"theme" news and stories

Earlier this year, Disney announced that their theme parks would start selling healthier fare. The said that they would eliminate trans fats, place limits on the number of calories per portion and limit fat and sugar for snacks, sides and main dishes. Not wanting to be left behind, or accused of not caring about the health of their visitors, Universal Studios has announced that they will also be eliminating trans fats from their park menus.

The first phase of the switch officially took place on Christmas Eve, though the foods have been in development for some time, and now over 90% of the foods at Universal Studios locations are cooked in trans-fat free oils. The few items that are still cooked with trans fats, including churros, will be trans-fat free by the end of next year.

The parks will also be offering other healthy options, like fruit bowls and skim milk, both on kids and regular menus.

Source

The only cartoon-themed restaurants that I've eaten at have been at theme parks and the only memorable one was Marvel Mania at Universal Studios, Hollywood. It has since closed down (probably because the food wasn't that great), but it was kind of entertaining to have Spidey hanging out at the dinner table. Perhaps drawing inspiration from that one selling point - that it is fun to sit with the characters - from such themed restaurants, a new cartoon-themed restaurant has opened up in Toronto that takes the theme further.

iMaid Cafe is a cosplay restaurant, which basically means that all the staff members are dressed in costumes and play a certain role. In this particular case, that role is of a maid from Japanese anime cartoons. "I call them maids not waitresses," said 24-year old Aaron Wang, the owner of the restaurant who is originally from Beijing. "They smile a lot and they are cute. I want somebody cute like the characters from cartoons -- big eyes, long hair and young."

Feedback from customers over the past few weeks has been nothing but positive, as both men and women come to enjoy the costumes and the atmosphere.

Source

Here at Slashfood, we're crazy about food - and we're definitely crazy about writing about it. But this month we're going nuts for... nuts!

When we think of fall foods, nuts play a prominent role in our menus. There are pecan pies for dessert and spiced and candied nuts that are set out when friends come over for an afternoon of hanging out in front of the fire on a cold day, not to mention the fact that many stuffing recipes include nuts in them. Nuts add richness and flavor to most dishes and since there are so many kinds, they are very versatile. On Monday, November 20th, we'll be covering some of our favorite nut recipes and other nutty ideas all day long. We'll probably even have a couple of suggestions that you can incorporate into your Thanksgiving dinner!

If you have a blog of your own and want to join us, write up a post (and don't forget the food porn!) with your favorite recipe that involves nuts in any form and send us a note with the link. We'll round up all the posts at the end of the day on the 20th.

If you're anything like us, your sweet-tooth is bigger than your stomach - especially when it comes to the Halloween season, where even as adults we never seem to stop equating October with free candy. Since we can't give out real candy to each and every one of you (although we would if we could), we're doing it digitally with our Candy Creations Day! All day long we'll be talking about sweets, sugar, candy, chocolate and just about anything related to those topics. Check back to this post for a full listing of everything that is going on, as it will be updated with a full index of our oh-so-sweet posts all day long.

• Food Porn: Bacon Caramel
• Oh Fudge! Cookbook of the Day
• How to make homemade marshmallows
• Day of the Dead chocolate skulls
• Praline-dipped pretzels
• Malaysian Cappuccino KitKat
• In praise of Italian licorice
• Candied Pecans: easy and addictive
• Wine and candy - why not?
• Gourmet mag does Halloween candy
• Candy thermometers go digital
• Put extra candy into a batch of cookies!
• Sweet and salty, from everyday to gourmet
• Candy, candy, everywhere! Candy from the blogosphere!
• Taste Test: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Klondike Bar
• Mini Snickers Brownie Cupcakes

We really like candy here, whether it is a sugary caramel or a decadent box of chocolates, and there is nothing like Halloween to get into the candy spirit. After all, the entire purpose of the holiday is to eat candy! To get into the swing of things before the holiday hit, we decided to host our own day of Candy Creations on Tuesday, October 24th. We'll talk about some of our favorite candies, homemade and store-bought, and offer up some tips on where to find the best candies and what to give out for Halloween. We have lots of treats to give out, but you'll have to be patient!

If you want to join us in our celebration of candy, write a post about your favorite candy, candy recipe or use for candies (sundae toppings, deep fried candy bars, etc) and post about it between now and the 24th. Send us a link to your post and we'll do include it in our roundup that day.