Food

The theme of Mike's Maze this year is "See America," which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Courtesy of Warner Farm hide caption

Americans are often chastised for what we eat. Now we're getting a pat on the back. A new report finds seafood consumption is up by nearly a pound from the previous year, the biggest leap in 20 years. fcafotodigital/Getty Images hide caption

Flour and water on the left; just starter on the right. Courtesy of Lea Shell/Sourdough Project hide caption

Food writer Maria Speck soaks bulgur wheat in pomegranate juice to saturate it with burgundy color, then serves it with blueberries and orange-blossom water to tantalize the taste buds and eyes. Penguin/Random House hide caption

Laura Kemp, a technician at The Land Institute, hand harvests an experimental crop of Kernza in Kansas. Scientists think that this perennial crop could help fight climate change by trapping more carbon in the soil. Courtesy of The Land Institute hide caption

The bounty of the earth is celebrated in the high rituals of pagans. (Above) A Wiccan priestess is silhouetted by the afternoon light. In the foreground are examples of Wiccan cooking for the vernal equinox: (clockwise from near right) beet-pickled eggs; roast beef in tarragon; bowl of eggs boiled with onion skin wrap; bread with eggs; Ukrainian painted eggs; and apple crumble. Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images hide caption

A reconstruction of the head of Paranthropus boisei, based on a skull found at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, in 1959 by Mary Leakey. Initial analysis of the skull and fossilized teeth led scientists to think this ancestor ate nuts. More advanced analysis in later years revealed that a more diverse diet that included grasses. Ra˙l MartÌn/MSF/Science Source hide caption

Sir Thomas Lipton in 1909. Lipton was already a self-made millionaire before he ever entered the tea trade. But by figuring out how to lower the retail cost of tea and standardize his product "direct from the tea gardens," he became much, much richer. Library of Congress hide caption

Chad Sheridan, a cellarmaster at Lakefront Brewery and expert on braggots, helped re-create a recipe for an ancient alcoholic brew discovered in a 2,500-year-old burial plot in what's now Germany. Courtesy of Bettina Arnold hide caption

Spaghetti supper at Grape Festival, Tontitown, Arkansas, Aug. 16, 1941. Writers and photographers for the America Eats projects captured eclectic scenes across the nation, from Texas up to Vermont and the Atlantic to the Pacific. Granger/World Projects Administration/Library of Congress hide caption

A man flips a crepe at the Nutella Shop off of Rukab Street in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Miriam Berger/For NPR hide caption