• People still see wine as an affordable indulgence, but in honor of the recession they're drinking more at home and cutting back in restaurants, according to a Nielsen survey.
• In supermarkets, Pinot Noir reigns king, followed by Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Meritage. The losers were Shiraz and White Zinfandel.
• Top supermarket brands gainers: Barefoot Wine, Folie A Deux, Chateau Ste. Michelle, Estancia, Gnarly Head, Mirassou, La Crema, Red Diamond, Toasted Head, and St. Jean. Losers: Black Swan, Beringer, and Almaden.
• Red wine will beat white in popularity again in 2008, with 121 million cases over white's 118 million cases. Prior to 2006, red wine had not outsold white since 1976.
• In spite of the economy, wine sales are still healthy, growing at around 5 percent. Value wines are gaining, of course. Constellation Brands has seen a pickup in wine below $5 and in "tried and true" brands as customers are less willing to experiment.
• California sales are growing faster than imports, but New Zealand, Spain, and Argentina are the hot new foreign wine markets.

July is National Hot Dog month and summer is certainly an appropriate choice, as Americans eat 7 billion hot dogs during the summer (from Memorial Day to Labor Day), cooking up two thirds of them in the backyard or at home, and a total of 20 billion every year. On the 4th of July alone, 150 million hot dogs will be eaten in the US and most will be grilled, since 60% of Americans say that they prefer to eat them that way.

Want to test your hot dog trivia knowledge? Take the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's online quiz and see if you have the goods on one of America's favorite foods. I have to admit that I only got 7 out of 10. What are you waiting for? Test the test and let us know how you scored in the comments!

More hot dog stories:

• How do you dress your dog? 
• Peanut butter hot dogs 
• Slashfood Ate (8): Best Hot Dogs 
• How hot dogs got their name 
• Microwaveable hot dogs... with buns? 
• Heinz makes the best ketchup 

I love most kinds of coffee and I love espresso. There is one misconception about it - whether you like the taste or not - that bugs me. It has to do with the caffeine content and I know otherwise sane adults who shudder at the very thought of having an espresso-based drink while happily downing cups of regular brew. They think that the strong flavor of espresso directly correlates with an exponentially high caffeine content.

Espresso has plenty of caffeine in it and, ounce for ounce, it has more caffeine in it than drip coffee. Here's the thing: one serving of espresso is 1-2 ounces, while a serving of drip coffee ranges from 6-12 ounces. To approximate, as the exact brewing method and quantity of beans used can affect caffeine content, one serving of drip coffee will have 100-200mg of caffeine (17mg/oz). A serving of espresso, which we'll say is 1.5 ounces here, has approximately 50 mg of caffeine (30mg/oz). So, if you only drink one ounce of coffee, you would get less caffeine than with one ounce of espresso. Otherwise, it is likely that you are drinking both more coffee and more caffeine with a regular drip than with a drink that uses one or two shots of espresso, like a latte.

The moral of this story? If you're that concerned with caffeine, order the smallest available size of a drink or ask for decaf. Otherwise, you can relax and enjoy your latte without having to worry that you'll be kept up for the next week.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Food allergies may be on the rise. While doctors report that in the past only a small segment of their patients, around 5%, were afflicted with allergies, today a much larger portion are. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of hard data to support anecdotal evidence like this because there is not a lot of money that goes into food allergy research. The problem is of particular concern because some doctors also believe that near-fatal reactions are becoming more common.

Since even medical professionals are relying on what they're seen and not necessarily what they've studied, does anyone else feel this way?

It seems that more and more people are claiming to have "allergies" and "sensitivities" or, even more vaguely, "to have issues with" various food products. While many people do have food-related problems, is it possible that this is just hypochondria, or are allergies really getting worse?

There is a reason why Frank Bruni drove through the South and not, say, Montana, on his hunt for the best fast food in the country. It is because there is more fast food eaten in the South than in any other part of the country.

According to Scarborough Research (pdf), while the average American adult eats fast food about 5.2 times per month, residents of Birmingham, Alabama dine at fast food restaurants 6.5 times per month. Given that the examples used by the research firm were McDonald's and Subway, it seems likely that they only included major chain restaurants in their survey, too. Rounding out the top five for fast food consumption were Louisville, KY; Austin. TX; Memphis, TN and Raleigh, NC, ranging from 6.4-6.2 average visits.

The company also looked at the cities in which "sit-down" quick service restaurants, like Applebee's or TGI Friday's, were frequented. Orlando, Florida came out on top, with 4.5 visits per month. The other top cities included Cincinnati, OH; Fort Meyers, FL; Tampa, FL and Atlanta, GA.

Cities like Syracuse, NY and Philadelphia, PA were towards the bottom of the fast food visit rankings, with only 4 visits per adult per month, and Honolulu, HI, Buffalo, NY and Spokane, WA had the fewest "sit-down" visits, at 3, 2.9 and 2.5, respectively.

Food Technology Magazine published their report in trends in the food industry this month, which includes statistics indicating that the popularity of take-out and premade foods is on the rise and that people perceive foods found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket as being healthier than frozen foods. Health concerns are growing, but still only 32% of meals are made "from scratch" at home and fewer than 20% of all meals are eaten at home - takeaway or homemade - are eaten at the table, with the whole family. The article (available as a PDF) is packed with fascinating statistics, but one of the lists is a clear indicator that no matter what adults are saying and doing in the quest for a healthier diet, the most important age group is being ignored: children.

The Independent has an article about people committing food fraud--making meals using ready-made packages and passing it off as their own creation. They say that 40% of young women have done this, as compared to only 22% of young men. The survey strikes a chord with the older generations--are the younger generations simply incompetent in life skills? Should home economics be reinstated to teach these essentials?

I don't know anyone who has ever tried to commit food fraud--in fact, I feel that cooking is actually making a comeback amongst the young people in the US. But perhaps I'm hanging out with a skewed crowd. What do you think? Is the next generation simply an instant meal kind of crowd?