Almost Too Cute to Eat

Tastemade Japan created a bird nest omurice recipe so simple yet so adorable it seems to even tell a story from your pan to your plate.

  Here are some other cute breakfast and snack ideas they’ve created.

 

If you want to look your best in the morning, it may be worth swapping the ultra-processed pastries for wholemeal toast.

Researchers in France found that people who ate a breakfast rich in refined carbohydrates were rated less attractive than those who started the day with healthier unrefined carbs. 

 Scientists at the University of Montpellier believe the subtle shift in facial attractiveness may be driven by changes in blood sugar and insulin that can affect skin appearance and have longer-term effects on sex hormones. 

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Meet GUS, a tabletop companion that helps you harvest fresh mushrooms at home.

From the team at Good Growing, the minimal vessels hold what’s known as a fruiting block—a mix of sawdust, grains, and mycelium spores—that within a few days, burst with thick clusters of fleshy fungi.
The breathable, low-fire ceramic helps to regulate the temperature while also maintaining a moist environment for the specimens to sprout. 

Plus, GUS is modular and stackable, allowing for several varieties to be grown at once without taking up valuable countertop real estate.

 
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Too Cute to be Eaten

A chef known as Onigiri Gekijō transforms onigiris into adorable characters.

 

Green M&Ms Were Once Thought to be Aphrodisiacs

Many rumors on Mars' M&Ms have been circulating throughout the decades. The green M&Ms were thought to be aphrodisiacs. If the last M&M was red, they tell you to make a wish and it will come true.

 If it was yellow, then you'll be sick. Orange M&Ms were for good luck, and brown M&Ms were bad luck. The idea that green M&Ms were aphrodisiacs emerged from an urban legend in the 70s, when students were apparently giving them to their crushes or lovers. It is not exactly known why the green ones specifically were picked out, but some suggest it was because green was believed to represent healing and fertility. 

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What Are Cookie Monster's Cookies?

They are made of pancake mix, puffed rice, Grape-Nuts, instant coffee, and water. 

The chocolate chips are made of colored glue. 

 Muppet wrangler Lara MacLean, who has worked for the Jim Henson Company since 1992, bakes them at home. She prepares the cookies so that they crumble in Cookie Monster's mouth at just the right consistency, letting him feel every crumb of defeat fall from his mouth to the amusement of his young audience.

 Cookie Monster's muppeteer, David Rudman, comments, "The more crumbs, the funnier it is." 

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AI meal planner app suggests recipe that would create chlorine gas

A New Zealand supermarket experimenting with using AI to generate meal plans has seen its app produce some unusual dishes – recommending customers recipes for deadly chlorine gas, “poison bread sandwiches” and mosquito-repellent roast potatoes. The app, created by supermarket chain Pak ‘n’ Save, was advertised as a way for customers to creatively use up leftovers during the cost of living crisis. It asks users to enter in various ingredients in their homes, and auto-generates a meal plan or recipe, along with cheery commentary. It initially drew attention on social media for some unappealing recipes, including an “oreo vegetable stir-fry”. When customers began experimenting with entering a wider range of household shopping list items into the app, however, it began to make even less appealing recommendations. One recipe it dubbed “aromatic water mix” would create chlorine gas. 

The bot recommends the recipe as “the perfect nonalcoholic beverage to quench your thirst and refresh your senses”.

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These Artworks Are Good Enough to Eat—Literally

Most museums have a strict “no touching” policy when it comes to the art in their collections.

 It probably goes without saying, but most museum-goers aren’t allowed to eat the works, either. 

 But the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, wants art lovers to be able to engage with its pieces using touch, taste and smell. To that end, the museum has once again invited members of the public to make baked goods inspired by some of the 21,000 works in its collection as part of the Great Blanton Bake-Off, which is now in its fourth year. 

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Food photographer of the year 2023

Food Stylist Award | Keiron George | Let them Eat Cake

Politics of Food | Ramadan Meals Among the Ruins in Idlib, Syria

World Food Programme Food for Life | Hungry Tears 

 Some of the winning images in this year’s Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year. 

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What dining in the dark does to your tastebuds

Dark restaurants like the Blind Cow offer a tantalising novelty – a meal eaten in complete darkness, in this case served by waitstaff who are blind or have limited vision. For them, darkness poses no obstacle.

 In the black of the dining rooms, they move easily and surely, while the sighted remain rooted to their chairs, unable to navigate.

Though there are now a smattering of such places around the globe, the Blind Cow was the first permanent instantiation, founded in 1999 by a blind clergyman. 

So, how eating in darkness feels different for someone with sight? In the absence of vision, do the other senses grow sharper? Do you eat less when you have no idea what you're eating? 

Read more here.

 

Pan Solo

Benicia, California-based One House Bakery has created a monumental bread sculpture called Pan Solo.

 

More than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in food packaging

 An international group of scientists analyzed more than 1,200 scientific studies where chemicals had been measured in food packaging, processing equipment, tableware and reusable food containers.

 A report released on Thursday by the Food Packaging Forum, a Switzerland-based non-profit, noted little is known about many of the 3,240 chemicals examined in these studies or their effects on people.

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This new Japanese hot pot restaurant in Tokyo has a cute mascot named Kuma-chan—Japanese for “little bear.”

The only downside is that the adorable bear is actually a part of the meal.

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Would you eat these illegal potato chips?

Prank marketing group MSCHF offers us Illegal Chips.

 These is a limited-edition selection of chips that come in the flavors of forbidden food. 

You can try horse meat chips, fugu fish chips, and casu marzu chips.

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Corgi Cake

Take hangry people, witty chefs, and hilarious miscommunication and mix it all together, and here you go, you just encountered delicious compliance.

 

Too Cute To Eat

A baker named Rin created an adorable—and delectable—cheesecake that looks like three capybaras soaking in a Japanese onsen.

 

These Are Nun's Farts

No, seriously, that's the name of this Québécois pastry. In the original French, the name of one is "pet de soeur", which is "fart of the sister." 

Atlas Obscura suggests origins for this aromatic delights filled with butter and brown sugar.

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Too Beautiful to Eat

Melbourne-based Michelle Nguyen is among the most decorated confectionery artists who specializes in creating them, and you can probably see why.

 

Croatian Christmas table

For Croatians, the big day in the Christmas period is “Badnji Dan” (Christmas Eve Day) and “Badnja Večer” (Christmas Eve night). The term badnjak means “to be awake”, hence referring to staying awake all through the night until Christmas Day. The tradition of bringing a log into the house and placing it on the fire on badnjak, and keeping it burning throughout Christmas Day, has been going on in regions in Croatia for centuries. Another old tradition is the sowing of pšenica (wheat seeds) in a bowl of water (usually on St. Lucy’s day), which will grow until Christmas and is then used to decorate the table on Christmas. Since Christmas Eve is a fasting day, traditionally on Christmas Eve Croatians eat a small meal in the evening. On Christmas Day, Croatians traditionally prepare a roast – either turkey, lamb, pig or duck. Winter dishes like sarma and stews are also eaten over the festive period. And an abundance of traditional Christmas desserts. 

 Here are 15 things you will likely see on the table over the festive period in Croatian households.

 

Baby Yoda Marshmallow

GALERIECANDY has put a sci-fi spin on traditional hot cocoa bombs with a “Magic Hot Chocolate Melt” inspired by the beloved The Mandalorian series.

 Hot cocoa bombs usually comprise a hollow chocolate shell and marshmallows on the inside, but this Baby Yoda version is extra sweet.