"taste" news and stories

It sounds like a New Age spin on the timeworn promises of diet aids everywhere: Sprinkle crystals on your food and -- abracadabra! -- start shedding weight.

The makers of Sensa, of course, claim that there's more science than hocus-pocus behind their product. Much of the rest of the scientific community, including U.K. neuropsychologist Dominic Dwyer, isn't so sure. Nevertheless, the magic-seeming crystals that two years ago promised dieters in America that they could lose weight without having to exercise or change what they eat are getting ready to take the world by storm.

The most exciting thing about artisanal cheeses is their complex, multi-layered flavors. However, for many people, they seem unapproachable. The best way to savor these cheeses is to breakdown the experience from the first encounter (touch and smell) to the last encounter (after-taste).

The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau wants you to have the greatest dining experience possible on you next trip to the Bay Area. They've added Taste as an additional website to the official visitors bureau site, and it's completely dedicated to food.

I was particularly interested in Taste, as I am going to San Francisco later this summer and I want any dining info I can get. Taste does offer plenty of dining information, especially of you have plenty of cash to spend on your trip. There's a mini blog, Foodie 411, and a calender of upcoming food events. Also, you can check out restaurants based on different categories like 'price', 'dining adventures', and 'al fresco', even the area of town. Overall the site is interesting and east to navigate.

There is one area that I think Taste is deficient in. Taste has a section dedicated to drinks, and it is awful. There is only one brew pub listed and no wine bars, even though they have several wineries listed. I'm not sure what's going on with that, but my guess is that the brew pubs didn't sign up with the visitor's bureau. Either way, if you're planning on going to San Francisco this website can help with dining choices, but definitely use as many resources as possible for the food aspect of your trip to San Francisco.

When you think about moving to a new city, you might take into account the school districts, the job market, the home prices and the property taxes. But do you spend time thinking about how the tap water tastes? Probably not. However, thanks to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, you can now factor in the taste of a municipality's tap water in your move decisions.

This last Saturday, the panel of independent judges tasted water samples from 120 sources and determined that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves Los Angeles, and the town of Clearbrook, British Columbia tied for first place in the tap water category.

For those of you in Los Angeles, do you think your tap water is award worthy? For the rest of you, how does your tap water stack up?

[via CNN.com]

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Chicken sausages are lower in fat and calories than most pork or beef sausages, but they aren't known for having as much flavor as the two meatier varieties. This isn't to say that they're bad, just that they tend not to be as crave-inducing as their counterparts. But because some chicken sausages aren't all that satisfying doesn't mean that none are. EatingWell magazine set out, in their most recent issue, to do a taste test of 27 different varieties of chicken sausages to find out which ones were the most worth-eating, both when it came to flavor and health.

After an exhaustive and filling trial, EW's tasting panel narrowed the field down to eight top picks from five manufacturers. They all had approximately half the calories and one third of the fat of the average pork sausage, but were still very tasty. The winners included:

• Al Fresco: Buffalo Style, Sweet Italian Style, and Teriyaki Ginger
• Applegate Farms: Chicken & Apple
• Bilinski's: Mild Italian Style; Spinach & Garlic
• Casual Gourmet: Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella
• Coleman Natural: Cilantro