"2006" news and stories

Looking for a fat free, zero calorie, no caffeine, vegetarian option for Thanksgiving? Continuing a three-year tradition, Jones Soda has just unveiled its new 2006 Holiday Pack, which is a complete holiday meal packaged neatly into five little bottles. The flavors include Turkey and Gravy soda, Sweet Potato Soda, Dinner Roll Soda and Pea Soda, as well as an Antacid Flavored Soda, a popular pre-dessert choice of many holiday diners. Jones Soda prides itself on producing accurate profiles of the flavors that it features on its drinks, so you can feel confident that your Turkey and Gravy soda will taste quite real -- as I learned last year, when I sampled a previous pack.

Like all of the prior releases of the holiday packs, sales of this particular limited edition item will go to benefit Toys for Tots. The company also has a dessert pack (possibly a nod to consumers who don't want turkey and gravy soda) on sale at Target that benefits St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

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It looks like Hershey's has just rolled out a new limited edition chocolate for the upcoming Christmas season. Before I took a good look at the package, I momentarily thought that the Candy Cane Mint Kisses might be tiny mints that were shaped like Kisses, but it turns out that they are a white chocolate-based treat. The white kisses are flavored with mint and have red stripes on the outside. Embedded in the chocolate are tiny red nonpareils, which add a tiny crunch to the candy and look vaguely like bits of candy cane, though they actually have no discernible flavor of their own. The chocolate is very smooth and the mint is not so overwhelming that it would stop you from reaching for a second, but the Kisses seem to be slightly richer than average. Overall, these seem like a good holiday candy option to put out in a candy dish for occasional treat, but they're not so good that I would want to have a bowl all to myself. If they ever decide to put bits of candy cane in them, however, I might have to reconsider.

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In Naples, the annual Pizzafest was just concluded and the title of the world's best pizzaiolo (pizza-maker) was bestowed upon Makoto Onishi, a veritable pizza prodigy from Japan who bested 24 other pizza-makers, many of whom are Naples natives. This is the second time he has won the title; the first was back in 2003. The judges declared that his pie was the "perfect incarnation of 'real Neapolitan pizza.'"

Onishi came to Naples from Japan in 2002, looking for a job in a pizza restaurant and claimed his first title after only a year working in the Ischia pizzeria. After the victory, he was hired by a popular Tokyo pizzeria and enjoyed some media attention from his surprising win.

The secret of the perfect Neapolitan pizza, according to the judges of the Naples Pizzafest, is using traditional, local ingredients. Onishi adds that a "chef must be free of stress" to produce the perfect pizza.

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The 2006 Miami Book Fair is coming up in just a few short weeks and it is a great place to get up close and personal of hundreds of celebrated authors from around the world. Of course, we have a particular interest in the food writers and cookbook authors who will be there and after seeing the list of attendees, we were not disappointed. Food lovers will see:

• Wine writer Jay McInerney
• Jennifer Rubell, author of Real Life Entertaining
• Fit and fast food writer Linda Gassenheimer
• Caterer, cook and author Diane Goodman
• Havana Salsa author Viviana Carballo
• And the "it" chef/writer of the moment, Anthony Bourdain

Slashfood readers can expect to see the works of these authors, as well as several others, featured here leading up to the Fair. Others in attendance will be authors of the non-food persuasion and include Isabel Allende, Nora Ephron and Thomas Cahill.

On top of the opportunity to interact with the authors and attend wonderful seminars, there is also a huge street fair that goes along with the event, where visitors will find everything from books and art to food and drinks from around the world. Since it's Miami, expect to see lots of Cuban and Caribbean offerings.

The Book Fair will be Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus from November 12 – 19, 2006.

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Want to help "stamp out hunger"? You can start by making an effort not to waste food, but perhaps a more direct route to take is to leave a can or three of non-perishable food items in your mailbox this Saturday. If you live in the US, Saturday May 13th is the National Letter Carrier's Food Drive (a.k.a. the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive), which means that postal workers will be collecting the cans of food from mailboxes and delivering them to local food banks and soup kitchens.

Actually, you're not limited to canned goods. Anything that is non-perishiable, not expired and not packed in glass is readily accepted, so browse the aisles of the grovery store for packaged soups, pastas, juices and similar products. If whatever you choose to donate is a bit bulky, you can leave it in a bag next to your mailbox or drive it down to the post office and drop it off there.

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