Food

Annoying Eating Habits, Food Crimes, and Vegan Bill Clinton: Eating & Reading

Every week, we'll let you know what the Washingtonian food staff is reading in the blogosphere and off the bookshelves.

Confusing ground beef for cocaine? Totally understandable mistake.

Todd Kliman, food and wine editor:

• Fun piece on The Smithsonian‘s Food & Think blog—criminals who make foods their accomplice. Love the bit about the guy who stashed $100,000 worth of crack inside a hollowed-out bologna.: Law and Order: More Culinary Crimes.

• Think you’re so hot for making sauce squiggles over your fancy terrine molds at your last dinner party? Yeah, well, the great Thomas Keller doesn’t think so. Plating, he says, is pretentious in the home.: Prepping Food for the Eyes.

• So Domino’s is experimenting with an “artisanal” pizza—made with actual rollers. What’s next, a bánh mì at McDonald’s?: Meet Domino’s Non-Artisan Artisan Pizza.

Ann Limpert, food and wine editor:

• Three words I never thought I’d see in the same sentence: “Bill Clinton” and “vegan.” Surely he’s sneaking Hunter S. Thompson-style breakfasts in somewhere.: Bill Clinton’s Life as a Vegan.

• Is there hypocrisy among the culinary elite? Frank Bruni thinks so, and he has a point: “When [Paula] Deen fries a chicken, many of us balk. When the Manhattan chefs David Chang or Andrew Carmellini do, we grovel for reservations and swoon over the homey exhilaration of it all.”: Unsavory Culinary Elitism.

• As Locavorean sacred ground Chez Panisse turns 40, pastry chef and cookbook writer David Lebovitz looks back at his time working there—and his job interview with Alice Waters.: Chez Panisse at Forty.

Anna Spiegel, food and wine intern:

• The Wall Street Journal has a rundown of annoying workplace eating habits. If you’re that guy who’s been eating covering his tie in plastic while eating “beans-and-rice dishes,” then check this out: A Field Guide to Obnoxious Eating.

The Atlantic takes a slap at Virginia’s faux-moonshine, calling it the world’s silliest liquor. Clearly they haven’t discovered cupcake-flavored vodka.: The World’s Silliest Liquor.

Germaphobes beware: the New York Times talks about being food bacteria and Esquire looks into how to eat raw chicken (hint: don’t).: Bending the Rules on Bacteria.

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Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

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.

Food Editor

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.

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.