Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com/media/feed_logo.gif Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Pizza Hut Stackinghttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/02/pizza-hut-stacking/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/02/pizza-hut-stacking/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/02/pizza-hut-stacking/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In Taiwan, the patrons at Pizza Hut can only make one trip to the salad bar. This, my friend, is a challenge to any individual seeking to maximize their buffet experience. The patrons have become experts at stacking salad items, using cucumbers and carrots that would put any architect to shame. The real question is: do they really eat all of that?

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]]>absurdbuffetpizza hutPizzaHutsaladstackingJames YuThu, 02 Mar 2006 17:41:00 ESTThe CookbookWiki: All the world's cuisineshttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/17/the-cookbookwiki-all-the-worlds-cuisines/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/17/the-cookbookwiki-all-the-worlds-cuisines/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/17/the-cookbookwiki-all-the-worlds-cuisines/#commentsFiled under:

CookbookWikiThe internet is chock full of recipe sites ranging from the good to the bad. Usually, when I'm researching a recipe, I use a combination of Google and my favorite recipe aggregation sites. The CookbookWiki aims to collect all the world's culinary traditions and recipes into one wiki site. Wikipedia already does a good job of covering food, but perhaps with CookbookWiki's tight focus, it can be an even more invaluable resource for chefs and amateur cooks alike. They already have an aggressive development plan for the content. What do you think about this resource?

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]]>collaborativecommunitycookbookcultureknowledgeonlinerecipesresourcesocialtraditionwikiJames YuFri, 17 Feb 2006 14:55:00 ESTFood bookmarks, Web 2.0 stylehttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/02/food-bookmarks-web-2-0-style/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/02/food-bookmarks-web-2-0-style/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/02/02/food-bookmarks-web-2-0-style/#commentsFiled under: ,

Dine 52Continuing the trend on Web 2.0 applications, dine52.com is yet another del.icio.us clone, but this time, with a food oriented theme (which actually makes more sense with a name like del.icio.us, but, I digress). It looks like the service just started recently, so there aren't a massive number of bookmarks yet. But, there were a few interesting items that might warrant a quick look. With these social bookmarking apps, the more people use them, the more useful they will be.

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]]>2.0bookmarksdeliciousfood relatedweb 2.0James YuThu, 02 Feb 2006 17:11:00 ESTHaggis Blacklistedhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/26/haggis-blacklisted/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/26/haggis-blacklisted/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/26/haggis-blacklisted/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Haggis, the infamous Scottish dish consisting of sheep lungs, livers, heart, oatmeal, onions, and various other spices, has been put on the list of restricted foods for children in the UK. Many traditionalists are angered by this, saying that good quality haggis is made out of wholesome ingredients. Officials say they have restricted it due to its high saturated fat and salt content.

Haggis is still something I have yet to try. Yes, we all know that it is typically the butt of all jokes here in the US. But, after watching Tony Bourdain tuck into a large one on TV, I've actually been intrigued enough to maybe try it, when I get the chance.

On a side note, officials have suggested reducing the fat and salt content. But, what would haggis really be without these? I'm sure that many of its positive aspects have to come from its rich texture.

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]]>childrenfathaggismeatrestrictedsaturatedscottishtraditionalJames YuThu, 26 Jan 2006 06:41:00 ESTFood Porn: An Urban Fried Chickenhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/25/food-porn-an-urban-fried-chicken/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/25/food-porn-an-urban-fried-chicken/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/25/food-porn-an-urban-fried-chicken/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Having spent a good part of my teenage life in the heartland of America, I know a good fried chicken when I eat one. Over the past weekend, I decided to make a stop at San Francisco's Blue Jay Cafe, one of those joints that tries to bring the comforting tastes of the South to the West Coast urban life. The decor of the place is simply amazing, and brings to mind a coming together of indie, vintage, and western.

After a quick sit at the bar, we were presented with the menus. But, I knew what I wanted--fried chicken, no questions about it. Here, they serve it up with a side of macaroni and cheese and a homemade biscuit. I immediately fell in love with their biscuit, which was crusty and moist. I'm salivating about it right now as I'm writing. The mac 'n cheese was serviceable. But the chicken--oh, the chicken. Their chicken reminded me of why I like fried chicken in the first place. The delicate breading on the outside meets with the lusciously tender and flavorful chicken on the inside. The two are a match made in heaven.

As I finished my last bite of the finger licking good chicken, I vowed to return once again to this southern oasis in San Francisco. They've convinced me that I don't ever really need to leave the tastes of the south behind.

Blue Jay Cafe
919 Divisadero Street
San Francisco, CA 94115

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]]>cheesechickencomfortfoodfriedmacsouthernJames YuWed, 25 Jan 2006 22:31:00 ESTThe hidden dim sum gem in San Franciscohttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/the-hidden-dim-sum-gem-in-sf/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/the-hidden-dim-sum-gem-in-sf/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/the-hidden-dim-sum-gem-in-sf/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The Hang Ah Tea Room in San Francisco Chinatown is one of those hidden gems has been serving up great food for over 80 years. Located on an obscure side street, its one of the coziest dim sum joints in SF. Some of my friends were in town for the weekend, and I was just dying to try this place.

My only complaint about the service is the lack of carts. The quintessential dim sum meal will include the hustle and bustle of a multitude of carts carrying bounties of bites to eat. At Hang Ah, you have to order off the menu. But, I overlooked this after I had a chance to taste the food. The dim sum at Hang Ah is among the best I have had. The fillingsare flavorful and very fresh, and the dumplings are nice and crispy on the outside. The char siu baos are extremely big, and filled with a glisteningly delicious pork filling.

In addition, they have bunny-shaped shrimp dumplings (pictured above), which are very amusing.

1 Pagoda Pl, off Sacramento St. between Stockton and Grant Sts.
San Francisco, CA

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]]>bunngchinesedimdim sumdumplingssan franciscosumJames YuTue, 24 Jan 2006 08:56:00 ESTAutotrophs: Fact or Fiction?http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/autotrophs-fact-or-fiction/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/autotrophs-fact-or-fiction/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/24/autotrophs-fact-or-fiction/#commentsFiled under: , ,

There was an interview conducted recently with a self proclaimed autotroph. In the context of plants, an autotroph is an organism that gets its energy from the sun--basically, a producer with respect to other organisms that eat the produce from the earth itself. However, in the context of humans, its a person that lives without eating food or drinking water. There have been records of fasts that last hundreds of days, but this particular women who was interviewed claimed she had not eaten or drank anything in the past four years.

She claimed her weight started out at about 90 kilos, which is now down to 74 kilos. Also, she says her lungs have adapted to getting water from the atmosphere. Besides brushing her teeth and taking showers, she gets no other water intake.

I can maybe (just maybe) believe the lack of food intake. But no water for four years? This has to be a hoax. Right?

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]]>autotrophsfastmythnot eatingJames YuTue, 24 Jan 2006 07:50:00 ESTPodGourmethttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/23/podgourmet/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/23/podgourmet/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/23/podgourmet/#commentsFiled under: , ,

If you're one of those people who always has an iPod on hand, and, you cook a lot, you should take a look at PodGourmet. It's basically 250 recipes that you can load up on your iPod. You can then view your recipes without all those pesky printouts. Just make sure not to splash oil on your iPod.

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]]>digitalgeekyipodportablerecipestechJames YuMon, 23 Jan 2006 22:43:00 ESTPyramidal Watermelons: Why?http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/21/pyramidal-watermelons-why/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/21/pyramidal-watermelons-why/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/21/pyramidal-watermelons-why/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The Japanese have had square watermelons for a while. Due to lack of space, the most pragmatic thing to do to a watermelon is, well, to square it. These edgy melons come at a price of $82 each. I'm not sure on what occasion I would buy a watermelon if it were that expensive, but it sure wouldn't be for a quick snack!

Now, the Japanese have innovated again with pyramid-shaped watermelons. I'm a little confused about the practical applications of this--perhaps one could stack more watermelons in a given space by interleaving them.

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]]>japaneseoddpyramidshapespacesquarewatermelonJames YuSat, 21 Jan 2006 14:33:00 ESTOutrageous Taco Shorthttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/19/outrageous-taco-short/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/19/outrageous-taco-short/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/19/outrageous-taco-short/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In America, bigger is always seen as better. This is perfectly exemplified by the food industry, where simply getting a taco at an establishment might mean loosening your belt buckle a few notches. It always seems like fast food enterprises are trying to outdo each other--either through quantity or eye candy. I found a very hilarious short video that truly exemplifies the banal side of restaurant portions. I really couldn't stop laughing at this one.

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]]>commercialfast foodhumorlargeoutrageousportiontacovideoJames YuThu, 19 Jan 2006 13:38:00 ESTFood Porn: Swordfish at the Wynnhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/17/swordfish-at-the-wynn/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/17/swordfish-at-the-wynn/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/17/swordfish-at-the-wynn/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Last week I had the pleasure of trying out the buffet at the Wynn in the Las Vegas. The buffet is one of the newest on the block, and is a pretty swank environment. The $20 for the lunch service was well worth it. As far as buffets go, the food was top notch--including some of my favorite entrees: poke, sushi, smoked salmon, barbeque chicken, and swordfish. In the dessert section was gelato, mousse, and decadent brownies. There were so many more choices that I didn't even get to try all of them.

The top left item in the picture was the swordfish. And oh, what a piece of heaven this was. It was so tender and flavorful that I couldn't believe my mouth. This, in fact, was one of the best pieces of swordfish I had ever had--and its at a buffet! At that point I disregarded the mercury warnings and got myself a second helping.

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]]>buffettfishlas vegasswordfishvarietywynnJames YuTue, 17 Jan 2006 12:38:00 ESTSmart RFID Panshttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/13/smart-rfid-pans/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/13/smart-rfid-pans/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/13/smart-rfid-pans/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A Japanese company called VitaCraft has come out with a pan that communicates with the stove top using RFID. Simply place your recipe card under the reader, and the pan will monitor and adjust the heat on the pan according to the recipe. This is a really neat idea, but the problem is that there's simply more to recipes than heat regulation. There are just too many variables to regulate when cooking, which is probably why it's so difficult to make a robot to cook without supervision.

Another potential problem with the RFID pan is that someone could hack it to burn your shrimp. Think about it--just go around the city with a powerful RFID transmitter and burn everyone's meal!

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]]>panproductrfidsmarttechnologyJames YuFri, 13 Jan 2006 17:33:00 ESTA list of food changes in the coming yearhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/list-of-food-changes-in-the-coming-year/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/list-of-food-changes-in-the-coming-year/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/list-of-food-changes-in-the-coming-year/#commentsFiled under: , ,

The Seattle Times has a listing of the major changes we'll be seeing in the food industry during the coming year. The biggest changes will be in food labeling. Stricter regulations will require clear and understandable labels and ingredient lists. This means that we'll no longer see ambiguous phrases like "artificial flavors." Also, labels will be more clear as to which food groups and allergens it contains. I, for one, see these changes as a step in the right direction. As consumers, it's very important that we know what is going into our mouths. If there's casein in my "non-dairy" Cool Whip, I would like to know that casein is actually a milk product (it's derived from milk using rennin).

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]]>2006changesconsumersfood fadsFoodFadsnewJames YuThu, 12 Jan 2006 11:39:00 ESTAmazon's Bolognahttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/amazon-sells-bologna/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/amazon-sells-bologna/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/12/amazon-sells-bologna/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Amazon is now selling gourmet foods--a great idea, I might add. Soon, we'll be able to get everything off of Amazon. But, I was suprised to find out that they also sell bologna. Yes, you got that right: you can now get all your bologna fixes straight from the internet at Amazon. The comments are also quite amusing. And really, do they really need to rate this? It's bologna!

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]]>amazonbolognacommentsfunnyJames YuThu, 12 Jan 2006 10:40:00 ESTComing soon to your supermarket: GM salmonhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/11/coming-soon-gm-salmon/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/11/coming-soon-gm-salmon/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/11/coming-soon-gm-salmon/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The FDA is getting ready to approve a new genetically modified salmon which grows twice as fast as normal farm-raised salmon. The trick is altering a gene that controls the production of growth hormones. The company behind the technology is Aqua Bounty, and they say that the modification of the growth hormone does not affect taste or raise any health concerns. What do you think? Are you ready for super big GM salmon on your shelves?

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]]>alteringclonednageneticsgmGMOgrowthsalmonJames YuWed, 11 Jan 2006 15:36:00 ESTCan Construction = Canstructionhttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/10/canconstruction-canstruction/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/10/canconstruction-canstruction/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/10/canconstruction-canstruction/#commentsFiled under:

Canstruction is charity that invites designers to create works of art using--you guessed it--cans. The creations range from giant hotdogs to castles to Snoopy. Some of these constructions look truly amazing, and not to mention highly unstable (my personal favorite is the shark jumping out of the water). All the cans are donated to food banks in New York.

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]]>architectsarchitecturecanscharitydesigndrivefoodfood driveJames YuTue, 10 Jan 2006 12:24:00 ESTDo you commit food fraud?http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/doyoucommit-food-fraud/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/doyoucommit-food-fraud/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/doyoucommit-food-fraud/#commentsFiled under:

The Independent has an article about people committing food fraud--making meals using ready-made packages and passing it off as their own creation. They say that 40% of young women have done this, as compared to only 22% of young men. The survey strikes a chord with the older generations--are the younger generations simply incompetent in life skills? Should home economics be reinstated to teach these essentials?

I don't know anyone who has ever tried to commit food fraud--in fact, I feel that cooking is actually making a comeback amongst the young people in the US. But perhaps I'm hanging out with a skewed crowd. What do you think? Is the next generation simply an instant meal kind of crowd?

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]]>food fraudFoodFraudfraudinstantready madestatisticsyounger generationYoungerGenerationJames YuMon, 09 Jan 2006 15:33:00 ESTIntelligent Ovens at CES 2006http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/intelligentovens-ces-2006/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/intelligentovens-ces-2006/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/intelligentovens-ces-2006/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

It's been a busy past four days as I perused about a million technologies at the CES conference. Sadly, there weren't too many food-related items. However, Microsoft had set up a portable home at the conference showing off their networked and smart appliances. I was hoping to see their smart countertop technology, but, alas, they were more focused on the big plasma displays and their media center products.

One appliance that caught my eye was their intelligent oven that can be programmed to cook at a certain time over the internet. So, I suppose you could put in your roast and leave to go somewhere, and then suddenly remember you had a roast in the oven, but forgot to turn on the oven. Then, you could simply use your PDA to turn on the oven. Practical? Perhaps not. But this oven can also act as a refrigerator after it cooks. Therefore, you could simply leave that pork roast in the oven instead of taking up room in the fridge.

As always, the idea of intelligent products might theoretically be a good one, but I don't think it's mature enough to really be that useful for the average consumer. Who needs a blender that connects to the internet to get drink recipes? I'm sure we all already know how to make our own favorite drinks.

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]]>2006cesintelligentovenproductssmartsmart productsJames YuMon, 09 Jan 2006 14:37:00 ESTWeird food shaped USB driveshttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/weirdfood-shaped-usb-drives/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/weirdfood-shaped-usb-drives/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/09/weirdfood-shaped-usb-drives/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Fosfor gadgets has the top 10 weirdest USB drives, which include many food shaped entries. From sushi to shu mai dim sum to shrimp, you'll be able to express your favorite foods--USB style. A lot of this reminds me of the plastic food items usually seen on the window displays of Japanese restaurants. So plastic-y, yet so tasty. Mmm.

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]]>drivesfoodplasticshapedsushiusbweirdJames YuMon, 09 Jan 2006 12:34:00 ESTThe glowing onion, thanks to jellyfish geneticshttp://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/03/the-glowing-onion-thanks-to-jellyfish-genetics/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/03/the-glowing-onion-thanks-to-jellyfish-genetics/http://www.slashfood.com/2006/01/03/the-glowing-onion-thanks-to-jellyfish-genetics/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Sir John Krebs, a professor and major proponent of genetically modified foods, has made onions shine by modifying it with jellyfish genes. This was shown during a series of lectures that aims to show that genetically modified (GM) foods can be a powerful tool against food shortages among people in places of high population growth.

I wonder why they didn't go for a more subtle showing of the benefits of GM foods. Making an onion glow is probably going to enrage the anti-GM food activists, not persuade them to adopt it.

[Photo Eddie Mulholland]

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]]>genetically modifiedgenetically modified foodsGeneticallyModifiedFoodsglowingonionJames YuTue, 03 Jan 2006 16:25:00 EST