"twitter" news and stories

It hardly seems fair to judge chefs by their tweets -- after all, it's what happens in their kitchens that really matters. Still, aren't you curious who's mastered the Twitter-verse? The Daily Meal has a roundup of the 15 most followed chefs on Twitter. Does his penchant for all things raunchy help Anthony Bourdain beat out Bobby Flay? Or is Paula Dean the pied piper of the 140 character set? And where does Mr. Food Revolution himself, Jamie Oliver, fit in? Find out.

Read The Daily Meal's list of the 15 most followed chefs on Twitter.

Used to be, when two people said something at the same time, you'd blurt out, "Jinx, buy me a Coke." But forget soda: Kraft's decided to substitute boxed mac & cheese for their new "Mac & Jinx" Twitter campaign. According to Mashable, Kraft has developed a new game to get the phrase "mac & cheese" trending on the social networking site. It works like this: Any time two people use "mac & cheese" in a tweet, they each get a link to Mac & Jinx. The first one to click the link gets five free boxes of Kraft's mac & cheese, plus a T shirt. The promo is from the hyper-creative ad firm of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency behind Burger King's Facebook campaign (delete 10 friends and get a free Whopper) and Microsoft's Laptop ("I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person.") spots. So if you're feeling cheesy -- tweet about it.

• "Golden Voiced" Ted Williams' first job was a voiceover for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Read about it at AOL News.

Hungry for news about fast food, slow food, food politics, food personalities, and food controversies? Then sign up for our weekly newsletter. Plus, be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Forget recipes: These days, celebrity chefs are using Twitter to post everything from music picks to their political opinons. See if you can figure out who's obsessed with chocolate, who's dissing Taco Bell, and which chef loves "Meet the Press" by taking this quiz from our friends over at YumSugar.

Take YumSugar's Celebrity Chef Twitter Quiz.

Will Domestic Diva Martha Stewart have to spend her post-Christmas downtime baking yet another round of cookies because the blizzard in the Northeast means she can't fly out of town? Martha screamed on Twitter on Sunday during the storm that the snow may be nixing her getaway: "We are actually having a blizzard whiteout my flight to the islands was cancelled for tomorrow and i really need a vacation!! are you ok?"

Well, she may need a vacation, but the airports just say "No." And, says a source close to Martha, "Martha does not accept no from anyone, including Mother Nature. We are hoping that she gets a private jet to get her out of the country. No one wants Martha to have a vacation more than her staff. An uhappy Martha is not a gift anyone wants this year!"

Are you listening air-traffic controllers?

Twitter's latest product isn't celebrity tweets, but wine. "Fledgling" is the name of the label which, so far, offers two wines: 2009 vintages of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The Fledgling Initiative -- a project of Twitter Inc. -- is on a mission to benefit Room to Read, a non-profit organization which provides literacy opportunities to children in developing countries. Based in Uttarakhand, India, the outreach is not limited just to that region; an estimated 4 million children in nine countries have been served. Five dollars from each bottle (which retails for $25) sold will benefit this organization.

Like any good culinary find, it's not always a straight path to acquiring it. The wine can only be purchased via Fledglingwine.com. (The wines are made by Crushpad -- based in Napa, it's an innovative model where organizations and small groups of people alike can use the state-of-the-art facility to make wine.)

We had a chance to sample the Fledgling 2009 Pinot Noir, California. Its smoky nose and intense bright cherry notes are fantastic; its tannins are soft and silky. And each time you order a bottle, you're teaching people how to read. What's not to like?