"Dining" news and stories

My grandfather, who died in 2001 at the age of 91, used to proudly announce that he had been subscribing to the New Yorker since its inception in 1925. Whether or not that tidbit was exactly true, that magazine lost a loyal customer when he died, as he did subscribe as long as I knew him (and I was nearly 22 when he made his exit). I used to love to sort through the stacks of back issues that lived on the coffee table in my grandparents' den whenever we visited them, for the old food issues as well as any that featured fiction from authors I knew.

The folks at the New Yorker have put together a slide show of 21 covers that feature food, drink and dining that range from 1925 all the way up to September 2007. It's an interesting thing to take a peek at, because it gives you a glimpse at how our cultural perspective on food has shifted.

[via Serious Eats]

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This week, the Los Angeles Times dedicates its entire Food section to white wines, very appropriate for summer!

• White wine isn't all about oak. For summer, the new bouquets are jasmine, peach blossoms, verbena, and thyme
• White wine works well with cheese
• As far as wine regions, the Central Coast of California uses unusual grapes and SIV praises a hot wine, Le Picpoul from the Languedoc region in France.
• You must have A/C in your house if you can stand to be in the kitchen! White wine gelees are a refreshing addition to the summer table and the Times hunts down the recipe for Grilled Cheese from restaurant Lucques.

If you're trying to watch what you eat, maybe the best thing to do is, well, watch what you eat. Literally.

According to a new study by researchers at Cornell University people ate 27% less if the table was not cleared after they finished eating something. In ther words, they had to look at the evidence of what they had just eaten.

The study was done on 50 graduate students during the Super Bowl. At a sports bar, the some of the students were faced with left-over bones from an open buffet of Buffalo wings. One of the researchers has suggested that the results of the study might show that "people restrict their consumption when evidence of food consumed is available to signal how much food they have eaten."

Guess we should re-think whether we want our servers in restaurants to clear our empty plates!

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When you think of the human body in relation to food, chances are you think about the fact that food is what keeps the body going. This is not the only way that the body and food can beconnected, however. Nyotaimori, for example, is the practice of dining on sushi off a naked body and, especially considering that the "plate" is usually an attractive woman, it is an expensive experience. The practice is relatively popular in Japan when compared to its occurrence in other countries, but it can be found elsewhere, too.

Not wanting to loose points for originality, the Japanese have come up with another way to associate the body and food. In this rather disturbing mashup, a sculpted human body is placed on a dining table where people can "operate" on it, eating what they find inside. Unlike Operation, this body actually appears to bleed, as well.

[via neatorama]

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Red velvet cake is, for some reason, often considered to be a retro, trashy sort of cake in spite of the fact that it is wildly popular at bakeries these days. The best cakes have a moist and tender crumb, as well as a hint of cocoa. The color can range from Marilyn red to deep mahogany and is typically made with food coloring, although those chefs who are overly concerned with making everything over-the-top natural use beets to color theirs. If the whole cake is just too much for you, you can always try red velvet cupcakes or sandwich cookies.

Beta cook disorder is a condition that arises in chefs when their partner is too dominant in the kitchen, constantly second guessing everything they do and ordering them around. Power struggles, it seems, come out in the kitchen more often than anywhere else, but by consciously working together - with an open dialog - mini dictatorships can be avoided and you'll have just enough hands stirring the pot.

Paul Bocuse, one of the greatest French chefs there is, just celebrated his 80th birthday with a huge, three-day party and a list of A-list chefs both as guests and in the kitchen.

Winter comfort food is even better it you can get it done quickly with no loss of flavor, like Baked Beans with Bacon in 2 hours, instead of 10.

Frank Bruni dines at Pera Mediterranean Brasserie and Dennis Foy, giving each one star.

Mark Bittman, the minimalist, makes stuffed chicken thighs.

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