In the world of cutting edge, avante grade cuisine, there is no name held in higher esteem than Ferran Adria. The man credited for elevating Spain to its pinnacle in the world of fine dining, turning molecular gastronomy into a buzzword, creating culinary foam, and for making El Bulli the #1 restaurant in the planet for foodies. Recently, Ferran announced his intention to close El Bulli so he can spend his time on other things; however, he will continue to cater to his fans through two small, casual but upscale places in Barcelona. Tickets is Ferran Adria's take on a tapas bar which is located beside 41 Degrees, his spin on a chic cocktail bar that serves several of his El Bulli classics. As you can imagine these are currently the most happening dining spots in town!You enter 41 Degrees through Tickets and past a curtain in the bar. Tickets itself is designed like one of those old world theaters - a host in top hat out front, bright neon lights, the works. The bar is named for the latitude on which Barcelona lies and is designed to look like the intimate backstage hangout to Ticket's spotlit center stage.The low slung chairs, the bull skulls on the walls, and the restaurant logo projected on the dark walls all contribute to the atmosphere here. The extensive cocktail menu has a selection of Ferran Adria's speciality creations. I cannot remember the names of the cocktail I tried, but they were beautiful.We ordered a variety of food including the famous liquid olives, oyster with lychee nectar and horseradish iceberg, oysters with miso and black garlic, and the oysters with spicy chicken consume and kimchi. The liquid olives were as delightful as we expected, bursting in our mouth with flavorful olive oil. The oysters were very creative and we loved the flavors we tasted.The Pistachios in Tart Yogurt was a work of art. Pistachios wrapped in a delicate lattice of dried sweet yogurt that was served in something that looked like a dead tree trunk in the miniature.The fried fish reminded me of the prawn wafers you get in Asian restaurants. The fish seem to have been powdered and re-created in a wafer form. Then there was a rendition of a deconstructed sushi. As expected, every dish had an unexpected twist - with the taste and texture very different from what you would expect by looking at it.Finally, we brought the dinner to an end with yummy macaroons and melt-in-the-mouth profiteroles flavored with black currant and anise.For those of you who wish to try 41 degrees, remember that the only way to get a seat is through their website. Having only been open for the last few months, both this restaurant continues to be hottest ticket in town.Previous in this series: Gaudi CityNext in this series: Barcelona's Gothic Quarters

To make your own version of the world's most expensive dessert, go to Costco and pick up a two-carat diamond, a squeezable bottle of champagne jelly (they sell an economy-sized version now), champagne caviar, bitter dark chocolate, orange, peach and whiskey-flavored Belgian chocolate, "a light biscuit joconde" (not this kind of joconde but this kind), a gold ring, some pink things, and several sheets of gold leaf. More »

A slice of spice from Vermont with bold South-of-the-Border flavor


A small Vermont-based operation with outsized creativity, Deano's Jalapeño Chips are flavorful little slices of actual peppers—perfect for spicing up burgers, eggs, snack mixes, popcorn or even as a stand-alone snack. Founder Doehne "Deano" Duckworth, inspired by Jalapeño-flavored potato chips, decided to skip the potato altogether.

Sliced paper thin, the peppers fry to a crisp before a dusting with either cheddar or ranch flavoring. Though it might sound as heart attack-inducing as their starchy cousins, Deano's are free of trans fats, cholesterol, gluten and even hydrogenated as well as partially-hydrogenated oils.

You'll find store listings and a few recipes for those of us with less-inspired culinary talents on their site.

Don’t we simply adore these Amul ads? The Amul campaign with “Butter girl” as mascot was started in 1967. It is probably the longest running outdoor campaign based on the same theme. You will find hoardings with humorous take on every important current affairs; be it political or sociological or sporting or movies or anything.

I have compiled a list of 60 of my favourites over the years. If you are interested to get the eBook, then send me an email at bibhuti@adoholik.com. The eBook is free but I would appreciate if you like Adoholik on Facebook.

—Posted by Bibhuti

It started, innocently enough, with a lobster. Then Mark Zuckerberg killed a chicken. By the time the Facebook CEO escalated to a pig and a goat — "he cut the goat's throat with a knife," a friend reported — the media took notice. But it was too late. More »

By Mark Brown, Wired UK

Popping a squishy red miracle berry into your mouth is almost like hacking your taste buds. For up to an hour, the juices coat your tongue and previously sour foods like lemon and vinegar magically taste deliciously sweet.



The berry and its plant (Richardella dulcifica) grows in West Africa. While the local population has been using its miraculous properties for centuries, it was only in 1968 that the all-important protein miraculin was extracted and sold in tablets. They’re now available the web and often feature in “taste tripping” parties where brave souls dine on pickles and limes.

However, the exact mechanism that miraculin uses on your taste receptors, allowing it to magically turn sour into sweet, has been a mystery to science for almost four decades. Until now, that is, as a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo — headed by Keiko Abe — has uncovered the miracle berry’s secrets.

The researchers used a system of cultured cells that let them test human taste receptors at various levels of acidity and alkalinity. They found that miraculin binds strongly to the sweet taste buds (specifically hT1R2-hT1R3) but — unlike sugar or aspartame — doesn’t activate them at a neutral pH. Introduce acid, though, and the protein shifts shape in a way that “turns on” the taste bud, creating a sensation of ultra-sweet that drowns out the sour.

When the sour, acidic food is swallowed, the miraculin returns to its old inactive shape and remains firmly bound to the sweet receptor for about an hour or so, lying in wait for another acidic treat.

The miraculin also toys with sweet, sugary food in interesting ways. Drop a load of aspartame after popping a miracle berry tablet and the miraculin represses your sweet receptors, making sweet foods taste bland. But in a slightly more acidic environment, the receptor’s response skyrockets, making aspartame taste sweeter than ever though possible.

Miracle berries could have applications outside of novelty culinary events. “We are interested in a large-scale production of miraculin because it has a good, sucrose-like taste and combines a non-caloric property, since developing a safe sweetener for anti-diabetes and anti-obesity uses is of pressing importance,” Abe told Nature News.

Indeed, in Japan the berry is popular among dieters. In the US, though, the FDA’s decision that the miracle berry is an “additive” doomed it to further testing and an upstart miraculin commercialization firm — Miralin Company — folded in the 70s.

Image: Tony Rodd/Flickr

Source: Wired.co.uk

See Also:

New Craze: Flavor Tripping Parties
Vote for the Funniest Protein Names
Why Do We Like the Taste Of Protein?
Science Behind Mysterious ‘Fifth Taste’ Revealed

There are 2.3 million people living in America with no car and without a supermarket within a one-mile radius. People living in these "food deserts" are often obese and unhealthy because they're stuck eating junk food from the convenience store. Slate has prepared an interactive map of the counties with the most people who live in food deserts as defined above.

The ones least likely with a car are also the most likely to live in neighborhoods where you need one.

"And the name of the Tabla appetizer, Boodie’s Chicken Liver Masala, draws even deeper from the growing field of menu psychology because Boodie is the mother of Floyd Cardoz, Tabla’s executive chef. People like the names of mothers, grandmothers and other relatives on their menus, and research shows they are much more likely to buy, say, Grandma’s zucchini cookies, burgers freshly ground at Uncle Sol’s butcher shop this morning and Aunt Phyllis’s famous wedge salad."

Much like other things, if excessive adjectives are used to describe ordinary things then daal mein kuch kaala hai.

"Whybin TBWA Australia and The Sydney International Food Festival cooked up a clever way to promote last year’s fest — they used iconic foods from the participating countries to recreate their flags. From the green-white-red of basil-spaghetti-tomatoes to the orange-white-green of tikka masala-rice-saag, the results are both appetizing and a little reminiscent of middle-school geography class. Which brings us to our challenge: Can you correctly identify these 12 culinary flags?"

Fat Burger: Hypocrite - A veggie burger topped with bacon.

WTF "Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. "

"Do you know the joy of buying Choice and eating Prime? It’s like buying a Hyundai and getting a free mail-in rebate for a BMW upgrade!!!"

"I am sharing our delicious menu that was absolute perfection for us that I hope will inspire a deliciously wonderful date night with your spouse! My husband said it was one of my finer moments in the kitchen and we still talk about how special that night was for both of us!  This dinner cost about $30 in ingredients (an entire bottle of fancy wine included), but we had enough leftover for two meals. You couldn’t get a dinner like this out for that price!"

Check out this jaw-dropping list of the 10 Worst Sandwiches in America for a lineup of disastrous handheld mega-meals that'll bloat your belly and call for a loosening of belt buckles

The decision tree that goes beyond the five-second rule.

So that's what's sad about not eating. The loss of dining, not the loss of food. It may be personal, but for, unless I'm alone, it doesn't involve dinner if it doesn't involve talking. The food and drink I can do without easily. The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments and shared memories I miss.

It's one thing to change the logo; it's another to abandon the mnemonic orange with the straw in it. As package imagery goes, it was pretty smart, and decidedly memorable.

The Los Angeles City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting construction of new fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile area inhabited by 500,000 low-income people.

Waiters share insider secrets about restaurant -- from what days to avoid dining out to how much to tip.

"I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts."

What if I attached a faucet to a watermelon and filled it with spiked watermelon juice so party guests could serve themselves right from the melon?

Consequences of the global food crisis

Here is your guide to the fascinating, international cuisines.

adults living in ZIP codes with the highest property values were the slimmest, and those living in ZIP codes with the lowest property values were the fattest.

The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness calls upon Apple to rethink their new media campaign.

I haven't yet had a single one of them although I remember an ex-roommate sipping Yerba Mate.

Now do you really feel hungry?