Roads and Kingdoms

Fewer than 400 neon signs remain of the tens of thousands that once illuminated the city. Can a new generation help bring them back? Hard Boiled, the classic 1992 John Woo movie, opens with a montage that couldn’t have been filmed anywhere but Hong Kong. As Chow Yun-fat languorously plays clarinet in a jazz club, the camera cuts to neon-drenched streets before arriving at a teahouse whose patrons are bathed in the warm glow of illuminated Chinese characters.

9,000 steps on a broken foot through a 37°C heatwave. Culinary rainmaker Patricia Mateo unpacks the city’s best secret steak suppliers and clandestine bars. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

Inside Maizajo, the pioneering Mexico City tortilleria, taqueria, and restaurant that’s changing the way the food world thinks about corn. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

This week on the Food Chain: how Juanlu Fernández is applying deep French technique to Andalusia’s most humble heritage dishes. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

A postcard from Nathan Thornburgh, our co-founder and publisher. Today is Bourdain Day, an annual moment of reflection to mark our partner’s birthday. The truth is, of course, that when you travel like we sometimes do—relentlessly, impulsively, as if evading multiple warrants—any day can be Bourdain Day. To whit: last night I was at the Zemun farmers market in Belgrade, a short walk from the hard rock bars lining the Danube, for the one serious meal I had planned during a 30-hour layover.

Where to eat, drink, sleep, and more in the world’s most populous capital. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

Chef Janaina Torres turns out comfort food beloved by artists, office workers, and drag queens alike. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

An Egyptian archaeologist traces a living bread tradition from her village rooftop back to the tomb walls of the Old Kingdom. Access this and all our other premium articles by joining our membership program. Plans start at $6.50 per month and include twice-weekly digital features, access to in-person events, and more.

What it means for us right now. Last November, we published our first-ever print magazine at Roads & Kingdoms, and this past Saturday the James Beard Foundation honored it with the award for food coverage in a general interest publication, the only journalism award given for overall coverage. While we try not to put too much stock in awards, this one feels particularly meaningful.

Two spectacles converged on June 11, 2026. Between them lay twelve time zones and a distance that a crawfish, moving at its natural, terrestrial pace, could not cover in a thousand lifetimes. In the 1930s, a batch of red swamp crawfish crossed the Pacific from the American Southeast. The impetus was utilitarian: the species was known to aerate soil, filter water, and control runaway algae. Someone decided the waterlogged rice paddies of eastern China could use them.