NASA Presents:  Space Food!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 22, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Food, Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy, 1960s

CHEESE POWER

The French are using whey left over from making Beaufort cheese as fuel for electric power stations. Tr`es brillant!

Posted By: Alex - Mon Dec 21, 2015 - Comments (9)
Category: Food, Utilities and Power Generation

Rice recipe caused nervous breakdown

1992: Bobbie June Griggs sued South Carolina Electric & Gas, claiming that its publication of her rice recipe caused her to suffer a nervous breakdown. Her husband also brought an action for "loss of consortium."

Griggs had entered her rice recipe in the utility's Third Annual Rice Cookoff in 1989. She wasn't picked as a finalist, but the utility nevertheless included her recipe in the cookoff cookbook (Rice, a lowcountry tradition: the official cookbook for the Third Annual South Carolina Rice Cookoff). This is what triggered the nervous breakdown.

The state court dismissed her case, noting that it was really a copyright case and thus belonged in the federal courts. In 1995, the state supreme court affirmed this decision (although one justice dissented). And it seems that Griggs tried to take her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, because the AP reported in April 1996 that the Supreme Court also refused to hear her case, noting that "copyright law does not cover infliction of emotional distress" and also that you can't copyright a single recipe.

Her recipe, which she said she spent 10 years developing, involved canned tomatoes, meatballs, onions and bell peppers on a bed of rice. She called it "June's Creation."

Spartanburg Herald-Journal - Apr 23, 1996

Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 18, 2015 - Comments (10)
Category: Food, Cookbooks, Lawsuits, 1990s

Peels and All

June 1997: Mait Lepik won Estonia's first banana-eating contest thanks to a time-saving strategy. Instead of wasting precious moments peeling the bananas, he simply ate the bananas peels and all. His first-place prize was a free trip to the Canary Islands.

That's how the story was widely reported back in 1997 (such as here and here and below), but I have a hard time believing that it could be quicker to eat a banana with its peel still on, rather than taking a brief moment to remove the peel. After all, the skin is full of fiber and takes time to chew. I think it should have been reported that he managed to win the contest despite not peeling the bananas first.

In the video below the article, professional competitive eater Kevin Strahle (aka L.A. Beast) eats six unpeeled bananas. It's not easy for him. So I don't see how it could have been an easy way for Lepik to win a banana-eating contest either.

San Bernardino County Sun - June 22, 1997

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 17, 2015 - Comments (12)
Category: Food, Sports, 1990s

Dolphin for Christmas Dinner

Arthur Boyt considers himself a "roadkill connoisseur." He'll eat just about any dead animal that he finds (weasel, badger, hedgehog, squirrel, etc.), and he recently had the find of his life. A dolphin washed up dead on a beach near his home in Cornwall (so that would be oceankill?), and he's decided to eat it for Christmas dinner. He's going to "casserole it with potato, beetroot, carrots, garlic and herbs."

He's already eaten part of it and says that it tastes pretty bad. But he's eating it for Christmas anyway because he believes eating roadkill, as opposed to a purposefully killed animal, is "more in keeping with the spirit of Christmas."

More: Leader Standard, Daily Mail

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 10, 2015 - Comments (14)
Category: Food, Holidays

Best Apple Butter in Oklahoma

The judges probably thought it was a bold new take on apple butter.

The Plain Speaker (Hazelton, Pa. — Oct 24, 1956)

Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 29, 2015 - Comments (13)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Food, 1950s

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 26, 2015 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Death, Food, Holidays, 1920s

The Perect Thanksgiving Dessert

If Turducken is Gluttony 101 then Piecaken is the Masters Thesis. A pie inside a cake layered on another pie inside another cake. As many layers as you like with as many different combinations as you can think up. Decadent and delicious! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 25, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Food, Junk Food, Holidays

Life (Death) Hack

British lady tried out a life hack she read about on Facebook with unfortunate results.The suggestion was to lay the toaster on its side to make cheese on toast instead of grilling it. The idea back fired nearly destroying her kitchen before fire fighters arrived to put out the blaze. Life Hack: Using a toaster on its side to make cheese toast. Result: Epic Fail!

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 23, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Goofs and Screw-ups, Food

Ketchup Leather

Ketchup Leather is the latest advance in hamburger science. Invented by an L.A. restaurant, it's basically dehydrated ketchup. The idea is that it stops the burger bun from getting soggy.

Maybe this will go down well with trendy L.A. types, but I can't see Mr. and Mrs. Average American embracing this.

More info at Tech Insider.

via GIPHY

Posted By: Alex - Thu Nov 19, 2015 - Comments (12)
Category: Food