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Robert Pattinson Celebrates a Certifiably Big Weekend

PopSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:37:03 -0800

Robert Pattinson hung around NYC after working hard to promote New Moon last week. He was able to join friends yesterday for dinner at Megu, and he was spotted on his way out in his usual jeans and sneakers. Robert's due for a little time off now that the film is a major hit - it broke the midnight screening record, had the biggest single day gross ever and went on to enjoy the third biggest opening weekend in history behind The Dark Knight and Spider-man 3. Robert also grabbed food with pals, including Kristen Stewart, on Friday night, but soon he'll be switching gears as he preps to star in Bel Ami with Uma Thurman.

To see more Robert, just read more.

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Toxic Olive Oil Remains A Mystery

partysugar — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:38:30 -0700

On today's date, June 28, in 1988 the Spanish toxic olive oil trail ended after 15 months of investigation. In what is known as one of the worst records of food poisoning in history, an epidemic broke out in May of 1981. Hundreds of Spaniards fell severely ill with pneumonia like symptoms that doctors were unable to treat correctly. Although the judges concluded that the cause of the sickness was bad olive oil, there is much speculation about the epidemic which is commonly known as the Toxic Oil Syndrome. Doctors and government officials who believed it was not bad olive oil, but something else - like fertilizer contaminated tomatoes - were immediately fired from their positions.

The secrecy surrounding the epidemic, and the fact that the majority of breakouts were located near a US military base in Spain, lead many to think it was a conspiracy. This reminds me of the last year's spinach scare and makes me wonder, are you afraid of food poisoning?

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to High Blood Pressure

FitSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0800

No matter how much the Corn Refiners Association tries to convince us that high-fructose corn syrup is healthy, I'm not buying it. Now I have another reason to avoid it: new findings have linked high-fructose corn syrup to high blood pressure, aka hypertension.

In the past 20 years alone, Americans have increased fructose intake by 30 percent, and that increase tracks closely to the rise in obesity. But it may also be contributing to high blood pressure. A team of doctors at the University of Colorado Denver studied more than 4,500 adults with no prior history of hypertension and tracked their fructose intake with a dietary survey. The results are pretty persuasive, so read all about it.

Was This Dish Named After Someone?

YumSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:50:47 -0800

Call it a predilection, an idée fixe, or simply a weird fascination, but I've always had a penchant for Continental dishes with unique names and even more intriguing histories. But it wasn't until I took the time to look up some of the foods that I realized many of the dishes aren't just named after their creator or an inspirational figure, but also other oddities, like locales, plays, and even battles.

Since many of you scored so well with your food trivia the first time around, just for kicks, I thought I'd test you again. If you're just getting started, here's the drill: I'll list an unusually named dish, and you have to guess whether it was named after a person or not. Ready? Go!

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Can You Cut the Mustard?

YumSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:50:45 -0700

We love mustard on YumSugar. Party admits to sometimes eating it with a spoon, and I even make my own.

So what might seem like a silly national day of observance has us pretty excited: this Saturday, Aug. 1, is National Mustard Day. Don't forget to celebrate by slathering some of the yellow stuff on your sandwich, hot dog, or anything else that suits your fancy. But first, see how much you know about this condiment by giving my quiz a squeeze.

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Infamous Reform School For Girls Closes Its Doors

TresSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

The idea of a reform school for girls seems to come straight out of a B-movie from the '50s, complete with stock characters like the naïve innocent, the hardened mean girl with a heart of gold who ends up plotting a way for them both to escape, and an evil warden who gets in their way. It's hard to believe that such a place could still exist.

Until August of this year, the notorious Beloit reform school for girls in Beloit, KS did exist, and the school, founded in the 1890s, only recently shut down because the state could no longer afford to house the remaining 21 girls to the tune of $200,000 a year.

Although the school's founders had good intentions, Beloit's dark history includes the severe mistreatment of girls, many of who were running away from physically and sexually abusive homes. In effect, the abused were shipped off to be further abused. How bad did it get? In the '30s, a superintendent who was influenced by Nazi eugenics practices had 62 of her charges involuntarily sterilized. To read more about the history of Beloit and how it evolved, read more

Beloit was founded and in part funded by the suffragist and pro-Prohibition group The Women's Christian Temperance Union in the 1890s. Sometimes, the girls there were practically "indentured" by farm families in this rural town in order to earn the food they ate. (This was all before the state took over.)

At the time, according to Russell Jennings, commissioner of the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority, girls "were really viewed in our society much more as property." They didn't even have to run away to be deemed "incorrigible" or "wayward." They only had to be, as he put it, "a pain in the neck."

In a file from a girl housed (incarcerated?) at Beloit in the '30s, her offenses were that she "associated with Mexican men" and "became intoxicated at dances." Another woman was sent to the reform school for "being immoral (with father)."

A federal law passed in the mid-1970s ended the practice of sending girls to reform school when their offenses, if they'd been committed by adults, would not be considered crimes. But their incarceration continued in Kansas until 1983. Now, troubled teenage girls are sent to community centers where they can get the help that they need.

In spite of its history, for some who stayed there, Beloit was a haven from abuse at home. "I will always believe that because of Beloit and the staff, I am where I am today," said a 50-year-old who is happily married with three children and counsels survivors of sexual abuse. "They saved the lives of unwanted children."

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Do You Know M.F.K Fisher?

partysugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:50:16 -0700

On today's date, June 22 in 1992, prolific food writer M.F.K Fisher died. While Fisher was a well-respected figure in the food industry, I don't know much about her. To learn more about her work and life, I thought it would be fun to put together a quiz that celebrates the author who enjoyed and practiced the art of simple eating.

How well do you know her? Find out now and take the quiz!

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Food For Thought: M.F.K. Fisher

YumSugar — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:38:39 -0700

Today would have marked the 99th birthday of prolific writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (most commonly known as M.F.K. Fisher). She was a prominent food critic and one of the great culinary writers of the 20th century. To commemorate her birthday I thought I'd share my favorite M.F.K. Fisher quote with you:

"It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.

So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it; and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied; and it is all one." - M.F.K. Fisher, from The Art of Eating

What's Cooking at Slashfood

YumSugar — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:37 -0700

We love Slashfood so much that every Thursday we round up their most delicious stories. Here are this week's finds:

Not all money is created equal: why servers don't want your change.
Remembering the 10 lamest kids' toys in fast food history.
More on Kogi BBQ, the LA street food truck that started it all.
One Toronto grape eater finds himself confronted with a deadly black widow spider.
Cooking site food52 is kicking off its first-ever tournament of cookbooks.

Can You Identify These Frozen Food Brands?

partysugar — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:31:56 -0800

Happy National Frozen Foods Day! While my freezer currently only has an oversized bottle of Grey Goose, I do have a weakness for Stouffer's frozen French bread pizzas. I don't consume frozen foods all the time, but I'm pretty familiar with the brands that package them. You had so much fun identifying the canned foods, I thought it would be cool to play the same game, but with frozen foods. Can you identify these frozen foods brands?

Source

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