Monday, July 13, 2009
Strange News from the Food Front (7/13/2009)
A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:
- Eat It and Like It - A 71-year-old man complained to his 66-year-old common law wife about her bad cooking. She allegedly beat him and apparently told deputies, upon her arrest, that she had been drunk and burned the bread. Toast, anyone? (AP)
- Cops Own Doughnut Shop - Some Michigan police really wanted their doughnuts, so when the owners of the local shop were planning to close it, nine officers chipped in and bought it. (UPI)
- Have Cork, Will Travel - A service offering a select few consultations from top sommeliers has an entry fee of £50,000, or about $81,000, and that doesn't include the wine. Check the ins and outs of adding a temperature recorder to a case of wine to make sure it didn't get overheated. Alas, it did. (Financial Times)
- Here Comes the Orient Express - Some top British chefs are creating dishes for toddlers, hoping to get kids into restaurants. What are the chances that they still ask for grilled cheese and chicken fingers? (UPI)
- Pastel, Stale, and Coming for You - The first store devoted to selling Peeps is scheduled to open. It won't just be the marshmellow concoctions (whether dream or nightmare is up to you), but also such things as t-shirts, plush toys, and pillows. In a blind taste test, could anyone tell the difference? (Washington Post)
- Water into Wine - A German company claiming that its powerder turns water into Chianti is angering Italian farmers. I'm betting that the Catholic Church does not have a stake in the venture. (UPI)
- Dining the Parisian Way - You can get a great meal in Paris, but only when the restaurants are willing to give it to you. It seems that only recently has it been possible to find establishments open on weekends. (Financial Times)
- Egg Foo Young for Everyone - A crash between a truck and a car sent an estimated 9,000 pounds of Chinese food spilling onto a Chicago toll road. No one was seriously hurt, but no word on what the what the fortune cookies read. (UPI)
- Chicken Feet: Take a Hike - As part of a trade war, China is prohibiting the importing of U.S. chicken, about half of which is chicken feet. (Reuters)
- Mediterranean Britain? - Climate change is bringing some differences in British agriculture, including growing peaches, olives, and pecans. (Daily Telegraph)
- Burger Blooper - Burger King has to apologize for depicting in an ad a Hindu deity eating a beef burger, showing that the company had no regard for sacred cows. (UPI)
- Who Took the Cheese? - There has been such an upsurge in people stealing cheese from a British grocery chain that it is adding security tags to the product. (UPI)
