The cephalopod specialist over at the “Squid a Day” blog has pointed at the unusual case of a 63-year-old Korean woman who came to an emergency room complaining of “severe pain” and “a pricking and foreign-body sensation” in her mouth. These symptoms emerged immediately after attempting to consume an intact…
It’s easy to forget just how complicated the modern world is — how the conveniences we enjoy are the result of a vast interlocking network of systems that create ease, comfort, and survival for us everyday. So it’s nice that PBS put out an entire series devoted to showing us…
Phoenix Public Market will, in addition to its normal lineup, host refugee farmers, businesses, and artists from 4 to 8 p.m. today at its open-air market. Today is World Refugee Day, and this event is intended not only to highlight the difficulties faced by refugees but also celebrate the good…
There’s a scene in Mr. and Mrs. Smith when super-spy/assassin Angelina Jolie reveals that she never cooked a day of her life and that her shadowy employer provided hot prepared meals as part of her suburban wife cover story. That actually sounded like a pretty good perk and it appears…
Efforts by local Scottish authorities to silence a 9-year-old food blogger’s school lunch critiques were met with such outrage that they were forced to reverse their gag order in less than 24 hours. Martha Payne, a 9-year-old from Scotland, was dissatisfied with the quality, quantity, and human hair content of…
Variety reports that Paula Deen, the Queen of Cream, is shopping around a U.S. version of a popular Italian competitive-cooking show. Judging from the available clips, it looks like Chopped but with amateur cooks and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? lifelines. Deen’s show will be called Food Chain, but…
If you like sliders, and who doesn’t, you better start your competition cabbage diet now. On Wednesday, July 18, Chompie’s is selling its Jewish Sliders for 99 cents apiece rather than the customary $3.99. This deal is in celebration of its Third annual Ultimate Slider Celebration and will be available…
If the business model of ice cream vending ever struck you as having just a wee bit in common with drug dealing — first one’s free, kiddo! — then it appears you were on the right track. The Lancashire Telegraph is reporting that two British ice cream men got into…
Scottsdale’s Sweet Republic is celebrating four years of delicious ice cream by giving away free scoops from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 13. They’ll also be offering door prizes and giveaways including homemade marshmallows, bacon brittle, gift certificates, and Sweet Republic branded swag…
Please do not disregard the NSFW tag. Beyond the initial candle-in-rectum story there’s a good bit of male frontal nudity and some of the foulest language imaginable. The handwritten warning outside of this man’s shop explains it best: This is the story of the world’s most profane sandwich maker, Salam…
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on high-capacity drink containers has caused ripples and repercussions he could never have imagined, including the effect on law-abiding citizens like comedian Stephen Colbert…
Splitting the bill at the end of a large meal can be a challenge — and a friendship test. (Any person who cannot honestly and quickly settle a bill in a shared meal is no kind of friend, and someone who is willing to short a group of friends after…
Umami Burger is something of a California icon. The restaurant has more than a half-dozen locations in L.A. and scads of accolades including GQ’s “Burger of the Year.” By most accounts, it makes a fine burger for two main reasons: 1. It uses quality meat in its ground. 2. Those…
In light of Yelp extortionists and other less-than-awesome experiences at restaurants across the nation, perhaps there is a market for Talk to the Manager, a new service that provides anonymous communication between consumers and the restaurants they eat at. TTTM acts as a digital middlemen between customers on a business…
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently proposed a ban on the sale of sodas larger than 16 ounces in an effort to combat obesity. The ban would prohibit the sale of these sodas in pretty much every public place in NYC except for the supermarket. We could dwell on the…
Nathan Myhrvold used to be the chief technology officer for Microsoft, then he retired and co-authored the $625, six-volume cookbook, “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.” The book embraced the burgeoning field of molecular gastronomy and used some extreme techniques, including sawing cooking equipment in half, to demonstrate…
Editor’s Note: Obtaining a basic business account through Yelp is in fact a free process as is responding directly to Yelp reviews. Generally, here at Chow Bella we tend to report on restaurant owners behaving badly. Whether that be Amy’s Baking Company’s Yelp tirade or Tina’s Ethiopian Cafe’s comment section…
If you’ve been following the news out of Florida these last couple of weeks, you might be kicking yourself for not sauntering down to the survivalist expo earlier this month. In that spirit, let’s talk about what is possibly the most impractical awesome drinking vessel ever milled out of a…
Japanese illustrator Mao Sugiyama had his genitals removed on his birthday, March 31. A couple of weeks later, he served those genitals — scrotum, testicles and penis — at a special dinner where six “lucky” individuals paid the equivalent of $250 to consume them. Sugiyama advertised this unique meal via…
Mirth, which announced its existence at TechCrunch’s Disrupt NYC convention, bills itself as a business-friendly alternative to deal programs like Groupon and LivingSocial. A Mirth account is attached to your credit card and automatically recognizes when you’ve gone to an establishment twice in a single month. This makes you a…
Food festivals have been a point of contention here at Chow Bella and among our treasured readers. Our resident food critic even put the question of their worth to local chefs, and though the response was generally positive, there were some notable dissenters. Let me suggest that’s because we don’t…
This is potentially the ultimate in truth in advertising, perhaps even the anti-Fauxbe beef. Brazilian fruit juice company Camp wanted to take their claims of being “made with 100 percent fruit juice” one brilliant advertising step further. Advertising firm Ageisobar spent two years developing molds that would allow them to…
