Why Are These Italians Massacring Each Other With Oranges? Every winter, Ivrea erupts into a ferocious three-day festival where its citizens pelt one another with 900 tons of oranges. (Yes, oranges.)
The Etymology of Food Words A new book exploring the origins of common food terms — from bialy to lima bean to bibimbap — is a fascinating history of how we eat and cook.
Ashkenazi Jews Have Become More Genetically Similar Over Time A new study of skeletons from a cemetery in Germany reveals a hidden history of Jews in the Middle Ages.
In Search of a Lost Spain In the southern part of the country, churches and streets hold the remnants of eight centuries of Islamic rule.
Chaucer the Rapist? Newly Discovered Documents Suggest Not. That the author of “The Canterbury Tales” had been accused of rape was long a staple of Chaucer studies. But scholars now suggest it was based on a misreading of court papers from 1380.