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It's Tuesday, December 15 — aka the 82nd anniversary of Repeal Day, the glorious occasion on which the 21st Amendment kicked in to end Prohibition. It's basically your duty as a freedom-loving American to celebrate with a cocktail today, preferably something apple pie-flavored with bald eagle-shaped ice cubes and a tiny American flag stuck in it.
In the meantime, let's catch up on the day's food news: A new study out of Belgium reveals the real reason 'reduced-fat' foods don't taste as good (spoiler: it's probably all in your head), swimsuit model and general famous person Chrissy Teigen gets one step closer to becoming a published cookbook author, Michael Pollan's PBS special gets an airdate, and the craft beer industry is facing a shortage of one very important ingredient. Oh, and "cheffy" is a totally legitimate word now.
How Food Vocabularies Were Expanded in 2015
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Language is a living, breathing creature, constantly in flux and changing with the times (case in point: "literally" can now be used to mean exactly the opposite). This year, plenty of new food-related words found their way into the lexicon: The Oxford English Dictionary now contains the words "cheffy" and "cakehole," as well as "cat cafe," and, yes, "hangry." Plus, some good news for Scrabble fiends: The game's official word list has had several new food words added including "mojito," "paczki," and "yuzu."
Image credit: Caleb Roenigk/Flickr
Here's the Cover for Chrissy Teigen's Upcoming Cookbook
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Instagram-famous model, wife of John Legend, and human Rice Krispies treat Chrissy Teigen is preparing to publish her first cookbook (co-authored by Adeena Sussman), Cravings, on February 23. The cover perhaps unsurprisingly features plenty of cleavage, and inside the book there will be recipes like "John's famous fried chicken with spicy butter," not to mention "life tips like how to use bacon as a home fragrance." For those who just can't wait to find out "how not to overthink men or Brussels sprouts," the book is now available for pre-order via Amazon.
Image credit: Amazon
The Craft Brewing Boom Is Causing a Beer Can Shortage
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As America's thirst for craft beer continues to grow, the industry is facing a shortage of one very important ingredient: beer cans. For many years only cheap beer was sold in cans, but as canning became easier and more affordable, many craft brewers turned to cans as a "way to court the young hip beer enthusiasts that have helped to lift sales of niche local brews." Particularly in-demand is the 16-ounce can, which helps craft beer cans stand apart from their 12-ounce macrobrewed brethren. But cans or bottles, one thing's for sure: As the world's biggest beer merger looms, craft breweries can use your support more than ever.
Image credit: Newburgh Brewing Company/Facebook
Face It: Healthy Food Just Doesn't Taste as Good
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Eating healthy might make you feel virtuous, but the sad, bleak truth is that green juice and quinoa salad just don't taste as good as a juicy burger — or so your brain has been conditioned to tell your tastebuds. New research by Belgium's Ghent University reveals that test subjects expected Gouda cheese labeled 'reduced salt' or 'light' not to taste as good as its regular, higher-salt and higher-fat counterpart — even when the product beneath the label was in fact identical.
Image credit: Lauren Craig/Flickr
