll, a relatively inexpensive, middle-of-the-road item for any American sushi spot. If it’s too expensive, the restaurant isn’t offering good value. But if it’s too cheap, you should worry about the quality of the fish.

Craig Claiborne invented the modern food critic

The New York Times critic began his column "Directory to Dining" in 1962. While there had been restaurant reviews before then, Claiborne's ethical standards and appreciation for a variety of cuisines established a new kind of food critic and, in the process, a new kind of eater. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

A taxonomy of restaurant types

What's the difference between "fast food" and "fast casual"? Is there any real difference between a "diner" and a "family style restaurant"? This guide from DoorDash explores the industry's fine distinctions, along with some deeper dives into specific enterprises that found success.

The oldest restaurants in the US

This list features several establishments that have been around since before the Declaration of Independence, including the White Horse Tavern, in Newport, Rhode Island, and New York's Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington dismissed his troops at the end of the Revolutionary War.

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

In 2017, freelance writer Oobah Butler conducted an experiment in which he created a website claiming that his south London garden shed offered a unique fine-dining experience. Butler asked friends to write glowing reviews on Tripadvisor, made the restaurant open only by appointment, and allured audiences with mystery. As a result, hordes of people called and emailed to make a reservation at a restaurant that didn't exist.

Beard and his eponymous awards help define 'American cuisine'

Beard sought to fuse classic American dishes, like casseroles, with international flavors and locally-sourced ingredients. The James Beard Awards often reflect the eclecticism, honoring American chefs inspired by Filipino, Nigerian, French, and other traditions.

A catalog of 3,000 ornate Chinese cigarette boxes and brands

China's vast, state-owned tobacco market has produced enough regional brands and packaging variants to sustain a dedicated collector community. Ciggies.app functions as both a product database and an enthusiast social network, with entries spanning current mainland releases, historical discontinued brands, and international imports.

The earliest earthquake detection device involved eight ball-wielding dragons

Invented in China in 132 CE, the seismoscope was an urn with dragons facing different directions. If an earthquake occurred, the dragon facing the direction of the tremor released its ball. Like modern seismographs, its mechanism may have involved a suspended weight.

Restaurants are ramping up chicken dishes in 'The Great Chickening'

For decades, consumption of poultry meat has been on the rise in the US. Even more recently, restaurants have been focused on using the bird, citing its reliability, versatility, and the rising cost of beef. Nonetheless, avian flu has caused prices to fluctuate.

What McDonald's looks like in 55 countries

From the oldest operating McDonald's in the world to the farthest north, a photographer visited hundreds of the world's most popular restaurant chains over several years. He watched to see what the locals would order, bought food, took pictures of the food, and then ate it. He calls the work social anthropology, and compiled his images in a book titled the "McAtlas." See the photos here.

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 early Los Angeles punk scene found a home in Chinatown

Acts like Black Flag, X, and Circle Jerks performed in unconventional venues like Madame Wong’s and the Hong Kong Cafe—restaurants in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood that became an integral part of the nascent scene.

What (and when) was Imperial China?

China's first dynasty arose in 1600 BCE, according to current archaeological evidence, and its last dynasty fell in 1911. Learn more about Imperial China in this Smithsonian collection of articles and artifacts on each dynasty. According to...

David Stern brought the NBA to China

In 1987, he started shipping VHS tapes of games to state-run TV stations in China, and opened an NBA office there by 1992. Today, China is the league’s second-largest market.

Mark Rothko demanded a high-end restaurant remove his paintings

The artist was commissioned to paint murals for a Four Seasons restaurant on the ground floor of New York's Seagram Building. After attending the restaurant, he demanded his paintings be taken down and agreed to return his $35K payment, saying, “anybody who will eat that kind of food for those kind of prices will never look at a painting of mine.”

Visualizing the symbols and history of world flags

More than 200 world flags feature high-intent designs, projecting ideals and values to the world through archetypal symbols, colors, and shapes. This page effectively depicts the data behind symbol and shape usage, how much each country's flag has changed over time, the most popular colors used, and more in a series of elegantly simple charts.

How China's 'one country, two systems' works

"One country, two systems" is a principle put forth by the People's Republic of China as its approach toward formerly independent regions like Hong Kong and Macau. Supposedly promising administrative independence, China has not always been consistent in its application. Currently, it plans to offer the same arrangement with Taiwan. Learn more in this brief video.

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.

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

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.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

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

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

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

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.