The Asturias region on Spain's northern coast has cooking traditions that date back centuries, including dishes like stuffed cabbage, cornmeal fritters called tortos, arroz con leche, and a pork and bean stew called fabada. Like many such regions, the traditional cooking is slowly fading as recipes become more homogenized with the rest of Spain. However, a small group of women have formed a culinary society to help preserve those traditions. They are known as guisanderas, which historically referred to someone, often an unmarried or widowed woman, who was a semi-professional cook. The guisanderas want to make sure that the historical regional dishes are not lost to time.

Unleavened flatbread from The Arabesque Table by Reem Kassis

Baking during a heatwave is not a fun proposition, especially if you don't have central air conditioning. We are lucky that our 115-year-old house had central air installed before we purchased it, but when the temperatures hover near 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the southwest-facing kitchen gets hot despite the AC running constantly. Bread dough, which needs a boost when it's minus 20 degrees in the winter, runs away, proving in record time. Bread bakeries have the same issue, and as The Independent's Hannah Twiggs explains, the heat might trigger a shift from tall yeasted breads to flatbreads. Heat is one reason flatbreads are more common in hotter regions, as they are "quicker to mix, shape and cook, and do not rely on butter, yeast or the tightly controlled chill of a pastry kitchen." Heat affects the pastry side of the bakery, too, and poses additional challenges for bakers, owners, and even for customers.

Composting your coffee grounds is better than throwing them into the trash, but scientists may have discovered a superior use for the spent beans. Researchers are investigating a method of quickly converting wet coffee grounds into biochar. The resulting product is a more efficient heating source than wood, and it could also be used in filters much the same way as charcoal is now used. Even better, the process generates few pollutants. It's going to take some work before this can be used at scale, but initial results are promising.

I can't believe I missed this, but earlier this week Minnesota music venue First Avenue hosted a dance party like no other: a Trader Joe's vs. Aldi rave. The event started out as an April Fool's joke that First Avenue posted on Instagram, but so many people responded to the post that the venue decided to hold it for real. On July 15, about 900 people came to the club, many dressed to represent their favorite store. Attendees fashioned tops and skirts from Aldi shopping bags and wore Trader Joe's-inspired Hawaiian shirts. DJs played music that you might hear in the aisles of the stores, "including Coldplay, John Mayer, and Maroon 5."

Australia's Good Food is bringing back its guide to essential cafes and bakeries, expanding this year from Sydney and Melbourne to include Perth and Brisbane. Last year it revived the guides after more than a decade of hiatus, reviewing all venues anonymously and highlighting the top 100 cafes and bakeries of Sydney and Melbourne. This year's guides keep 100 for those two cities, but add a best 60 list for Brisbane and best 50 guide for Perth.

Christopher's Nolan's movie The Odyssey made a big splash during its debut this weekend. The epic tale has plenty of sea creatures, battles, and heroic speeches, but one thing that doesn't get much attention on the screen is the food. Taste of Home decided that just won't do, so they put together a menu of foods that would have been enjoyed in Mycenaean Greece. You might be surprised at how modern the foods feel.