"Cheers" news and stories

I spotted this great set of Cheers Shot Glasses over at Luxist. Made by Waterford, each of the glass shot glasses is engraved with a different way of saying "cheers!" In addition to English, the other languages are Gaelic - slainte!, Spanish - salud!, Italian - cin cin!, Japanese - kan-pai! and German - prost! The glasses will serve as a conversation piece and will add a little bet of extra cheer to any and all celebrations. The set is packaged in a circular gift box, so all you need is a bow to turn it into a holiday present or a hostess gift. Best of all, the set is part of one of the Vintage Marquis collection, which is one of the more reasonably priced Waterford lines, and is only $49.

If shot glasses aren't a part of your entertaining plans for the holidays, Waterford is also offering a set of celebration balloon wine glasses ($79) that are engraved with celebrate, cheers, joy, festive, soiree and holiday.

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I was just taking a look at one of the food discussion boards, Chowhound.com and saw a great discussion on the international ways to toast each other. I happen to use a few different toasts depending upon the circumstances. I like Kampai (Japanese), Salute (Italian), Nazdrovya (Ruusian), Slainte (Celtic), L'Chaim (Hebrew), and Skoal (Scandinavian). Although I think my favorites are the newest ones I learned not too long ago in Africa, Hey is Jambo (Kenya) and Oogy wawa (Zulu).

There are so many ways that we wish each other well. Many toasts mean "To your Health" and "To Life", then there is "To Luck", some are "To Us", and "To your Loves" and then there are the variations on "Drink up", "Bottom's up", and "Dry your cup." I just find it interesting that while there are so many ways to say cheers, many revolve around the same few sunjects. Here's a international glossary for toasts so you can learn some new ones. Does anyone know any toasts that are a bit more unusual and don't stick to the three or four subject areas outlined above?

Who doesn't love a good pub crawl? The camaraderie and the drinking are two selling points that many people are loathe to refuse, though the possibility of breaking a world record should be enough to convince any hesitant participants. The city of Maryborough in Queensland, Australia has just completed the world's largest pub crawl, a feat confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records. About 2,000 of the city's 26,000 residents participated in the crawl, which required that they visit at least 10 pubs in under six hours and down at least one drink in each pub for a stamp on their official card. The drinks did not have to be alcoholic, but it's a safe bet that the majority of the over 19,000 drinks downed were beer or another alcoholic libation. Of all the participants, only 1198 official cards were collected by the city to confirm the record. A city official said that some of the more "confused" participants may have forgotten to turn theirs in. The city will attempt to break their own record when they host another crawl on June 11th, 2006.

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Happy New Year from all of ue here at Slashfood. We're looking forward to an exciting and food filled 2006!
So join us in a toast for all that has been and all that is to come.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]