The weekend is here and it's time to get weird. Maybe you're done binge-watching Stranger Things or The Twilight Zone these days, but even so, the following articles will bring the bizarre back into your life, from fart-inducing oil to gas station snacks.
The Trouble With Truffle Oil (Farts and Formaldehyde)
People, I'm sorry to break it to you, but there are just no two ways about it: Truffle oil (or truffled oil) is a sham, it's bad for you and it's just downright evil.
I'm currently traveling in Italy, where the world's most famous truffles are foraged. When I received an e-mail from my editor here at Eating...Our Words asking me if I'd like to share my thoughts on the big bowl of wrong that is truffle oil, I stopped at one of Italy's famous roadside Autogrill franchises and picked up the above bottle of this pernicious pseudo-food product for edification's sake.
"Tonight, find out why you could be putting your whole family at risk by serving foods high in radioactivity. That's right, radioactivity. Find out more about this shocking, potentially lethal news here on KEOW tonight at 10 o'clock."
Let's just go ahead and beat the 10 o'clock news to the punch — frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet somewhere (or maybe it has?) — and get to the meat of the matter: Yes, that banana you're eating is radioactive.
Even though I was but a glimmer in my mother's eye during the 1950s, I still feel nostalgia for that era. The booming post-war economy, a young, spritely Elvis Presley, and flattering poodle skirts: What's not to like about this decade? Oh, that's right. Rampant racial discrimination, nuclear proliferation and oppressive gender norms.
Well, at least the food was entertaining. The 1950s saw the rise of the fast-food chain restaurant, the neighborhood potluck, and an assortment of culinary creations that alternately amuse and disgust me. Check out these Top Five Fifties Foods.
Because my family lives in both Corpus and the Hill Country, I find myself on the road to and from Houston frequently. During those long, boring drives through south and central Texas, there is one thing that shines like a beacon among the run-down gas stations and cows and oil rigs: Buc-ee's.
"Boiled animal bones and hide, colored with garish chemicals, served with fruit," wrote food blogger Dr. Ricky on Twitter yesterday. "Oh, you like your Jell-O don't you?"
When deconstructed in this way, a simple childhood dessert like Jell-O suddenly sounds rather vulgar and disgusting. And that was the point.
