"FoodOddities" news and stories

The NY Times' Pete Wells reports in today's Diner's Journal that spanking new SoHo boite La Cave des Fondus will be a faithful recreation of its namesake Paris outpost, right down to its innovative bottle service. That'd be baby bottle service. Nope, nary a Similac sommelier in sight, but rather an assortment of house vino and brewskis administered via rubber nipple in glass baby bottles. The serving practice began in 1966 when, according to rumor, Parisian restaurateurs realized that wine service in "biberons" was a way to circumvent a city tax on wineglasses -- not to mention a play on the word "biberonner," meaning a bit of tippling.

The titular meat and cheese fondues are the centerpiece of the food menu, but really, who isn't going there to nurse their curiosity 'bout seeing a bunch of grown-ups getting together to have a nip?

Will it be a formula for success or just a big bust? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[via: Diner's Journal]

Did you know that -

• three new interspecific hybrid grape varieties were launched this week - Noiret and Corot Noir, which are red, and Valvin Muscat, which is a white variety. [details] 
• Mackerel is a common North Atlantic and Mediterranean fish with brilliant 'metallic' green, blue and black colourings. This brazen display accounts for its name being used in the past to describe a dandy gentleman in England, and in French its name 'maquereau' also means a pimp. (from the BBC)
• that the Iberico pig (used for Spanish pata negra ham) puts away 11kg of acorns every day they are in season
• apparently eating a few rounds of Marmite and toast makes your skin emite an odour that acts as an effect mosquito repellant. (Don't actually think this one has been scientifically proved)
• the earlist recorded recipe for a cheese tart (for-runner of cheesecake) appeared in 1390 in the first English cookery book 'Forme of Cury'
• Cury being the Old English word for cooking, derived from the French cuire meaning to cook, boil or grill

We know there's always been weird food out there, ever since man first started pounding tiny bits of grain to make a fine powder, mixing it with naturally-occurring bacteria and warm liquid expressed from an animal, letting it sit for a couple of hours, heating it up, and eating it (boy, bread's weird, isn't it?).

But there are some places that even we, jaded food lovers that we are, don't imagine finding food. Let's take wounds, for one. In 2005, Slashfood discovered the Bacon bandaids. Take data storage devices, for two. This week we learned of the strange-yet-wonderful sushi USB drives. Then, there's your lips, who see a lot of food, on the way in. But they don't see much food, well, just sitting around healing your wind-burned kisser. Now they can, thanks to Cheetos chapstick. You think these are weird? That is so not all.