Ripped From the Headlines
Whatever happened to good old-fashioned coffee? The New York Times takes a look at the safety concerns associated with energy drinks. [NYT] —Anna Spiegel
Adios, Big Tex. The official cowboy mascot of the Texas State Fair met an untimely end in an electrical fire last week. Time magazine explores why nostalgia is an integral part of the way we think about food. [Time] —Sophie Gilbert
If you’re a good liberal who’s boycotting Chick-fil-A for its homophobia and Papa John’s for its reactionary stance on health care, here’s a list of fast food joints you can feel—well, okay, not good, but at least not so bad about. [HuffPo] —Todd Kliman
700 chefs show their support for GMO labeling. [NYT] —Jessica Voelker
Season’s Eatings
In case you haven’t finished shopping for Halloween candy, here’s a mini review of “Jesus Harvest Seeds” (a.k.a. religious candy corn). And yes, they exist. [McSweeney’s] —AS
If you’re like me, you’re gonna need some serious booze to tolerate all the binders of women and Psy costumes this weekend. But what to pair with those Twix and Snickers? Serious Eats has you covered. [Serious Eats] —Ann Limpert
How to make kids’ cereal more Halloween-appropriate: draw the friendly cartoon mascots as utterly terrifying real people. [Buzzfeed] —Tanya Pai
Boldface Foodies
Michel Richard hit a new kind of big time last night, when he was featured as the subject of a Jeopardy question. The New York Times crossword puzzle can’t be far behind. [Eater] —AL
A show about random people teaching Mo Rocca to cook? It’s a good thing I can get onboard with anything Mo Rocca. [Bon Appétit] —JV
Two words: vagina cupcake. Yes, and also some thoughtful musings on cooking and sexuality, and why Nigella Lawson is not merely a provocateur. But you will not soon expunge that image from your mental space, I assure you. [The Weeklings] —TK
Will Ferrell + dubstep + an Anchorman-style stache = me reconsidering the merits of Old Milwaukee beer. [Grub Street] —Tanya Pai
The Culinary Canon
Denny’s has launched a Middle Earth-themed menu to go with the new Hobbit movie. But Tolkien purists might be disappointed. Instead of roast mutton, the chain is featuring dishes like “Radagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies” with white-chocolate chips and cream cheese dipping sauce, which pretty much ensures you’ll walk out at least feeling like a Hobbit. [AdAge] —AL
The most surprising aspect of this article isn’t that peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches are apparently a thing. It’s that Ernest Hemingway’s favorite sandwich paired PB with thickly sliced onions. [New York Times] —AL
Strange Condition
Turns out there’s a word for what I have always filed under the category of “insufferable bastard behavior” at the dinner table: “misophonia.” So now the insufferable bastards who ruin a meal with their little outbursts can chalk it up to a condition and be even more insufferable. [New York Times] —TK
I appreciate a good bizarre commercial—and also this post’s super-straightforward title: “The Most Randomly Awesome Cheese Ad You May Ever See.” [The Minneapolis Egotist] —TP
The Fat Chronicles
Obesity isn’t just a problem for all the couch potato in our midst. It’s a problem for salmon, too. [The Salt] —TK
In the UK, supermarkets are switching to a “traffic light” system for food labeling. Yes, it’s probably good for public health, but it’ll also ruin the joys of the candy aisle forever. [The Guardian] —SG
NPR goes Paula Deen and invents a new food atrocity: the grilled cheese doughnut. It’s a grilled doughnut filled with cheese, in case you hadn’t guessed. [The Salt] —SG
“An entire personal pizza? Get a rope!” Jezebel’s Laura Beck reacts to My History of Being Fat. [Jezebel] —JV
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
