Alcohol
This Week in Food: Twitter, Trader Joe's Wine, and the Secret Behind Sriracha
As Smithsonian staffers rush to close our July issue, here are a few helpful links to get you through your day:– The Internet Food Association, written by a coterie of D.C. think tank policy nerds who moonlight as foodies, directs us to a great new blog, Trader Joe's Wine Compendium, which I highly...
May 21, 2009 |
By Brian Wolly
When Food Changed History: Louis Pasteur
If you've never considered the connection between beet juice and rabies prevention, read on.This is the first installment in an occasional series about important food-related events in history. I can think of no better subject to begin with than the scientist whose discoveries led to important inno...
May 18, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The History of the Margarita
Today marks Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In Mexico, the observance is not as important as the nation's independence day, September 16. But, just as St. Patrick's Day is a much bigger deal to Irish expatriates and their descen...
May 05, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Wines of Hungary -- the Next Big Thing?
I already knew that some delicious wines come from Austria, since I lived there for a few months once upon a time. But Hungary? I was only dimly aware that they even had a wine industry.Well, after attending a recent "Austrian-Hungarian Wine Seminar," I realized what I'd been missing out on.Accordi...
April 02, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Is Guinness Really Good for You?
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, the one day of the year when eating your greens can mean cupcakes, beer, even bacon.
It’s oddly appropriate that we celebrate our country’s Irish heritage by binging on fatty food and drink; after all, Ireland is the home of the fry-up, a typical breakfast consisting of fr...
March 17, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Beer Behemoths, Part Two
Okay, let's recap. In part one, I told you about Delirium Tremens and four beers from a recent Smithsonian Resident Associates beer seminar, but there's still seven to go! So read on, if it doesn't drive you mad with thirsty envy....Even though we were sipping only a few ounces of each beer, by the...
February 26, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Did New Orleans Invent the Cocktail?
Ask most people where the cocktail was invented, and they'll probably guess New Orleans, something the city itself wants you to believe. The story goes that a fellow named Antoine Peychaud opened an apothecary shop in New Orleans' French quarter in the 1830s, and sold his own homemade bitters. Befo...
February 24, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Beer Behemoths, Part One
Remember when I mentioned in a previous post that I wished I could attend a certain beer tasting seminar organized by the Smithsonian Resident Associates? Well, my wish was granted! The "Beer Behemoths" seminar took place earlier this month at the Brickskeller, a DC restaurant that boasts a beer li...
February 23, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Lessons Learned from the DC Wine & Food Festival
I visited the DC International Wine & Food Festival this past weekend—which, as you surely already know, is "The # 2 Food & Restaurant Industry Event in BizBash Washington's Top 100 Events, Fall 2008."(I can understand tooting your own horn if you're #1, but why trumpet second-best? Especia...
February 17, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Hot Cocoa Tasting at a "Chocolate Lounge"
I know that I promised to write about historic chocolate rituals today, but I haven't had time to read that book yet. Somehow, though, I did find time yesterday to indulge in a visit to CoCo Sala, a chocolate lounge in downtown DC...you know, for research.Now, I'm familiar with wine flights—a menu ...
February 11, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Food Blog Carnival: Cabbage, Chocolate, and Coconut (Pancakes)
Welcome to the first-ever FaT Food Blog Carnival! We'll be having these at least once a month, so please drop us a line if you spot a site you think we should celebrate in the next round. There's not a particular theme this time, other than food and fun...
Amanda's picks:
Cabbage craze: Meticulous...
February 06, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Best and Worst of Food World's Obama Puns
Just about a year ago, Slate.com came out with an Encyclopedia Baracktannica widget. It was a collection of tongue-in-cheek puns dreamed up by the editors in response to what we know now was just the first trickle of Obama wordplay.As the campaign went on, the punning inventions - I like to call th...
January 29, 2009 |
By Hugh Powell
Alcohol in Archaeology and Modern Life
A colleague just dropped an academic article titled "Ancient beer and modern brewers" on my desk, culled from a recent issue of Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. (I love working with nerds...I mean, people who are far more well-read than myself!)The article focuses on the production of chicha...
January 26, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Caffeine Linked to Hallucinations
Did you hear that?Um, nothing. Never mind. I meant to say, did you hear that consuming too much caffeine could make you more prone to "hallucinatory experiences?"According to a study published this week in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, "high caffeine users"* are three times mo...
January 14, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Don't Know Your Own Taste in Wine? Take a Test.
As my close friends know painfully well, I'm not exactly good at making decisions. At the wine store, I'm the customer who gets asked "Can I help you?" twice by the same salesperson because I've meandered between shelves for so long that they have forgotten our first encounter.Then I usually say so...
January 13, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
2008 Beer in Review
I'll say it. The best beers in the world today are being made in the U.S. Let foreigners joke about our watery "macrobrews," but meanwhile our craft-brewing tradition has gathered steam the way all endeavors do in our young country: with enthusiasm, ingenuity, and heaps of technology. Give us a thu...
December 30, 2008 |
By Hugh Powell
Barreled Over by Big Wines
With the holidays in full swing, it's time to get serious about wine — something I regard as recompense for spending ages indoors with people I love dearly but who live in inconvenient parts of the country and tend to have very enthusiastic dogs.And yet I'm hopeless at it. My experience with wine i...
December 16, 2008 |
By Hugh Powell
Happy Repeal Day!
Exactly 75 years ago today, our nation changed its mind and decided that alcohol isn't so bad for the constitution after all...the U.S. Constitution, that is.In 1919, Congress had written a strict prescription (in the form of the 18th amendment and related Volstead Act) banning the "manufacture, sa...
December 05, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
In the News: ‘Green Thanksgiving,’ Futuristic Food, Extreme Beer, and Farmer in Chief
A roundup of recent food-related features worth checking out:On Sunday, the Washington Post ran this graphic about a "greener Thanksgiving," which gave me a nudge of guilt about buying Californian wine and South American asparagus, but I promise to eat all my leftovers...Topics like food miles and ...
November 28, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
Healthy Holiday Eating Strategies
This isn’t meant to be a “how to" blog, but I recently stumbled across some useful tips at a Smithsonian employee event and thought I should share the wealth. The speaker, a certified nutritionist named Alana Sugar (I know, right? That’s her real name!) talked about people’s “love/hate relationship...
November 25, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
