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Tag: Food

  • $25 Corn Dog: The Most Outrageous Stadium Food?

    Today, the Arizona Diamondbacks unveiled their newest culinary creation for the 2014-15 baseball season: The D-Bat Dog.

    This 18 inch long monster of a corn dog will be stuffed with cheddar cheese, jalapeno, and bacon and will come with a side of fries. All for the friendly price of $25…

    What was the motivation behind such a decision, you ask? For Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall, it’s all about family and choice: “This is really about providing our fans with new options each year, and in the case of some of our larger items, it’s really about sharing with the family. We don’t have any expectations for the D-Bat, but we’ll look forward to seeing if it becomes popular with our fans. Every night for us is a successful night because we offer the most affordable food prices in all of baseball.”

    The new D-Bat Dog would seemingly contradict Hall’s last statement, coming in at $1.39 per inch of corn dog.

    That being said, the D-Bat Dog is not the most expensive dog in all of baseball, so it has that going for it. The Texas Rangers offer a hot dog called “The Boomstick” – a 2-foot-long hot dog smothered in nacho cheese, chili, jalapenos, and caramelized onions. One can order such a dog for $26, which turns out to be a $0.31 per inch better value than the D-Bat Dog.

    With all of this stadium food talk, one has to wonder which stadiums offer the best (or most expensive) foods. Well, here is a convenient top-5 list to feed that curiosity:

    5) Dodger Stadium’s “Victory Knot” – No stadium would be complete without a soft pretzel, and Dodger Stadium offers potentially the best pretzel available. Weighing in at 2 pounds and contained within a full-sized pizza box, this behemoth of a pretzel also comes with three dipping sauces: chipotle honey mustard, sweet cinnamon crème, and beer cheese.

    4) CenturyLink Field “S’pacific Salmon BLT” – Seattle lives up to its Pacific-Northwest roots with this culinary creation of Executive Chef Jon Severson which features four ounces of wild sockeye salmon, a slice of beefsteak tomato, lettuce, bacon, and a dijonnaise sauce.

    3) Turner Field’s “The Hammer” – Named after Braves’s great Hank Aaron, this sandwich is comprised of fried chicken, applewood smoked bacon, pepperjack cheese, and pecan-maple mayonnaise.

    2) Toyota Center’s “Surf N’ Turf Nachos” – The Houston Rockets attempted to ascend to a new class of concession dining with this $48 creation featuring lobster, ribeye chili, homemade seafood bisque cheese sauce, sour cream, cilantro crème and green onions.

    1) Missoula Osprey’s “Bats and Balls” – While this food item may derive from the minor leagues, it is definitely a major league concession item. The “bat” part of the name refers to the fries while the “balls” aspect refers to Rocky Mountain Oysters, otherwise known as calf testicles.

    Image via Twitter

  • Leprechaun Burrito Created For LA Food Trucks Using Google Glass

    Google recently shared a video of Roy Choi, co-founder of Kogi BBQ (a Los Angeles food truck), whipping up some of his “new spin on Irish cooking” for St. Patrick’s Day. Why? Because he’s a Google Glass explorer, and uses Glass to search for recipes.

    While wearing the device, and dodging a call from his mom, he makes the “East Los Leprechaun Burrito”.

    “What’s great about Glass is I can record it,” Choi says of using the device while creating his recipes. “I can share it immediately. Maybe that will influence someone else to find their own angle.”

    He wanted to make something special to serve on the trucks for St. Patrick’s Day. He used Glass to find components in an Irish dish (stew, in this case), and take said components to put his own LA food truck spin on them. What he came up with was the leprechaun burrito.

    According to Google, the Kogi truck will be serving the “limited edition” leprechaun burritos in LA this week.

    Image via Google

  • Most Customers Ignore New Food Menu Items

    Most Customers Ignore New Food Menu Items

    With the constant variety of new foods to try in fast food restaurants across the country and the major ad campaigns touting the quality of inventive new sandwiches, it would be easy to conclude that new menu items attract customers to restaurants. Based on other data, though, it seems that most restaurant customers are scared of or simply don’t want the new stuff.

    According to a report from market research firm NPD, almost 70% of restaurant customers will not try new menu items. Only 17% of consumers surveyed by NPD said they would try a new menu item and 10% said they would try one of those limited-time-only food offerings.

    For restaurants introducing new products, then, the odds are already stacked against them. There are some things, however, that restauranteurs can do to increase the likelihood of customers trying their new menu items.

    According to the NPD report customers largely use their eyes and imagination when ordering new items, imagining how different foods will taste. Other considerations include item pricing and how healthy a new food choice is. Also, the report found that consumers tend to replace their regular orders only with something that is the same type of food.

    “Insight into the reasons why consumers try a food or beverage menu item that they have not purchased before provides restaurant operators with the knowledge required for successful product innovation, introduction, and marketing,” said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst at NPD. “In addition, stimulating menu-item trial and delivering a satisfying experience should lead to repeat visits and sustained customer loyalty.”

    These concepts are generally more important for diners and fast food businesses, where customers are less likely to try a new menu item. For casual dining restaurants the report found that around 40% of customers are willing to try out a new food on the menu.

    Image via McDonalds

  • Chipotle: Guacamole Production Not At Risk

    Many enjoy crunching into tortilla chips with a large bowl of guacamole in hand. Recent concerns have been voiced that unusual weather conditions may influence the abundance of this popular food item. According to an annual report generated by Chipotle Mexican Grill, global warming may be a culprit in either decreasing the production of guacamole, or causing an increase in prices for the tasty food. The report read as follows:

    “Increasing weather volatility or other long-term changes in global weather patterns, including any changes associated with global climate change, could have a significant impact on the price or availability of some of our ingredients. Alternatively, in the event of cost increases with respect to one or more of our raw ingredients, we may choose to temporarily suspend serving menu items, such as guacamole or one or more of our salsas, rather than paying the increased cost for the ingredients.”

    Those who like to dine on the delicious dish should not fret just yet. According to Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold, “This is nothing more than routine risk factor disclosure. The sky is not falling. I wouldn’t read too much into this.”

    Arnold went on to explain that similar circumstances have occurred previously. “We saw similar issues in 2011 and incurred higher prices for the avocados we used, but never stopped serving guacamole,” he said.

    Arnold insists that the recent annual report served as nothing more than the company’s required disclosure. Fans of the popular restaurant chain should not worry about guacamole being removed from the menu at this time. Now, where are those tortilla chips?

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

  • Google Officially Announces Restaurant Menu Results

    Earlier this month, Google was spotted showing new card-style menu results for restaurant searches for some users.

    One tweeted a screenshot:

    Google has now announced the feature:


    Google doesn’t go into specifics about where these menu results come from.

    As others have pointed suggested, Google may draw menu info from Allmenus.com, given that this is the source for the Menu feature on the restaurant in the first example’s local result.

    Either way, this is just the latest example of Google supplying more of the information on its own properties rather than sending traffic to other sites.

  • Detox Diets: Before You Do It, Read This

    Detox Diets: Before You Do It, Read This

    Detoxification is something that the body does naturally to get rid of or keep toxins in check. The human body is exposed to different toxins every day, from the food we eat, the liquids we guzzle, and even the environment, such as fungus-contaminated buildings. Toxins are also the by-product of the body’s normal cellular activities, and many of the body’s organs function to turn toxins into less harmful compounds and excrete these from the body.

     What is a Detox Diet?

    To help the body along, people engage in a detox diet. This type of diet is intended to be done for only a short period, because prolonging it more than necessary may result in deficiencies in the necessary nutrients the body needs, such as calcium and protein. Going on a detox requires dieters to fast and refrain from eating certain types of food, such as processed meat and those containing artificial flavors. Instead, dieters eat organic food rich in antioxidants and vitamins needed by the body for its natural detoxification process. High-fiber food and plenty of water are recommended as well, to help in eliminating toxins through excretion.

    Is Going on a Detox Diet Necessary?

    The idea behind going on a detox diet sounds good, but the detoxifying effects are not scientifically proven. A detox diet by itself is harmless unless it results in nutrient deficiency, but there is little evidence that it actually eliminates toxins from the body. As mentioned, the body—in particular, the liver and kidneys—naturally works to kick the toxins from its system. Going on a detox diet is not necessary, but it can be beneficial, considering that dieters would be avoiding highly processed food containing added sugar and preservatives.

     What Can I Get from a Detox Diet?

    Those who have tried going on a detox diet reported feeling more energetic and focused after the dieting period. Clearer skin, improved digestion, and regular bowel movement also result from eating organic, high-fiber, and vitamin-rich food. People should be careful not to overdo it, however, as there are also possible side effects to limiting the diet to certain foods. Fasting, the first stage of a detox diet, can result in fatigue, constipation, and dehydration. It can also lead to nutritional deficiencies and would make it more difficult for the body to heal itself. This type of diet is certainly not for everyone, especially children and pregnant or lactating women.

    What if I Want to Try Out a Detox Diet?

    As with any pursuit in the name of fitness, it’s best to consult your doctor first before embarking on a diet. A detox diet is not a be-all and end-all solution to getting rid of toxins—keeping the body’s organs in proper working order is. So, be sure to discuss a diet plan with your doctor that will help you keep fit without depriving yourself of the nutrients your body needs.

    Dr Oz Detox Diet Secrets

    Image via Flickr

  • Bing Launches 3 New Windows Phone Apps

    Microsoft just announced the launch of three new Bing Apps for Windows Phone 8: Bing Food & Drink, Bing Health & Fitness and Bing Travel.

    Bing Food & Drink includes 600,000 recipes, a wine guide to 1.5 million different bottles, and a one-click “add to shopping list” feature, which roams between mobile and Windows 8.1.

    Bing Food

    The Health & Fitness app lets users browse over 1,000 exercise and workout videos, includes a nutritional and medical reference feature, and offers trackers for diet and cardio.

    Bing Travel lets users book flights and hotels, find nearby attractions and look at photography of over 2,000 destinations.

    The apps are now available in the Windows Phone Store.

    Microsoft is also releasing big updates to its other Windows Phone apps: Finance, News, Sports and Weather, which enable roaming across Windows devices.

    “Now, the personalized Bing apps preferences and settings associated with your Microsoft Account will seamlessly sync across your PC, tablet, and Windows Phone for all seven Bing apps,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews.

    New Bing Apps on Windows Phone from Bing on Vimeo.

    Images via Microsoft

  • Krispy Kreme Adds Two New Doughnut Flavors

    The next time you are drawn to the lure of Krispy Kreme’s red “Hot Now” sign, instead of buying only a dozen hot glazed doughnuts, you might want to try out one of the doughnut chain’s two new flavors. The North Carolina based chain has decided to collide the two wonderful worlds of coffee and doughnuts by introducing two coffee-flavored doughnuts. These two new flavors are available at participating locations in the United States and Canada.

    Krispy Kreme offers more than a dozen different doughnut flavors on its menu, and now customers can purchase Mocha Kreme and Caramel Coffee Kreme doughnuts. According to Krispy Kreme’s description of the Mocha Kreme doughnut, it is a “moist yeast doughnut filled with a tasty blend of chocolate and coffee flavors, topped with mocha icing, a milk chocolate swirl and decorated with milk chocolate icing.” As tasty as that sounds, the Caramel Coffee Kreme’s description might sound even more heavenly. This doughnut is described as being a “decadent glazed treat topped with smooth caramel and coffee flavored icing, a mocha drizzle and dollop of coffee Kreme.”

    Check out pictures of the two new doughnuts below.

    (image)

    The news of Krispy Kreme’s two new flavors might sting a little for those still working on their New Year’s resolutions, but if coffee and doughnuts are two of your favorite things, you might not want to hold off on trying out the new doughnuts for too long–these two flavors are available for a limited time only. The two flavors were added the display cases on Monday, and Krispy Kreme hasn’t yet mentioned how long they plan to keep the doughnuts before yanking them. Since the doughnuts aren’t tied to a holiday theme, like Krispy Kreme’s recent Valentine doughnuts that hung around for a couple of weeks, maybe these will stick around for a while.

    Judging from the number of ‘likes’ the announcement of the new flavors received on Krispy Kreme’s Facebook page, it appears many fans are excited to try them out. If coffee isn’t your thing, which doughnut flavor would you like to see added to Krispy Kreme’s lineup? Add your comments below.

    Images via Twitter, Facebook

  • Pizza MREs May Finally Exist After Years of Demand

    I’m not, nor have I ever been, in the military. But I can tell you, with complete certainty, that one of the things I would miss the most about having to subside on MREs for months would be a nice slice of pepperoni pizza.

    Apparently, we’re closer than ever to giving our soldiers just that – MRE pizza.

    The AP reports that a military lab in Massachusetts is “closing in” on the recipe that would allow pizza to be stored, in 80+ degree temperatures, for up to three years.

    Three year pizza.

    The science behind this focuses a lot on moisture–mainly preventing water from the sauce and cheese from making its way to the dough and forming perfect breeding grounds for mold and bacteria. Food scientists have apparently been able stop moisture from getting into the dough with a binder called a humectant. They’ve also altered much of the composition of the cheese and sauce to make it less susceptible to spoiling.

    Of course, this is all still being tested and is not quite ready to ship out to troops. Although, the troops will be super excited if and when it does–apparently pizza has been the most-requested MRE for years.

    As far as the taste, well, it tastes like pizza. At least that’s what they say.

    “I was a little skeptical at first,” Paul DellaRocca, program integrator at the Defense Department’s Combat Feeding Directorate, told Stars and Stripes. “I come from an Italian family and I’d be lying if I said my mother wouldn’t be disappointed if she heard that a pizza would last for three years. But it tasted like—what do you know—pizza!”

    Image via YouTube

  • Genius Asks Kickstarter for $8 Burrito, Gets Hundreds of Dollars

    Good use of popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter–or best use of popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter?

    Screw getting a movie made or funding a cool new 3D printer. Kickstarter was made for supporting man’s quest to experience a Chipotle burrito in as many ways as possible, and rank those experiences on a so-called “deliciousness graph.”

    Enter Noboru Bitoy (who claims no affiliation with Chipotle), a man in search of true burrito enlightenment. About a week ago, Bitoy started a Kickstarter project to raise $8. All he wanted was for Kickstarter donors to pony up about $6 for a chicken burrito, $0.60 for sales tax, and another buck to tip the nice folks at Chipotle. Upon receiving these funds, Bitoy promised to rate the burrito on a scale of “No” to “Wow!” and post his findings in a “creative presentation.”

    Well, he hit the $8 goal and made good on his promise. The chicken burrito from Chipotle scored a “Yum” on the deliciousness graph–meaning Bitoy thinks the burrito is very good. It was one spot away from “Wow!”–meaning Bitoy would have crowned it the best burrito ever.

    The story could end here, I mean, dude got the internet to buy him a Chipotle burrito for no reason whatsoever. High five, bro. But it doesn’t end here–because people just kept donating.

    As it stands, Bitoy has $307 dollars pledged of his $8 goal, coming from 117 backers.

    And he’s planning on putting that extra money to good use. In the near future, he plans to test burrito deliciousness hypothesis like whether or not burrito deliciousness changes per day left in fridge. For this experiment, he will consume 4 burritos–one at the peak of freshness and the other 3 the following days. Another experiment involves constructing 24 different types of chicken burritos, some with white tortillas and some with wheat, some with black beans and some with pinto–and so on and so forth.

    Oh yeah, and if he hits $500, there’s this:

    Alright guys, you are all blowing my mind with your diehard support! I have one final stretch goal now.The other night I was thinking, “How much more delicious would a Chicken Burrito from Chipotle be… if I was plummeting from the heavens?” That’s right, Kickstarter community. I am going to make an infographic detailing just how delicious a chicken burrito is when eaten during a SKYDIVE.

    Of course, every taste test will eventually be registered on the deliciousness graph. My prediction is that the 2-day-old burrito achieves the coveted “Wow!” ranking.

    If you want to donate to his cause, you have 23 days to go. Where else are you going to spend $1?

    Avlxyz, Flickr

  • School Sorry About Black History Month Lunch Menu

    Fried chicken, watermelon, and cornbread – what’s not to love for the lunch menu of Black History Month at an all-girls Catholic school?

    Well, when you’re Principal Nancy Libby of Carondelet High School for Girls in Concord, California, you’ll wind up having to hold an assembly to discuss the incident as a means of appeasing upset students and parents. Buttered up apology letters from Principal Libby were sent to the students’ homes that read:

    “I’d like to apologize for the announcement and any hurt this caused students, parents or community members. Please know that at no time at Carondelet do we wish to perpetuate racial stereotypes.”


    So is this all okay to do?

    Maybe not, as it leaves the fowl bitter taste of alluding perpetuated stereotypes in one’s mouth; it’s because blackface-era cartoons always portrayed lewd caricatures of African-Americans eating these foods.

    “Quite offensive because they put everything that we’ve accomplished into a menu,” Dr. Doris Limbrick, principal of Acts Christian Academy in East Oakland told KPIX 5.

    Yet, there’s always room for the neutral perspective: Professor James Taylor of the University of San Francisco saw why some students and teachers would find the choice of cuisine offensive, despite no ill-will:

    “Chicken, watermelon, collard greens — these stereotypes of black Southern culture that come from the same place where the N-word comes from.”

    But others like Elizabeth Williams of the Contra Costa County Equal Opportunity Commission and a member of the NAACP mentioned that the food wasn’t offensive at all; these delectable delicacies deserve devouring and decompressing.

    “What is the big deal?” Williams told CBS SF. “Historically and even now, we like our chicken and I’m not going to stop eating my fried chicken, nor my cornbread, nor my watermelon.”

    “Let’s move on. Let’s be more progressive. Let’s not be so insulted about something so minute.”

    But how did this all happen? Who allowed such food items to be placed on the menu and why?

    Last Thursday, further damage control came from the school’s Director of Communications Christina Ditzel in the form of a PDF letter posted on the school’s website. Essentially, there was a communication gap; even without the approval of administrative knowledge or permission, the menu was still dished out.

    Whoopsie doodle.

    Image via WikiCommons

  • California Egg Law Is Met With Opposition

    California has proposed a law set for 2015 that will regulate more stringent guidelines regarding the treatment of chickens. In order for farmers to qualify for selling eggs, space requirements must be met as well as other conditions such as not confining hens to cages. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has recently challenged this law and taken his concerns to the federal level.

    Koster claims that the newly-proposed law infringes on interstate business operations where California should not be granted the influence to determine how farmers from Missouri operate. “If California legislators are permitted to mandate the size of chicken coops on Missouri farms, they may just as easily demand that Missouri soybeans be harvested by hand or that Missouri corn be transported by solar-powered trucks,” Missouri Attorney General Koster said.

    Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst agreed with Koster. “A pretty good tradition in this country that’s worked pretty well is that we have free trade among the states, and we would not want to see that changed,” Hurst said.

    However, there is opposition against Koster’s view. Jennifer Fearing, who is the senior state director for the California branch of the Humane Society, articulated another reason behind this recent debate. According to Fearing, “Attorney General Koster’s lawsuit targeting California’s laws, filed just to curry favor with big agribusiness, threatens state laws across the country dealing with agriculture and food safety.”

    Bruce Friedrich, who is a senior policy director at Farm Sanctuary, echoed Fearing’s sentiments. “It’s a real embarrassment for the state of Missouri that Mr. Koster would defend a practice that is horribly abusive of animals with a legal theory that is tilting at windmills.”

    Concerns relating to agriculture guidelines, the treatment of animals, and interstate business guidelines are all at the center of this developing situation.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons and Courtesy of Biswarup Ganguly

  • FDA Outlines New Food Transportation Rules

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced new proposed rules that would tighten restrictions on food transportation.

    The regulation would put new rules into place about sanitary practices for the food transportation sectors. The proposal includes criteria for food refrigeration, food protection during transportation, and cleaning procedures to follow between loads.

    Shippers, carriers, and receivers that transport food to be sold in the U.S. would be subject to the new rules. Smaller shipping businesses with less than $500,000 in revenue each year would be exempted from the rules, as would shippers using U.S. roads to ship food not meant for U.S. consumption. The rules also do not apply to fully-packaged foods or live animals.

    “This proposed rule will help reduce the likelihood of conditions during transportation that can lead to human or animal illness or injury,” said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the FDA. “We are now one step closer to fully implementing the comprehensive regulatory framework for prevention that will strengthen the FDA’s inspection and compliance tools, modernize oversight of the nation’s food safety system, and prevent foodborne illnesses before they happen.”

    The new rule is part of the Sanitary Food Transportation Act that was passed in 2005. It is also what the FDA is calling the “final major rule” of the agency’s Food Safety Modernization Act. Other provisions of the modernization act include pet food regulations and new rules on imported food safety.

  • Foursquare Adds Grubhub Seamless Food Delivery

    Foursquare Adds Grubhub Seamless Food Delivery

    Foursquare not only wants to makes it easier to find the food you crave, but has now taken steps to help you get it to your face with the most minimal effort.

    The company just announced that they have added GrubHub Seamless integration to their iOS and Android apps, as well as Foursquare.com. GrubHub Seamless is the product of a May, 2013 merger between two of the country’s most-popular food delivery facilitators, GrubHub and Seamless.

    “Searching Foursquare for where to eat tonight…from your couch? You’ll be happy to know that you can now find more than 20,000 GrubHub Seamless restaurants in hundreds of cities across the US without leaving the Foursquare app. Simply click on the GrubHub or Seamless icon and start placing your order. You don’t even need to put on pants (but that would be nice)!” says Foursquare.

    GrubHub/Seamless compatible restaurants will have one of the icons right under the “view menu” button. From there, you can order your food and pay with cash, credit, or PayPal.

    According to GrubHub and Seamless, the two merged to “create a combined company well positioned to drive more orders to restaurants, deliver a better experience for hungry diners and enhance services to corporate clients.” In 2012, the two companies logged $875 million in gross food sales – so people are definitely using their services. Foursquare has been trying to push itself as a legitimate competitor in the local search and discovery arena, and little partnerships like this serve that goal.

    Now, where are those pulled-pork nachos I ordered an hour ago?

    Image via Foursquare Blog

  • Here’s A Better Look At NASA’s 3D Pizza Printer

    Here’s A Better Look At NASA’s 3D Pizza Printer

    NASA wants to send a few brave men and women to Mars in the future. To do that, they’re going to need to stock up on supplies for the estimated 250 day trip. Despite my love for dehydrated ice cream, it’s unlikely that astronauts could survive on the flavored styrofoam for the full trip. That’s where 3D printers come in.

    Last year, NASA announced that it was investing a hefty chunk of change into 3D printers. The plastic extruding 3D printers that we all know and love are already set to make a trip to space in 2014 for testing. NASA believes that 3D printers can help astronauts quickly repair simple objects on the space station instead of having to wait for a costly resupply.

    While printing small plastic objects would no doubt help astronauts on their way to Mars, food is far more important. That’s why NASA is also investing in a 3D food printer that can create mini pizzas by extruding dough, sauce and cheese onto a heated bed. We got a limited look at the printer last year, but a new video gives us an even closer look at the printing process:

    Anjan Contractor – the man behind the printer – shared a picture of what the pizza looks like after being baked for 70 seconds:

    Here's NASA's 3D Pizza Printer In Action

    I’ve had enough microwavable pizza in my time to know that this is already a better product. Don’t expect to see 3D printed pizzas in your home anytime soon though as the product still hasn’t been submitted to the FDA. Don’t expect it to be for a while either as the team is still likely working with NASA to make sure it’s completely safe for human consumption.

    [h/t: io9]
    Image via Anjan Contractor/YouTube

  • Jelly Belly Brews Up a Beer-Flavored Jelly Bean

    Add this to the list of awesome things that taste like beer that aren’t actually beer – beer cheese, beer brats, beer bread, and now…beer jelly beans.

    The Jelly Belly Candy Company (probably just Jelly Belly to you) has just introduced a new draft beer flavored jelly bean. Apparently, people really wanted this:

    “Continuing with the long line of flavor innovations from Jelly Belly Candy Company, we now have the first beer flavored jelly bean – Draft Beer. Beer has been a highly-requested flavor for decades, and after years of perfecting the formulation, we’re ready to share this new product with the world,” says Jelly Belly.

    Jelly Belly describes the candy, which was inspired (flavor-wise) by a hefeweizen, as “effervescent and crisp” with a “iridescent finish.”

    And you can feed them to your kids, of course – they’re free of all the fun juice. I guess it could be a good way to introduce your kids to the wonderful flavor of beer, you know, without going to jail and stuff (there are some parents who are seriously pissed about this new flavor, according to comments on Jelly Bely’s Facebook page).

    Apparently, the flavor has been a hot seller. Bags of the beer-flavored beans are currently out of stock on the online store – but should be back within a few days.

    Now this is a bar snack I could get into.

    Image via Jelly Belly

  • Can Search Improvements Make Pinterest More Valuable To Businesses?

    Can Search Improvements Make Pinterest More Valuable To Businesses?

    Pinterest is becoming a better search engine, and it’s likely only getting started.

    Have you ever used Pinterest specifically to search for something? Do you think it is capable of providing helpful results for certain types of queries? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    This week, the company announced the launch of an improved recipe search experience. Recipes are one of the most popular verticals on the site, so this is a great place to start with the search improvements.

    “Now when you search for ingredients, say whatever is in your fridge, you’ll see a collection of relevant recipes as well as filters, such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and paleo,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews. “For example, if you search for ‘avocados, black beans and bell peppers,’ you’ll see recipes for quinoa salad, pork tenderloin with red bell pepper chili rub, and black bean quesadillas.”

    “This is the latest update to more useful Pins, which uses structured data, such as ingredients, cook time and servings, to display more information right on the Pin,” the spokesperson adds. “All recipe search results will show this rich information. Food is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest, and the new recipe search makes it easier than ever to find meal inspiration from some of the best recipes on the web, and plan great dishes tailored to your tastes.”

    “More Useful Pins” is an initiative the company launched last May. It added more info for product pins (pricing, availability and where to buy), recipe pins (cook times, ingredients, servings) and movie pins (content ratings, cast members, etc.).

    You can see where this stuff would serve to make Pinterest more efficient as a search tool.

    The new recipe improvements stem from the company’s acquisition of Pinterest-like recipe site Punchfork a year ago. Punchfork CEO Jeff Miller has led the development of this new product.

    It’s easy to see Pinterest expanding the strategy into more verticals. Travel, Local and Articles come to mind, given some of the announcements the company made last year.

    In November, it launched Place Pins, which show details like the address of a place, phone number, etc.

    Pinterest Place Pins

    In March, Pinterest announced its acquisition of Livestar, an app that helped people find local recommendations from friends and others. The product was shut down, and the engineering talent became part of the Pinterest team.

    In March, Pinterest launched redesigned article pins, providing more info like headlines, authors and story descriptions.

    Article Pins

    Search is a popular way to monetize a site, and the more Pinterest expands as a search tool, the better this tool could be for advertisers.

    The Wall Street Journal has an interview out with Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Asked about Pinterest’s business model, he says, “It will be getting them to discover the things they want. And it may be a product that they buy; it may be a service that they use sometime down the line. But it’s not purely transactional.”

    Earlier his month, Pinterest announced that it acquired VisualGraph, an image recognition and visual search company, consisting of two people who have joined Pinterest’s engineering team. Both have experience at Google. Kevin Jing began working for the search giant in 2004, and helped build some of its first machine vision applications. David Liu interned at the company, as well as at Facebook.

    “The acquisition of VisualGraph will help us build technology to better understand what people are Pinning,” a spokesperson for Pinterest told us. “By doing so, we hope to make it easier for people to find the things they love.”

    “On Pinterest, millions of people are curating and sharing billions of Pins everyday,” said Jing and Liu. “And these Pins are more than just images — they link to contents that can inspire and enrich people’s lives. We are excited for the opportunity to combine machine vision with human vision and curation, and to build a visual discovery experience that is both aesthetically appealing and immensely useful for people everywhere.”

    This technology should only help Pinterest improve its search experience.

    Danny Maloney is the CEO and co-founder of Pinterest analytics firm Tailwind. He tells WebProNews, “Pinterest is more of a discovery engine than a search engine, but I believe visual search could be a hidden gem of the Pinterest business model. Just as with Google or Bing, search on Pinterest tends to indicate users have a strong commercial intent. In many cases, search traffic over time leads revenue generated from pins to occur later in the pin’s life, even if it sees a good deal of viral sharing soon after being pinned.”

    “The acquisition of VisualGraph brings a couple of very talented engineers to Pinterest’s team,” he says. “I suspect most of their work is yet to be done, but the principle of Pinterest being able to understand images the way a human brain might is very powerful. Such capabilities should unlock better search results, improved content recommendations for users and an ability to organize and understand content at a much deeper level. Businesses will use this technology just by participating in the platform, as it will help their content surface to an increasingly better targeted audience.”

    Maloney says he expects the next steps in the evolution of Pinterest’s promoted pins ad product to come this year (which appears to indeed be the case based on what Silbermann told the Wall Street Journal). He thinks we’ll see the Pinterest ecosystem become “much richer” as third parties continue to build value-added tools that help businesses adopt the platform.

    “And of course, I expect deeper innovation on the consumer side, from continued localization bringing Pinterest to new countries to improved search and discovery capabilities and innovative new ways to organize content,” he says.

    Pinterest itself is only gaining momentum. It appears that it is not just a fad at this point. Content sharing to Pinterest increased by 58% last year, surpassing even email, according to a report from ShareThis (via MarketingCharts).

    Do you see significant business opportunities with Pinterest? Specifically with Pinterest search? Let us now what you think.

    Images via Pinterest

  • Yuengling Ice Cream is Returning to Store Shelves

    After a 28-year break, the Pennsylvania-based Yuengling Ice Cream is making a comeback.

    Better remembered by its similar name to Yuengling Beer, the product has been in a one-year process of ingredient experimentations and consumer research.

    Contrary to popular belief, the product has never been affiliated with the brewery company, but members of the same family own each company.

    Therefore, it appears that the Yuenglings know how to invent tasty products that will make a hit in the food industry.

    In response to popular demand, the company started manufacturing their first batch on Thursday 16.

    President David Yuengling, who is also second cousins to Dick Yuengling, the owner of Yuengling brewery, says that the true quality of their ice cream has forever stuck with customers over the years.

    “I think we have one of the most popular nonexistent products on the market,” said 51-year-old David Yuengling.

    One hundred thousand 1-quart containers are currently being produced in Leiby’s Dairy Inc. in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County.

    Bill Parks, CEO of the dairy manufacturing company, has been working closely with the company to revive the ice cream brand. His factory plans to produce all 10 flavors within 10 days.

    The product is set to be available in grocery stores by mid-February instead of March, as originally planned.

    Ten flavors are expected to go on the market including the originals such as: Espresso Chocolate Chip, Root Beer Float, Vanilla Fudge Chunk with pretzels, and Black and Tan. Prices will range from $5.49 to $5.99 a quart.

    The company will initially start selling in selective states like Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York.

    According to David Yuengling, he believes that most people will buy the ice cream based off of its name, but he’s also more than certain that they’ll continue to purchase it because of its great quality taste.

    Check out a video report about Yuengling Ice Cream:

    Heres a thorough interview with David Yuengling:

    Image via Youtube

  • Anthony Bourdain to Open NYC Food Market

    Last week the New York Post’s Page Six broke the exclusive news that chef, author, television personality and overall food connoisseur Anthony Bourdain plans to open a large-scale food market in New York City.

    Known for his vast knowledge of international food and dining, Bourdain said in an email to Eater that he looks forward to bringing his culinary experiences home to his native New York City.

    He said he is “carefully assembling a dream list of chefs, operators, street food and hawker legends from around the world—in hopes of bringing them together in one New York City space.”

    He specifically cited Singapore street food, saying he hopes representatives of Straits hawker masters will be an important part of the food market project.

    “My likes are pretty well known: dai pai dong in Hong Kong, Boqueria in Spain, hawker centers in Singapore, street tostadas in Ensenada. To the extent that I can help bring those things home to New York, along with a truly interesting collection of home grown innovators, I will be very, very pleased.”

    Bourdain will be collaborating with Stephen Werther on the project. As CEO of the privately held, New York-based WiNK Retail Group, Werther is expected to lend his business knowledge to the venture. Werther foreshadowed plans leading up to the opening, and admitted to being a food enthusiast:

    “We are ready to go with the concept, so we are going to be doing some very cool and unexpected pop-ups between now and the opening . . . showcasing different parts of what will be incorporated into the final big market. I am a huge foodie, so you can only imagine how much fun this project is to work on.”

    Bourdain and Werther declined to disclose the market’s location, but said it’s part of a large development project. The Post speculates that it could be 3 World Trade Center or Hudson Yards.

    Bourdain, who currently travels the world for CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, told Eater: “If nothing else, I hope to soon be able to enjoy a really good Chicken Rice in NYC.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Hot Coffee Once Again Lands McDonald’s in Hot Water

    Hot Coffee Once Again Lands McDonald’s in Hot Water

    Nearly 20 years after Stella Liebeck won compensatory and punitive damages from McDonald’s after spilling hot coffee in her lap and sustaining serious injury, another woman is suing the fast food giant over a similar injury.

    Los Angeles resident Paulette Carr has filed a suit against McDonald’s after she spilled hot coffee on herself at a drive-thru on January 12th, 2012. According to the LA Times, Carr claims that the lid was improperly affixed to the cup, and that’s what caused her to be injured by the spilled coffee.

    “The lid for the hot coffee was negligently, carelessly and improperly placed on the coffee cup…resulting in the lid coming off the top of the coffee at the window, causing the hot coffee to spill onto the plaintiff,” reads the lawsuit.

    As you probably know, there is precedent for winning damages for spilling hot coffee on yourself. In 1994, an Albuquerque, New Mexico woman named Stella Liebeck was awarded $160,000 in compensatory damages and $2.7 million in punitive damages (later reduced to $640,000) when she successfully sued McDonald’s for serving her super-heated coffee in 1992.

    The case, one of the most famous civil cases in recent history, sparked debates about tort reform and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. Many at the time held the case up as the epitome of the country’s “sue anyone for anything” culture – but as time passed and the full story came into focus people began to change their minds about Liebeck and the validity of her suit.

    Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on her inner thighs from the spill and was forced to spend 8 days in the hospital where she underwent skin grafts. Her rehabilitation lasted for years after that. Liebeck and her representation claimed that the coffee must have been super-heated to an unsafe temperature (likely 180+ degrees F) to cause such injuries.

    A 2011 HBO documentary on Liebeck’s case helped make believers out of a lot of skeptics:

    Obviously, the two cases share a similar thread but appear, at least on first glance, to accuse McDonald’s of a different style of negligence. While Liebeck argued that the coffee was simply too hot, Carr seems to suggest that the vessel wasn’t properly sealed – and that’s what resulted in her injuries.

    Injuries – the severity of which have yet to be revealed.

    This isn’t the first time since 1994 that McDonald’s has faced lawsuits over spilled coffee.

    Image via Thiago Martins, Flickr

  • Pizza Hut Is Actually Selling a Bunch of Pizzas via Xbox App

    When Pizza Hut first announced that they had created a pizza-ordering app for the Xbox 360, it was hard to say that it wasn’t at least an interesting idea. What goes good with gaming? Pizza. What goes good with 12-hour binges of House of Cards? Pizza. Who would enjoy the convenience of ordering a pizza on the device they’re already glued to? Xbox users, most likely.

    But apparently, it wasn’t just smart – Pizza Hut is now touting the app as a pretty big success.

    In an interview with Polygon, Pizza Hut’s PR head said that in the first 4 months of offering the oder-by-Xbox-app option, the company generated $1 million in sales.

    “It’s been a source of unbelievable growth for us,” said Doug Terfeh. “Just the explosion of people who wanted to download it, experiment with it, play with it with Kinect. As soon as we did one, everyone was contacting us to do the next [one].”

    No word yet on if/when a similar app is coming to the Xbox One or PS4.

    The app works like Pizza Hut’s mobile apps. Users are able to build their own pizzas, and then select anything off the menu (wings, breadsticks, drinks, whatever). The advantage for some is that with the Xbox app, everything works well with Kinect motion and voice control.

    With this kind of success, you can bet other pizza chains and other food delivery companies to start thinking about investing in their own console apps.

    Have you ordered pizza with your Xbox?