Chocolate is a traditional Valentine’s gift that’s not gone, and most likely never will go, out of style. Chocolate’s sweet, sharp flavor brings even the coldest hearts to a quick boil. Before you reach for that heart-shaped box of chocolates at your local grocery store, however, stop and think: Is this chocolate Fair Trade certified? Is it organic? Do I really want to buy chocolates I know nothing about?

According to the Organic Trade Association, U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have risen from $1 billion in 1990 to nearly $27 billion in 2010. The benefits of organics can't be overstated: From flavor and quality to free of pesticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified ingredients, there's no question that organic is here to stay. But despite the booming industry, access to organic food is not always the easiest. So perhaps you might consider moving closer to one of these top nine cities for the organic lifestyle.

While many countries around the world have serious bans or restrictions on genetically modified foods, the U.S. has none, but not if Pamm Larry has anything to say about it. She is the force behind the LabelGMOs campaign aiming to give Californians the right to have foods containing GMOs labeled.

It’s at the end of many ingredient lists in processed food: “natural flavor.” But what substances fall under this benign label? What natural sources are they extracted from? If you shop in the center aisles of the grocery store, chances are those natural flavor ingredients came from an unexpected source and spent some time being swished around in a beaker.

M.F.K. Fisher, Ruth Reichl, David Lebovitz, Anthony Bourdain… these names ring with familiarity as famous food writers. They fill our kitchens with stories, recipes and inspirations to become better cooks ourselves. But these are just the modern bigwigs, those of the last century. Before Jamie, before Rachel, yes, before even Julia, there were food personalities just as prominent in the mainstream foodie scene. They’re the food writers of yore. They wrote, they cooked, they inspired virtually anyone who’s anyone in the food world today—and they didn’t even have a blog (gasp). Read on for the who’s-who of our mothers and fathers of modern food writing, lest we forget them…

Foraging for edible wild foods is exciting, sexy, free. And, it's big business: from hunting truffle mushrooms that sell for thousands of dollars to the waiting list for reservations at Copenhagen's Noma, which is considered the world's greatest restaurant due in part to chef René Redzepi's fixation with foraging for wild foods. They make up at least five to six menu items each night at Noma, often harvested that same day. Fresh and local = healthy and sustainable, but is it actually safe to eat wild foods?

Where I live, in France, people don't tend to take too kindly to the idea of American cheese. In fact, I know a lot of Americans who don't think much further than plasticky American singles. Their loss: Artisan cheesemakers in America are becoming more and more well-known, with local cheesemakers in nearly every region of the United States.

Salty, sweet, sour and bitter have been recognized as the four pillars of taste for centuries. All other tastes were thought to come from a combination of these flavors. But what’s the word for the savory roof-of-the-mouth sensation of parmesan cheese, beefsteak tomatoes, and seaweed? Borrowed from a combination of the Japanese words umai- (delicious) and mi (taste), umami describes the protein-based flavor of glutamates.

"Convenient" is the moniker of fast food, but it's a deceptive one when you look closer at the wasteful and toxic industry that’s highly problematic. From disingenuous marketing, littering, unfair wages and hidden ingredients, there are more secret layers to the fast food industry than there are layers in a Double Whopper with Cheese. Here are seven secrets you may not know about what's really going on inside your favorite fast food chains.

We know that too much sodium is linked to hypertension and heart disease, but recent studies show that for some individuals with hypertension, a salt-restricted diet alone may not lower blood pressure. So what’s the deal with salt? Does table salt have more sodium than gourmet sea salt? As a recipe developer and resolute sea salt-lover, I had to get to the bottom of it. After some serious research (and turning up many conflicting studies), I made some headway on the question: Are all salts created equal?