I saw this video about how to make caviar out of carrot juice, and had to share. Who knows, with food prices rising the way they are, this could be the centerpiece of your next banquet. (Oh, I sure hope not!)

If your VIPs have adventurous tastebuds, you may want to order some vittles from Edible.com, which offers up tantalizing yet horrifying (to me, anyway) F&B options like scorpion vodka, green crocodile curry, weasel coffee and reindeer pate. Yumm.

(via BoingBoing)

The top 10 cuisines of the world. Just the photos are making me hungry.

I love it when someone takes something most of us give no thought to–say, room service menus–and give it some real attention. That’s what Michael Chaffin does in this post on ways to jazz up room service menus. I like some of his suggestions, particularly posting it online with lots of photos and guest comments about the various selections. A commenter took it a bit further, saying,

How about we kill less trees, avoid the head ache of replacing the menus, and offer it via the television and on the Internet. Both of these solutions exist now and can be implemented with an interface to the POS (if the POS has the receiving end).

Brilliant! Why aren’t we doing this?

What else should we stop taking for granted and put some thought into?

It’s bad enough that just picking up a can of Coke in mini bar will trigger a charge, even if you put it back, in many hotels nowadays. But now, some hotels are putting trays of snacks on top of the mini bar, and charging if anything gets moved (they can tell because of a sensor attached to a scale in the tray). Even if there’s a note explaining the fees nearby, I know I’d either knock the tray over, or pick something up, or do something to trigger a charge that I’d have to argue away later. For a fun discussion on this, visit this post on Gizmodo. My favorite comment was this one:

I think it would be poetic justice to get a $2000 a night room and prepay it with nothing but restocking items for the minibar. You could get 334 cans of $6 soda and stack them in a pyramid in the center of the room. Better yet, pile them on top of the pressure sensitive tray and call down to tell them that your bill has been settled. Before doing so make sure to call the credit card company and tell them to cancel your card because it was stolen…

Thanks to the MiForum listserv for the pointer.

I doubt it! But someone actually spent the time and effort to rate the healthiness of food offered by various airlines. Here’s the breakdown. Frankly, I’m one of those “if you eat it while traveling, it doesn’t count” people, but if you want to know how many minutes you need to walk to burn off a Delta snack-pack, this article is for you.

Thanks to the MiForum listserv for the pointer.

I felt a bit ill just reading about the top food trends this article says are coming in 2008. A few things mentioned: mozzarella bars; “testicle festivals”; mackerel with avocado, watermelon, black olives; Cantaloupe sorbet with lavender-cured pork; Kobeburger, fries, and a foie gras milk shake.

I really have nothing more to add, other than it’s a great, snarky read. Here’s hoping some of these trends don’t actually happen!

At least, I with my all-American taste think so: Japanese octopus-dumpling soda. From 3Yen News:

Gee, just what I always wanted—a soda drink made with the flavors of diced octopus, tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger, konnyaku, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, green laver (aonori), mayonnaise, and katsuobushi (fish shavings).

(Thanks to The Mental Floss Blogs for the pointer.)

Update: I’m so glad to report that, according to a commenter, this is just a spoof, not a real flavor (more here). Phew.

This is so not good: From the Washington Post

The FDA is considering changing the definition of chocolate to include those products that do not contain cocoa butter or even cocoa solids. It has come up with a 35 page petition proposing the change in food standards, which has been signed by juice producers, meat canners and the chocolate lobby.

In response to this the chocolate lovers have undertaken a grassroot letter-writing campaign to the FDA to inform the agency that they are against such a change in the standards.

To join the protest, go to Don’tMesswithOurChocolate.com. (Thanks to Patti Shock for the call to action!)

…for seriously carnivorous groups: Meat cakes. Sounds fairly repulsive to me, the semi-vegetarian, but to each his/her own.

For one chef’s journey into meat cake-dom, click here. For more meaty ideas, check out this BoingBoing post.