Flash in the Pan

• Blitzkreig on a Bun Los Angeles has classified bacon as a "harzardous food," and now has taken to the streets, sending police to confiscate and destroy the stands of street vendors that dared sell hot dogs with bacon. (Reason.com)


• Dregs'Den Some mischief maker conned Wine Spectator into giving out an award to a non-existent restaurant. Except for the very top category, the awards are based on reviewing a wine list and getting a check for the "examination" fee. Hopefully they actually taste the wines they rate. (NYT)


• Phoney Phish A couple of teenagers got samples of fish from restaurants and shops in New York City, had the DNA tested - and found that up to a quarter of the fish was mislabled, and always as a more expensive type than it actually was. (Reuters)


• Arrested for What?? A blind Frenchman was arrested and fined ... for diving drunk and without a license. How about for driving without being able to see? (AFP)


• Making Science Work for Religion Turkish Muslims can get patches to ease their hunger during the month of Ramadan, when they are suppoed to fast. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Brain Food Some researchers think that the development of cooking may have been the springboard for a rapid increase in brain mass 2 million years ago. (LiveScience)


• No Litreing The owner of a Polish restaurant in England is in legal trouble because he serves Polish beer in .3 and .5 litre sizes instead of in pints. (Daily Mail)


• Domain Dispute Wine producers in St. Emilion are fighting with each other over whose products get to be called Bordeaux. (NYT)


• What Did You Call It? Chinese foods are often difficult to translate, as there may be no English equivalents, and a single region like Sichuan may have thousands of unique dishes. (Financial Times)


• No, He's Our Boxer Both Pepsi and Coke have erected promotional tents outside the home of an Olympic boxer from Thailand, where the athlete's father says both can stay as long as they don't start fighting. (Reuters)


• Vodka on the Rocky Sylvester Stallone is signed up to promote a Russian vodka. (Reuters)


• Barter Bar An English pub is bartering drink for ingredients that can be used on its menu. (AFP)


• Pricey Grapes The Japanese, again showing their proclivity for spending a bit too much on fruit, put Ruby Roman grapes on auction that fetched as much as $30 a single globe. (AFP)


• Way the Cookie Crumbles The company that owns Mrs. Fields, purveyor of cookies, as well as TCBY frozen yogurt has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Or, as a news report put it, the company says that it needs more dough. Sounds like someone without enough culture sporting a chip on his or her shoulder. (UPI)

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• PC Over Easy Someone has built a gizmo to plug into a computer's USB port and cook an egg in seven minutes. And people say I have too much time on my hands. (Engadget)


• Overtones of Electrons Spanish scientists create an electronic tongue to test wines. (Engadget)


• Nosh-a-Matic A company has created a line of vending machines specifically for kosher food. (NYT)


• Olympic Meals A number of the 40,000 restaurants in Beijing are creating sport-related dishes for the Olympics, including "abalone shaped like a rowing boat with asparagus oars." (Reuters)


• Barbecue Is Dangerous Two people were arrested for using barbecue equipment as a weapon. (AP)


• Killer Dish A U.K. celebrity chef apologized for recommending the use of the toxic and hallucinagenic henbane as a good ingredient for summer eating. Apparently he confused the names of two plants. (Reuters)


• Telltale Sign Teens accused of robbing a vending machine led police to themselves with a trail of Cheetos. (AP)


• The Crunchless Flick An increasing number of movie theaters in Britain are banning popcorn. (AFP)


• Where's the Bathroom? A 25-year-old man had twice the blood alcohol level considered lethal after 20 liters of beer. (AFP)

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• Chinese Kugel For religious Jews visiting China during the Olympics, there is exactly one kosher restaurant. An hour after eating, you feel like doing a mitzvah. (Crispy on the Outside)


• Chef Gorten A new restaurant trend: use frozen fish to lower global warming. (Washington Post)


• Menu Groupthink A new raw foods restaurant looking to open in Washington, D.C. is using the "wisdom of crowds" to create the concept, look, and name. (Washington Post)


• Am I Crispy Yet? A new alarm clock cooks a strip of bacon to wake you to the smell of breakfast. BYOE (bring your own eggs). (Geek.com)


• Please Sir, May I Have Some More? Between 1970 and 2006, the average American was eating 1.8 more pounds of food per week. (NYT)


• Why Are You Wearing Two Dresses? A Cleveland clothing store has opened a bar in the middle of its sales floor. (AP)


• Take It Inside Beijing authorities are banning streaking, drinking, and sleeping outdoors during the Olympics. Could it be that the three activities are related? (Reuters)


• McVroomManila police will power their squad cars with a mix of diesel and old McDonald's fry oil. Presumably officers will have the option to supersize their ride into an SUV. (AFP)


• Well Aged Someone found the world's oldest surviving bottle of Veuve Cliquot in a sideboard inside a Scottish castle. (AFP)

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• Professor of Pistachio One of the world's largest ice cream equipment manufacturers runs Gelato University outside Bologna, where it teaches 6,000 would-be professionals a year. (Financial Times)


• Going Against the Whole Grain Sara Lee, General Mills, and others, get smacked for claiming "whole grain" when products are mostly refined white flour. (Businessweek)


• Briber Works ... Ah, Worked An English school used chocolate bars as bribes for good behavior - and it worked. But higher officials chided him for not using healthy food. (Financial Times)


• That Metallic Taste Coca-Cola lovers in Hong Kong will be getting 25ml less of the drink per can as the company is shrinking the size of the container to save money on the cost of aluminum. (MarketWatch)


• The Big Eatsy For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Times-Picayune is again reviewing restaurants. (NYT)


• Brain Food The head of the World Trade Organization has suggested to his staff members that they eat bananas to keep them going through difficult negotiation sessions. (Reuters)


• Ho, Ho, Ho The 51st annual world Santa convention included a focus on exercising, not dieting, to get those jolly guys more easily down chimneys. (AFP)


• Keeping His Sunny Side Up A French waiter who threw an egg at the car carrying Nicholas Sarkozy during his visit to Ireland said that he'll be ready with "more than a dozen" should the president of France return. (AFP)

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• Bam - You're Insulted In a new British television show, Eating with the Enemy people prepare their favorite home dishes and food writers try to out-snark each other. (The Observer)


• The Naked Video Game Jamie Oliver is star of a cooking video game with recipes and as it runs on a portable Nintendo DS, you can bring it to the grocery store and have it manage your shopping list. All without calories. (Press release)


• No Take Out for You and You and You An anti-immigrant group in Italy is pushing for a law that would let cities bar ethnic restaurants "incompatible with the historical context." Is any part of Italy not historic? Oh, right, that's the idea. (Reuters)


• Self-Cutting Sandwich A New York man is claiming in a lawsuit that a Subway shop put a 7-inch knife into his sandwich. (Reuters)


• Good Thing He Didn't Ask for Doughnuts A Florida policeman was fired for trying to get free coffee and tea from a Starbucks. Didn't anyone tell him that it's over roasted? (AP)


• Golden Ticket A French woman found a candy wrapper in the trash and, with it, a winning number for a contest where the prize is a flight into space. (Reuters)


• Single-Handedly Keeping Breweries in Business An Australian man, convicted of a seventh DUI charge, was spending almost $1,000 weekly on beer. (Reuters)


• Uh ... Surprise Police say that a pizza restaurant clerk didn't know that her parents and her husband were planning to rob the establishment. (AP)


• He Deserves a Break Today A man who was convicted of robbing a McDonalds in 1994 is among the finalists in a contest to write a new jingle for the chain. (AP)


• Financial Decline of Wine Shrine A Napa Valley food and wine museum is in the financial dregs, and California citizens could get stuck with the tab. (Sacramento Bee)


• Free Willie Some Canadians are bidding to get a New Brunswick restaurant to free a 100-year-old lobster. (AFP)

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• The Stress of Dealing with a Food Crisis At the G8 summit, world leaders prepared themselves to deal with the issue of a food crisis by having a 19-course dinner prepared by 25 chefs. (The Guardian)


• Yes, We Have No Bow-wowersBeijing officials have called on restaurants and hotels to stop serving dishes containing dog during the Olympics. (Financial Times)


• Cocoa Chanel An Ivorian fashion designer makes outfits from jute sacks used to ship cocoa from the Ivory Coast. (Reuters)


• World's Hottest Curry Title? A London restaurant took at shot at serving the world's hottest curry and is waiting on the Guinness Book of World Records to confirm this. Every diner had to sign a disclaimer. (AFP)


• Iron-Rich Diet A Peruvian doctor had to pull 17 metal objects - including nails and a knife - from the body of a patient who ate them. (Reuters)


• Curdled Carriers Thousands of liters of sour milk, sent by farmers protesting low dairy prices, are clotting the EU's main sorting center. (Reuters)


• Cooler Armor A Connecticut man used his lunch cooler to protect himself from the gunfire of two would-be robbers. (AP)


• Some Strong Tea A Japanese calmed down a knife-wielding robber by serving him tea. (Reuters)

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• I'll Drink to That The Museum of the American Cocktail returns to its home in New Orleans on July 21. (Organization web site)


• Shaken, Not Whirred Japanese beer company Asahi unveiled its new robot bartender. (Engadget)


• Hops Go the Brewers Craft beer companies are facing "rapidly rising commodity prices, industry consolidation, and a slowing economy" and trying to figure out how they're going to make money. Oh, wait - we'll pay more. (Businessweek)


• Life's a Bowl of Cherry Pits A son out spat his father to take his seventh International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship. (AP)


• Battle of the Courses A restaurant in a part of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah is war-themed, with a bullet-shaped menu and chefs working in military fatigues. (Reuters)


• Hot Dogging An American successfully defended his world title in Nathan's annual hot dog eating competition. (Reuters)


• No Starch Decision A UK court ruled that Pringles are not a potato snack, and so not subject to a tax. (AP)


• Hope They Are Red An international body has adopted a standard for tomatoes. (AFP)


• No Restaurant for You Three retired family members have at least temporarily lost a 50 year battle for a top Paris restaurant valued at $110 million. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Nineteenth Amendment? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Nineteenth Amendment Proving that dead ideas of the past are never far away, the Phoenix Country Club still has a men-only bar, with women relegated to some dump of a back room, crossing the line from "weird" news to pathetic. (New York Times)


• It's a Good Vintage For those, like me, who missed this story the first time around, Martha Stewart has lent her name to some $15 a bottle wines that I notice the other day in a local grocery store. It's probably the only wine that matures according to a strict calendar. (USA Today)


• Say Cheese A Wisconsin sculptor recreated John Trumbull's painting "Declaration of Independence" in a ton of cheddar. (AP)


• Peanuts ... Popcorn ... Kung Pao ... In time for the Olympics, Beijing is providing to restaurants official English translations of local menu items. "'Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman,' as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now 'Mapo tofu.' And 'chicken without sexual life' becomes mere 'steamed pullet.'" (Reuters)


• Hold On There, Pardner The Naked Cowboy, a New York City street performer, is suing Mars for billboards depicting a blue M&M in the cowhand's signature outfit of boots, a hat, and white briefs. (Reuters)


• Maybe If They Call It Adult Grape Juice A burgeoning Finish wine industry is halted in its tracks as the European Union, which doesn't recognize Finland as a wine-producing country under EU rules, prohibits inhabitants from selling what they make.(New York Times)

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• Scratch and Sniff Lottery The Colorado lottery is selling scented scratch tickets, where you scratch the latex-covered area and release scented ink, including chocolate and coffee. (AP)


• Cold Crustacean A restaurant cook allegedly tried stealing frozen lobster tails by stuffing them down his pants. Will he end up in the cooler? (WABC)


• Begone, Thou Misshapen Fruit! The EU is having trouble ridding itself of regulation over the shape of fruits and vegetables sold there. (Reuters)


• One for Me, One for You An English farm has ended its pick-your-own strawberries program because people ate more than they bought. (The Press Assoc.)


• Swearing by Ramsey Australia's parliament is tightening rules on permissible on-air language, and all because of Gordon Ramsey. (Reuters)


• The McDonald's Diet A man in Virginia lost 80 pounds in six months by having nearly every meal at a McDonald's - salads, wraps, and apple dippers without the caramel sauce. Could he maybe have exercised a bit, as well?(AP)


• A Hair of the Dirty Dog An ex-cook was charged with putting hairs inside a steak that was served to a dissatisfied customer. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• What About the Free Eggs? Employees at a McDonalds finally captured a rogue chicken that had taken up residence and blocked the drive-through lane. (AP)


• They Also Make a Mean Burre Blanc Scientists find monkeys that fish. (AP)


• Restaurant Snaps Closed New York City inspectors shut down a restaurant after finding a snapping turtle in the sink. (AP)


• Did They Have to Clean the Glasses? A New Zealand restaurant got in trouble for accidentally serving dishwashing liquid as mulled wine. (AFP)


• Garlic Groveling In an attempt to keep yet another segment of the economy from protesting or striking, the Thai prime minister, a former television chef, used his weekly television address to promote cooking with local garlic. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• No Time For Oranges A survey suggests that Britons feel that they don't have time to peel oranges at lunch, so they opt for easier-to-peel citrus. (Reuters)


• Only $358.82 a Pound Someone in Japan paid $6100 for a 17-pound rare black-skinned Densuke watermellon. Hopefully it came with someone to spit out the seeds for the buyer. (AP)


• What Is that Flavor? An Arkansas corrections officer was allegedly caught smuggling syringes and pot hidden inside take-out TexMex food. (AP)


• What Weren't They Smoking? Some dorm workers at Indiana University got suspicious when they found green leafy material in some fudge they had been given. Turns out it was lavender. (AP)


• Serving Your Way to Heaven An Indian widow spent over $37,000 on a feast for a reputed 100,000 because she had no one to leave her money to. (Reuters)


• Do They Come in Coffin Shapes? The late inventor of the Pringles potato chip can had some of his cremated remains buried in one of them. (AP)


• Last Stop for Tube Drinking Thousands took to the London Underground to celebrate the last day of legal drinking on the system - and when things got out of control, police arrested 17 and closed 6 subway stations. (Reuters)


• Shaken, Not Stirred Champagne manufacturer Louis Roederer is testing the results of letting sparkling wine age 50 under the surface of the ocean rather than in the traditional cellars. And after all that wave action shaking the carbonated contents, who gets to open the first bottle? (Reuters)


• Looks Good to Him An Israeli rabbi has declared giraffe meat and milk to be kosher. (AFP)


• Guess the Souffle Fell A 28-year-old trainee chef threatened to kill himself with a knife unless allowed to retake a test at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in London. (London Telegraph)

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• I'm Going to Need Seconds Japanese scientists created a noodle bowl so small that you have to use a microscope to see it. (AP)


• Everyone's a Critic Police arrested a Hamptons gallery owner for serving wine and champagne at her gallery for the opening of an exhibit of photographs taken by Angelina Jolie, Madonna, and Justin Timberlake. (AP)


• Who Had Too Much Caffeine? Dunkin Donuts withdrew an ad featuring Rachel Ray when conservative bloggers went berserk over her wearing a scarf that they claimed was patterned like a traditional Arab headdress. (AP)


• Bridget Jones Blamed as Chardonnay Bane A wine expert blames the fictional character Bridget Jones's crying into a glass of chardonnay for making the wine less appealing. (London Telegraph)


• A Really Light Beer A Japanese company plans to make beer with barley descended from grains that spent five months on the International Space Station in 2006. The entire run, by Sapporo, will be 100 bottles. (AP)

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• $175 Hamburger The Wall Street Burger Shoppe, which likes having the most expensive hamburger in New York City, just raised its price from $150 to $175 because Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne had hiked its previous budget busting burger from $120 to $150.


• Cons Are Dining Pros An Italian maximum security prison runs a restaurant a few evenings a year, charging patrons about $55 a head for dinners cooked and served by inmates. (Reuters)


• Nothing Fancy Please A Spanish chef whose establishment has three Michelin stars, calls high tech cooking, such as using foams or gels, to be pretentious. (Reuters)

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• Bad Tips Are the Least of Worries A new Georgia law allows those with permits to carry concealed weapons the right to bring firearms into various places, including restaurants that serve alcohol. Note to wait staff: don't forget the bread. (AP)


• But ... Is The Lager OK? An Australian was fined for buckling his beer into a seat belt but not his child. (AP)


• How Much Is A Six-Pack? At an Oregon charity auction, one bottle of beer went for $707, while the cheapest ran $478. (Internet Broadcasting Systems)


• Watch the Moguls A couple of Belgians have developed some video games to be installed at urinals. (Reuters)


• Make Them Eat The Mystery Meat Two cafeteria managers resign after allegations that they stole thousands of dollars from their schools. (WFTV)


• That's a Lot of Relatives A Girl Scout sold more than 17,000 boxes of cookies. The formerly shy girl and her troop will be going to Europe on the strength of the proceeds - and we're waiting for corporate sales department scouts to come recruiting. (AP)


• After All, They're Just Sitting Around Alabama Sheriffs feed prisoners on $1.75 a day and pocket anything left over. (AP)


• Are You Sure This Guy Wasn't In Alabama? An Austrian prisoner escaped his cell by squeezing through the door's food hatch. (Reuters)

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• Vodka Tickles My Nose A British inventor, obviously never having heard of club soda, spent two years to create a sparkling (read that as carbonation) vodka. (Press release)


• Caffeine Chips Someone has apparently decided to add caffeine to chips. Now snackers will not only have an urge to drink something, they'll want cream and two sugars. But then, who calls a product "the love child of caffeine and snack chips?" (Press release)


• Never Again a Boston Harbor Apparently, the British government in the mid-1950s was worried about the impact atomic warfare would have on the availability of tea. (London Telegraph)


• No Such Thing as Free Doughnut A Canadian woman was fired from the Tim Horton chain after giving a 16-cent doughnut treat to a child. After bad press, the chain said that firing her was a mistake. (Reuters)


• And See What You Get If They're Overcooked Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is quoted as saying that restaurants should be fined for serving out of season vegetables and fruit, and that all the produce should be home grown. Guess his cooking is strictly meat and potatoes during the winter. (Reuters)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• No Drinking; We're Indian India's health minister is asking actors in that country's film industry not to smoke or drink alcohol on screen. (AP)


• Or Germans on Father's Day The German family minister is urging men not to head into the fields on Father's Day to drink beer and schnapps. (AFP)


• Or Living in Tisbury A small town on Cape Cod remains dry when a referendum on the subject ended in a dead heat. (AP)


• Or Drinking in a Romanian Bar A Romanian man complained that a single can of beer that he consumed in a bar get him so drunk that he nearly passed out. (New Zealand Herald)


• Forget Feeding Pigeons in the Piazza It's now officially illegal to feed pigeons in St. Mark's Square in Venice. (Reuters)


• And Don't Even Think of Calling Your Sausage Cumberland A food industry group in Cumbria, off in the northwest of England, is trying to get protected status for its sausage, which would have to be coiled (no links here) and contain at least 80 percent meat. The other 20 percent? If you have to ask, you don't want to know. (AFP)


• But Aluminum Cans Are OK on PEI Prince Edward Island, Canada has lifted a 35-year-old ban on selling beer and soda in aluminum cans. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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A weekly round-up of food and drink oddities:

• Two Great Tastes in One The manager of an Arkansas pizza place is alleged to have sold marijuana through the establishment's drive-through window. A wicked case of the munchies solving itself. (AP)


• Nearer to God, But Who's Buying? A western Ohio church holds services in a bar. (AP)


• Really Big Catch Three fishermen just sold a giant rare fish for HK$20,000. The buyer turned around and sold it to a restaurant for HK$580,000. And the restaurant sold it to a buyer on the Chinese mainland for HK$1 million. That final take was over $128,000 in US currency. Who says that the fresher the fish, the higher the price? (Reuters)


• How Much Was the Bill? A man who cannot pay his restaurant tab faked a heart attack. (WFTV.com)


• Please Don't Try This at Home People in the UK are apparently inujing themselves as they try to duplicate the feats of onscreen chefs. (The Press Association)


• This Slop Isn't Fit For Prisoners A 300-pound inmate is complaining that he's lost 110 pounds on the jail's fare, and so is suing. Wait, I can see it now: the newest diet craze, the Stir and Save. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Coffee Immersion The Roasting Plant Coffee Company in New York is a coffee shopt that is the coffee brewer, and patrons literally walk through the works. (Gizmag.com)


• Museum Drinks to That The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has two concurrent exhibitions on drinking vessels: The Art of Drinking and Elizabethan Flagons from St. Mary Woolnoth. (Victoria and Albert Museum)


• Food as Art If art in food doesn't take you, how about food in art? Prudence Emma Staite is an artist who makes custom sculpture, paintings, games, and life-sized rooms out of food. She currently has a display of famous artworks made out of a name-brand candy. (BBC)


• Forked An Iowa couple, known for their practical jokes, returned from an out-of-town wedding to find 3,000 white plastic forks stuck in their lawn and dangling from the house and fence. (AP)


• Feeling No Pain - Literally A Russian electrician got so drunk that when he slept it off, he hadn't noticed that there was a knife in his back. (Reuters)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Absolutely Terrible PR Absolut Vodka raised ire, not a glass, in the US when its Mexican ad campaign included a map of Mexico that included California, Arizona, and other US states, all of which were part of that country until 1848. (NPR)


• Sazerac Sinks The Louisiana Senate scuttled an attempt to make the sazerac the state cocktail because it would be inappropriate. A tough-minded decision for a state that has drive-through daiquiri stands.(AP)


• Noodle Schmoozing Apparently we all missed the World Ramen Summit. (Reuters)


• Taxes Require Drink A New Jersey CPA brings his tax services to bars on weekday nights and week-end afternoons. (Reuters)


• Shellfish Stuffing The winner of the Acme World Oyster Eating championship downed 35 dozen in 8 minutes. (AP)


• Crying Into Your Noodles South Korea's Black Day is a commisseration of people without love interests who wear black and eat black food. (Reuters)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Good Time Charlie Britain's Prince Charles is asking the UK government to help the closing of British country pubs. (IANS)


• Cheetos, Mary, and Joseph Oh, however could I have missed this in March: a church youth worker found a cheese curl that he thought looked like Jesus, and so decided to share it with the world. Someone at his church nicknamed it Cheesus. (KTRK)


• Repent, Satanic Bar Code! A Russian doomsday group has claimed that food packaging bar codes and credit cards are satanic. Well, one out of two ain't bad. (Reuters)


• Goat Power A wine and cheese estate in South Africa has harnessed its 700 Saanen goats by having them walk on treadmills connected to generators. (Cape Argus & Independent Online)


• Job Didn't Pan Out A worker at an Oklahoma Pizza Hut was accused of stealing every pizza pan in the establishment to sell them to scrap metal dealers. (AP)


• What's in a Champagne Name? A Swiss wine-growing region called Champagne is fighting to keep using its regional name although international trade rules restrict it to the French region. (Reuters)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Bugged By Low Tab A Dubai restaurant took 25 percent off the bill of a birthday dinner party because seven insects found bugs crawling in their food. Sorry, the house has a firm policy: it takes 8 bug-infested dinners for the 50 percent discount.(Reuters)


• And What's For Dessert? Before dining with the Queen of England, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked to see the wine list. (The Sun)


• Shave and a Haircut - Two Pints The Michigan attorney general told a barbershop owner in Grand Rapids, MI that he couldn't hand out a beer with each haircut without a liquor license. (AP)


• Worms Are Easier to Get Into the Bottle A Texas man is in legal trouble for selling bottles of vodka with dead baby rattlesnakes in them. (Reuters)


• Didn't They Like the Food? Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme was grazed by a bullet as he cooked at a New Orleans golf event. (AP)


• Dumping Tea in the Harbor Always Worked for Us Disgruntled Brits on the Internet are gaining traction with a campaign to ban Britain's chancellor of the exchequer from pubs because of a new tax on beer. (AP)


• Can't Hold Their Soda Wausau, Wisconsin police broke up a high school keg party. How embarrassing that the liquid was actually root bear. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Taco Bars A man got 30 days in jail for scamming a taco shop out of food and then posting the escapade on YouTube. Wonder what the sentence would have been for a burrito? (AP)


• Jailhouse Slop Vermont prisoners have undertaken a class action suit in protest of such dishes as nutraloaf: "a mixture of cubed whole wheat bread, nondairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and dehydrated potato flakes." (AP)


• Some Schnoz Lloyd's of London has insured a winemaker's nose for close to $8 million. (Reuters)


• Illinois for $1,350 on eBay Two sisters sold a corn flake shaped like the state of Illinois for $1,350 on eBay. Is that with milk, or without? (AP)


• In the Bag Patrons of Atlantic City's Irish Pub celebrate a holiday, invented by bar staff that worked through St. Patrick's day one year, by wearing paper bags on March 18. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Now That's Crabby Guinness World Records has certified the world's biggest fishcake - a crab cake of 235 pounds. (AP)


• Chew On This Peru lawmakers criticize a UN recommendation to criminalize all uses of the coca plant. (Reuters)


• Jenny Craig, Meet King Kong Zoos try to keep their charges from putting on too much weight. (AP)
gorilla

• Pass the Biscuits A 27 year old man who lived on biscuits (cookies in the UK) became a chef to fight his addiction. (BBC)


• Meals by Mail The Thailand post office has announced a new food delivery service with meals coming from famous restaurants. (AFP)


• Ham Bone Connects to the Thief Bone A Massachusetts restaurateur drove off a would-be robber with a frozen ham. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Keep Pouring... The Utah legislature has decided to loosen up a bit, and allow restaurants and bars to serve up to 1.5 ounces of liquor in a single drink - up from the previous 1 ounce limit. Can the lampshade hats be far away?(AP)


• ... But Not Here Teetotaling members of the Swedish legislature want only alcohol-free drinks at official parliamentary functions. Next thing - wet blankets for everyone(AFP)


• Don't Eat the White Snow Research has shown that many snowflakes coalesce around a core of bacteria. (AP)


• Steel Cage Birthday Parties Two mothers got into fight at a Chuck E. Cheese when one, there for her son's birthday, thought the other was allowing her child to hog an arcade game. (AP)


• First, We'll Puff at All the Lawyers Minnesota has a ban on all smoking in restaurants and bars - unless you're an actor in a theatrical performance. Some bars are avoiding the ban by declaring all patrons to be actors. Ah, but did they ever eat with one? (AP)


• Way the Cookie Crumbles Oklahoma police arrested a man for allegedly breaking into Chinese restaurants. The giveaway? The fortune cookies in his pocket. (AP)


• Alas, Poor Triffle New research indicates that steak and kidney pie, spotted dick and sherry trifle may become extinct by 2021. (Press Assoc)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Worse Than Smell-O-Vision Welch's is testing a magazine ad where you lick the page to taste the product. If it were Campbell's Soup, I'd say, "Ewww, ewww, good." (Wall Street Journal)


• Newport Newborns A Newport, RI hotel has a themed pregnancy special, including a diaper cake with the upcoming child's name on the rear end and a pint of ice cream and dill pickles as part of the turn-down service. Only $900 a night. Did someone say turn down? (The Chanler at Cliff Walk)


• Is That Supersized? Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate, Michigan is trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records with a 150 pound hamburger. With 24 hours notice, you and scores of your closest friends can have one - for $350. (Detroit Free Press)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• What's In a Name? A strip club owner in Boulder, Colorado is trying to claim that the cut up fruit, ice, and cups used in serving drinks makes his establishment a restaurant, which would get him out from under a zoning challenge. (Rocky Mountain News)


• Taco Terror A California man was assaulted and then robbed of a bag of tacos at gunpoint. (AP)


• Just A Little One? Some Chinese producers of alcoholic beverages are trying to overturn a government ban on officials drinking at lunch. (AFP)


• Take This F-ing Bill Ten diners found an invitation to oral sex listed (though with no charge) on their computer-printed bill. (BBC)


• Do Drink the Water Los Angeles and Clearbrook, British Columbia, Canada recently tied as having the best tasting municipal water in an international competition. Will we soon seen a bottled brand called LA's Finest? (AP)


• Put the Bun Under the Burger A California McDonald's is trying to boost sales with feng shui. First order of business: get some real food in. (AP)


• But Don't Ask For Their Doughnuts On apprehending a freezing burglary suspect in the winter cold, Canadian police offered a cup of coffee. What, no bagel? (The Toronto Sun)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Space Pickle A bacteria-free version of the Korean hot pickled cabbage dish, kimchi, is ready for a space mission later this year, along with instant noodles, cinnamon tea, uncooked organic food, and the world's first Korean astronaut. (AFP)


• No Eggroll For You Asian restaurants in Israel went on a one day strike to protest a new government plan to replace Asian restaurant cooks with Israelis. First off the menu were eggrolls. Next? Sushi and noodles. (Reuters)


• Do You Take This Slyder? Three couples got married on Valentine's Day at a White Castle in Columbus, Ohio, the chain's home town. The flower girl threw salt and pepper packets instead of rice, and the grooms' lapels sported employee name tags. (AP)


• What You See Isn't What You Get The Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville, France featured some trompe-l'oeil cuisine, like slices of meat that were actually made of watermellon, or an edible bar of soap with honey bubbles. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Step Away From the Restaurant Three legislatures in the Missouri legislature had filed a bill that would prohibit restaurants from serving obese people. (AP)


• I Am Not a Leftover After nearly 50 years, an Illinois man still has a buffalo sandwich that was half-eaten by Richard Nixon. And, no, it's not a lot of bull. (AP)


• Whale of a Meal According to a poll, 56 percent of the Japanese public supports eating whale meat. (AP)


• How Much By the Glass? A London diner was sure that the £18,000 bottle of wine he ordered at a restaurant was actually a fake. (AP)


• How About Official Picnic Bucket? PETA tried to keep fried chicken the official food of Kentucky. Maybe everyone should take a time out and have a mint julep. (AP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Hope The Chairs Don't Melt As part of a Valentine's Day promotion, Godiva creates a chocolate room, including furniture and art work. (AP)


• And Tater Tots Are Grenades Laramie, Wyoming police charged some junior high girls who threw french fries during a food fight with hurling missles. (AP)


• Next, Exercise Suppressing Walks Scientists experiment with food additatives, that could be put into snack foods, that could reduce hunger. (Press Association)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Quick, Get Robbie Burns Scotland is thinking of lobbying the US to lift a ban on haggis in hopes of boosting sales. Here's a suggestion: there's a long way between buying a kilt and eating a blood and oatmeal pudding stuffed into a sheep's stomach. (Reuters)


• Holy Watering Hole A pastor in a central Pennsylvania town plans to send chaplains to local bars to provide a sympathetic ear. But are they buying drinks? (AP)


• So Hungry You Could Eat A Horse? A woman, selling her horse, found the classified ad she took out accidentally listed under Good Things To Eat. (AP)


• And No Tequila Shots Someone has introduced a bill in Virginia to lift the state's effective ban on sangria, because it doesn't allow mixing wine or beer with spirits. A restaurant actually received a $2,000 fine for serving the drink in 2006. Next thing: free refried beans. (AP)


• Michelin Star, Bring Your Own Boat British restaurant Tean just won a Michelin star - and is located on an island, population 110, 28 miles out to sea. (AFP)


• Invest That Bonus In Food A restaurant in London's financial district has a $2,000-a-head menu intended to catch people who got huge bonuses. Half a dozen people have signed up since last Friday. (AFP)

Labels: news, odd, weird

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• Smoked - or Not The first restaurant chain in Beijing to ban smoking is going out of business after most of its customers took their embers elsewhere. (Reuters)


• Moo Burp Swedish researchers are going to study just how greenhouse gas comes out when cows belch. I'd hate the be the one standing in front of the cow, waiting for the eruption. (AP)


• Oh, You're Still Here? An inmate was left in a holding cell for two days without food when three deputies forgot the person was there. (AP)


• Imagine the Piece of Cheese Researchers found the remains of a prehistoric rodent that weighed an estimated 2,000 pounds. (Reuters)


• Last Call A 150 old cantina, supposedly the oldest in Mexico, is closed after the National Autonomous University of Mexico won a legal battle to eject it.