Culinary pioneer David Chang, owner of taste-making restaurant group Momofuku, is expanding his fusion empire to include a unique (to say the least) offering—bacteria and mold. Yum!

Chang has teamed up with Harvard microbiologist Rachel Dutton to create a tasting menu incorporating rare strains of bacteria and mold into his sometimes bizarre, always delicious dishes. Momofuku’s R&D may resemble more of a laboratory as they test out the fermentation process of many foods in their kitchen, such as beans, peas, and popcorn. But don’t be too weirded out, fermentation is a common cooking process. Especially in Asian cuisine where fermentation is essential to traditional foods like miso soup, kimchi, koji, and rice vinegar. So, this whole mold thing may grow on you…or maybe you’ll just stick to cult-favorite Momofuku offering Crack Pie. 

We remember our school lunches as terrifying culinary adventures, and it seems the problem of public school meals is a timeless and global problem. 9-year-old Martha Payne lives in Scotland, and the sorry state of her school lunches inspired her to take action. At the end of April, she began photographing and reviewing her daily school meals on NeverSeconds, a blog she created with her dad to share her project. Within just two weeks, Martha’s blog gained international attention and her story was covered by the BBC and The Sun. Other children from around the world are sending Martha pictures of their own school lunches to post, and her hero Jamie Oliver sent her an autographed book to congratulate her for her efforts on the front lines of the healthy school lunch debate.

Crowd-sourcing is nothing new to Gen Ys, but as a clear sign to their strength McDonald’s new crowd-sourced burger in Germany was the most popular promotional burger ever. The Pretzelnator will only be served in Germany but the campaign was so successful that it will be replicated in the Netherlands, Spain and Austria. How long will America have to wait?!?

Filed Under: Satan’s Lollipop

Sriracha is wonderful on everything; there’s a reason why handfuls of top chefs work the Thai hot sauce into their menus (and us into our daily lives). Some diehard spicy fan had the ingenious idea to transform Sriracha into a lollipop—could be gross, but the intrigue is worth a try! 

Filed Under: We All Scream for Boozecream!

This is the best thing to happen to dumped girlfriends: no longer will we have to clutch a bottle glass of wine and shovel daintily spoon Ben & Jerry’s into our sad faces on a Friday night. Two of the best vices, alcohol and ice-cream, have combined superpowers to create the artisanal adult-only frozen fun of Drunken Udder. LA-based Drunken Udder’s spiked ice cream is more gourmet than “ice cream party.” From Tequila Lime Sorbet to Bailey’s Jameson Caramel Swirl, this is sure to make any time happy hour.

Rather than stress over skyrocketing gas prices and whether I should a hybrid, I’ll sit back, relax, and sip on this hybrid—a beer-wine hybrid, that is. Way more awesome than a Prius.

Brewers are now combining their craft beers with vineyard-grown grapes to create the latest trend behind the bar. Innovative touches like mixtures of grapes give these hybrid beers new layers of flavors that will delight any adventurous beer lover. Mixologists, wine snobs, and cocktail connoisseurs, step aside—now is the time for beer drinkers!

From left, Allagash Victoria Ale, Birra del Borgo L’Equilibrista, Blue Moon Vintage Blonde Ale, Cantillon Vigneronne, Dogfish Head Noble Rot 

(Source: details.com)

Filed Under: Crushin’ on Cordials

You aren’t still drinking soda bought from the store, are you? Well, we won’t be after we get our hands on these natural, intensely fruity cordials and pressés from UK’s Belvoir Fruit Farms. From organic elderflower to orange-ginger, welcome spring in a rainbow of flavors with a freshly-mixed soda or cocktail, customized to your heart’s desire and to your friends’ enjoyment!

The Bee Station supports the alarmingly ever-thinning bee population, otherwise known as Colony Collapse Disorder; a term made popular by the documentary Vanishing of the Bees. All you have to do is order a Station online and plop it down in your garden. Though currently the Bee Stations are only shipping to the UK for a price of 39.99 pounds, we expect to see the market for bee preservation continue to grow.

Difficult to imagine that this is the first of its kind but all the same this editorial from French gourmand magazine Fricote is delicieuse. Perfect accoutrement to the many very smart marketing collaborations of the last few years of Pantone, such as the Pantone hotel in Brussels or the Pantone/ Sephora collaboration this past December. Pantone is one of the foremost examples of niche industry brands keeping relevant across many industries.

(Source: Laughing Squid)

In honor of the first week of spring, we are going to keep the grill posts coming! For the apartment dweller who needs to park that grill on the fire escape: The Hot Pot Barbeque. Added bonus: fresh herbs for that grilled up dinner are right on hand. 

While “Pork Floss” may not sound appetizing to you, America, the Chinese are being treated to a specially-release donut from Dunkin Donuts, sprinkled with fried pork bits, the first country of a multi-year roll out. And while you probably thought that was all there was left to say about that, Dunkin Donuts has also decided to recruit LeBron James to be the pork-flavored donuts’ brand ambassador. That is all.

(Source: )

Filed Under: The Real BBQ Pizza

Screw burgers and ribs, this is about to be the summer of pizza, y’all! The KettlePizza is designed to fit most standard round kettle grills, so this stainless steel pizza oven sleeve can be enjoyed by everyone that doesn’t have a stone pizza oven in their home…i.e. pretty much all of us. Can’t wait to cook me some pizza pies on the patio!