Some celebrities are perfect for the food they promote -- Florence Henderson and Wesson Oil seemed made for each other like Popeye and spinach.
But not all stars are a natural match for the products they endorse. (Like that former Soviet premier who went on to do Pizza Hut ads?) Here are Slashfood's picks for the 10 Weirdest Celebrity Food Commercials of All Time.
In honor of "Julie & Julia," a look into the culinary highlights and lowlights of ten culinary films.
Move over, haggis! A Glasgow restaurant claims to have invented chicken tikka masala, and the city wants to make it a local delicacy.
Leftover sirloin steak? Turn it into part of a tasty salad.
If looking for wine off the beaten path, investigate quirky LCBO selections such as Vignamaggio Suhaili Syrah 2006, Puglia, Italy and Concha Y Toro Winemaker's Lot No. 11 Riesling 2007, Chile.
Vancouver's Le Crocodile offers the classic French cooking many restaurants have left behind.
Backyard barbecues don't have to entail mountainous piles of food; they can be enjoyed bite-sized.
A dish to "encapsulate the best of British cooking": summer pudding.
Summer means fresh salads, but are the fast-food versions from spots like Swiss Chalet and Pizza Hut actually healthy?
I tend to be pretty particular about my pizza. When I lived in Virginia, I plotted out most of my region based on the tastiest pizza, the best priced pizza, and a few other key pizza considerations. While New York is a daunting pizza town, I've spent much of the past few years figuring out the best pizza places, calibrating the difference between amazing pizza and that which is simply acceptable, and generally trying to figure out how to best enjoy one of my favorite foods.
While I prefer mom and pop pizza joints, I have occasionally been know to frequent chain pizzerias. Of the major pizza franchises, my favorite was always Pizza Hut; their flavors always struck me as particularly clean, and their ingredients always seemed quite fresh. However, when I removed high fructose corn syrup from my diet, I started being able to taste it in fast foods. One day, while eating a pizza, I detected its foul flavor in the sauce. A little research confirmed my suspicion: Pizza Hut was using the dreaded HFCS. In a moment, Pizza Hut joined the foully-sweet Papa John's and the blandly repulsive Domino's on my no-eat list. My "pizza island" got a little smaller, a little narrower, and a little sadder.
Recently, however, the chain has developed The Natural, a pizza that allegedly uses vine-ripened tomatoes and all-natural mozzarella, while eschewing artificial ingredients like HFCS, nitrates, nitrites, artificial colors, and preservatives. According to some sources, they are planning to extend this all-natural trend to the rest of their line.
It looks like I may have to revisit one of my old favorites!
I made the grave mistake of ordering Pizza Hut online once, about eight months ago. I had a craving, I read about the online ordering, and I went for it.
...Big mistake. First, it was way too expensive. Second, I happen to live in one of those delivery netherworlds - between the boundaries of one delivery area and another - where the delivery dude refuses to visit. This, however, was not made clear to me on the website - I was easily able to enter my address, and the system informed me that my food would arrive shortly.
Two hours later, no pizza. I wearily called up my local Pizza Hut branch, and a pissed-off sounding teen answered. "...Yea? Pizza Hut?"
"Um...I ordered online, and it still hasn't arrived. Do you happen to know...?"
"Oh. Yea," she said, snapping her gum. "We don't deliver there." (This, mind you, was about .75 miles away). "You can come pick it up."
It's pretty stiff competition out there now in the pizza chain delivery business. First there was online ordering so you wouldn't even have to break your stride while working away at your computer. Then came Papa John's ordering via text message. Driving home from work and don't want to stop somewhere to pick up dinner? Just send a text message with your order. Not soon after we saw Papa John's implement pizza ordering via text message, Pizza Hut is offering the same service.
I'm beginning to think that fast food companies are in some sort of secret competition to create the highest-calorie, most artery clogging food ever. You'd think that in these times where obesity and the health-risks associated with poor eating that someone would stand up and say enough already.
Apparently, today is not that day, as Pizza Hut has just released a pizza called the Double Deep Meat Lover's Pizza and a single slice of that pizza contains 580 calories (330 of those are from fat). This pizza claims to have so many toppings that Pizza Hut had to invent a new style of crust (it folds over the toppings) in order to get it all on the pie. As my mother would say, it is something of a coronary on a plate.
Of course, a lot of people would say "just avoid fast food altogether!" But sometimes you just need a Wendy's double cheeseburger and fries.
The folks over at A Calorie Counter have looked at the nutritional info for all of the fast food outlets (McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, A&W, Arby's, Hardee's, In-N-Out Burger, Jack in the Box, Little Caesars, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Sonic, Subway, Taco Bell, Wendy's, White Castle, Popeyes, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., and Dairy Queen) and have compiled a list of the 88 worst foods you can buy, in terms of the amount of trans fats. After the jump, the 10 worst. The link above gives you the whole list.
Of course, most people don't need a special holiday to celebrate their love of cheese pizza (if I could eat if for every single meal of my life...well, I wouldn't, that would be boring, but it's probably my favorite food). But this would be a good day to make a pie of your own. Hopefully today just happens to be your "cheat day" if you're on a diet.
Of course, if you don't want to make your own and want to call Pizza Hut or Papa John's or maybe go the store and buy a frozen Mystic or Freschetta or even Ellio's, well, that's OK too! And don't forget the posts from our Pizza Day celebration.
For as much as Japanese cuisine is about delicate, precious presentation and things as simple and stunning as sushi (not to mention healthy), it often makes me laugh to see some of the absolutely ridiculous things that come out of their culinary creativity. The above photo, from the Pizza Hut Japan website, is of what I think is called the Double Roll. Remember Stuffed Crust Pizzas, where there was cheese tucked inside the crust of the pizza? The Double Roll takes that concept and basically blows it up by adding hot dogs and pepperoni (I think) to the crust like tiny corn dogs or maybe pigs in blankets, then throws on peas, corn and miniature hamburger patties as toppings.
It sort of makes me think of that SNL spot of Taco Town, making a joke of the most ridiculous taco/burrito/pancake thing. The Double Roll, however, is a real thing.
For as much time as I spend on my computer, it surprises me how seldom I actually order food online. Though not exactly a new concept, (heck even Sandra Bullock ordered pizza online in The Net) many pizza restaurants either don't offer the service, or it is limited to so few delivery areas that it doesn't seem worth the effort.
However, Pizza Hut is looking to change that now with the official launch of their system-wide online ordering system. It seems to have all the bells and whistles that you would expect, including special offers and coupons specific to your ordering area, the ability to create your own "pizza playlist", memory of past orders and one-click repeat ordering. I have to admit, my favorite aspect of online ordering is that you actually have a 'hard copy' of what you ordered in case of discrepancy - rather than just your word against that of the person who took your order by phone.
Pizza Hut states that they already have an average of nearly 30 online orders placed every minute during normal business hours nationwide, so you can expect that number to increase exponentially now that the system is fully functional. Do you often order food online, or do you prefer to call it in or simply just pick it up?
Sure Fabergé eggs are beautiful, bejewelled and intricate as all hell, but you when you bite into them they really hurt your teeth. Perhaps the surreal sculpted cakes from Zhanna, a St. Petersburg baker are informed by the same passion that fueled the eggmaker to the Tsars.
Lord knows they're certainly detailed enough. Among the 50-plus intricate cakes pictured on English Russia are numerous structures, including bridges, cottages, a kitchen, a Pizza Hut and the Eiffel Tower. I'm not quite sure who Zhanna's clientele is but, based on the eye chart and mouth cakes, I'm guessing it includes eye doctors and dentists.
Many of the cakes sport distinctly American imagery including a blue Reebok sneaker, a Big Mac and numerous depictions of stacks of $100 bills. [via Boing Boing] See the jump for a few more of these insanely creative cakes.
Remember when stuffed crust pizza seemed like a relatively new idea? The idea of stuffing a pizza crust, instead of relegating all the toppings to the surface of the pizza, seemed to stem from the fact that the doughy crusts on many quick service pizzas weren't that good and really needed something special to make them worth eating. Cheese and sauce were the answers and in a relatively short time, the formerly doughy crusts were doughy and greasy - enabling you to consumer twice as much cheese per slice.
In Japan, Pizza Hut has taken the stuffed crust idea to the next level by including whole sausage links inside the crust, along with a layer of cheese. The crust is pulled up and tucked around the sausage, giving the impression that you have a hot dog attached to the end of your pizza.
The whole concept seems to be rather over the top, but that being said, it also seems like this sort of pizza would be a big hit at sports stadiums or anywhere else that beer, pizza and hot dogs already coexist.
I'm not going to lie to you. When it comes to fast food pizza, I'm a Pizza Hut guy. Actually, before I even get to calling Pizza Hut, I'll go with one of the two local pizza places in my town. They're two of the best pizzas I've ever had anywhere, and I usually go with one of them. But last night I had this craving for one of your deep dish pepperoni pizzas. Plus there's a Domino's right next door to my apartment and I didn't feel like going across town.
So I went to you web site and almost ordered the pizza online. Not because I'm lazy, but because I've never ordered a pizza online before and thought it would be fun. I decided to just walk over because it's only about 33 steps from my front door. But while I was on your site I noticed something that troubles me.
When I lived with a bunch of college student friends (I wasn't in college at the time, I was older so I could stay home and convince them to play tennis or stay up late instead of doing their school work), the pizza of choice was Little Caesars. We'd go there at least once a week for the current deal they were running. It was usually some sort of buy one, get one half off deal or something similar involving two pizzas. But I haven't had one in almost 15 years. They don't have locations around where I live now, and for a while there I was wondering if they were even still in business.
Of course, they are still in business, and as this Boston Globe piece discloses, they are about to open 70 (yes, seventy) locations in the Boston area, to challenge other chains like Pizza Hut and Domino's.
Cool. It will be great to actually have the Little Caesars option again in my pizza world.
Say what you will about Sbarro's authenticity, but with almost 1,000 locations in 30 countries, the Italian restaurant chain is certainly popular. Earlier this year it announced plans to open in Mexico, Egypt, Romania, Central America and the Bahamas.
Now Sbarro has set its sights on India. The 50-year-old company plans to open 100 units there in its largest international expansion to date. It will start with New Delhi next year and open 10 eateries a year over the next decade. The casual pizza and pasta spots will be located in shopping malls.
Pizza Hut, has been in India since 1996, but Sbarro will be the first chain to bring the pizza slice to India. Naturally beef will be omitted from the menu. Special dishes will also be created to appeal to the country's many vegetarians.
.jpg)
I tend to be pretty particular about my pizza. When I lived in Virginia, I plotted out most of my region based on the tastiest pizza, the best priced pizza, and a few other key pizza considerations. While New York is a daunting pizza town, I've spent much of the past few years figuring out the best pizza places, calibrating the difference between amazing pizza and that which is simply acceptable, and generally trying to figure out how to best enjoy one of my favorite foods.
I made the grave mistake of ordering Pizza Hut online once, about eight months ago. I had a craving, I read about the online ordering, and I went for it.
Of course, a lot of people would say "just avoid fast food altogether!" But sometimes you just need a Wendy's double cheeseburger and fries.
For as much time as I spend on my computer, it surprises me how seldom I actually order food online. Though not exactly a new concept, (heck even Sandra Bullock ordered pizza online in The Net) many pizza restaurants either don't offer the service, or it is limited to so few delivery areas that it doesn't seem worth the effort. 
Remember when stuffed crust pizza seemed like a relatively new idea? The idea of stuffing a pizza crust, instead of relegating all the toppings to the surface of the pizza, seemed to stem from the fact that the doughy crusts on many quick service pizzas weren't that good and really needed something special to make them worth eating. Cheese and sauce were the answers and in a relatively short time, the formerly doughy crusts were doughy and greasy - enabling you to consumer twice as much cheese per slice.
Dear Domino's,
When I lived with a bunch of college student friends (I wasn't in college at the time, I was older so I could stay home and convince them to play tennis or stay up late instead of doing their school work), the pizza of choice was Little Caesars. We'd go there at least once a week for the current deal they were running. It was usually some sort of buy one, get one half off deal or something similar involving two pizzas. But I haven't had one in almost 15 years. They don't have locations around where I live now, and for a while there I was wondering if they were even still in business.
Say what you will about Sbarro's authenticity, but with almost 1,000 locations in 30 countries, the Italian restaurant chain is certainly popular. Earlier this year it announced plans to open in Mexico, Egypt, Romania, Central America and the Bahamas.
What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
