Fast-Food Makeovers

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:51:00 -0700

Diet Coke hoisin sauce is the key to “Dao Mi Noh Chow Mein,” a reimagined Asian twist on a Domino’s pizza from the Fancy Fast Food blog. With little explanation or justification, FFF reworks low-brow fast-food edibles into medium-brow restaurant fare, complete with recipes and photos. Check out Tapas de Castillo Blanco (White Castle) and the sushi version of Popeyes chicken to experience the flavor of the site.

Living Vicariously Through a Peripatetic Food Writer

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:54:00 -0700

TheAtlantic.com has set up a CHOW Tour of sorts for writer Terrence Henry. The lucky guy gets to imagine his ideal North American food odyssey, solicit advice, and eat.

He’s dispensed with the rest of the world already, saying in his intro, “[My wife and I] spent the first half of 2009 abroad, devouring steaks in Argentina, drinking Txakoli at tapas bars in Basque Country, and visiting the grill of a star butcher in Italy.”

And so he turns his gaze to his own continent. He’s in Montreal at the moment, gorging on bagels and poutine. But he admits that he needs help—it’s “an eating trip on a budget,” he says, and he wants “innovative and artisanal.” Which perhaps is why he has Ad Hoc on the list, and not the French Laundry?

I want to tell him that all his work has been done already, and the answers are all on Chowhound. Search the boards, dude. But maybe I should give him a break—he deserves the thrill of discovery.

You can check out his map and leave suggestions there. Show him a little Chowhounding sense. Tell him where to eat.

Is Orthorexia Nervosa Real?

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:53:00 -0700

Not familiar with orthorexia nervosa? Well, perhaps the symptoms will remind you of someone you know:

“Over time, what to eat, how much, and the consequences of dietary indiscretion come to occupy a greater and greater proportion of the orthorexic’s day. Even if physical and emotional health begin to falter, the sufferer continues a harsh dietary regime.”

E magazine rounds up some of the facts and speculation about the eating disorder, if that is, in fact, what it is. There are definitely skeptics.

“Kelly Brownell, PhD, codirector of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders told the website WebMD, ‘We’ve never had anybody come to our clinic with [orthorexia], and I’ve been working in this field for at least 20 years.’”

Japan's Proposal for Tuna 2.0

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:49:00 -0700

Worried about the upcoming extinction of the tuna?

“Stocks of tuna have declined by as much as 90 per cent in some waters and the World Wildlife Fund has warned that the Atlantic bluefin will have been wiped out within three years unless radical measures are taken to protect stocks,” reports a Telegraph article looking at the state of the fish.

Worry no longer … or, er, worry about something sort of different, at any rate. Japanese scientists are working on creating a new and improved supertuna.

”’We plan to use the sequence to establish a breeding programme for bluefin tuna as most aquaculture farmers presently use wild juveniles,’” said [Dr. Kazumasa Ikuta, director of research at the Yokohama-based Fisheries Research Agency]. ‘We want to establish a complete aquaculture system that will produce fish that have good strength, are resistant to disease, grow quickly and taste delicious.’”

Well, there’s no way that can go wrong.

Image source: Flickr member maesejose under Creative Commons

This Week on the Hungry Beast

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:03:00 -0700

Our friends at the Hungry Beast have revealed some choice nuggets in this week’s content. Peggy Knickerbocker’s tartiflette alone is enough to make the week worthwhile. But there’s more:

• Gallic and gourmet, uncomfortable bedfellows: The French can’t cook to save their lives.
• Rising stars Baked, in Brooklyn, love malted milk balls.
• Berries: they’re good.
• And on the Cheat Sheet, Keanu Reeves considers his molecules and public art destroys the River Café.

Food Not Found in Nature

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:39:00 -0700

Today Now!, a show on the Onion News Network, reports that Taco Bell is going 100 percent “green,” meaning nothing on its new menu will use anything that came from nature.

“At Taco Bell we have a long tradition of taking as little as possible from the natural world,” says faux Bell spokesperson Paul Lancaster, who says Taco Bell’s “eco-friendly” beef has always contained “85 percent gluten filler, 8 percent petroleum-based grease flavoring,” and “4 percent meat.” However, with the new green menu on board, that 4 percent meat has been replaced by a “simple chemical adhesive.” No wasting food or water on cattle: wow!

Save me an Ultimate Grande Crunchador.

Will Someone Please Sing for Beef?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:43:00 -0700

The Sing For Your Beef competition, a video submission contest put on by A1 Steak Sauce, is one of those things that you really hope alien life won’t see when judging the merits of man’s intelligence.

The good news: A grand prize that includes a year’s supply of Omaha steaks as well as daily sweepstakes.

The bad news: You are forever immortalized on YouTube singing about A1 Steak Sauce.

Here’s a smattering of the current contenders:

It’s like some renaissance faire dude mated with a raver pixie dust fairy … in front of a green screen.

Maybe it’s the miniature drum set or the fact that he chose to stand on his bed to play guitar, but this video rocks! This guy probably won’t win, but he definitely should be making more music.

I kinda want to be friends with this guy. I mean look at all the cool figurines on his back wall and the unopened Watchmen action figure boxes he’s saving to sell for his month-long trek into the Nordic black metal wasteland.

Say what you will about his choice of patio furniture, but this guy’s got serious style!

You might think at first that this is just another mediocre submission. But, with each successively violent shake, you have to question if David Lynch’s son got his hands on a video camera.

Organic Controversy and Compromise at the USDA

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:57:00 -0700

Wither the USDA organic certification? The Washington Post runs a must-read summary of the pressure on the Department of Agriculture to toughen its organic standards, lest the label becomes a useless joke.

“It will unravel everything we’ve done if the standards can no longer be trusted,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), who sponsored the federal organics legislation. “If we don’t protect the brand, the organic label, the program is finished. It could disappear overnight.”

Chemex Coffee Makers Go Big Time

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:41:00 -0700

I use a Chemex coffee maker at home, and it’s great. Actually it’s amazing; I’ve never had a consistently better cup of coffee. Even stale beans are transformed into a magical, deep-brown liquid that hugs, high fives, and assists with Sunday crosswords.

I was first introduced to the Chemex by our coffee obsessive, Arno Holschuh of Blue Bottle Coffee. Like some other boutique coffee shops around the country, Blue Bottle sells Chemex pots in its stores, though I’d never heard of anyone brewing with them service-side until now: Grub Street posted Monday that Third Rail Coffee, a café near NYU, has just put “Chemex by the cup” on the menu.

I know it might sound ridiculous to feel an intimate connection with one’s coffee maker, but we’ve had some truly great mornings together. And so the prospect of unleashing the Chemex pot in a busy MacBook-illuminated, student-congested storefront elicits memories for me of E.T. being pulled away from a weakened Elliott, dragged off by the evil masked men in white jumpsuits.

Maybe there’s a reason that Blue Bottle chooses not to brew with it at its stores, because I’m sure it’s been considered. But I can only hope that Third Rail’s decision will turn more people on to the Chemex pot, so they can buy one for their homes, and share what Chemmie and I share on Saturday mornings.

The Peeps Bursting in Air

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:16:00 -0700

Did you enjoy your Fourth? See some fireworks? Lucky you. Since I live in a city that’s gloomy and overcast for much of July, the best I can expect is some colored fog. This year, some animation from stop-motion masters PES had to suffice instead:

North Korea's Beer Boom

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:40:00 -0700

As advertising slogans go, “Taedong River Beer is the pride of Pyongyang” isn’t exactly up there with “Tastes great, less filling,” but it’ll have to do for now. North Korea just trotted out its first-ever beer commercial, and the move—coming as it does from a famine-ravaged, war-poised, dictatorship—has prompted head-scratching from Tokyo to London to New York.

If this synth-riddled video collage doesn’t make you thirsty for a macro-brew, there’s something wrong with you.

Quoth the AP piece on the beer ad:

“[An] official, who has been monitoring the North’s television for more than two decades, told The Associated Press that it was the first time he had seen any sort of advertisement for food, much less beer—although he has seen programs on North Korean cuisine.”

The BBC follows up with a fascinating profile of the Ushers brewery, formerly located in the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge. It was shipped in 2000, piece-by-piece, to the North Koreans, and now brews the beer whose ad is sparking international chatter.

Alert the Vegan Police

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:19:00 -0700

Salon takes a peek at blog Quarrygirl.com’s “Operation Pancake: Undercover Investigation of LA Vegan Restaurants,” a 6,000-plus-word look at vegan restaurants in Los Angeles that finds that “vegan” dishes are often contaminated with egg, casein, and other verboten ingredients. Salon’s Andrew Leonard puts his finger on the most interesting issue: Fake meat from Taiwan (the most popular exporter) isn’t as pure as vegans would like. Why? The intrepid “Operation Pancake” investigators have the answer:

“In the Taiwanese and Chinese market [where most of these products are made and sold] vegetarian customers are only concerned with meat ingredients and not bothered at all if egg or milk ingredients are included [this is due to religious reasons in many cases, typically to accommodate Buddhists, who are often not vegan].”

Also, according to one Taiwanese manufacturer:

“There are few labeling regulations in Taiwan and they are rarely, if ever, enforced. We usually list the ingredients we put into food directly, but if if we’re using something from a third party we don’t always list the ingredients in that. It’s just not important in Taiwan.”

Does this remind anyone else of those guys who got busted for relabeling regular doughnuts as low-fat?

Food, Inc.: How Is It?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:21:00 -0700

I’m supposed to go to the movies tonight, and I’m waffling on what to see. Should I go see Food, Inc., the latest anti–Big Ag cinematic screed? Since I’m up on the horrors of factory farms and the creeping menace of GMO foods, I wonder if rather than teaching me anything, it will just bum me out. A food-fan friend of mine saw it the other night and gave me this two-word review: “Bring tissues.”

Any thoughts? It does look interesting, I’ll say that for it. Horror-movie music combined with prosaic imagery always gives me the willies.

A Horse Is a Horse ... Unless It's a Steak

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:43:00 -0700

It turns out the debate about exporting horses for slaughter is pretty far from simple. Salon lays it out: On one side are those who argue that it’s cruel and terrifying for the horses involved. The other side: If you can’t slaughter the 100,000 unwanted horses that pop up annually, how do you dispose of them humanely and economically? Slaughter allows for a whole range of useful activities:

“Horse meat is eaten in France, Belgium, Italy, Japan and many other countries. Most every part of a horse is used: hides for leather; intestines for sausage casings; tails for paint brushes; hooves for glue. Historically horse byproducts went into pet food in the U.S.; even now, several zoos here import horse meat to feed their lions and tigers.”

Sounds good. On the other hand:

“Nancy Perry, the Humane Society’s vice president of government affairs, explains that unlike cows, chickens and pigs, horses live and work closely with people. They’re also flighty, fractious and easily frightened. These traits make them ill-suited for industrialized slaughter.”

Overall, a fascinating read that is more likely to leave you on the fence about horse slaughter than on either side of the issue.

Image source: Flickr member Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com under Creative Commons

Sex with Chefs, Robert De Niro, and Prawns

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:21:00 -0700

The Daily Beast, Tina Brown’s artful online magazine/website, is a study of celebrity fascination, political punditry, and the sex lives of powerful people. Its food channel, Hungry Beast, just launched, and it’s a study of celebrity fascination, food punditry, and the sex lives of food-oriented people. It’s fun! And I don’t just say that because it’s linking to CHOW at the bottom of the page.

Hungry Beast will be updating features weekly, and the Cheat Sheet links to smart stuff that other people are writing.

The stories for this week include Gael Greene on the sex lives of chefs (she’s saddened by monogamy and by the prospect that today’s young, randy chefs aren’t getting enough action) and an assessment of Robert De Niro’s prospects as a restaurateur (they’re better than those of his now-shuttered Ago).

Finally, a Taco Truck for LEGO People

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:55:00 -0700

Print ’em. Fold ’em. Vend miniature tacos and/or tortas and/or tamales from them. Yes, the technology of folded paper has finally come to the world of taco trucks. A Flickr user called goopymart has produced a wonderful assortment of seven different trucks for the public’s enjoyment and amusement.

Image used with permission of the artist

A Possible Good-bye for Two Old Chums: Britain and the Eel

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:57:00 -0700

“Jellied eels—cooked and sold cold in their own stock—could soon join the ranks of haslet, stotty cake and bara birth as a dish that is only found in rare pockets of Britain.”

That’s the opening of an article in the Telegraph, and if you can identify any of the three dishes cited after jellied eels, you’re probably either a cosmopolitan gastronome or a native Brit.

A drastic fall in eel stock, caused by “overfishing in combination with habitat loss, pollution, and the damming of rivers,” could change eating habits in Britain for the long term. Or at least until the numbers recover.

Incidentally, haslet is an herbed pork meatloaf, stotty cake is a doughy type of filled bread, and bara birth is a Welsh fruitcake—or so says the all-wise oracle known as the Internet.

Image source: Flickr member hoxtonboy under Creative Commons

Pringles, By Way of Homer

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Not often will this blog direct you to click on a banner ad that it has no direct financial stake in, but here goes: This Pringles ad is an epic collection of jokes, stream-of-consciousness observations, and, ultimately, long-form narrative storytelling.

Stick with it, and enjoy. Incidentally, it tops out at about 97 clicks.

Image source: Flickr member Siomuzzz under Creative Commons

Eco-Friendlier Takeout

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:19:00 -0700

Looking for an alternative to traditional (and wasteful) Styrofoam takeout containers? SIGG aluminum snack boxes are being praised by blogs such as Stamen Design.

Restaurants like saving the money they spend on takeout containers, and customers like the satisfaction of eliminating yet another pile of disposable packaging that would otherwise have to be thrown out. Plus, the boxes are incredibly cool looking in a low-key, countercultural way.

How to Deflate a Beer Pouch

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:56:00 -0700

Treehugger takes a sharp pin to environmental claims made by the makers of CarboPouch, a beer-toting plastic bag distributed by the Beverage Pouch Group.

In a refreshing example of journalists reading and thinking about the fine print, the Treehugger folks plumb the BPG material and then take it apart, piece by piece. A sample:

“Where do we start with the errors in logic here? First, ‘consume less waste’? How might a beverage pouch consume waste in the first place, let alone less of it? And anything that requires incineration as the more eco-friendly disposal option is simply not sustainable.”

The CarboPouch seems to have a couple serious liabilities: No self-respecting beer drinker is likely to suck his or her beverage out of a capped sack, and no self-respecting environmentalist is likely to buy the greenwashing that sells this product. The only remaining target market? Former Capri Sun drinkers.

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