The Inquisitr » food

Bacon & Cheese Stuffed Pizza Burger: A pictorial guide to instant clogged arteries

Steven Hodson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:57:05 +0000

OMFG!

Seriously folks some-one actually made this sucker and photographed the process so you to can follow in their footsteps to clogged artery hell.

I am not sure whether to toss Joey deVilla a hat tip on this one or curse him for it.

Smart Choices are actually pretty stupid

Steven Hodson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:45:00 +0000

Well it looks like yet another group has discovered a way to scam the public and make a pretty penny doing it to. The group known as Smart Choices are hawking their program and labeling to the food conglomerates that love nothing better than to keep selling us junk at increasingly high prices.

Companies that sign onto the program get to display the Smart Choices Program label with a great big green checkmark on their food items that meet the group’s criteria for “smarter food and beverage choices”. Some of the companies that have signed up are: Kraft Foods, ConAgra Foods, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. Participating companies pay up to $100,000 a year to the program – based on the total sales of products that bear the seal.

Now on the whole one would think that such a program would be a good idea, and it would until you see some of the foods that are being graced with this fancy label. Among the foods that have passed the Smart Choices criteria are Cocoa Krispies, Froot Loops, pretty much all of the Kid Cuisine frozen foods, and Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise (not the low fat stuff either).

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interests, was a member of the panel who helped devise the Smart Choices nutritional criteria until he quit because the panel was dominated by members of the food industry. At this point the criteria would allow as he puts it: “You could start out with some sawdust, add calcium or Vitamin A and meet the criteria,”

Nutritionists questioned other foods given the Smart Choices label. The program gives the seal to both regular and light mayonnaise, which could lead consumers to think they are both equally healthy. It also allows frozen meals and packaged sandwiches to have up to 600 milligrams of sodium, a quarter of the recommended daily maximum intake.

“The object of this is to make highly processed foods appear as healthful as unprocessed foods, which they are not,” said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University.

Source: The New York Times – For Your Health, Froot Loops

The group was recently sent a letter from the Food and Drug Administration as well as the Department of Agriculture saying that they intend on monitoring the effects of the groups’ program on the food choices of consumers.

hat tip to Sara at Suburban Oblivion

The White House shows off its green thumb

Steven Hodson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:35:00 +0000

One of the things that Michelle Obama wanted to do once she got to the White House was to provide an example to the American people that having a garden which you could use to help feed your family was a good thing.

To that end First Lady Obama and the Head White House Chef Sam Kass have just released a follow-up video showing how well the Victory Garden at the White House is doing. As well as showing its progress the video also provides some interesting historical reference points about the garden. The last garden of this type was during the Second World War and was more for show than anything else as it really didn’t provide any amount of food.

This time around however the garden has produced some 200 pounds of food that is used daily in the meals at the White House. As well the seeds used for the garden came from Peter Hatch, head gardener at Monticello.

State Fair fried food king invents Deep Fried Butter

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:30:22 +0000

No, Paula Deen has nothing to do with it this time.

Texas State Fair vendor Abel Gonzales is responsible for Texas Fried Cookie Dough (obvious question: does it not turn into a cookie then?), deep fried PB&J with bananas, and even Fried Coke, is back with a new heart-exploding treat. Deep Fried Butter is turning heads and stomachs nationwide, grabbing headlines for its sheer deep fried audacity.

Gonzales whips butter to light creamery fluffiness, freezes it, and surrounds it with shell of dough. And it’s not just butter flavored- that would be preposterous- Deep Fried Butter is available in garlic, grape or cherry flavor.

While it sounds disgusting, customers say it takes not too unlike a buttered roll. Gonzales says:

“It’s like a mix between a biscuit or a croissant that is just stuffed to the gills with butter on the inside.”

With all the anti-fat naysayers, Gonzales has his share of detractors. But he’s not bothered by the backlash:

“These are special foods for a special time,” he said.

“There are a lot of people out there that don’t get the fun in what I’m doing. I’ve gotten e-mails from people saying, ‘You’re a menace!’”

“I tell people this is not healthy food. Be careful with it. Take it in moderation. Definitely get your exercise. Eat a salad.”

65 days of eating burgers turns food critic stoopid

Steven Hodson — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:30:00 +0000

With a good dose of humor that makes one wonder if this this is purely a humorous post or whether there is actually any truth involved Jeff Ruby tells the tale of the effects of eating nothing but hamburgers for 65 days straight. Now personally I don’t think I could do that for more than a week at the most so kudos for the strength of character (or the size of the expense account) to be able to do such a gastronomical feat. However Jeff at some point discovered an unintended consequence of doing such in depth research for an article about the state of the hamburger in Chicago.

He was turning stupid – literally.

Armed with nothing more than a C in high-school biology, my laptop, and a history of cyberchondria, I sought medical answers online. Fifteen minutes later, while finishing my leftovers from Kuma’s, I concluded that I was not permanently stupid—I had developed a mild case of cognitive dysfunction syndrome. CDS (a.k.a. brain fog) can be caused by anything from mercury poisoning to constipation and leads to confusion, difficulty concentrating, and forgetfulness. It also appears mainly in dogs. The warning signs described online sounded familiar: aimless wandering (did this at Epic Burger), inappropriate vocalization (Moody’s), and sudden loss of appetite (Boston Blackie’s).

One night, a frozen turkey fell from my fridge and bonked my noggin, and I barely felt it. I had literally become a numbskull. That’s when I knew, without the aid of scientific proof: Saturated fats had eroded the connections between neurons in my brain.

Lucky for Jeff though the effects are not permanent, it just takes a while to recover

My recovery so far has been excruciatingly slow.

These days, I celebrate small victories, like the fact that I can once again carry my kid in from the car without getting winded. Trouble is, I keep taking him to the wrong apartment.

10 Great ways to fry your heart and arteries

Steven Hodson — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:29:27 +0000

Deep fried food – we love it. While most of us are happy with things like french fries, chicken wings or just plain old deep friend chicken there are those that love to live on the cholesterol edge of a Lipitor induced delirium. For those people, and the more adventurous of you, I present you with 10 weird and wonderful ways to sate your deep fried food needs.

Deep Fried Peaches

Deep Fried Dill Pickles

Deep Fried Coke

Deep Fried Quarterpounder

Deep Fried Ravioli

Deep Fried Pizza Fritta Napoli

Deep Fried Peanut Butter & Jam

Deep Fried Cadbury Egg

Deep Fried Pancakes

Deep Fried Mars Bar

a big Sunday afternoon hat tip to Now That’s Nifty

The 10 Best and Formidable Hot Dogs

Steven Hodson — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:34:22 +0000

Next to apple pie and baseball nothing says United States of America than the legendary hot dog. Even though many of us wouldn’t touch one with a ten-foot pole if we knew what was really in those tubular steaks they continue to be a mainstay of our dinner tables, backyard BBQs and culture.

Recently Brynn Mannino over at WomansDay.com compiled a list of ten of the best and admittedly formidable hot dog recipes around. I have – with a big at tip to both Brynn and Papa Melony – posted it here for your recipe collecting pleasure.

Spaghetti Dogs

Personally I think this one is just a little too off the wall but I am sure something like this would be a hit with the kids. To produce this kid delight simply puncture slices of raw hot dog with uncooked spaghetti and boil.

picture courtesy of Boing Boing

Corn Dog Casserole

Hmm .. I guess the prerequisite for this one is that you like corn dogs, which I don’t and that you have a very low cholesterol level. What you do is layer much like a lasagna the following items: hash brown patties, crumbled bacon, baked beans, corn and French Fries. This is all topped with quarter-inch slices of corn dogs and drizzled with yellow mustard.

picture courtesy of ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com

Ditch Dogs

Wow people are actually willing to pay $14 dollars for this creation at the Ditch Plains restaurant in Manhattan but you can do the same thing by combining a potato bun, a hot dog along with a Gruyere/American/Parmesan mac ‘n’ cheese blend. Me .. I think I’ll pass.

picture courtesy of AlwaysHungryNY.com

Chinese Hot Dog

Almost as much as hamburgers, hot dogs and apple pie our version of Chinese food is a big part of our culture. For those that just can’t do without their weekly fixing of sushi and wonton soup you can try out slices of hot dog wrapped with egg-dipped dough and then deep fried. Apparently they do really well at Eden Wok in New York where they sell for $2.50 each.

picture courtesy of oneannieatatime.com

Le Pogo et Frites

Never mind those Freedom Fries because we have for you the Americanization, thanks to Phil Lee, of a South Korean roadside snack. Basically nothing more than a hot dog surrounded by french fries Phil transformed it using corn meal batter and french fries.

picture courtesy of LastAppetite.com

The Chihuahua

Not surprisingly given the popularity of the venerable hot dog there are a lot of restaurants that specialize in overloading the poor little things with all kinds of stuff. Crif Dogs in New York City is well known for this concoction that sees a hot dog blanketed in bacon and then join with sour cream and avocado.

picture courtesy of chelseaperetti.blogspot.com

The Hamdog

If you are ever in the mood to really hurt yourself then the place to head to is Mulligan`s Bar in Decatur, Georgia, and pony up to one of their Hamdog`s. This `little`creation has the following goodies in it: one hot dog wrapped in a half-pound of beef patty. This is then deep-fried, placed in a hoagie roll and topped with chili, bacon and a fried egg.

picture courtesy of TexasBurgerGuy.com

The Hot Dog Flower

Obviously a pretty simple offering of hot dog goodness but apparently these cumin-flavored goodies are popular food fair in New York City`s Chinatown – especially at the low price of $1 each.

picture courtesy of SeriousEats.com

Hot Dog Summer Roll

Continuing with our mashing up of American hot dog love and Chinese food obsession we have this offering from Jill Snyder where she takes slices of hot dogs and wraps them with rice paper and filled with various vegetables. Unfortunately this little creation didn`t help her win season five of Bravo`s cooking show – Top Chef, but hey you still might like it.

picture courtesy of ModernDomestic.com

And finally we give you The Cornhole

This one should come with a warning that unless you have a cholesterol level of a new born baby this might not be something you want to try – or at least not make a habit of having. Using the picture as our guide to heart attack hell we have the corn on the cob wrapped with hickory bacon, which is then surrounded by alternating hot dog slices and Colby-Jack cheese sticks which is then encased in ground beef. Good luck and may your cardiologist be with you.

picture courtesy of ThisIsWhyYou’reFat.com

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Fancy Fast Food is kind of recession chic

Kim LaCapria — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:00:14 +0000

Remember all the fancy places you used to go eat while we were all throwing around imaginary money?

Fancy Fast Food recreates the pretty platters at upscale restaurants using only the ingredients found in fast food meals. A bit of alchemy with Burger King breakfasts, Taco Bell dollar menu items and Big Macs yields some pretty cool-looking results.

Tapas made out of White Castle stuff.

Spicy chicken sushi made from Popeye’s food.

(Top: Breakfast quiche from a BK Croissan’wich.)

[Fancy Fast Food via Consumerist]

Cheap beats organic during hard times

Steven Hodson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Prior to our latest economic downturn our food buying habits were slowly changing away from the mass produced food items of extremely questionable quality to more organic and Fairtrade food stuffs. According to Geoff Beattie, head of Cohn & Wolfe Global Practices, this trend is quickly reversing with premium food brands taking a big hit.

The trend, which has seen three in five shoppers (69%) in Britain cutting back on buying organic food, is one that is likely to continue. Beattie says that the recession has shaken the “moral veneer” of consumers and is seeing them favoring bargain foods over the higher priced ‘green’ foods.

The study also revealed new shopper loyalties are emerging, as food manufacturers and retailers engage in a value contest. In the recession, half of shoppers (46%) feel more positive towards using discount grocery stores.

As a result, two in five shoppers (39%) plan to shop at discount supermarkets more often, and over a third (36%) will continue to substitute well-known brand labels in their shopping baskets with economy ranges.

Source: Guardian UK :: Recession sees shoppers switch from green to budget products

It has always amazed me how food stuffs which supposedly don’t use things like expensive pesticides and involve high transportation costs are more expensive that the products that do. Green and eco-friendly only seem to mean another way to charge more for a products so it’s no wonder these types of products are just sitting on the shelves.

Robot sandwich maker – well almost

Steven Hodson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:34:17 +0000

Ah the life of a true geek – never having to dirty your hands making those sandwiches that keep you going through coding runs or blog post writing. Yes folks in the true spirit of geekdom everywhere and the helping hand of an XKCD comic we present you with the Sudo Make Me A Sandwich Robot. Of course a big thanks has to go out to the robot’s inventors – Bre Pettis and Adam Cecchetti – for being willing to include us in this momentous moment in the history of geekdom.

So You Think You’re An Adventurous Foodie?

Duncan Riley — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:48:08 +0000

BeijingFastFood – Upload a doc

Beijing Fast Food offers a tourists guide to the culinary delights of China’s capital in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Feast your eyes on the amazing street Yum Cha, all provided at affordable prices.

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