nosh nook #41 - monday, may 11, 2009

a snacker's guide to bangkok street food (link)
05.10.09 - the washington post - by nick malgieri

one night in bangkok and the world's your oyster. the bars are temples but the pearls ain't free. you'll find a god in every golden cloister and if you're lucky then the god's a she. i can feel an angel sliding up to me. --murray head

bangkok's known for a lot of things, some savory, some not so savory. the rumor is that given its location in thailand, you can get all sorts of really authentic thai food there, especially in their plentiful markets, which are filled with food vendors hawking a wide array of dishes & snacks.  frankly, i don't see myself making it to bangkok any time soon to verify such claims, so i'm relying on the good graces of the washington post to do so.

nick melgieri recently visited bangkok's markets for the post.  he notes that "thais are inveterate snackers," who fully embrace food-on-the-go.  as a result, you can find vendors everywhere--on sidewalks, off the main streets and right outside their own homes--selling tasty treats.  unlike street vendors here in nyc, whose kebabs are pretty much guaranteed to be cooked in a fine layer of general street dust, "bangkok offers a very sanitary street-food experience."  as one who avoids the nyc street vendors because i'm convinced i'm going to get some sort of food virus, sanitary conditions are a major plus.

while there, melgieri made a trip to bangkok's chinatown--one of the best areas in the city for street food.  with american photographer austin bush at his side, he visited a range of places with crazy-sounding names like "mangkorn khao" and "phat thai ok."  other languages are funny!  at these places, they sampled a handful of dishes filled with noodles & seafood, apparently all prepared by colorful chefs with quaint quirks.  they can prepare their food from high above a pair of stilts for all i care.  as long as they serve pad thai, it's all good in the hood.

nosh nook #40 - friday, may 8, 2009

day after pandemonium, kentucky fried chicken honors oprah's grilled chicken coupons (link)
05.07.09 - ny daily news - by lacie hales and dave goldiner

a few weeks back, a co-worker announced that popeyes was doing a one day special offering eight pieces of chicken for $4.99 (regularly $12.99). it was his bday a few days before, so as is tradition in the office (on my first day at work, i was a member of a popeyes run), we celebrated with food for the whole office. he & i ventured out to popeyes in the early afternoon & returned after a two-hour ordeal that involved seeing that the line at the closest one wrapped out the door, trying to find another popeyes & finding out it was closed & returning to the original popeyes to wait in line for a half-hour in one of four lines that all eventually turned into a mass of angry, chicken-wanting customers & even produced a shouting match between an asshat customer & the manager (who, in her defense, was very polite for quite some time before). it was absolute madness.

then, a few days ago, in her tradition of giving things away, oprah announced a promo at kfc.  starting tuesday, folks could download & print out a coupon that they could exchange for a free meal at kfc. as hales & goldiner report (what does it say about the fact that the ny daily news has two reporters working this story?), lines at nyc locales were still incredibly long this thursday.  despite long waits, people were getting their chicken, a refreshing change from wednesday, when a locale on 42nd st stopped honoring the coupons & people organized a sit-in.

as it is, kfc locales are in danger of running out of chicken this weekend.  the shit's definitely going to hit the fan if that happens & peeps are definitely going to get pissed.  maybe we'll have more sit-ins!  people should take to the streets!  seriously, what does it say about our country when people choose to protest about not getting free chicken but sit by silent about pretty much everything else?  iraq?  prop 8?  corporate greed?  they ain't no free chicken, that's for sure.

nosh nook #39 - thursday, may 7, 2009

smoothie king passes 600th store milestone (link)
05.06.09 - wsj marketwatch - press release

it looks like the smoothie has finally made it in this crazy, mixed up world. smoothie king, the self-proclaimed king of smoothies, continues to expand faster than a waistline on all-you-can-eat apple pie day, as they've now opened over six hundred locations worldwide. according to entrepreneur magazine, this makes smoothie king the 37th fastest growing franchise in the country. 37th! i wonder how well the thirty-six franchises ahead of them are doing.

when it comes to smoothies, i guess i'm a bit out of touch.  i never even noticed that smoothie king exists until now, even though they apparently have a bunch of locations just here in nyc alone. as tasty & as healthy as they may be, a custom-blended smoothie just isn't one of those things that i look for when i'm out & about, but if there's room for six hundred locations worldwide, people must feel differently.

according to smoothie king founder/ceo steve kuhnau, "we provide products that contribute to the health regimen of our guests, something more important than ever in these stressful times." this is seen as one of the main reasons that the franchise has been so successful in expanding. the other reason that the release states is that "the shaky job market has caused people of all walks of life to reevaluate their career goals."  personally, i have trouble envisioning someone thinking to themselves "gee, this economy is awful & i might lose my job.  i should totally open a smoothie king," but if it's in a press release, it must be true.

nosh nook #38 - wednesday, may 6, 2009

renewed calls for junk food ad ban on kids’ TV (link)
05.05.09 - australian food news - by daniel palmer

sometimes it seems like the whole world is against you. if you're junk food, that time is now. you're a plague upon our children. you're a pox on our houses. you're a thorn in our side & therefore must be eradicated post haste. won't somebody please think of the children?  if you're junk food, fighting the evil that your tastiness spreads has now become a pet project for politicians from new york to the u.k. to australia. you're bad. you're bad. really really bad.

according to daniel palmer, from the australian food news, down under, the coalition of food advertising to children (CFAC) "believe(s) that children who watch two hours of television per day see 18 hours per year of unhealthy advertisements for food like chips, burgers, confectionery and soft drinks." as a result, they're urging a ban on unhealthy food ads during the hours children watch TV. according to the president of the australian medical association, "(f)ood advertising influences what food children want, ask for, and eat." obviously, the answer is to ban advertising, as their parents are powerless when it comes to steering their children toward healthy diets.

how has the australian food industry reacted? they're playing nice & have even gone as far as to create a "responsible children’s marketing initiative," which says that they'll only advertise healthy food option to kids under twelve. once they're thirteen, they're fair game. last year, the australian green party introduced legislation aimed at curbing junk food advertising, but it didn't get enough support to pass. luckily, this year, they've reintroduced legislation. at the moment, it's poised to fail, but once the preventative health taskforce comes back in june with recommendations for australia's health policy, that could change...& not soon enough, because the little boy pictured in the article appears to be enjoying his donut more than should be allowed by law.

nosh nook #37 - tuesday, may 5, 2009

exposed: baby snacks that may be worse than junk food (link)
05.05.09 - belfast telegraph - by lesley-anne henry

these days, in our fast paced world of sport drinks & power bars, even babies need to eat healthy.  you can't just feed them tin cans & galoshes like you would with a scruffy bill goat (often with hilarious results, i might add).  just like with other types of humans, babies need vitamins & nutrients & all those essential things that everyone else needs to live.  as a result, in northern ireland, folks are taking steps to ensure that their babies remember to eat right.

as lesley-anne henry describes in the article, belfast's parents' advice center is telling parents to take note when buying food for their baby, as some baby foods have turned out to be less nutritious than initially assumed.  two of the more notable unhealthy baby food dispensers--heinz and cow & gate.  one heinz product--toddler's own mini cheese biscuits--"contain more saturated fat that a mcdonalds quarter pounder with cheese."  although it's a scientific fact that babies love mcdonalds, they're too young to be eating quarter pounders.

i, for one, was shocked to hear that our beloved american heinz corp. was responsible for feeding babies unhealthy food, as their most famous product, ketchup, only contains two types of corn syrup, only one of which is high fructose.  as for cow & gate, i'm not familiar with them, but am sad to hear that they're "withdrawing (their) bear, berry bear & animal friends biscuits" due to high levels of hydrogenated fat.  from what i hear, berry bear's a swell guy & i can only imagine how tough it's going to be for him to find work in this harsh economic climate.