City Matters
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A classic recipe for "cóc de brossat" from Tortosa. Photo by Tara Shain.
Recipe: Cóc de Brossat
This surprisingly light and airy cake from Tortosa uses simple Mediterranean ingredients—like yogurt and olive oil—and yields a cake with a delicate crumb, cheesy topping and a bright lemon flavor. Read more
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The gegants are brought from Sant Cugat to l'ermita de Sant Medir for the Sant Medir's Day celebrations. Photo by Jordi Garcia (CC BY NC 2.0)
Sant Medir, the Revered Saint of… Sweets?
Every year on March 3rd the Barcelona neighborhoods of Gràcia, Sarrià, Sant Gervasi and La Bordeta explode in what has come to be known as "la festa més dolça"—the sweetest festival. Read more
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Recipe: Calçot & Romesco Puff Pastry
It's calçot season again! It's no replacement for the countryside calçotada experience, but this simple puff-pastry tart using traditional Catalan ingredients brings all the flavors of the calçotada to your table. Read more
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Coffee: Here’s the Carbon Cost of Your Daily Cup—and How to Make It Climate-Friendly
Weight for weight, coffee produced by the least sustainable means generates as much carbon dioxide as cheese and has a carbon footprint only half that of one of the worst offenders—beef. Read more
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Trump’s Twitter Ban Obscures the Real Problem: State-Backed Manipulation Is Rampant on Social Media
The issue of disinformation and manipulation on social media goes far beyond one man’s Twitter account. And it is much more widespread than previously thought. Read more
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Plastic pollution is a problem, but that's just the bit you can see. Chemical pollutants are far more mobile than plastics and, in the case of toxic metals, more persistent. Photo by Bo Eide (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
The War against Plastic Is Distracting Us from Pollution That Cannot Be Seen
Society pollutes the environment in more ways than most people are aware, and has done since long before concern for plastic pollution became prevalent. Read more
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How to Cook Christmas Dinner in the Most Environmentally Friendly Way Possible
By now, most of us are aware that much of the food we eat, in one way or another, contributes to the climate crisis—the way we produce, eat, store, discard, source and harvest our food can all play a direct role. Read more
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Two men dressed as Zwarte Piet, November 2011. Photo by Sander van der Wel (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Wikimedia.
In a Year of Black Lives Matter Protests, Dutch Wrestle (Again) with the Tradition of Black Pete
The ambivalence surrounding Black Pete’s status in the Netherlands is not an isolated Dutch issue. Rather, it mirrors an international unease about the function and significance of blackface images and performances globally. Read more
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How Green Is Your Christmas Tree?
There’s no way around the fact that Christmas has a large carbon footprint, from the traveling we do to the presents we give and the large amounts of food we eat. Read more
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When it comes to soft drinks you might assume that plastic bottles are the least green option, but is that always the case?
Ranked: The Environmental Impact of Five Different Soft Drink Containers
People are increasingly aware of the harm plastic waste causes to wildlife, and many would avoid buying single-use plastics if they could help it. But are the alternatives to plastic much better? Read more
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