The London Festival of Architecture will be starting this week, and the culmination of the festival will be tasty, indeed. As part of the festival, there's a competition to re-create famous architecture out of Jello (referred to as jelly across the pond).

According to the Guardian Online, the contest to re-create famous architecture is a charitable event and the proceeds go to Article 25, a disaster relief and development fund. Apparently the contest was inspired by the Millennium Bridge, which opened as a pedestrian bridge in 2000 in London but developed a dangerous wobble after only a week. It was nick named the "Wobbly Bridge," and had to be shut down to be fixed.

The architect who originally designed the "Wobbly Bridge" is actually making a Jello replication of it for this contest. He says that even though he was, of course, embarrassed about the flaws in the bridge, he is amused that his mistake can be used as the basis for a charitable event.

During the holidays, it seems like everywhere you turn there are plates of cookies, office lunches, parties with vast spreads of food and refrigerators filled to overflowing. However, there are many people in the world for whom this time of year does not represent edible abundance or the risk of gaining a few pounds. In order to try and change the way people think about alternative giving, three non-profit organizations that all play in role in stopping hunger, ending poverty and taking care of the planet have teamed up.

Heifer International (a non-profit that works to sustainably end hunger and poverty), Conservation International (they try to conserve the planet's living heritage) and Share Our Strength (a non-profit which works to end childhood hunger in the US) have join forces in order to get people thinking about alternative ways to be charitable this holiday season. Their program is called "Give a Better Present for a Better Future" and its goal is to get people to give at least one gift this year towards a healthier, better-fed planet and to do it in honor of someone you love.

Carol over at French Laundry at Home brought this program to my awareness and has posted about it herself. She includes a link for where you can go if you want to donate directly to Share Our Strength. Thanks for the tip, Carol!

Do you have any plans for breakfast tomorrow? Since Tuesday, February 20th is National Pancake Day - also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday - you might want to think about heading to IHOP. Not only is the restaurant chain famous for their pancakes, but they're actually giving them away for free all day tomorrow! From 7 am - 10 pm at participating stores nationwide, all guests can get a short stack of classic buttermilk pancakes for free.

The point of the giveaway, in addition to the simple celebration of pancakes, is to raise money for charity. Diners are encouraged to donate the money that they would otherwise have spent on the pancakes (or as much as they'd like ) to support the Children's Miracle Network, a nonprofit group that raises money for children's hospitals across the country.

This is the third year that IHOP has held the pancake giveaway.

If you follow the goings-on of the food blogging world (which, we assume, you do, since you're here with us at Slashfood!), then you know about Menu for Hope, a now-annual "virtual" fundraising auction.

Now, if you don't know about Menu for Hope, well listen up! For the past two years, food blogger Chez Pim has headed this campaign to raise money for charitable organizations, with the help of food bloggers, around the world. This year, the proceeds from the Menu for Hope program will benefit the UN World Food Programme. Food bloggers, restaurateurs, chefs, authors, and good-hearted people have donated all kinds of things -- everything from cookbooks to a coffee date with chef Thomas Keller. The sampling above is a mere taste of the kinds of things that are up for auction. (You can click on any of the individual items to see what I have to say.)

If you'd like to participate, head on over to the post on Chez Pim to check out the offering of prizes, figure out how to donate, and get ready to part with $10. That's small change to you, but to someone else, it's big.

Last year, when the holiday pack of Jones Sodas came out, I picked one up and reviewed all the flavors. When this year's pack was released, I was relieved to see that the most disgusting soda flavor ever created, Salmon Paté, from the 2005 pack was no longer included, replaced with an antacid soda I surely could have used after tasting the salmon. With a charitable spirit, since the proceeds go to Toys for Tots, I decided to sample the new flavors. The flavors include: Turkey and Gravy soda, Sweet Potato Soda, Dinner Roll Soda, Pea Soda, as well as the Antacid Flavored Soda I previously mentioned. The reviews of each soda follow the same format I used last year, rating the "ick factor" of each flavor on a scale of 1-10, 1 being enjoyable and 10 being smoked salmon paté.

Reviews and photos are after the jump.

Looking for a fat free, zero calorie, no caffeine, vegetarian option for Thanksgiving? Continuing a three-year tradition, Jones Soda has just unveiled its new 2006 Holiday Pack, which is a complete holiday meal packaged neatly into five little bottles. The flavors include Turkey and Gravy soda, Sweet Potato Soda, Dinner Roll Soda and Pea Soda, as well as an Antacid Flavored Soda, a popular pre-dessert choice of many holiday diners. Jones Soda prides itself on producing accurate profiles of the flavors that it features on its drinks, so you can feel confident that your Turkey and Gravy soda will taste quite real -- as I learned last year, when I sampled a previous pack.

Like all of the prior releases of the holiday packs, sales of this particular limited edition item will go to benefit Toys for Tots. The company also has a dessert pack (possibly a nod to consumers who don't want turkey and gravy soda) on sale at Target that benefits St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

For once, it's nice to see that we have a world record in something that doesn't involve a giant hamburger or someone eating their weight in brats. The British company Duerrs is celebrating their 125th anniversary with the release of world's most expensive marmalade. The special edition preserve is a one-off product, made with Seville oranges, 62-year-old Dalmore whisky, vintage Pol Roger champagne and enough edible gold to give it a tantalizing gleam. It tastes "more tangy than usual and distinctly boozier." The 1 kg of the marmalade has been packed in a crystal jar, specially designed to hold the product and will be auctioned online to benefit the Manchester Kids charity. The estimated value of the product is at least $9,500.

And if you're going to eat marmalade - the most expensive or even an everyday brand, Duerr's has a bit of advice on hot to properly enjoy it: (1)it must be on white bread, not brown (2) and spread with butter, not margarine.

Where once cans of Spaghetti-os, mixed fruit and green beans were prevalent, many food banks now have a very different selection of goods, including Cookie Crisp cereal, Everlasting Gobstopper jawbreakers, Mini Oreos and Wonka Donutz.

Most of the food donated to food banks comes from grocers, manufacturers and growers. Perishables are the first items to be distributed, and take more handling and faster shipment than non-perishable goods, but with the upswing in the amount of junk foods with long shelf-lives - possibly an indication of larger food trends - some food banks are trying to make changes in their programs. They want to increase the work they do with growers of fresh foods and improve their storage systems.

These video-game inspired cakes from Glitter Pissing seemed to fit right in with the other strange (some have said "geeky") series of cakes we've featured recently on Slashfood. There were the Stargate cupcakes, the sysadmin cupcakes and then the meat cake. According to blogger r4kk4, these cakes, which include the Nintendo you see here, arcade versions of Centipede and Ms. Pacman and a Gameboy with Tetris pieces, were created for a cakewalk to benefit the nonprofit youth literacy group 826 Seattle. From the looks of the dozens of comments, there could definitely be a market for cakes like these.

Mario Batali will cook for you and 11 of your closest friends, if you are the highest bidder at a charity auction in Michigan next month. The "Sunday afternoon lunch in the true style of Rome", to be held on August 27th, includes a cooking lesson with as much participation as you want to have in preparing the food, wine tasting and (of course) a 10-course lunch. He auctioned a similar lunch for the group, The Conservancy, last year, which sold for $25,000. Batali says that he offers 6 to 10 such functions for charitable events every year and that most of them sell for around $50,000.

The silent auction closes on August 1st and bids can be placed online. The bidding starts at $5,000.

Joystiq doesn't usually tackle food pieces, but when they involve Super Mario, they are willing to make an exception. Nintendo Canada and a group called Canstruction got together and built a giant Mario out of canned goods in honor of the new Super Mario Bros game becoming the fastest-selling game in the country. In total, 4,000 cans were used and the 10-foot tall Mario weighed over 2,600 lbs. Judging from the other photos, the foods used included canned ham and chicken, as well as bags of popcorn for the mustache and eyebrows. All the cans (and presumably the popcorn, as well) are being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank when Mario is deconstructed.

Too bad they didn't do Mario Batali, the other super Mario, while they were at it!

With people being ever more likely to check the nutritional information on a product before they eat it, these ads mentioned at AdJab, are meant to point out that not everyone has access to the nutritional information of what they're eating. In this case, the ads refer to the homeless. The idea behind the sticker is that it contains the nutritional information for one "can" of food, with a message at the bottom to "help the homeless." The url that it gives does not actually exist, but it's an interesting way to present the message.

I would say something snarky about how that nutrition label would have to be revamped if it appeared on a bin outside of, say, a fast food joint, but feeding the hungry and/or homeless is nothing to joke about.

[Image AdArena]

 

If you're in the Bay area, or even within reasonable traveling distance of San Francisco (does six hours from LA count as "reasonable?!?"), you are very lucky. On Thursday, June 1, 2006, the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association is hosting a scholarship benefit called East West Eats. 

Even if you're not familiar with the AAJA, the event itself is worth consideration from a food lover's perspective. It takes place at the Ferry Building, San Francisco's amazing public marketplace (which we recently visited and fell in love with). Foods will feature Charles Phan of the Slanted Door, among other Bay Area chefs: Robert Lam of Butterfly, Hung Le of Three Seasons, Peter Pahk of Silverado, Kirk Webber of CAFE KaTi, and Chris Yeo of Sraits.

Online registration for the $100 tickets will close this Thursday, May 25, 2006.

Want to help "stamp out hunger"? You can start by making an effort not to waste food, but perhaps a more direct route to take is to leave a can or three of non-perishable food items in your mailbox this Saturday. If you live in the US, Saturday May 13th is the National Letter Carrier's Food Drive (a.k.a. the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive), which means that postal workers will be collecting the cans of food from mailboxes and delivering them to local food banks and soup kitchens.

Actually, you're not limited to canned goods. Anything that is non-perishiable, not expired and not packed in glass is readily accepted, so browse the aisles of the grovery store for packaged soups, pastas, juices and similar products. If whatever you choose to donate is a bit bulky, you can leave it in a bag next to your mailbox or drive it down to the post office and drop it off there.

Yesterday, students at York, Pennsylvania's Locust Grove Elementary School doused their principal with hamburger toppings in an act of charity. A local supermarket chain offered to double the amount of money they normally donate to local schools whose principals did something "original and entertaining," according to the York Daily Record. Locust Grove principal Robert W. Shick (above) was one of five administrators chosen from hundreds of entrants. Shick sat on a hamburger bun as students covered him with all sorts of fixins, including lettuce, relish, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise (shiver). "It felt very good between my toes," Shick told the YDR.

[Photo: AP/York Dispatch, Bill Kalina]