Kathy A. McDonald

Dining on sea snail may sound less than appetizing. Dining on abalone sounds luscious. But abalone's white, delicately flavored briny flesh is essentially that of a sea snail: a muscled mollusk, which consumes algae that gives abalone's ear-shaped shell a distinct color. Once plentiful off California's coast, over-fishing and other......

There's much more to Italian wine than Pinot Grigio. The number one U.S. import is only one of the 3,000 kinds of grape varieties that grow on the Italian peninsula. Learn about the many others this week at a new wine event christened Viva Vino LA. Modeled after New York's......

Need a reason to feel good about drinking? Japanese sake makers could use your help. Hit hard by the twin natural disasters of earthquake and tsunami, what's really impacting these often small, family-run enterprises is that fact that since the earthquake, sake consumption in Japan has plummeted. "It is like......

Wine has always been tapped from barrels. Rarely though, except at a winery, can you drink it that way. That is changing as more California winemakers are packaging wine in multi-gallon kegs and restaurants junk bottles for tap systems. Draft wine is theoretically more environmentally friendly as wine packaging elements,......