The nation's only Giant Omelette Celebration will mark its 25th anniversary this weekend by adding one more egg to its 12-foot skillet.
The town of Abbeville, La., in 1984, joined the confederation of seven cities from Argentina to Belgium that annually commemorates Napoleon's order for a tiny town in southern France to produce an army-sized omelette. Bessieres upheld the tradition long after Napoleon's troops had gone, cooking oversized omelettes at Easter to feed the poor. The practice has thrived in places where locals fret about losing touch with their Francophone heritage.
But that doesn't mean the Abbeville cooks are entirely faithful to the recipe favored by Monsieur Bonaparte: Festival president Gordy Landry reports, "we add a Cajun flair."
"Most of the other giant omelettes are a little bit plainer and not quite so tasty," he continues. "In France, they just stick to the eggs. In Canada, they add some ham. But the only place that puts crawfish in is us."
Citing researched compiled by Mindset Media -- a "market researcher specializing in psychographics" -- the article discusses how the beer a person drinks can be a strong indicator of his or her personality. For instance, Bud drinkers are "sensible, grounded and practical," Bud Light drinkers can have "frat boy-like personalities," and Michelob Ultra drinkers "think highly of themselves and can be a little bit conceited."
The concept is interesting, but why spend all that money on "research"? Most people could come up with those same assumptions on their own. In fact, the list can be extrapolated even further... massive research grant hopefully forthcoming.
Pabst Blue Ribbon drinkers consider playing bass in a punk band "gainful employment" and have handlebar mustaches.
Miller Lite drinkers consider the consumption of 20 beers "moderate drinking" and include beer bongs on their list of "proper glassware."
Sam Adams drinkers love wearing the same Red Sox hat for their entire adult life and believe there's nothing wrong with hitting on someone else's girlfriend.
Guinness drinkers think the best football team is Manchester United and consider a fist fight a "night out on the town."
Busch drinkers think the best bar in America is their porch and consider a proper food and beer pairing to be "a pounder and a bag of Hardee's."
And snobby craft beers drinkers tend to be people like beer writers who think they have a right to make fun of others!
What other beers bring to mind distinct personality types? And what does your favorite beer say about you? Let us know in the comments!
Julia Child certainly could make a mean boeuf bourguignon, but did you know she could also whip up the building blocks of life?
It's kind of scary watching her describe scientific diagrams using her chef's knife as a pointer. But it's helpful for all us home cooks that she converts grams into teaspoons. Bon appetit!
Seared scallops, salad and rib-eye are the way to go at the newly revamped Simms Steakhouse.
The Colorado Beer Festival descends on Colorado Springs this Saturday, and offers more than 70 beers to sample, as well as a designated-driver program.
Dublin-made cream liqueur Coole Swan, which gets its name from Yeats' poem "The Wild Swans of Coole," is finally for sale in Colorado, and one food writer -- who claims it's the finest cream liqueur he's ever tasted -- couldn't be happier.
A "gastropub" opens in Cherry Creek, inspiring food critic Tucker Shaw to explore the etymology of the word.
Kraft Foods Australia launched a new Vegemite product earlier this year, asking aficionados to name the jars of Vegemite mixed with cream cheese. When the name -- Vegemite iSnack 2.0 -- was announced in September, Vegemite protests erupted on the Internet where fans blasted the name as "uStupid 1.0" and "un-Australian," the New York Times reports.
Four days later, Kraft announced it would hold another vote from a pool of more conservative choices including Vegemate, Snackmate and Vegemild. Vegemite Cheesybite was chosen through online and telephone voting. This is a very important issue if you're a fan of Vegemite, the "salty, gooey yeast paste" that Australians eat like Americans eat peanut butter, the Times reports.
Have we really gotten so far into the current season of "Top Chef" that Bravo feels the need to start dragging out the suspense -- namely, when will Robin be eliminated -- with an arbitrary, 11-chef reunion special? In retrospect, we should have known that that Very Special Natalie Portman episode was preparing us for an agonizing, two-week hibernation. Wake us when it's sweeps week.
In actuality, "Top Chef All Stars" was less a "where are they now" gift to loyal fans than it was a five-season clip compilation for non-fans, reminding them that the current Vegas edition, entertaining as it is, can't hold a candle to the pissy dysfunction -- or bad hairstyles -- of seasons past.
Presided over by Season Five's grade-A diva Fabio, the evening mostly succeeded in being a mellow, low-tension meeting of 11 "fan favorite" cheftestants. And don't think they got a free trip to Los Angeles without having to cook, either, although at least this time they were granted a luxurious $500 budget at Whole Foods. Still, drama and revelations were in short supply, while the most prominent theme of the evening was -- newsflash -- Marcel is still a dick. (Although he and Ilan seem to be legitimately chummy nowadays.)
The Season Two pipsqueak with the loud mouth and Robert Pattinson-on-steroids hair dominated this so-called reunion, both in present tense and in lovingly edited montages. You want a replay of Marcel talking over the judges during his critique? You got it. Care to revisit the unsuccessful attempt by his housemates to pin him down and shave off his downy brown locks? We don't, if only because it didn't produce the desired result: Marcel crying like a bald-headed baby.
Now that we've learned how to peel ginger with ease, this ginger juice recipe seems less daunting, especially with its powerful health benefits. Prized for its piquant flavor, ginger is a medicinal treat in addition to being a tasty one -- to list just a few of its talents, it treats stomachaches and indigestion, reduces toxicity and aids mild lung disorders.
Kickstart your day -- and immune system -- with a shot of the stuff by passing diced and peeled pieces of the root through a juicer. If deemed too spicy for more sensitive palates, mix the juice with water, other juices or sweeteners like lemon, sugar or agave.
Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.
Look out Two-Buck Chuck. The home of the Slurpee and the Big Gulp is launching a line of value-priced wines targeting consumers looking for a boozy bargain during these tough economic times.
7-Eleven plans to sell a $3.99 Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay under the proprietary "Yosemite Road" label at its stores in the United States and Japan.
"The consumer is really pinched as far as discretionary income," Kevin Elliott, senior vice president of merchandising and logistics of Dallas-based 7-Eleven, Inc., told the Associated Press. "We're seeing a lot of success in products that really resonate on a value basis."
During an economic recession, one of the first things to be downsized is company perks. At New Belgium Brewery, a craft brewer in Ft. Collins, Colo., one of the biggest perks is free beer. Employees used to be able to take home 24 bottles of beer every week, but in February take-home brew was reduced to a mere 12 bottles.
Not many employees are complaining. When keeping a job is probably today's biggest perk, losing a six-pack per week probably isn't such a bad deal. Melyssa Glassman, the company's creative director, says that the only downside to free beer was carrying it home on her bicycle during the summer.
New Belgium is the third largest craft brewer in the United States and has been hailed for its employee-friendly policies that include free beer, a new bicycle after one year of employment and an all-expense paid trip to Belgium (where the idea for the company was created.) The 320 employees own a 33-percent stake in the brewery, and while it's not mandatory, it helps if you like drinking beer. A lot.
The White House approached the Food Network about filming "Iron Chef America" at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as a way to reach those people who haven't heard yet about the first lady's efforts to curb childhood obesity through healthy eating and exercise, the New York Times reports.
Three years ago, the first kosher Subway restaurant opened in Cleveland -- and even company pitchman Jared Fogle showed-up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Since then, Subway has gone on a kosher franchise binge, opening nine restaurants (11 by the end of the year) in markets like Miami, Los Angeles and Brooklyn, N.Y. Now at least four of those franchises -- Los Angeles, Baltimore, Cleveland and Rockville, Md. -- are trying to convince local religious academies to bring the six-inch sub into school cafeterias.
So far it's been slow going. In Los Angeles, kosher Subway co-owner Jonathan Sedaghat is in negotiations with three area private schools to serve Subway sandwiches on a weekly basis for as many as 300 students. Most of his school business so far has come from Yeshivas ordering heroes for special occasions like field trips, sports events and orientations. The menu consists of turkey, roast beef, salami or bologna low-fat subs (290 calories, 30 calories from fat) with sliced apples and potato chips. The franchise charges between $5 and $7 a lunchbox, depending on the order.
Trevor Corson, the author of "The Story of Sushi," says to step away from the chopsticks -- the proper way to eat sushi is with your fingers.
Joaquin Baca of the Brooklyn Star only serves up food he likes to eat -- including the Americana classic green bean casserole, updated with homemade mushroom soup and onion rings.
White House chef Sam Kass stirs pots and policy. When he's not preparing meals for the first family, he gathers with senior policy advisers to figure out how to improve the health of the country's children.
First Lady Michelle Obama makes a cameo on the Jan. 3 episode of "Iron Chef America" to raise awareness for the Healthy Kids Initiative -- and revealing that the secret ingredient is anything from the White House garden.
From Momofuku to Marco Canora, the roundup of this season's best new cookbooks is sure to take readers on an "edible adventure."
Sam Sifton's latest reviews Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecôte, the Parisian import to Midtown that relies on "the simplicity of salad, steak and fries, heavy on the salt and butter, rich as a cardiologist," and waitresses in what resemble French maid outfits.
The Minimalist, Mark Bittman, takes meatball madness to the Middle East with lamb, cumin, mint and bulgur.
Nostalgic for wine from their Vienna upbringing, Carlo Huber and Paul Darcy made it their mission to bring Viennese wines and wine culture to the United States.
Saltie, a tiny sandwich shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, serves up sandwiches "the Earl would approve."
Years after the nation's last Kenny Rogers' Roasters served its final bird, country music stars are again making a play for their fans' food dollars.
Perhaps because so many of them hail from the South, where good cooking is considered sacred, country celebs have long been inordinately fond of the eponymous restaurant ventures. Once as critical to an Opry member's cred as a Nudie suit, signature restaurants have lately been on the wane, with once-proud institutions such as Twitty Burger and Minnie Pearl Fried Chicken going the way of the cassette tape. But a series of openings set for this fall suggests country musicians may still harbor culinary ambitions.
White-hatted crooner Alan Jackson doesn't have an endeavor of his own, but showed up this week at a Nashville area Cracker Barrel to introduce a new line of spices, clothing and home goods, including an Alan Jackson rocking chair. According to Jackson's spokeswoman Nicole Dona, the singer likes to take his daughters to the homestyle chain.
"The family will still stop now and then when they are on their way back from the lake," she writes in a e-mail to Slashfood. "He loves the breakfast and also the meatloaf sandwich."
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