Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: Anti-Restaurant

Anti-restaurant
Another moniker for underground restaurants. Anti-restaurants are unlicensed restaurants in apartments and other private spaces run by individuals who do not necessarily aspire to full-time restaurateur-status or, in the words of a recent NY Times article, do not want to mess "with overhead and investors and the health department — a k a The Man — telling them what to do." Resistance, so it seems, can be tasty.

Food Jargon of The Day: Partisan Cookbooks

Partisan Cookbooks
From a recent LA Times article by Betty Hallock, partisan cookbooks are cookbooks created to gustatorily critique or promote the values of a political party. Examples of partisan cookbooks include the classic "Many Happy Returns: The Democrats' Cook Book, or How to Cook a G.O.P. Goose" published in 1960 as well as more recent entries such as "How to Eat Like a Republican" and (our favorite) "The Axis of Evil Cookbook."

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: Mocktail

Mocktail
A nonalcoholic - or "mock" - cocktail.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: Passive Overeating

Passive Overeating
Eating whatever is put in front of you, even to the point of discomfort. In passive overeating, neither we nor our bodies recognize the extra calories and reduce the quantity of food accordingly.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: The Life Cycle of Food and Distavores

the life cycle of food
The total amount of energy that goes into the production of a food item over the course of its entire life cycle (from farm-to-fork). Food miles - how far food travels to get to your table - may not be the best standard when judging the environmental impact of food.

distavore
A farm-to-plane dinner created from items culled from faraway sites. Coined by Joel Stein in a snarky Time Magazine article entitled Extreme Eating, that aims to critique locavore eating habits.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: Lunch-line Cameras

Lunch-line Cameras
Surveillance cameras placed in school cafeterias to monitor student food-theft. School officials in Fairfax County Virginia are installing security cameras throughout the school system to combat what they claim is an estimated $1.2 million worth of prepared food lifted from secondary school cafeterias in the past year.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Food Jargon of the Day: Semivegetarian

Semivegetarian
A recent poll on vegetarian and vegan consumer trends found that 13% of adult Americans identified themselves as "semivegetarian" consuming meat with "fewer than half" of their meals. Also known as flexitarians.