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.

Do They Serve Lobster in Jail?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:26:00 -0700

Paul Bruneau of Portland, Maine may be nothing less than a superstar of the id. He has been accused of not only breaking into the Portland Lobster Company and stuffing his pockets with cash, but also eating “the better part of 11 prepared lobsters worth about $300” and washing them down with white wine (a fine choice). Subsequently falling asleep on a bench wasn’t necessarily the brightest move, but you could hardly blame the man if he had just eaten 11 lobsters plus white wine, to say nothing of the exertion that presumably goes into breaking into a restaurant.

Paul Bruneau, if found guilty, you deserve some jail time. But you also deserve a salute. Here’s to your stomach, unchained by conventional boundaries, anti-theft devices, or the force of law.

Image source: Flickr member man pikin under Creative Commons

Lawsuits, Countersuits, and Banana Peels

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:23:00 -0700

Is the documentary movie Bananas!* an inspiring film about a lawyer’s fight to win financial relief for clients injured while working under terrible conditions for the big bad Dole fruit company? Or a piece of propaganda celebrating a shyster who cooked up thousands of false claims in order to win a $2.2 billion judgment against Dole?

Businessweek writes that, while the argument is far from over, it’s definitely a lively one involving claims, counterclaims, and more legal wrangling than Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg stuck in an oversized sleeping bag with a mountain lion. And, hell, let’s assume for the sake of this proposition that the mountain lion has a University of Chicago law degree, too.

The fact that all of this takes place against the backdrop of U.S. fruit companies in Central America (a proud commercial relationship celebrated in films such as The Godfather: Part II) makes it all the more tension-charged.

Tapeworm Sushi

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:22:00 -0700

Your efforts to get parents or grandparents to try sushi just took a nine-feet-long step backward: A soon-to-be giant tapeworm passed from a delicious piece of undercooked fish to a Chicago man’s stomach, sending him to the hospital and setting back domestic sushi acceptance by about 20 years. Here’s the factoid paragraph from the ABC report:

“Although still rare, a study this June showed salmon tapeworm infestations tripled from an average of 0.32 cases per 100,000 people each year in Kyoto, Japan, to at least to 1 case in 100,000 people in 2008.”

Scare journalism? Perhaps. But, with the questions about mercury contamination and sustainability that plague most domestic sushi, maybe this sort of thing isn’t such a bad reality check on the industry as a whole.

Image source: flickr member adactio under Creative Commons

Pizza Hut Drops Pizza, Gains Street Cred

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:20:00 -0700

Pizza Hut is changing many of its signs and boxes to read simply “The Hut” in an attempt—and this is a direct quote from an MSN Money blog—”to transform its stores into hip hangouts.”

The new “Hut” stores will be about much more than just placing orders or picking up food, according to MediaWeek; the stores will include televisions that broadcast programs such as Wheel of Fortune and Entertainment Tonight.

Good God, people. Those shows are so dangerously hip that they’re going to need a velvet rope and bouncers to regulate who’s allowed to get in. Beverage choices will soon include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Cristal Champagne. Pizzas will be sold with the customer’s choice of bread sticks, cheese sticks, or Thai sticks. Etc., etc. You can write your own.

At any rate, it seems fairly obvious what the new hip Hut’s theme song is going to be.

Colonel Custer's Last McStand

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:18:00 -0700

Proving once and for all that Happy Meals and accusations of genocide don’t mix particularly well, McDonald’s has been catching flak due to its motorcycle-riding Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian toy.

The Rapid City Journal notes:

“The fast food chain’s decision to circulate the toy in Indian Country is akin to circulating a Hitler figure in Israel, according to Laurette Pourier, executive director for the Society for the Advancement of Native Interests-Today. ‘It’s insensitive and disrespectful.’”

Ah, but if it were a tiny Hitler toy astride a moped? Well … actually, that could, in theory, be even worse. Point taken.

Is It Art, Food, or Math?

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:47:00 -0700

The unfortunately named food blog Eat Me Daily has a great profile on artist Kevin Van Aelst, who turns food photos into high- (or at least medium-) brow art. If you’ve never seen cellular mitosis as depicted by Krispy Kreme doughnuts, now’s your chance. Equally goofy and wonderful: a finger print rendered in mustard, a yin-yang Oreo, and a periodic table of elements executed with gummi bears.

In this image, “Cantor Set,” Van Aelst uses (no doubt painstakingly) manipulated egg yolk to illustrate a mathematical concept that, trust us, is best left unexplained.

Photo used with permission.

Tiny Baboons in a Gumdrop World

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:53:00 -0700

Gumdrops, broccoli, sugar cubes, marshmallows, corn, peanuts, and popcorn are among the props St. Paul–based artist Steve Tomashek uses to complement—and bring a sense of scale to—his itty bitty sculptural animal creations. A menagerie of carved and painted tiny wooden monkeys, sheep, camels, dogs, penguins, dragons, and loons hang out in the generally food-themed little worlds that Tomashek designed for them. Thumb through his gallery—it’s a guaranteed delight and diversion.

Photo used with permission.

Katie Lee and Billy Joel Split

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:59:00 -0700

Representatives for TV food critic Katie Lee and Billy Joel confirmed Thursday that the pair are on the rocks. Their official statement says they’re still friends, admire and respect each other, yadda yadda. But, as Fox News sensitively reports, “Lee, 27, has been rumored to be involved in a romance with Yigal Azrouel, a 36-year-old Israeli fashion designer. The two have been photographed together and were reportedly spotted dirty-dancing together in Miami last January. Azrouel is even said to have referred to Lee as his ‘girlfriend’.” Fox News also ran a photo of Billy flanked by Katie and Alexa, his daughter with Christie Brinkley, who’s only four years younger than Katie. The photo is captioned: “Which one’s the daughter, which the wife?”

Ouch. That has to really hurt. But probably not as much as this NY Daily News story, which features a picture of Azrouel, looking tasty and youthful, right underneath a shot of Billy Joel looking every one of his 60 years.

Image source: flickr member kevindooley under Creative Commons

What Urban Farmers Can Learn from Vintage TV

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:26:00 -0700

I’ve been watching some amazing British television from the 1970s, but my favorite show has to be the extremely contemporary-seeming The Good Life, known in America as Good Neighbors. The show revolves around a burnt-out office worker named Tom Good who decides to drop out and become self-sufficient, living off chickens, a goat, pigs, and a garden he keeps in his urban backyard with his wife Barbara. Hijinks abound when the Goods’ boho values clash with that of their conservative neighbors, the Leadbetters.

Here’s a clip of the Goods trying to slaughter one of their chickens. It makes you realize that urban farming has been around longer than we sometimes think.

Pizza Hut + Taco Bell = Hit of the Summer

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:52:00 -0700

“I’m at the Pizza Hut … I’m at the Taco Bell … I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!” is the opening line of the Wallpaper remix of Das Racist’s determinedly fast food-themed summer anthem “Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell.” A little bit ska, a little bit rap, a little bit techno, this is a track you’ll instantly love. Unless you instantly hate it.

Also: Apparently Larry David has been all over this for quite some time.

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