"trivia" news and stories

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 

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Wikis, if you're not familiar with them, are online pages that anyone can edit. This leads to comprehensive definitions on just about any subject from applications like the Wikipedia. For a recipe, this means that all the collective knowledge of cooks can be added in to one central location. Does it make the perfect recipe? The directions for making a grilled cheese sandwich at WikiHow look pretty clear and even though the instructions are simple, keep in mind that every great chef (and hungry cook) must start somewhere. If the stove top method is too conventional, you can also try using a George Foreman grill or an iron.

Speaking of grilled cheese, here are a few facts to tide you over while you wait for your sandwich to be done:

• Americans make 2.2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches at home each year.
• The most popular two cheeses for grilled cheese are cheddar and American, though Gouda, Swiss and Gruyere are also quite popular, especially in Europe.
• 30% of Americans name the grilled cheese as their favorite homemade sandwich
• Grilled cheese often has add-ins and the most common is tomato, followed by bacon/ham, potato chips and pickles, while other variations include the French croque-monsieur and croque-madame.

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We have some facts and figures about general drinking trends, but what about just beer? Here are a few fun bits of beer trivia, from Here's to Beer and other randomly collected factoids, to quiz your buddies when you're all relaxing over a brew and a game after work:

• According to the Canadian Ace Brewing Co., there are 6,998 drops in a 12-ounce bottle of beer.
• St. Arnold is recognized by the Catholic Church as the patron saint of brewing beer.
• A 12-ounce beer has fewer calories than two slices of standard, sliced bread.
• In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is illegal to give beer to a moose.
• The country with the most brands of beer - 400 - is Belgium.
• In Germany, you can buy beer popsicles.
• Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty [beer] glass

For more refreshing beer info, check out Slashfood's beer archives!