We’re typically told not to mess with family recipes—but for Paul Eng, an artist and the third-generation owner of a storied tofu shop in New York, doing so can be an act of both respect and self-expression. In 1933, his grandfather opened Fong Inn Too in the city’s Chinatown district after immigrating to America from China. The store specialized in tofu, but was also known for its herbal jelly (

), and other traditional fare. When Eng’s parents closed the space, in 2017, it was the oldest family-owned tofu shop in the city, and one of just two places in Chinatown where customers could buy blocks of freshly pressed bean curd. Eng decided to shift his focus to bringing the business back to life, but faced a steep learning curve: No one could tell him any of the shop’s beloved recipes, which had never been written down.

Eng set about re-creating the original dishes by trial and error. “My husband remembered those childhood flavors,” Eng’s wife, Marina, says of the painstaking experience. He tried tracking down former employees, only to discover that they’d worked with an impenetrably obscure measuring system and were reluctant to convert to updated machinery. Eng ultimately turned to YouTube, synthesizing tofu-making methods with what he heard from his staffers, and, to engage a new audience, added his own touch to his culinary inheritance. The couple reopened the shop two years later in one of the family’s original manufacturing buildings under its original name, 

.

Today, a significant portion of the store consists of a bar filled with toppings for tofu pudding (

), a dessert served by Eng’s family that he’s adapted into an intriguing treat. One popular pudding, Snap, Crackle & Pop, features tapioca balls, rainbow jelly, and lemony 

 jelly, made from the seeds of a fig plant, while garnishes including pickled radish and dried shrimp crown a savory version. Customers now enjoy a wider range of options in other offerings, too, such as ginger, brown sugar, and matcha rice cakes, in addition to the traditional white variety, each packaged in a convenient (and delivery-friendly) to-go box. For the Engs, Fong On’s evolution isn’t an affront to its history, but rather, a way of faithfully carrying the family’s tofu legacy forward. Along with patrons from outside of Chinatown, some customers, Marina notes, are the grandchildren of the shop’s original clientele. “We need places like this in New York,” she says. “It’s a link from the past to the future.”

The Evolution of the Fare at Fong On, New York’s Oldest Family-Owned Tofu Shop

“Apparently some people can’t smell dead ants,” a stunned TikTok creator says in a 

 she made last November. “Dude, huh?” The video went viral, amassing hundreds of comments and replies that debated whether or not the fallen insects emit an odor, and if so, what it smells like.

While most responders had never associated ants with scents of any kind, it turns out that many species of the critter give off foul-smelling stenches when crushed or in danger. “There’s a whole bouquet of different scents and odors that are associated with ants,” says Clint Penick, a professor and principal investigator in the 

 at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, which studies the lives of social insects such as ants, bees, and termites. Citronella ants, for example, release a subtle lemony savor when squished, while trap-jaw ants produce a chocolate aroma. When threatened, carpenter ants spray formic acid, a vinegar-scented substance that can burn predators and ward off bears. The main reason people think they can’t smell ants, Penick says, is likely because they’ve never taken the time to try.

But the redolences our noses detect offer only the faintest whiff of an ant’s universe, in which scent is a primary form of language. “Ants rely on chemical communication,” Penick says. “They have one of the best senses of smell of any life on earth.” Highly sensitive chemical receptors cover an ant’s antennae, detecting pheromones (the chemical scent signals that animals produce) made by dozens of glands on their bodies. Ants use various mixtures of the substance to identify threats, members of their colonies, trails to food sources, and even the quality of those food sources, allowing them to create and participate in sophisticated social structures that have striking parallels to human society, such as architecture, social immunity, and the maintenance of armies. The next time you see one of these insects on your counter, consider giving it a closer look—and maybe even a friendly sniff.

The Sophisticated, Scent-Centric Language of Ants

As the world clamors for Covid-19 vaccines, the notion of immunity seems to be on everyone’s minds. But a primary tool for fighting illnesses is already inside us: our gut. The trillions of bacteria and other microbes that line our intestines impact our chances of developing an array of conditions, including obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and the composition of those microorganisms is 

London-based nutritionist Kate Llewellyn-Waters’s new book, 

The Immunity Cookbook: How to Strengthen Your Immune System and Boost Long-Term Health, with 100 Easy Recipes

(Quadrille), offers a practical road map to optimal gut health. After demonstrating how smart lifestyle choices—such as getting proper rest, exercise, sun exposure, and keeping stress levels low—contribute to physical fitness, she dives into dishes that boost the immune system while tantalizing taste buds. Learn how to serve up an anti-inflammatory breakfast with a turmeric scramble, harness the power of antioxidants with chili and coconut salmon, or indulge in a fiber- and beta carotene–rich chocolate avocado mousse, all made using everyday ingredients and following straightforward instructions. A section called “Homemade Staples” details how to make your own coconut oil, nut butter, and fermented fare, including kimchi, sauerkraut, and kefir. There are also gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options, as well as meal plans that distill the book’s recipes into a handy table, organized by day of the week.

Each condiment and dish is informed by the benefits of eating whole, minimally processed foods, which are more likely to carry the advantageous gut bacteria that fortify the body’s ability to combat disease. “Never has it been a more appropriate time to address our immunity and gut health,” Llewellyn-Waters writes. “Fortunately, food choice is one of the most significant and valuable opportunities that we can embrace to improve [them].”

How to Eat Your Way to a Stronger Immune System

“Smell can transport you out of wherever you are,” says Cathleen Cardinali, who left her job in the luxury fashion industry to co-found the California-based perfume brand 

 with her partner, musician Anthony Polcino, in 2017. Place-based storytelling lies at the heart of its four scents, which offer distinct, multi-layered aromas that whisk wearers to another time—specifically, to moments from Los Angeles’s ’60s and ’70s rock-music milieu. “There has to be a narrative behind what I’m doing,” says Cardinali, who puts together the notes that inform each spritz, while Polcino creates corresponding visuals for the bottles and boxes. “It could be a photograph I saw, a song, or a house that I drove by. The vision in my head sets the scene.”

Her first fragrance, Whiskey, 1969, was named after the iconic West Hollywood nightclub and the year that Led Zeppelin and The Velvet Underground performed there; its cedarwood and bourbon amber base notes mingle with pink pepper to conjure up the aura of a night on the town. Zuma, 1975, a musky jolt of sandalwood, bergamot, and coriander, recalls the Malibu beach where Neil Young released his album of the same name, while Sunset Boulevard’ Chateau Marmont, where The Doors frontman Jim Morrison stayed in 1970, gets a nod in Chateau, 1970, which smells of a rose-filled vintage bungalow. Laurel Canyon, 1966, named for the Santa Monica Mountains locale that was a music mecca at the time, recalls a more abstract scene, where Italian cannabis oil, patchouli, and clove bring to mind an open bedroom window with fresh air rushing through.

Each unisex perfume, handmade in small batches in Napa, where the couple currently lives, gives nostalgic noses the aromatic opportunity to wear the histories they admire. For those who prefer an East Coast vibe, look out for the brand’s New York–themed collection this fall—another opportunity for Cardinali and Polcino to blend scent and history with notes of imagination.

This Perfume Brand Makes Scents That Evoke Los Angeles’s Rich Music History

In colloquial Levantine Arabic, عفكرة roughly translates to “on second thought” or “come to think of it.” Pronounced 

 social entrepreneur Mikey Muhanna founded in 2014, dedicated to cultivating curiosity about Arab history and culture. Unable to find meaningful ways for he and his friends to explore their Arab heritage beyond traditional family celebrations and engaging in activism, Muhanna began hosting events in New York City, where he was living at the time. Their popularity led him to form Afikra chapters in other parts of the world, including Amman, Bahrain, Dubai, and London. Today, the venture organizes free, regular talks, workshops, and presentations (currently hosted online, due to Covid-19; anyone can RSVP to receive a link to the meetings), all focused on deepening awareness of the Arab world.

 to share the conversations it’s initiating with an even broader audience. Hosted by Muhanna from his current residence in Beirut, each episode features a guest presentation or a long-form interview that highlights people who are actively shaping Arab culture through their work. Recent episodes have featured Tunisian human rights activist Emna Mizouni; Iraqi artist and calligrapher Wissam Shawkat; and professor Nasser Rabbat, director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. Ever resourceful, Muhanna makes the most of the technology used to create the show, which is recorded over Zoom, sometimes before a virtual audience: He’ll post relevant links for those who joined the call in the Zoom chat, or open conversations to attendees in the form of town hall–style Q&As. It’s his way of maintaining a sense of community, and allowing listeners to hear Afikra’s mission in action.

A Podcast Dedicated to Deepening Awareness About Arab History and Culture 

Nestled in northwest Montana’s Rocky Mountains, Glacier National Park comprises 1,583 square miles of scenic wilderness—a refuge for endangered species and human encounters with the natural world. But there’s another side of the landscape simultaneously at work, as climate change and extractive industries strain its fragile ecosystem.

Park rangers Andrew Smith and Michael Faist unpack this duality in 

, a seven-part podcast the park launched at the end of 2020. “We’re going to tell you the story of a paradoxical place,” Smith says in the show’s trailer, “where all sorts of forces, large and small, converge in interesting and unexpected ways.” They begin by diving into the park’s Indigenous history, detailing how members of native tribes continue to use the land today. In subsequent episodes, they venture into grizzly bear territory, walk the banks of a raging river, come face to face with a wildfire, and witness melting glaciers. Along the way, Smith and Faist bring in a diverse range of voices to share stories about their relationship with the land; there’s a sense of wonder and urgency to every tale. “You can find here some of the last alpine glaciers in the contiguous U.S., endemic plants that occur nowhere else in the world, and opportunities for solitude and quiet that are becoming increasingly rare,” Smith says. “Glacier is, in many ways, the last best place for experiences that the rest of the world may once have taken for granted, but have since faded away.”

A New Podcast Unpacks the Beauty and Fragility of Glacier National Park

Chelsea is a writer based in northern New England. As a staff writer for 

, she explores the human relationship to place. Her work has been featured in 

. She is currently writing her first book.

Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder