At Asian Talks: Hold the Onions, Please

Reuters India is reporting that the chefs charged with preparing the menus for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore this week have been told to minimize the use of garlic and onion "to ensure the talks are not an olfactory challenge." Breath mints will also be "readily available."

Restoration Cookware It's Not

Walk into any upscale cookware store, and you'll see an array of cooking equipment designed to look as if it was just plucked from a Paris flea market.

Now, Sur La Table is getting into the business of selling the real thing: actual antique French pots, pans, and tools.

There are worn copper Gaillard pots (right), silver champagne buckets, colorful glass siphon bottles, and some poor grand-mère's prized triple-blade mezzaluna.

Many of the pieces are still in good enough shape to use for actual cooking, while others are so beat up they basically make for (pricey) decorations. See the collection -- online only -- at the Sur la Table website.

VICE Launches Food Video Series

VBS.tv, the online video network run by VICE Media, has launched of a new series called MUNCHIES profiling chefs, critics, and eaters.

The first episode follows chef David Chang as he dines on Korean fried chicken in Midtown Manhattan and hosts chef Jose Andres for a late-night dinner at Ssam Bar. Tune in for lots of self-deprecation, swearing, drinking, and pork buns.

food rac·ism

food rac·ism (noun): An expression of racial prejudice that uses a stereotypical food item to make an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo.

In an opinion column published on CNN's website, Ruben Navarrette Jr. noted the use of the term food racism on a conservative radio program in regards to a controversial statement (see video below) made by an ESPN broadcaster about Colombian NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya:

Giant Cookbooks Descend on New York at Phaidon Pop-Up Store

Phaidon, the publisher of such door-stoppingly huge cooking tomes as The Silver Spoon and 1080 Recipes, and -- more recently -- I Know How to Cook and Coco: 10 of the World's Greatest Chefs, 100 Emerging Culinary Stars, will open a pop-up store in New York City for the holiday season.

The temporary shop, called PHAIDON|STORE, will occupy a 2,500-square-foot retail space at 100 Wooster Street (between Prince and Spring) from November 2, 2009, through January 2010.

According to a press release, the shop will hold special events and offer concierge services and same-day delivery in Manhattan. Here's hoping they won't charge by the pound.

Chemists Identify Formula for the Perfect Gravy

Following in the footsteps of such important scientific breakthroughs as the formulas for the perfect bacon sandwich, perfect pancake, and perfect Yorkshire Pudding, the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK claims to have come up with "a chemistry-based recipe for the perfect gravy."

Chemist and author John Emsley has fine-tuned a gravy recipe that includes a surprise ingredient: soy sauce. Why? To bring out the umami flavor of the gravy, he says.

Also in the mix: the juices of a roast joint of meat, flour, the water from boiling cabbage, iodized salt, pepper, and something called "gravy browning" (caramelized sugar). There you have it.

A Faster Way to Popovers

I have gotten into the habit of making popovers with my daughter on Sundays. The team approach works reasonably well: I measure the ingredients, she dumps them into the bowl, and we take turns mixing. Then, for some peculiar reason, she will inevitably dipping her hands into the measuring cup, eating the plain flour off her fingers until there is no more. I don't get this part

While popovers may not be as magical as the David Eyre's Pancake, watching a few spoonfuls of batter transform into the tall, airy, eggy, crunchy treats is almost as amazing (and delicious, too).

Department of Mashups: The Burger King Windows 7 Whopper

Engadget points to this fascinating development in the Japanese fast food marketplace: it's gastrogigantism meets computer operating software.

Available for just one week, Burger King's "Windows 7 Whopper" is comprised of a stack of seven beef patties on a hamburger bun, measuring five inches in height overall.

walk-a·ways

walk-a·ways (noun): Retail customers so frustrated by store checkout lines that they leave a shop without completing their purchases (see also: queue management).

An October 16, 2009 article entitled "Smart retailers fight walk-aways at the checkout," published on the trade website retailcustomerexperience.com, defined the problem of walk-aways, potential causes, and their impact as lost revenue:

Jelly Beans That Trick and Treat

The Jelly Belly Candy Company has launched a new line of jelly beans that are particularly suited to the upcoming Halloween holiday.

The candies -- branded BeanBoozled -- mix together sweet and disgustingly flavored jelly beans that look exactly the same.

Pick a yellow candy and you might be tasting buttered popcorn, or -- if your luck is down -- rotten egg. A white bean could be posing as coconut or baby wipes, and a blue one might have the flavor of berries or toothpaste. A website allows you to mix and match your own blend of jelly beans online to create custom gift packages.