Food Culture

Sushi at 7-Eleven: The Gourmeting of America

Read a great article this past weekend from AP Food Editor J.M. Hirsch, The '90s Set the Table for a Decade of Good Eats. 

For this was the decade of the gourmeting of America, an era when cola wars and burger battles made way for artisanal sodas and grass fed beef, when coffee went from a cup of joe to a double shot-half-caff-soy-latte, ethnic was de rigueur and local became the new global.

Of course, we had movies and books that thrust food and food issues into the national spotlight -- from the politicized "Super Size Me" and "Fast Food Nation" -- to the Food Network (whose viewership apparently jumped 392% from 1999 to 2009) and Bravo's "Top Chef."  Suddenly, it seemed, a KitchenAid Stand Mixer became a must-have, and we wonder when McDonald's might someday serve a Big Mac made with grass-fed beef, organic lettuce, and a gluten-free bun.  Anything's possible.

Several industries have certainly profited from the foodie movement.  It's changed our overall behaviors:  we're inviting friends over; bringing leftovers to the office; buying more equipment for our kitchens; frequenting food festivals and farmers markets; bragging about how much we paid for a particular cheese or bottle of wine.  We're also eating smarter and better.  And that's a good thing.

Sharing recipes from Pillsbury.com: Why no URL Shortener?

It's that time of year again: time for holiday parties and office brunches.  While scouring the Pillsbury.com website for a recipe using Pillsbury Crescent dough -- admittedly, a guilty pleasure -- I found my target:  Egg and Sausage Breakfast Ring.  I just knew this would be a crowd pleaser.

Unfortunately, while making attempts to share the recipe on Twitter, I learned that the URL to the page is not automatically shortened, as with other sites.  ARGH!  If I wanted to add to my tweet, I would need to open Bit.ly or 3.ly, copy, shorten, copy, and paste -- too many steps.

Dear Social Media Manager at Pillsbury: please truncate the links so your fans can have more to say.  Thank you.

German Chocolate Cake Isn't Really German

Thanks to a blog post today from Foodista, German Chocolate Cake isn't really German.

Apparently, in 1957, Mrs. George Clay submitted a recipe to the Dallas Morning News for "German Sweet Chocolate Cake."  It became a hit and was printed in several newspapers around the country.  Many people assumed it was German, because of the name, but Mrs. Clay was actually referring to a type of baking chocolate at the time named German’s Sweet Chocolate (a pre-sweetened baking chocolate), manufactured by Walter Baker & Co., and named after the man that created it in 1852, Samuel German.

Had the name of the cake been, "German's Sweet Chocolate Cake," the history of baked goods may have been different.

An Obsession with Junk Food and Porn

A friend of mine just pointed out the book and companion website, "This is Why You're Fat," a self-proclaimed ode to "junk food porn."  Page after page of the absolutely most outrageous concoctions that would make anyone reach for both the Alka-Seltzer and the Lipitor, the book is more humor than try-this-at-home.

One of my favorites:  The Icingcano:  Bottom layer of brownies, topped by a layer of chocolate cake and a layer of red velvet cake, smothered in Oreos mixed with frosting, rice Krispies, marshmallow fluff, meringue and chocolate pudding. 

Great for a tween birthday party, I'd say.

Long-Lost Love: Stovetop Espresso Maker

Love my stovetop espresso maker. I forgot I had it -- I fished it out of a kitchen cabinet two weeks ago and I can say I'm addicted again.

Though it's not really an espresso maker. It makes a hybrid between coffee and espresso, which is a welcome change from weak brown liquid masquerading as coffee and often-bitter espresso.

Mine is small, and was procured with a gift card to the Bodum store on West 14th street in Manhattan over 6 years ago. The more popular version is sold by Bialetti, which seems to be available everywhere these days -- even at Walgreens.com. You can do a search on Froogle.com (this is Google's Product Search site) and do a price comparison.

In a kitchen chock full of electric gadgets that you rarely use daily, the stovetop espresso maker delivers something unique and comforting.