Francisca Benitez

Truffles are mysterious organisms that thrive in the damp forests of the Pacific Northwest, especially in Oregon. Like their above-ground cousins, mushrooms, they are the fruit of vast underground networks of fungus.

The purple sea urchin population on the West coast has skyrocketed, putting the coastal ecosystem in peril. If you can’t beat them, eat them.

Since the first domestic beehives in ancient Egypt, humans have been working alongside bees to cultivate the honey we love so much. We speak to Lee Hedgmon, master brewer and founder of The Barreled Bee, where she sells her barrel-aged honey creations.

Tech and food have gone together since our ancient ancestors made stone hand axes. Increasingly, automated systems — you might call them robots — are part of that equation.

Most of the wheat from the Northwest travels the world, where it’s eaten in countries like Japan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia. But it’s also being enjoyed much closer to the fields where it is grown.

Few things unite the Pacific Northwest’s culture, economy and ecology like food. But sometimes the ingredients we eat are also divisive. Take salmon: Once these fish were superabundant throughout the region, but the arrival of western settlers — who introduced overfishing and dams — has taken a toll.