Archives for April 2009
Giving New Meaning to the Word “Fathead”
Score one for fat: Fatty foods might contain memory enhancers. University of California, Irvine, scientists found that oleic acids from fats—and the compound oleoylethanolamide used in the lab—send signals to the memory-forming amygdala.
(All of my grandmother’s recipe cards call for “oleo,” short for “oleomargarine,” as the butter substitute was originally known. Perhaps that explains my fond memories of her peach dumplings and sugar cookies.)
One of the scientists offered an evolutionary explanation for the fat/fond memory relationship:
“By helping mammals remember where and when they have eaten a fatty meal, OEA’s memory-enhancing activity seems to have been an important evolutionary tool for early humans and other animals. Remembering the location and context of a fatty meal was probably an important survival mechanism for early humans.”
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reminds us that there’s a lot we still don’t know about the moving parts (so to speak) of human biology. The researchers seems to have been originally investigating the compound for its potential in encouraging weight loss. While it’s still far too early to tell what the human applications might be—the fats are being tested on rats for now—there’s discussion that this might be good news for Alzheimer’s patients as well. You never know what you’re going to find on your way to developing much-condemned “frivolous” pharma.
Quick Bites: Sweet and Salty Edition
- Labels mandated by the Country of Origin Labeling laws that went into effect in March are beginning to appear in stores.
- A recent Wall Street Journal Health column chastises Americans for consuming too much salt. In other news, Connecticut-based writer tells Journal columnist to shut the hell up.
- Confectioner makes candy that looks like bacon but tastes like… strawberries.
- Pepsi unleashes two soft drinks for the summer containing beet and cane sugars. Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which — alas — feature no psychedelia on their bottles, are intended to return consumers to an Age of Aquarius before HFCS harshed our trip. Ride the snake!
- Tiki comes to DC. Let the drunkening begin.
This Week in Bacon
A bacon fanatic last weekend took his love of bacon to another level, crafting a “BA-K-47,” a 1:1 scale of an AK-47, using only bacon and a blowtorch!
I’m not really a weapons person, but if you’re going to have a gun, it’s the safest type of gun to have — the only thing coming out of that will be rounds of grease.
Brought to you by TIFR.
Bull Market: Proof of Economic Recovery?
It took 25 years to design this card
As this guy will tell you, having a business card that stands out is the most important thing in the world. So, why not try meatcards.com:
We start with 100% beef jerky, and SEAR your contact information into it with a 150 WATT CO2 LASER.
Screw die-cutting. Forget about foil, popups, or UV spot lamination. THESE business cards have two ingredients: MEAT AND LASERS.
(Via Filthy Pill.)
‘The Sun’ Collages Weird Food Names (Click It)
Problem=Booze, Solution=Bacon
Bacon is our god, and Elin Roberts of Newcastle University’s Centre for Life is its only prophet. A few passages from today’s Telegraph which explain pretty much everything that is important in life.
“Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good,” [said Elin Roberts, of Newcastle University's Centre for Life.]
Ms Roberts told The Mirror: “Bingeing on alcohol depletes neurotransmitters too, but bacon contains a high level of aminos which tops these up, giving you a clearer head.”…
Ms Roberts said: “The smell of sizzling bacon in a pan is enough to tempt even the staunchest of vegetarians. There’s something deeper going on inside. It’s not just the idea of a tasty snack. There is some complex chemistry going on.
“Meat is made of mostly protein and water. Inside the protein, it’s made up of building blocks we call amino acids. But also, you need some fat. Anyone who’s been on a diet knows if you take all the fat from the meat, it just doesn’t taste the same. We need some of the fat to give it the flavour.”
She explained that the reaction released hundreds of smells and flavours but it is the smell which reels in the eater. “Smell and taste are really closely linked,” she said. “If we couldn’t smell then taste wouldn’t be the same.”
So a bacon sandwich is apparently the ideal hangover cure, but I think I can go these researchers one better. Have you ever had a peanut butter and bacon sandwich? Toss on a few raisins (or better still Craisins), and you really have a sandwich to cure whatever ails you.
Fun with Spike and Kelsey
It’s a big week for former Top Chef favorite Spike Mendehlson. He and fellow former Top Chef contestant Kelsey Nixon debuted their very own cooking show, Kelsey and Spike Cook, on Food2, Food Network’s spinoff website. Click here to watch their episode on grilling steak, and here for their breakfast episode!
In local news, D.C.’s famous Wagshal’s deli just announced today that Spike will be grilling burgers and making milkshakes on site May 17th. Poor Spike doesn’t know what he signed up for: he will likely be serving a bunch of grumpy 3L law students from next door, who have just ended exams and just started their bar exam studying . . .
Bacon Comics
The man who drew this comic has a book coming out. You should probably buy it.
So This Goat Walks Into a Carl’s Jr.
Happened yesterday in Riverdale, CA. So what was he looking for?
A kid’s hamburger. What else? Ba-dum-bum.
Via NRN.
Crispy Podcast Episode 8
This podcast comes courtesy my presentation at the twelfth annual conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, which took place earlier this month at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.
I sat on a panel on food, law, and culture that was chaired by Prof. Chris Buccafusco of University of Illinois Law, and that featured Prof. David Caudill of Villanova Law, me, and two others.
My presentation, based in large part on work I did as a legal intern at the Center for Consumer Freedom this past summer, focused on the evolving legal strategy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, one of the nation’s most aggressive, aggravating, and controversial nutrition nannies.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you’ll tell us what you think. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the show for free. You can grab the RSS feed or click here to subscribe in iTunes. That way you’ll get it every “week.”
Maryland Restaurant Vandalized (Twice) for Serving Foie Gras
As reported in the Wa Post today, a Howard County (MD) restaurant is being targeted by vandals because it serves foie gras.
A Howard County restaurant that was vandalized last month in an apparent protest against the serving of foie gras has been hit again.
Steve Wecker, co-owner of the Iron Bridge Wine Company in Columbia, said yesterday that no references were made this time to foie gras. But Wecker said he suspects that the vandals who broke a window and damaged one of the front doors of the Route 108 property were trying to convey the same message as those who spray-painted “Get rid of the foie gras,” broke several windows and glued the lock of the front door March 23.
What surprises me most about this is not the attack, but that it happened (twice) in Howard County, which sits about halfway between DC and Baltimore in deep suburbia. My possibly misinformed vision of the anti- foie gras forces is that they would live in, and strike, city restaurants. Perhaps a cul-de-sac vegetarian youth movement is taking shape.
Restaurant owner Steve Wecker is not intimidated and has, in fact, doubled down.
Since the first incident, which caused an estimated $3,300 in damage, Wecker has added “Foie Gras Friday” to the restaurant’s menu and has servers wearing T-shirts reading “Got Foie Gras?” — a takeoff on the popular milk slogan.
We might just need to schedule a Crispy outing to this restaurant to show support.
[N.B. The benefit of reading an print newspaper is that one sees small items like this, which get completely lost in the online version of a paper.]
The Love that Dare Not Speak Its Name
Obviously, I’m referring to the love of cilantro.
And now, one man has come out of the closet with a impressive blog defense of Coriandrum sativum. I give you: Fuck Yeah Cilantro.
The blog’s motto:
IF YOU DON’T LOVE CILANTRO WITH ALL YOUR HEART I WILL FIGHT YOU
NO JOKE
Enjoy.
Via The Agitator
The Joy of Peeps
The Wa Post had an hilarious feature today about peeps. They are the sugar candy representations of bunnies that are found in Easter baskets and typically tossed out because they are pure sugar and not really edible.
But now they have a new life as figures in dioramas. The full Wa Post contest winners are here.
The Scanwich
Leave it up to bored SF techies to create a new food trend. Here is the link to hilarious scanned sandwiches.
