Elaborately decorated skulls are crafted from pure sugar and given to friends as gifts. The colorful designs represent the vitality of life and individual personality. Karen Castillo Farfán/NPR hide caption
The headquarters of Monsanto, near St. Louis, Mo. Monsanto is the world's largest seed supplier. Juliette Michel /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Farms outside Baghdad as seen from a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter. Much of Iraq's soil has a high salt content because of flooding and poor drainage. Jim Gordon/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Flickr hide caption
Sourdough loaves made by Fromartz with a bolted white flour from Anson Mills in South Carolina that he says reminded him of the wheat he'd tasted in southern France. Samuel Fromartz hide caption
Author Mimi Thorisson and her husband, photographer Oddur Thorisson, moved their six children and dogs from a Parisian apartment to a farmhouse in the Médoc region of France. Oddur Thorisson hide caption
IBM's Watson supercomputer is most famous for winning at Jeopardy! Now it's been called in to come up with recipe ideas. Bob Goldberg/AP/IBM hide caption
Proponents of the taxes say that if the measures pass, the money would be directed, in San Francisco, toward childhood nutrition and recreation and, in Berkeley, into the city's general fund. Joel Saget /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
After a hard day of bruising battle, ancient gladiators reached for a post-workout drink, according to an ancient account. New research backs that up. Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis hide caption
At Moriah Pie in Norwood, Ohio, Erin and Robert Lockridge serve homemade pizza and diners pay what they can. Christopher Kuettner hide caption
Say you want to make creme brulee, but don't own a kitchen blowtorch. What to do? In Toronto, there's a new solution: a start-up offering a library just for kitchen tools and appliances. Radius Images/Corbis hide caption
A depiction of "Gin Lane," filled with sins caused by drunken revelries. William Hogarth/Wikimedia hide caption
A selection of foods discussed by Shirley Corriher at the National Press Club on Oct. 22. Alison Bruzek/NPR hide caption
You don't have to travel to Paris to savor Steven Raichlen's French Bistro Brisket. John Kroll/Flickr hide caption
America's Test Kitchen recommends cooking meat, like this pan-seared steak, at a moderate temperature to seal in the juices. Carl Tremblay/Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen hide caption
These pomegranates are about an inch smaller than the typical size, but they're packed with antioxidants. Courtesy of Tiziana Centofanti hide caption
Glowing tapioca pearls accompanied by spiders (made of chocolate drizzle), just in time for Halloween, by Luma Bites Martina Zupanic/Luma Bites hide caption
The homeless and others in need enjoy lunch at the Los Angeles Mission on Nov. 23, 2011, in celebration of Thanksgiving. Legislation to ban organizations from serving food to homeless people in public places has been proposed in Los Angeles. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Whole Foods' new ad campaign is part of its effort to brand itself as America's Healthiest Grocery Store. Whole Foods/youtube hide caption
Joe Ambrose of Favourite Ice holds one of his crystal-clear artisanal cubes. Jessica Sidman/Washington City Paper hide caption
A Haitian woman holds cherries from a coffee tree. Haiti's coffee trade was once a flourishing industry, but it has been crippled by decades of deforestation, political chaos and now, climate change. Patrick Farrell /MCT /Landov hide caption