Photo: jljjld(away)/Flickr

Is there one food about which you -- despite maybe being a food snob the rest of the time -- are not at all fussy? About which you say, "I don't care who makes it: I'll eat it!"

We realized after chomping down our second ice cream of the day that perhaps, perhaps, we are not so discerning about the stuff. It was late at night, and Häagen-Dazs Five (mint) had us rather over the moon. Then we realized that really, we've rarely met a decently-made ice cream that didn't sway our affections at least a little bit.

It's one of those foods that, as long as its basic components are intact, fails to register on the Picky Meter. Such eats are a relatively rare breed; they exist largely to answer a timeless and bottomless craving, and their combination of ingredients hits the pleasure buttons that in turn short-circuit the ability to criticize -- and to say "no."

Here are five we think might hit those buttons. Vote for yours, and if it's "other," hit the comments to let us know what it is!

Just in case you're not certain that Obama is loved by foodies and farmers, read articles from food critics and writers, such as Ruth Reichl and David Kamp. Better yet, check out the blog Obama Foodorama. An article from the New York Times explains that the Obama family is viewed by many as one that cares about eating organic. Kim Severson states: "Mr. Obama looks like the first foodie president since Thomas Jefferson."

Tell me your national food concerns and I'll tell you why you're for Obama. Despite Obama's recent choice of Secretary of Agriculture, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsak, foodies around the nation view Obama as someone who will deliver change for both small farmers and ubran gastronomes alike. Yes, Vilsak supports alternative fuels like corn-based ethanol and is a proponent of biotechnology. Nevertheless, we can forgive Obama for not choosing someone like Alice Waters or Michael Pollen. With the current state of affairs(an ongoing war and the economic crisis), he has bigger fish to fry at the moment.

After the jump, find out specific requests from food critics, reformers, and chefs.

It's the time of year when just cooking someone a nice dinner isn't always enough. The people you love want to have things. They want to eat, too, but they'll never remember what you got them this year if they can eat it in one sitting.

There are some edible gifts worth giving, but many gifts for foodies can last for years to come. Plus, they can help your loved ones make you a nice dinner. Everyone wins.

Here is a list of gifts to fill the foodies in your life with delight and joy!

1. Tracey Porter Etched Liquor Glasses (right) - Festive, bright, and varied (so you remember which is yours).
2. Anthropologie Aprons - Affordable and totally unparalleled.
3. Nostalgia Retro Snow Cone Maker - Need I say more?
4. An Angel Wing Platter - For angelic cheeses, angelic fruits, angelic servings all year round.
5. A Michael Aram Coral Reef Candleholder - A gorgeous, non-denominational centerpiece.
6. An Alice in Wonderland Teapot from Alice's Tea Cup - Perfect for tea or even just to display on the shelf for your whimsical friends.
7. Wobbly Cognac Glasses - After dinner drinks have never been this relaxed.
8. The Slashfood Gift of the Day - Marisa McClellan's amazing edible series; some edible gifts really are worth giving!

We don't recommend #2 for your spouse, though. They're totally gonna take that the wrong way. Especially if they're male.

Forget AA, and all of the other addiction services out there. Forget chastity belts. There's a million different techniques for battling the different manifestations of addiction and inclination, but I've seen none that work for foodie excitement.

Do you have it? I'm talking about getting overwhelmed and buy-crazy over tasty food. It's best to keep me out of a gourmet store, and I go totally nuts when faced with a swarm of cheap, nice-looking produce.

To the right, you can see the latest addition to my apartment -- a basil bouquet. Originally, it was supposed to be just enough to make some salads and some tasty pesto. Soon though, it became so much more. I ended up buying more than I needed, and then I got one more huge clump with my weekly organic delivery. Like always, I'm struggling to use it all up before it goes painfully limp.

That being said, it would be hard for me to refuse more if I walked by a nice bunch at a good price... How do you curb your excited, foodie whims?

Back in high school, I loved woot -- a site that offers a great deal on one item of technology per day. The idea of selling selected items for low prices has really caught on, and now I subscribe to a tons of these sites (especially fashion ones, which are amazing).

I finally learned about a site like this for foodies, and I'm so excited to see what deals they plan to offer. The site is called OneFoodieGoodie, and they sell one item (in limited supply) every 24 hours. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to view past goodies, so it's hard to say what type of items the site typically features. Today, they're selling travel salt and pepper shakers, which are cute but definitely not necessary for someone like me.

Do any of you use this site regularly? What do you think?

There comes a time when we local foodies realize that we've been taking ourselves a little too seriously. I actually had that moment last night, when, after buying a bunch of fresh carrots at my local produce market, I realized that they had been shipped in from California. I was so distressed at this revelation that I nearly took them back to the store. However, I immediately understood the ridiculousness of my reaction and took the carrots home (and they were delicious).

The above cartoon from Toothpaste for Dinner gets at the absurdity of the current food trends and helps us (well, at least me) remember how lucky we are to have such food choice. In a world that is racked with war, famine, drought and malnutrition, those of us who have the opportunity be concerned about where our carrots were grown are truly fortunate.

The next time your puppy is pleading beneath the table as you devour chocolate and other dog-unfriendly treats, just toss him/her a doggy toy cupcake -- it's sure to distract for at least 3-5 minutes. Pampered Puppy offers an entire line of foodie-friendly dog toys, ranging from cupcakes to birthday cakes to beautiful plush bars of chocolate.

But maybe your dog doesn't have such a sweet tooth, and instead prefers, say, raw fish. In that case, check out these sushi dog toys from Sugar Charms. And for those with a romantic side, how about his chocolate-covered strawberry from Wiggle-n-Waggle? All are perfect for making your dog feel like the foodie he/she wishes he/she could be.

I spent some time yesterday afternoon talking with Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Epicurious, about everything from her weeknight dinners to the cookbook she's releasing this fall. It was an honor to speak with Ms. Steel, who has written for Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, the New York Times, and appeared on numerous TV programs, including the Today Show (the list goes on). After our conversation, I can absolutely see her energy and enthusiasm in the pages of Epicurious. Talk about a foodie!

I've noticed a lot of changes on Epicurious in the past year or so – new blogs and features. What's the idea behind this new content?
I came to Epicurious in July 2005, and I found a site that I loved with tremendous depth, but not a lot of breadth. We needed to broaden out the site to make it the go-to site for people who love to eat and love cooking and love food. I knew that we had a fantastic recipe database, so we added restaurant coverage, a huge thing on drinks. We added video, and a blog that I started – for a while I was the only one writing. We spent some time not only broadening our coverage and trying to get notable names on the site, but we also took a look at the site, which was over 12 years old, and we realized it was time to make it look as rich and interesting as the content. We spent a good part of last year looking at the inner plumbing of the site, and we launched [the redesign] last September. I've never worked so hard, and it was incredibly rewarding to create a food site from the ground up. I thought, "What would I like? What kind of site would I like and how would I create it? We are still rolling out features throughout this year. There are going to be upgrades and additions this year and next.

Any chance you can give us some hints about these upcoming features?
One of the things that we are going to be doing is expanding our community section. We have always had a vibrant, passionate community of people – up to six million unique [visitors] in December. They love to talk to each other. We have ten forums, and realize this is something to increase. We made a deal with Facebook, and realize that a lot of people would love to have more social networking on our site. We are blowing out something called "My Epicurious" – people will be able to upload a photo of themselves, they can already tag interests. They will be able to upload pictures so people can see what they are cooking now. They will be able to join interest groups. For example, if they are interested in it cuisines, they will be able to see everything having to do with that interest group, like new Italian recipes and posts, anything to do with Italy.

If you are one of those foodies who entertains fantasies of going on a vacation of no holds barred eating, then you must check out this article, detailing the trip that Adam Goldman took with two buddies through Spain. They ate for two weeks straight, spending more than $17,000 (for someone whose current car cost but $2,000 that amount seems heart-stopping) on food, wine and booze and gaining nearly 25 between them.

They centered the trip around three Spanish Michelin-starred restaurants, Arzak, Mugaritz and Can Fabes, that are known for their outstanding eats and unique approaches to food. The descriptions of what they ate are fairly quick, but at the end of the article I still felt a little dizzy with all they managed to squeeze in. Sounds like a food-trip of a lifetime.

Via Serious Eats

Interesting piece over at Slate from Paul Levy, about the state of food writing. He says that food writing today is too "macho," and filled with too many "foodie shock jocks" who swear and write too casually (he singles out Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, and Bill Buford).

The food writing that's in vogue today consists chiefly of a bellow of bravado. It's a guy thing, sure, but (with a few honorably hungry exceptions) these scribblers mostly ignore what's on the plate. They view themselves as boy hunters and despise sissy gatherers, thrive on the undertow of violence they detect in the professional kitchen, and like to linger on the unappetizing aspects of food preparation. The gross-out factor trumps tasting good as well as good taste.

Hmmm...really? I think one of the good thing about this increased interest in food and all the food blogs is that you hear a lot of different voices. There's plenty of the stuff Levy likes still be written. Even here at Slashfood we try to mix up the voices a bit.

What do you think? Does Levy have a point?

[via The Grinder]

When you plan your holidays, do you ever factor in the local cuisine when deciding where to go? The number of travelers seeking culinary adventures has definitely risen over the past few years, in fact, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, more than 58% of American leisure travelers take culinary or wine-related activities at their destination into account before booking.

Travelocity has prepared a list of some of the best places to visit if food is what you are looking for. A few are obvious, while others come as a bit of a surprise. The list includes Barcelona, Spain; Boulder, Colorado; Charleston, South Carolina; Las Vegas, Nevada; London, United Kingdom; Montreal, Quebec; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York; Rome, Italy; and San Francisco, California.

Regarding Vegas, as an example, they state "If you want your foie gras topped with shaved truffles and dusted with gold, it's a sure bet it can be found here." If you've visited Las Vegas any time recently, you know that is all too true. Gone are the days of $1.99 steak sandwiches - fine dining has taken over the town.

Have you been somewhere that you feel should have made the list instead of those places, or do you agree with their picks?

GroupRecipes, the social networking and recipe-sharing site for foodies, came out in a beta version a few months ago, but is celebrating their official launch this month. As an added bonus for everyone who signs up (don't worry - it's free), you're entered to win $6,000 towards a brand new kitchen! The contest works like this: when you sign up, you get one entry. At the time of your registration, you can refer three of your foodie friends - bloggers, chowhounds, gourmets, etc - and you will get three entries for each one who signs up. When the contest ends on March 7th, a winner will be chosen at random and will get to spend their prize money at Home Depot, Loews or Sears!

And, because we value all your guys as Slashfood readers, you can increase your chances to win by using this link to register. When you do, you'll get five entries instead of one!

What food-lover doesn't want the chance to win a new kitchen? And even if you don't win (and we hope you do!) you'll still get to check out lots of interesting recipes and meet some great new friends.

My three year old is in a cooking class learning to make artisanal breads.

Well, my two year old will only eat raw milk cheeses that have been smuggled into the country by our friends traveling abroad.

Oh yeah? My 7 month old will only eat sushi, foie gras and foods prepared by Ferran Adria.

It looks like having kids with gourmet palates is the newest status symbol for the "urban sophisticate." They want their kids to appreciate the finer things in life as soon as possible, so members of this food-forward group of parents - foodies, chowhounds and gourmets all - try to expose their kids to as many different foods as they can. They enroll them in kids-only cooking classes so that they can get some hands-on experience and take them to fine dining restaurants - many of which now offer smaller kid-sized portions - as well as cooking dishes from around the world at home.

Those outside of this adventurous eater movement are less enthralled with it than the parents of the children are, even if the "outsiders" are parents themselves. Not only do they feel that there is no reason to push so much so soon (even adults like mac and cheese!), but some foods like medium rare burgers and sushi seem like they might be opening children to heath risks. The biggest concern arises with restaurants, where many patrons feel that the experience is lessened when they have to sit next to a cranky child. Restaurateurs and chefs, on the other hand, don't seem to mind quite as much. "Eric Ripert, the chef at Le Bernardin, Zagat's highest-rated restaurant in New York, thinks his dress code helps keep children in line. 'They have a tie, so they are almost strangled already,' he said. 'They don't move much.'"

The presents have been unwrapped and the discarded holiday paper, boxes and ribbon have (hopefully) been discarded. And what are we left with? Memories and a few useful kitchen gadgets! I know I was incredibly happy with every aspect of my Christmas celebrations, from the crepe brunch to snacks of Christmas cookies, peppermint bark and hot chocolate. The time spent with loved ones is invaluable, of course, but I have to say that I love the things that I was given, too. I got a silicone egg ring, which is designed to keep fried eggs at just the right size and thickness. I am also planning to use it the next time I make a batch of crumpets to see if it can help keep them round as they "bake". I also received a lovely apron from Anthropologie and a new Aerolatte, a gadget that makes frothing milk for cappuccinos as easy as can be.

Did anyone else get any exciting new kitchen gadgets or other food-related goodies?

The foodie quiz is a fun little way to waste a couple minutes of the morning and maybe have a little laugh or two while you're at it because it is certainly not a serious quiz in any way. If it were serious, it is highly unlikely that one of the answers, right or wrong, would suggest that the correct solution to a minor restaurant dilemma is to "grab the waiter by his neck, shove him in a tiny crate, which you load into the hold of a plane bound for Auckland, while shouting: 'How would you like it, you animal abusing spawn of the devil?'"

The quiz is intended to test your knowledge of general foodie issues, kitchen trends and food movements. I scored 42 out of a possible 45 (the higher the score, the better), which apparently makes me a "gastro-warrior." Take the quiz and get back to us here in the comments to let us know how you fared!