A recent WebMD article highlights some of the alcohol-related results of a new Gallup Poll, and it looks like beer is back on top as America's alcoholic beverage of choice. In the sampling of 1,007 Americans, 41 percent ranked beer as their top pick and 33 percent chose wine. It's also interesting to note that the sample group is based on Americans that are 18 years of age or older. While the number of Americans who say they drink hasn't really increased much since the '40s, according to Gallup, the amount those Americans drink has risen. The most recent figures show Americans drinking 4.5 drinks per week, compared to the average 2.8 drinks per week people reported having in 1996. Perhaps people are becoming more wine and beer savvy, or perhaps, as WebMD suggests, the increase is related to all the good press wine has received for its health benefits.

[Via Fark]

Breyers released their Double Churned ice cream this week. If it sounds like something you've had before, you're probably confusing it with the Dreyers/Edy's Slow Churned variety. In any event, more churning in commercial ice cream is supposed to make it creamier (though there are proponents of homemade ice cream who aim to keep their churning to a minimum no matter what), so the ice creams should be a hit.

Breyer's just did a survey on American ice cream eating habits. From their "Real Dish on Ice Cream" study, they learned that 87% of Americans have ice cream in the freezer and 71% have at least two kinds or more. A very crafty 20% try to hide their favorite flavor where other family members won't find it. They also said that men and women are equally likely to crave ice cream when they are happy.

The only question left to answer is whether the happiness was ice cream based, or whether being happy just made them want ice cream.

Americans are en route to surpass the French as the world’s biggest wine drinkers. Not only is French consumption of wine dropping, but Americans are drinking more wine than ever, with an average consumption of 2.7-gallons per person per year. Some attribute the increased popularity of wine to its much touted health benefits, particularly in the area of heart health, but it actually appears that appreciation of wine is a much larger trend, gaining widespread acceptance in the culture. This is most evidenced by the fact that far more people are enjoying wines younger – while in their 20s – than ever before, possibly as a result of having grown up with baby boomer parents who were more affluent and more likely to drink wine on a regular basis than their parents were.

A recent Pew Research Center survey of over 2,000 adult Americans found that only 39 percent enjoy eating "a great deal." (That is, they enjoy the act of eating, not eating a lot.) This is 9 percent drop from the results of a 1989 Gallup survey. Many of the people polled in the more recent survey attributed their lack of enjoyment to concerns about their weight. Interestingly enough, the overall figures for enjoyment of cooking have stayed the same. Roughly one third of those surveyed said they enjoyed cooking "a great deal." The number of men that enjoy cooking has increased, however, from 25 percent in 1989 to 32 percent today. The Pew site has plenty of other interesting figures concerning eating patterns, junk food consumption and overeating. A Washington Post story on the survey results is available here.

[Image: Pew Research Center]

Is grocery shopping the new national past time? Sometimes, it can certainly seem that way. With lines around the block at store openings for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods markets, one would think that the customers were lining up to see a Broadway show or a blockbuster movie, not to pick up a quart of milk and some specialty produce. Shoppers drive for hours to visit a Wegman's grocery in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland or Virginia - not only to get all the goodies they need to stock their kitchens, but for the fun of it. Cheese tasting, gourmet and artisan prepared goods and other foods, like sushi, prepared on the spot by skilled chefs are all draws of markets like these, whether their prices are high, low or midrange.

Why is shopping becoming entertainment, though? USA Today tried to answer that very question and found that the answer lay in a combination of factors. Americans are more interested in new and quality foods than ever before. They want healthier foods, international flavors and they want to find it all in one store because the long-standing tradition of one-stop shopping is the only kind that fits into a busy schedule. Consequently, the stores that offer everything do well, so well that people want to visit them more than other stores. "Nothing compares with it," a customer said of Wegman's. "You can spend an entire day there."