Nagging Questions Gives You The Answers

I found a great food trivia column at chow.com called Nagging Questions. Searching through the list of questions author Roxanne Webber has already asked, I found myself thinking Yeah, why is that? a lot. Questions that had not ever nagged before, suddenly were. There were questions like how does packaged guacamole stay [...]

June 24, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts  No Comments

Watermelon, It’s Your Summertime Stimulant …Err…Refreshment

Let’s start off the summer right by reminding ourselves how good watermelon tastes. It’s about now that watermelon is transforming from dry pink mush into lush, juicy pieces of cool refreshment.  There is even more reason to love watermelon because it:

is concentrated with a ton of antioxidants
helps reduce inflammation
may help prevent asthma when eaten
is [...]

June 17, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Health, Science & Technology  One Comment

How To Curb An Outbreak

Excerpted from Mental_Floss (Volume 5, Issue 3):
In 1918 and 1919, one-fifth of the world’s population contracted influenza, and nearly 50 million people died as a result. That’s more fatalities in a single year than the 14th-century Black Plague caused in four. Even scarier, at the time of the flu outbreak, public health officials [...]

May 12, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Health  No Comments

(Re)Name That Flu!

NPR is taking up Fiona Feck’s challenge to have the public resolve the swine flu/H1N1 virus name controversy.
According to The New York Times:  ”Maybe, she suggested, there could be a competition, and members of the public could come up with a better name.”
What thou asks of the internet, thou shalt recieve.   From Twitter (#NameThatFlu) [...]

May 5, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts  2 Comments

Eat Like A Man Diet

I thought I would focus on something completely unrelated to the swine flu, but still on the topic of “pigs”.
There is a consensus that dieting is totally a female thing. Weight Watchers and the like are missing out on 50% of the population. How to get them? How about by telling them that [...]

May 1, 2009  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Science & Technology  No Comments

For High Spirits Or Pub Night Trivia?

Mark Peel, chef and owner of LA’s Campanile, visited with KCRW’s Evan Kleiman last year to serve up a tasty bit of knowledge about the world of punches and cocktails (link).  He offered some sweet recipes, too.
The simplest distinction between a punch and the cocktail is the type of glass it comes in.  If it’s [...]

April 24, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Health  No Comments

The History of Candy Canes: The Myth, and the Legend

Peppermint sticks were originally among the food decorations that were made exclusively for Christmas tree beginnings well over 400 years ago.  They were long sticks of peppermint, rather than the canes we are used to now.  The sticks were simply balanced on the Christmas Tree branches.
The hooked candy cane came later:
The first historical reference to the [...]

December 11, 2008  Tags: ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts  One Comment

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey Day Trivia: Turkey meat and drowsiness
One widely-held belief is that heavy consumption of turkey meat (as for example in a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast) results in drowsiness, which has been attributed to high levels of tryptophan contained in turkey. While turkey does contain high levels of tryptophan, the amount is comparable to that [...]

November 27, 2008  Tags: ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts  No Comments

Starbucks Coffee in Hot Water Over Its Sustainable Policy

If you thought all the disposable cups produced by convenience coffee-makers were bad enough, you should read about Starbucks’ policy on running water (see). Its dish cleaning sink must always run throughout the entire day in order to prevent ‘germ buildup’.  Starbucks says it cares about the environment and even donates “five cents from each [...]

November 20, 2008  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Politics  One Comment

Get a Wiggly Jiggly Jump on Jell-O

Celery? Coffee? Bubble gum? Pickles!? Yes, along with ’seasoned tomato’, they were all at one point unpopular flavors of Jell-O®, “America’s Most Famous Dessert.” (The spiel: JELL-O ® is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc. However, Jell-O has become such a generic term now that it must be sold as Jell-O® Brand to [...]

November 12, 2008  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Fun Food Facts  No Comments