Flash in the Pan

A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• Take Out for Locked In Egyptian prisoners are being allowed to order delivered food. (Reuters)


• Farm Portrait An Ohio farmer, who regularly cuts a corn maze into his field (a big fall activity for those of us living in rural areas) this year had it designed to look like a portrait of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. (AP)


• What's in a Wine Name? In another politically tinged story, a small winery in Chile has a wine that was called Palin before the governor of Alaska became so prominent, but has found that sales are off. If only it had been beer. (AP)


• Mom's Milk Ice Cream As a publicity stunt (and a pretty good one), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which opposed commercial milk production, called on Ben and Jerry's to make an ice cream out of human milk. (AP)


• Pickle Piccolo? A ten year old group plays music on instruments made of vegetables. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, strange, weird

A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• Did You Hear the One About the Poisonings Chinese citizens are taking their food safety frustrations out online with jokes. (Retuers)


• One Bartender, Neat An Illinois woman was arrested for tending bar in the buff. (AP)


• It's On Us, Almost Lehman and AIG employees are being treated to half-price drinks by a Chicago restaurant. (Reuters)


• At Least the Pie was Hot An Australian pizza delivery driver was arrested for clocking 33 mph over the speed limit. (Reuters)


• A Bagel for Breakfast Is Fine, Thanks A pony-sized pig trapped an Australian woman in her house. (AFP)


• On Tap A group of Estonians are facing charges for trying to smuggle vodka by pumping it through a an underwater pipeline over a mile long. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

NPR had a piece last night on a study suggesting a link between bisphenol A (BPA) and the development of heart disease and diabetes.

The study, appearing in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, finds that adults with the highest levels of BPA in their urine were more than twice as likely to report having diabetes or heart disease — compared with adults with the lowest levels of the chemical in their urine.

I'm no fan of BPA, and we've been switching to food storage product that don't include it, but I think the media owes a bit more analysis to listeners. My immediate reaction was, "Wonder if that's because of people drinking a lot of soda and gaining weight?" In other words, there seems to be a correlation between the BPA levels and diseases that also have a correlation with weight and eating habits, but could a third factor cause both?

The study supposedly adjusted for such factors as weight and smoking, so perhaps it isn't a third factor. I just wish that reporters would take a step back and ask themselves whether they are emotionally suggesting a link, by choice of words and structure, even if they explicitly state that the study "does not prove a cause and effect between use of plastic food containers and the development of diabetes or heart disease." There's a difference between saying that and something like, "There could be some third factor that is the cause, for example..." Put things into perspective.

The more disturbing part of the piece was how the FDA is marching toward an official conclusion that BPA is safe, and how its preliminary report is getting roundly criticized by being too selective in the data it considered, most of which supposedly is provided by industry sources.

Labels: bisphenol A, BPA, health, safety, storage

A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• Ramsey's Nightmare Gordon Ramsey, who's built a brand of being inflammatory in the kitchen, may be feeling the heat as his company has lost head chefs in quick succession at three of its locations. (Harden's)


• Dangerous Dishes Speaking of tempers in the kitchen, a young woman bit her boyfriend, broke a picture frame on his face, and swung a sword at him because he wasn't doing the dishes. (AP)


• Studying Spuds Scientists are trying to understand the genetic code of the potato because of its importance as a food crop. Can you say genetic modification? (Reuters)


• Chocolate Dreams Berlin police closed down a chocolate shop that was spiking some of its goods with hallucinogenic drugs. (Reuters)


• Reviews at Ten Paces Publishers of competing restaurant guides are taking slaps at each other over their ratings of Gordon Ramsay's establishments. (Reuters)


• Drink Up, Peasants One of Queen Elizabeth's residences was accidently sent 2,000 pints of beer. The corgis must have been thirsty. (AFP)

I'm not sure that I've ever had Beck's Oktoberfest variety before, although I believe that it has come out every year at around this time to tie in to Germany's festival (and excuse for rampant beer-drinking) of the same name. No matter - it has a complex taste, a little bitter at the end but pleasingly so (even if you're not a big fan of hops), and a hint of caramel with good body. This is a dark beer that isn't overly heavy or aggressive, and worth picking up. I know for a fact that it goes well with meatloaf, and would probably find a good setting with heavy comfort food, the taste being strong enough to work its way through, but enough lightness in the execution to avoid being overbearing.

Labels: beer, beverages, product, reviews

A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• High Tech Fridge Think that refrigerators hit their peak when manufacturers added Internet connectivity and video? Later this month, Hitachi is releasing some new models that have a low-oxygen chilled room (to prevent oxidation of foods), doses the air with antioxidant, and comes equipped with disinfection and deodorization capabilities to inhibit molds and odors. (Nikkei Business Publications)


• Zap Those Sales Restaurant owners can use a software program called a zapper to erase business from their cash registers and skim money relatively undetectably from their businesses. (NYT)


• California Counts Calories California is close to passing a law that will require chain restaurants in the state to provide calorie information for their dishes. (LA Times)


• Dinner Redistribution As a reaction to rising food prices, Greek anarchists went into a supermarket, stole food, and then gave it away. (Reuters)


• Wine Movie Sours Some Viewers Some of the people involved with a famous 1976 wine blind tasting in which French experts rated Californian wines more highly than their own are complaining that a new mover version, called Bottle Shock, isn't accurate. Hollywood, not accurate? I need a drink after that one. (Reuters)


• Atomic Aging Speaking of France and wine, French scientists have found a way to date wine using a particle accelerator. (Reuters)

Labels: news, odd, weird

A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• Naked Chef Finds British Food - - Bland Jamie Oliver, the "Naked Chef," took swipes at his countrymen, the culture of alcohol, too many material goods, and bland food. Not, as he claims, like it used to be, when the televisions were small, the phones attached to the wall, and the food like Italian, only without pasta or risotto. Order up a slab of meat and some potatoes for the disillusioned and weary cook. (The Telegraph)


• But They All Taste Like Coke Coca-Cola is working on a new fountain machine that can dispense 100 flavors. Let's hope one of them isn't New Coke. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)


• Pest, Please As food prices have jumped internationally, the price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia as poor people cannot afford any other type. (Reuters)


• Pizza on the House Pizzaioli - pizza chefs - in Naples gave away pizza last week to protest some competitors who, they claimed, used jumps in commodity prices to excuse permanent price jumps even when the commodity prices dropped again. (Reuters)


• Annual Tomato Fight Last week also brought the annual tomato fight, with an estimated 40,000 people pelting each other in Bunol, Spain. (AP)


• Stale Cake Sale A 27-year-old piece of the cake from the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles sold for about $2,400. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird