Food

Bon App’s Flu Diet, Woody Allen’s No Fun Diet, Calamari’s Evil Twin: Eating & Reading

Our tasty roundup of the best stuff we’re reading this week.

Squid, or something else? This American Life explores a disturbing rumor about everyone’s fave fried app. Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.

Booze News

This sounds like a great idea! And not at all like a fire hazard! At Chicago’s Red
Kiva, you can now freebase your alcohol via the Vaportini. “It’s warm, retains its
flavor, and gives an instant, though brief, buzz.” [Time Out Chicago] —Sophie Gilbert

As alcohol levels in wine continue to go up around the world, some winemakers are
banging the drum for the cause of “dealcing”—de-alcoholizing their wines to bring
them back down to more companionable levels. [Palate Press] —Todd Kliman


Culinary Culture

The DC schools’ food director has left his job after clashing with chancellor
Kaya Henderson. [WaPo] —SG

This reminds me of the
Todd Barry bit about running into a friend who was heading off to chocolate school in Tahiti.
No joke, folks—Gelato University, in Italy. Yeah, the final must be a bitch. [The Economist] —TK

If you missed the premiere of
Soul Food Junkies, set that DVR: The PBS doc examines the two sides of an extremely influential cooking
tradition. [Grist] —Jessica Voelker

Things are pretty complicated inside the seemingly simple world of kids’ mac and cheese.
Smithsonian goes inside the Kraft wars. [Smithsonian] —Anna Spiegel


Culinary Pop Culture

In case you didn’t manage past the Soon-Yi-gives-me-hickeys part of
Woody Allen’s essay on hypochondria, he goes on to talk diet: “I never smoke and I watch what I
eat, carefully avoiding any foods that give pleasure. (Basically, I adhere to the
Mediterranean diet of olive oil, nuts, figs, and goat cheese, and except for the occasional
impulse to become a rug salesman, it works.)” [NYT] —Ann Limpert

As a onetime London Pret A Manger consumer and daily Pret-goer in the District (convenience
rules that choice—there is a location below our office), I totally agree: “Why Does
Pret A Manger Think Americans Are Stupid?” [The Awl] —AS

There’s a new Girl Scout cookie flavor: Mango Creme. And it’s “healthy,” or something.
[Philly Mag] —SG

“Kardashian’s Debut Book Tackles Serious Food Issues.” If, like me, you read this
headline and assumed Kourtney might be boasting about her post-baby weight loss again,
you were wrong. Instead it’s some guy named Kirk Kardashian discussing federal milk
subsidies. I’m sure
US Weekly will love it anyway. [Forbes] —SG

It was only a matter of time. Behold the Chicago breakfast sandwich named for
Parks and Rec cholesterol fiend
Ron Swanson—with four kinds of meat, two kinds of cheese, and eggs two ways. [Buzzfeed] —AL

Amid the proliferation of
Girls-inspired articles about twentysomethings is this fascinating look at how young foodies
dine out despite small salaries. [NYT] —JV

Because it’s Thursday (and because this arrived too late for Eating & Reading last
week): Will Ferrell and Ryan Gosling are “knife guys.” [HuffPo] —AS


That’s Just Gross

Calamari lovers, be careful. A segment in
This American Life’s recent “Dopplegangers” episode may well bungle that affection. [HuffPo] —JV

Need more thinspiration for 2013? HuffPo rounds up the worst fast food meals in America.
Yes, we’ve seen this list before, and yes, it’s still disgusting. [HuffPo] —SG

Try This at Home

If someone around you is on the Mucinex and chicken broth diet, these flu-soothing
recipes— bourbon-spiked lemon-orange-ginger sorbet, a Korean beef-noodle soup recipe
from Restaurant Eve’s
Cathal Armstrong—might make it suck for them a little less. [Bon Appétit] —AL

The Super Bowl is right around the corner—what to make to celebrate this dippy but
de-facto national holiday? Two words: tamale pie. [Esquire] —TK


Meaty Matters

Whither the New York City steakhouse? [NYT] —TK

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.