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Food

Wednesday

Yang Bing-Yi, patriarch of Taiwan's soup dumpling empire, has died

Yang Bing-Yi started the Din Tai Fung restaurant with his wife in Taipei in 1972. From there, the restaurant grew into a chain of more than 170 locations around the world, known for steamed soup dumplings. Courtesy of Yang family hide caption

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Courtesy of Yang family

World

Yang Bing-Yi, patriarch of Taiwan's soup dumpling empire, has died

The cofounder of Taiwan's famed Din Tai Fung restaurant chain died at 96, his company announced March 26. He helped turn delicate soup dumplings into a global phenomenon, even earning Michelin stars.

Yang Bing-Yi, patriarch of Taiwan's soup dumpling empire, has died

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Tuesday

Panera rolls out hand-scanning technology that has raised privacy concerns

Panera has piloted handprint scanners in two locations so far. The company plans to roll out the technology in additional locations across the country in the coming months. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Technology

Panera rolls out hand-scanning technology that has raised privacy concerns

Developed by Amazon, the technology will make it faster for Panera customers' to pay as well as give recommendations on what to order based on their order history.

Monday

Perennial rice: Plant once, harvest again and again

The perennial rice 'Yunda 107' is harvested in the Yunnan Province of China. Perennial rice can be harvested for successive regrowth seasons, maintaining a relatively stable yield and greatly reducing labor input. China News Service/China News Service via Getty Ima hide caption

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China News Service/China News Service via Getty Ima

Short Wave

Perennial rice: Plant once, harvest again and again

Rice is arguably the world's most important staple crop. About half of the global population depends on it for sustenance. But, like other staples such as wheat and corn, rice is cultivated annually. That means replanting the fields year after year, at huge cost to both the farmers and the land. For years, scientists have been tinkering with rice strains to create a perennial variety – one that would regrow after harvest without the need to be resown. Today, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber takes a look at one promising perennial rice effort. It's one of a series of interviews we conducted live at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Perennial rice: Plant once, harvest again and again

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Monday

Tamar Adler shows you how to make the most of your leftovers in her new cookbook

Tamar Adler is the author of The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z, which focuses on creatively reusing leftovers. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

Tamar Adler shows you how to make the most of your leftovers in her new cookbook

Tamar Adler's new cookbook is an ode to the bags of yesterday's salad in your fridge and the jars of nearly empty peanut butter in your cupboard. Leftovers, she says, are to be celebrated.

Tamar Adler shows you how to make the most of your leftovers in her new cookbook

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If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

Homa Dashtaki is the founder of The White Moustache yogurt company. (Her father's moustache inspired the name.) Her new book is called Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life. Mobolaji Adeolu/The White Moustache hide caption

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Mobolaji Adeolu/The White Moustache

If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

Just in time for the Persian New Year, Homa Dashtaki has published the Yogurt and Whey cookbook -- nearly 100 recipes, old and new, including some surprising ones, like whey cocktails and popsicles.

If you want to up your yogurt game, this Iranian cookbook will show you the whey

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Saturday

Russia agrees to extend the Ukraine grain deal again

The U.N.-chartered vessel MV Valsamitis is loaded to deliver 25,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat to Kenya and 5,000 tons to Ethiopia. It is pictured at the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk in February. Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images

World

Russia agrees to extend the Ukraine grain deal again

Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal allows Ukraine to ship food and fertilizer through a humanitarian corridor from Black Sea ports. The duration of the extension remained uncertain.

Wednesday

Tyson will close poultry plants in Virginia and Arkansas that employ more than 1,600

A Tyson food product is seen in Montpelier, Vt., on Nov. 18, 2011. Tyson Foods says the company is closing two facilities that employ more than 1,600 people in an effort to streamline its U.S. poultry business. Toby Talbot/AP hide caption

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Toby Talbot/AP

Business

Tyson will close poultry plants in Virginia and Arkansas that employ more than 1,600

Tyson Foods said it plans to close its processing, broiler and hatching operations in Glen Allen, Va., and a plant in Van Buren, Ark., in an effort to streamline its U.S. poultry business.

Tuesday

This Pi Day, how to BAKE pi(e) — and have mathematical fun

Eugenia Cheng is a mathematician and author of the book How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics. Throughout the book, she uses baking as a vehicle for better understanding mathematics concepts. Basic Books hide caption

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Basic Books

Short Wave

This Pi Day, how to BAKE pi(e) — and have mathematical fun

This March 14, Short Wave is celebrating pi ... and pie! We do that with the help of mathematician Eugenia Cheng, Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of the book How to Bake Pi. We start with a recipe for clotted cream and end, deliciously, at how math is so much more expansive than grade school tests.

This Pi Day, how to BAKE pi(e) — and have mathematical fun

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Thursday

'Sushi terrorist' and 2 accomplices arrested in Japan after viral prank

The global flagship store for Kura Sushi, a Japanese conveyor-belt sushi restaurant chain, is pictured here in January 2020 in Tokyo. Conveyor-belt sushi restaurants have been the target of a spate of pranks. Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images

Asia

'Sushi terrorist' and 2 accomplices arrested in Japan after viral prank

Viral videos showed 21-year-old Yoshino Ryoga putting his saliva on utensils and sushi and licking the spout of soy sauce bottles at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Nagoya City.

Wednesday

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

Chefs Von Diaz, Mayukh Sen, Reem Assil and Priya Krishna. NPR hide caption

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NPR

Code Switch

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

For decades, the ingredients, dishes and chefs that are popularized have been filtered through the narrow lens of a food and publishing world dominated by mostly white, mostly male decision-makers. But with more food authors of color taking center stage, is that changing? In this episode, we dive deep into food publishing, past and present.

We owe women of color for the foods we love to eat

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Monday

Toblerone is no longer Swiss enough to feature the Matterhorn on its packaging

A Toblerone chocolate bar, pictured with the Matterhorn in the background. The company will replace the iconic peak on its label with a more generic mountain as a result of manufacturing changes. Fabrice Coffini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Fabrice Coffini/AFP via Getty Images

Toblerone is no longer Swiss enough to feature the Matterhorn on its packaging

Toblerone is moving some of its production to Slovakia, meaning it can no longer legally call itself "Swiss-made." That branding change will include swapping the iconic peak for a more generic one.