"snacks" news and stories

FINGERFOOD Party Plates are sure to be a smash this holiday season - a tiny, little smash.

The Party Plates are actually small platters affixed to rings which, as you can see, you can wear while you hold your drink.

These are perfect for hors d'oeuvres (and hand-feeding your cats, and dinner parties thrown by Barbie). My only concern is that they look a little unwieldy, like you might have to master the art of the FINGERFOOD Party Plate, certainly before attempting it while drinking.

Ten reusable plates are just $9.95 from The Spoon Sisters, and they actually recommend bringing your own to a party as a "conversation starter." That would require a level of bravery I don't have, but I would think it fun to pass these out to guests at a party of my own!

Just not over the carpet, naturally.

Source

Slashfood confession time. I, Annie Scott, am addicted to imitation crab.

It's so colorful and friendly, and you can buy it by the pound! Normally, I'm pretty averse to food that doesn't really look like ... food, but the juicy texture! The way it separates in my mouth! It's just dry enough to eat as a finger food and oh, you bet I do eat it as a finger food.

My worst vice? Dipping it in pesto. Seriously, give me a small vat of pesto and a styro-wrapped pound of imitation crab and you have just bought yourself peace and quiet. For like, an hour.

It has a great balance of protein and carbs, fills me up, and is more fun than (and cheap as) a can of tuna fish. And it's delicious.

I don't recommend it for parties, because everyone knows it's not "real" food, but for the comfort of your own private snacking delight? There is no substitute for imitation crab.

I was just sitting here, typing into the wee hours of the night when I heard sirens. They got closer, and closer, and then stopped in front of my house. I figured I was safe, since the alarms in my building go off if you roast coffee, let alone stir up some big flames. So I go outside, and the abandoned house across the street is a-flame. There's a nice toasty smoke haze to the air, and the sidewalks are littered with late-night passerby and robe-clad residents.

Looking at the smoky, empty house, the sirens and incessantly blinking lights from 6 firetrucks began to fade away. The house was replaced with a more modest late-fall bonfire in my mind, one with loud, crackling flames.

Being a foodie, that quickly stirred up thoughts bonfire-worthy snacks. When the sky is dark, the air is cold, and the flames are crackling, what foods do you eat?

So the presidential debate is on after all! And I know the number one question on your mind is not "how will McCain's fiscal policies differ from Bush's?" or "how will Obama deal with the Iran question?" but rather, "what to eat?"

Well, I've got a few suggestions for snacks, based on the candidate's own favorite foods and studies of Democratic and Republican food habits. Serve all the food on blue and red plates and make a game out of it. When one candidate makes a winning point, you eat a snack from the opposite party. When McCain corners Obama into admitting the troop surge in Iraq was successful, you eat a Democratic snack. When Obama says "McCain" and "Big Oil" in the same sentence, eat a red snack. Whichever side has more snacks left at the end wins!

1. Obama, having lived in Chicago for most of his life, enjoys the city's famous deep dish pizza. Turn pizza into a snack with this Food Network recipe for pizza bites. But keep it All-American by subbing out the mascarpone for some less-exotic mozzarella cheese. Add pineapple for a Hawaiian-childhood flair! McCain loves the Tex-Mex cuisine of his native Arizona. Serve these burriquitas (mini burritos) with a side of salsa (but not too spicy - you don't want to appear volatile).

2. According to Urbanspoon's "steak/sushi index", you can predict which cities skew more Democratic or Republican based solely on their number of sushi (Democrat) or steak (Republican) restaurants. So bust out the sushi mat and roll yourself some Obama Rolls (fried eggplant and fresh spinach). Throw some red meat to the Repubs with these steak and potato kebabs from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

3. McCain supporters are said to favor Hardees and family dining chains like Fuddruckers. Copious amounts of ground beef, anyone? Make your Republican burgers bite-sized, with this Emeril Lagasse recipe for sirloin sliders with bacon. Obama fans go for mall favorites like the Cheesecake Factory and Panera Bread. Try this copycat recipe of the Cheesecake Factory's famous (infamous?) fried macaroni and cheese balls.

4. Obama is known to brag about his famous chili. He's even provided America with the recipe, which you can snack-ify by serving it in mini bread cups. Cindy McCain's family recipe farfalle pasta with turkey sausage and mushrooms (Copyright the Food Network) doesn't make great finger food, so try a riff on lemon chicken (her real favorite, according to the Guardian) instead - serve cold lemon chicken salad on crackers or slices of baguette instead.

Tip: Keep some nice sorbet in the freezer to use as a palate cleanser whenever an nauseous homily about "small-town values" and "not playing politics" makes you throw up a little in your mouth. I like Bon Appetit's lemon buttermilk version.

Here's an indication of how chip-centric my life's been lately -- last night on the subway home from work, a man stepped onto the train, and from 10 or so feet away, I could tell, just by spotting a smidge of the bottom corner of his chip bag, that he was enjoying some Deep River Snacks Olive Oil & Rosemary Potato Chips. I've tasted well over 150 varieties of plain and flavored chips in the past two months (and have learned to rely on plain lettuce for all my other sustenance), but in the taste test linked below have no doubt skipped over one of your faves. I wanna know which ones they are, so please shout it out in the comments section. List of chips is after the jump.

Flavored Potato Chip Taste Test

Plain Potato Chip Taste Test