by Talia Kleinplatz | Check out Eater’s picks for this year’s biggest new cookbooks. I can’t wait to get my hand’s on a copy of Paul Freedman’s new book, The Ten Restaurants That Changed America.

For a book that sounds like an overgrown listicle, Ten Restaurants That Changed America is a surprisingly dense history of the United States over the last 200 years, one that touches on the evolution of not just food, taste, and culture, but also race, gender, and class. Written by Paul Freedman, a medieval historian and the chair of the History of Science and the History of Medicine program at Yale — whose two prior volumes, Food: The History of Taste and Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination, indicate his more recent interest in the history of how we eat — Ten Restaurants more or less begins with the opening of Delmonico’s, generally if arguably considered the first proper restaurant in the United States, in 1827, establishing 150 years of French hegemony over American fine dining, and essentially ends, in the late 1970s, with the rise of Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, and all they have come to represent.

Thanks to the Globe & Mail’s Alex Gill and her recommendations for fair-style treats, I will now be eating all of the mooncakes and caramel buns. Also, read her take-down on “overrated” Diner en Blanc.

Van Mag discovers The Fraserhood, checks out the recently opened Crowbar and samples a few sippers from their cleverly named selection of cocktails. I still can’t wait to try the off-menu burger!

David Suzuki looks at the role urban agriculture can play in addressing concerns around the availability of fresh, local and affordable produce. While it won’t solve issues of food insecurity, it puts things in civic perspective.

Restaurants continue to struggle to find solid service and kitchen staff in the face of steep housing and rental costs.

What better way to spend the last weekend of summer than sipping on a cold one at The Whistler Village Beer Festival?

Eater pays a visit to Toronto and lays out its picks for the city’s best new restaurants, among them a Vancouver export: Miku!

Captain crunch and cocktails? What a perfect union. Check out how bartenders are incorporating cereal milk into their cocktail recipes. Reminds me of an old favourite on the L’Abattoir brunch menu…

These are scary times. If you didn’t know, there’s a massive seed bank in Norway attempting to preserve diversity in the face of war, climate change and single-crop farming. Check out this important three-part series by Munchies. Well worth the read.

The Atlantic takes a closer look at the fascinating economy of ramen (yes, ramen) in the American prison system.

A soda tax put in place in 2014 in Berkeley, California seems to be having positive effects as consumption of sugar-filled pop has fallen by as much as 20% in some neighbourhoods.

It’s back to school time and nutritionists are putting snack foods to the test. In shocking news, Fruit by the Foot was given an F grade.

One doctor’s approach to challenging conventional wisdom regarding a high-fat diet and it starts with butter in your morning coffee.

A challenging, creative and monumentally important approach to discussing difficult topics. Chef Tunde Wey is hosting a traveling dinner series to facilitate conversations about race and violence in America.

Having recently visited this beautiful spot,  I can tell you that Suttle Lodge is worth the trek, especially with Portland’s Josh McFadden of Ava Gene’s designing the menu for the on-site restaurant.

Coopering is a dying art and one with a fascinating history. Imbibe sits down with one of the few remaining master coopers to chat about the beautiful and intricate craft of building barrels.

Eating via Instagram honours this week go to Gillian Stevens for capturing the beautiful interior of Kissa Tanto.

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