Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com/media/feedlogo.gif Slashfood http://www.slashfood.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Spice Identification Quizhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/05/06/spice-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/05/06/spice-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/05/06/spice-identification-quiz/#commentsFiled under: ,


(Photo: Rachel Been, AOL)

Frankly, it kills us that we can't present this in Smell-o-vision, but see if you can cut the mustard seed on AOL Food's spice photo ID quiz.

Spice ID Quiz
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-05-06T14:01:00+00:00Snack Cake Identification Quizhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/29/snack-cake-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/29/snack-cake-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/29/snack-cake-identification-quiz/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Think you can tell a Yodel from a Ho Ho from a Swiss Roll by sight alone? If so, you're a savvier snacker than we are. Take the quiz, then come back to brag (or sulk) in the comments.

Snack Cake Photo ID Quiz
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]]>quizsnack cakeSnackCakeKat Kinsman2008-04-29T13:30:00+00:00Potato Chip Taste Test - Plainhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/potato-chip-taste-test-plain/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/potato-chip-taste-test-plain/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/potato-chip-taste-test-plain/#commentsFiled under: , ,


When we set out to find the best of the bunch, we don't go spuddin' around. With the help of Anchor's Chip of the Month, AOL Food's panel munched, crunched, nibbled and gobbled our way through nearly 5 dozen kinds of plain potato chips in search of the tip top chip in all the land. See if you agree with our findings, or if we totally skipped over your favorite tater.

(Note to folks who are writing in saying they can't find the winner -- just use the arrows to navigate through the gallery. The results are ranked down from 15-1. And we hear ya! Cape Cod will definitely be in the next batch of reviews.)

The flavored chip tasting will follow in a few weeks, after our sodium levels normalize.

Read the Plain Potato Chip Taste Test

Buy 'Em at Anchor's Chip of the Month

Continue reading Potato Chip Taste Test - Plain

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]]>chipspotato chipsPotatoChipsKat Kinsman2008-04-27T13:30:00+00:00Munchos -- That '70s chiphttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/munchos-that-70s-chip/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/munchos-that-70s-chip/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/27/munchos-that-70s-chip/#commentsFiled under: , ,

I don't have much of a relationship with potato chips these days. I consider them a guilty treat, to be eaten at parties but never at home. It's like having soda in the house -- if I buy it, they will eat it. And if they eat it, chips, I mean, they'll be hooked, and I'll never hear the end of it. The best I can offer my kids is the occasional package of tortilla chips, something to dredge up the salsa with.

Ah, but I have a past. And my past is filled with processed foods of the sort that I'd never let my kids near, lest they come to understand the dark pleasures of Hostess products.

My parents had no such compunction with me. I grew up on Wonder Bread and TV dinners and Uncle Ben's Converted Rice. I ate a Hostess Fruit Pie almost every day. But among my most treasured taste memories: Munchos brand potato chips.

Continue reading Munchos -- That '70s chip

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]]>chipsfood memoriesFoodMemoriesMunchospotato chipsPotatoChipssnacksJulie Tilsner2008-04-27T13:04:00+00:00Fresh Herb ID Quizhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/22/fresh-herb-id-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/22/fresh-herb-id-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/22/fresh-herb-id-quiz/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Know your fennel from your fenugreek and your basil from your borage? Take AOL Food's zestiest quiz yet -- and then come back and compare your score.

Fresh Herb ID Quiz

And meet our friend the Wild Edibles Forager.
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]]>herbsquizspicesKat Kinsman2008-04-22T13:00:00+00:00The Taste of Sweethttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/13/the-taste-of-sweet/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/13/the-taste-of-sweet/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/13/the-taste-of-sweet/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Journalist Joanne Chen, an unabashed, lifelong lover of sweets, had a hard time understanding why that's not the universal reaction. In The Taste of Sweet, she examines the physical, psychological and historical relationship between sweet flavors and humans, and discovers some pretty extraordinary things about our tongues, brains, societal perceptions, and why some folks will always have room for dessert.


Read her 10 Surprising Facts About Our Relationship with Sweets, take her Are You A Supertaster Quiz and come back here to share your scores and pose your questions to Joanne Chen in the comments thread. She'll answer them in an upcoming blog post. How sweet is that?


Buy The Taste Of Sweet


And for those who would enjoy further insight into the questions/results of the Are You A Supertaster?, quiz, the author offers the following, "Researchers have detected a link between overweight subjects and non-tasting tendencies. Severe ear infections may also cause less intense taste experiences.

Of course, biology isn't destiny, and much of what we eat results from culture and learning. So while the quiz offers a good idea of your taste profile, sensory specialists can provide a better assessment by running taste tests, analyzing your tongue, and counting your taste buds."
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-04-13T14:00:00+00:00Grocery Savings Strategieshttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/07/grocery-savings-strategies/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/07/grocery-savings-strategies/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/04/07/grocery-savings-strategies/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

store brandSome years back, a friend took it upon herself to tell me she thought I'd make an awful mother. I'm sure there was an itemized register tape of reasons why that might have been so at the time, but the one she cited simply floored me -- I bought store brand groceries. It wasn't even that the items were necessarily of inferior quality (though she hastened to add that she wouldn't really know, having never tried them herself), but rather that it made me "look poor" and that my hypothetical children would be taunted for that.

Continue reading Grocery Savings Strategies

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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-04-07T12:24:00+00:00Pasta Shape Identification Quizhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/30/pasta-shape-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/30/pasta-shape-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/30/pasta-shape-identification-quiz/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Know your fusilli from your farfalle? Campanelle from cavatelli? Put your pasta savvy to the test with this photo ID quiz, then come back and share your score.

AOL Food: Pasta Shape Identification Quiz

Continue reading Pasta Shape Identification Quiz

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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-03-30T15:07:00+00:00Fortune Cookie Questionshttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/24/fortune-cookie-questions/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/24/fortune-cookie-questions/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/24/fortune-cookie-questions/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee traveled the world to crack the case of the fortune cookie's cryptic origins, hunt for the infamous General Tso, and track chop suey back to its creator. Turned out, many of the answers were closer to home than she'd ever imagined.

The author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food served up her favorite Chinese food facts, myths and mysteries to AOL Food, and now she's ready for your red-hot questions. Submit them in the comments by 10 p.m. on Monday, March 31st, and Jennifer 8. Lee will answer them soon in a follow-up post.

AOL Food: Chinese Food Myths Busted
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-03-24T16:00:00+00:00Frozen Pizza Taste Testhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/12/frozen-pizza-taste-test/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/12/frozen-pizza-taste-test/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/12/frozen-pizza-taste-test/#commentsFiled under: ,



Sit down with a few dozen freshly-baked pies, and you quickly get a sense of what makes a great frozen pizza vs what's just mushy stuff on bread. A panel of intrepid tasters chomped their way through the excellent, the average, and the downright nauseating, assessing crust, sauce, cheese, toppings and overall appeal in search of the best frozen pizza in all the land. Our findings are divvied into cheese pizzas, topped and specialty pies, ranked from worst to best in every category. Did your favorite make it into the upper crust? Read on.

(Note - in response to some of the comments - none of the pizzas were burnt. We just all happen to like the edges of our cheese a little bit browned. Why didn't we use a pizza stone/pizza oven? Simple -- the vast majority of people cooking pizza at home are going to just use a rack or cookie sheet in their oven, and we wanted to approximate the results. And why didn't we include some brands? Our standard rule of thumb is that if we can't easily find it in our local supermarket, we're not going to include it. We don't want to frustrate all the folks who won't be able to get it in their part of the country.

But that's where the blog comments come in. We may not have access to all these pies, but we love finding out what you all are thinking, and we take your suggestions to heart. Stay tuned, 'cause we'll probably do a Part II within the next couple of months.)

Get the Results of the Frozen Pizza Taste Test

Continue reading Frozen Pizza Taste Test

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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-03-12T11:02:00+00:00Candy Bar Identification Quizhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/03/candy-bar-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/03/candy-bar-identification-quiz/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/03/03/candy-bar-identification-quiz/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Think you can tell a Skor from a Heath or a Snickers from a Baby Ruth just by looking at a cross-section? It's harder than you'd think.


Candy Bar Identification Quiz

Photographer Rachel Been was so inspired by working on the shoot, she's started a photo blog at cross-sectioning.blogspot.com.
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]]>featuredKat Kinsman2008-03-03T13:30:00+00:00Multi-Tasking Food Tipshttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/22/multi-tasking-food-tips/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/22/multi-tasking-food-tips/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/22/multi-tasking-food-tips/#commentsFiled under:



A few weeks back, AOL Food rifled through cabinets and plundered the fridge to find edible multi-taskers like peanut butter (it'll get gum out of the carpet) and cornstarch (makes messy sneaker lace knots manageable) for our Weird Household Uses for Food Gallery. We asked readers to share their best tips in the accompanying blog thread, and were so thrilled by the response that we've posted a follow-up gallery to highlight some of our favorites. (Seriously -- who knew mayonnaise could do all that?) Flip through it to find some innovative ways to save cash, sanity, and your brand-new carpet.


Got a red-hot hint of your own? Share it in the comments below.


Read: Household Food Tips From Our Readers

Read: Weird Household Uses for Food
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-22T14:01:00+00:00Today's Fish Taleshttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/19/todays-sticky-situations/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/19/todays-sticky-situations/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/19/todays-sticky-situations/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



It would seem that escolar (a.k.a butterfish) has been causing more than a few WOW moments for under-informed consumers. That'd be "WOW" as in the much-maligned Olestra-rich, trouser-soiling chips of some years back.

RADAR: Bottom Feeder - The popular fish that might ruin your evening-and your clothes


And that's not the only fish tale we've caught today. Chat abound about Food Network's Robert Irvine having made a few Beluga-sized exaggerations 'bout his credentials.

St. Petersburg Times: TV chef spiced up his past exploits - Robert Irvine plans to bring fine dining to St. Petersburg, but his tales have soured relationships.
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-19T16:02:00+00:00Bleeding Heart Cupcakes for Valentine's Dayhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/14/bleeding-heart-cupcakes-for-valentines-day/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/14/bleeding-heart-cupcakes-for-valentines-day/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/14/bleeding-heart-cupcakes-for-valentines-day/#commentsFiled under: ,


cupcakeFrom Yumsugar:

"If you think cutesy pink Valentine cupcakes are too sentimental and passé then wait until you check out these Bleeding Heart cupcakes. Instead of being cutesy hearts, they're almost gruesome, and the best part is that they actually bleed jam!"


Cupcake of the Week: Your Own Bloody Valentine



We tried 24 heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, and lived to tell the tale. Learn from our pain at the Best Boxed Chocolate Taste Test.
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]]>holidashKat Kinsman2008-02-14T12:16:00+00:0010 Easy Dishes To Impress Your Lady In The Kitchenhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/10-easy-dishes-to-impress-your-lady-in-the-kitchen/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/10-easy-dishes-to-impress-your-lady-in-the-kitchen/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/10-easy-dishes-to-impress-your-lady-in-the-kitchen/#commentsFiled under: ,



From our brother blog Asylum.com:

10 Easy Dishes To Impress Your Lady In The Kitchen


We tried 24 heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, and lived to tell the tale. Learn from our pain at the Best Boxed Chocolate Taste Test.
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]]>holidashKat Kinsman2008-02-13T19:25:00+00:00Des Moines' Blue Ribbon Bacon Festivalhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/blue-ribbon-bacon-festival/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/blue-ribbon-bacon-festival/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/blue-ribbon-bacon-festival/#commentsFiled under: ,



"When Brooks Reynolds was asked the question Des Moines always asks itself - "What does Des Moines need?" - this is what he said:

"A festival for bacon."

Thus, the High Life Lounge will hold its first Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival March 1, National Pig Day, attracting bacon lovers from California and Arizona along with a Pittsburgh bacon blogger."


READ: Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival


AOL Food's Top 11 Bacon Fantasies


 To receive the most sizzling bacon updates right off the grill, subscribe to our bacon-centric RSS feed: http://www.slashfood.com/category/bacon/rss.xml
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-13T18:45:00+00:00Valentine's Day Online Foodie Cardshttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/valentines-day-online-foodie-cards/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/valentines-day-online-foodie-cards/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/13/valentines-day-online-foodie-cards/#commentsFiled under: ,




Send your friend or sweetie a zero-calorie, personalized heart-shaped virtual chocolate box.

http://candybox.tma-walmart.com/

Cryptogram's customizable online candy heart maker has both sweet and Goth modes.

http://cryptogram.com/hearts/

Acme has a low-tech, but super-cute candy heart generator as well.

http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/


We tried 24 heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, and lived to tell the tale. Learn from our pain at the Best Boxed Chocolate Taste Test.
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]]>holidashKat Kinsman2008-02-13T14:25:00+00:00Cookin' With Cooliohttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/12/cookin-with-coolio/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/12/cookin-with-coolio/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/12/cookin-with-coolio/#commentsFiled under:


Coolio makes a Caprese Salad

"The ghetto witchdoctor superstar chef is here to make you forget about every cooking show you've ever heard. Get your tomatoes, your mozzarella, a little balsamic, and get your a** into that kitchen, baby."

VIA: My D*mn Channel

(Warning - the language is not for the easily offended, and it's NSFW)
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-12T15:19:00+00:00Peanut Butter Taste Testhttp://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/08/whole-foods-peanut-butter-grinding/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/08/whole-foods-peanut-butter-grinding/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/08/whole-foods-peanut-butter-grinding/#commentsFiled under:



Have you dug our Peanut Butter Taste Test yet? Let us know if we properly summed up your favorite PB, or if we missed the one you most love to munch.

(UPDATE: Folks are writing in to ask why we didn't include Laura Scudder's or Adams Peanut Butter. Simple -- if we couldn't find it right on the shelves of our local grocery stores, we didn't buy it, figuring that we didn't want to present our readers with the frustration of not being able to find it. But -- if someone wants to send us some, you bet we'll try it!)
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-08T03:38:00+00:00Le Cochon Danseur (the Dancing Pig)http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/06/le-cochon-danseur-the-dancing-pig/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/06/le-cochon-danseur-the-dancing-pig/http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/06/le-cochon-danseur-the-dancing-pig/#commentsFiled under: ,


AOL Food's Top 11 Bacon Fantasies


 To receive the most sizzling bacon updates right off the grill, subscribe to our bacon-centric RSS feed: http://www.slashfood.com/category/bacon/rss.xml
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]]>Kat Kinsman2008-02-06T16:33:00+00:00