If there is one thing I can appreciate, it is dedication to the craft of food preparation. Certainly the taste of food is the most important thing, but when combined with the extra layer of attentive detail, the experience can really be inspiring.

One of the reasons I love sushi is because it often combines these two qualities: taste and attention to presentation.

Therefore, I am especially excited about a movie coming out next month called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, about the world’s best sushi chef.

The focus of the movie is 85-year-old Jiro Ono, who runs a tiny counter in a Tokyo subway station. How word got out on him, I will never know. What I do know is that this man takes his work to a whole other level.

The movie comes out in March, and I will be there… then shortly thereafter, a So Good field trip to Tokyo – because I’ll go that far for my readers.

The trailer:

H/t to Tasting Table for the tip and to Eater for the pic.

One of the last places you would probably look for art is the supermarket. But as you can see from the picture above, there are stores out there that feature some of the most original creativity around via soda displays.

I’m not sure if these displays are made by store employees or the folks from the soda companies, but they are cool. The primary driver of these displays seems to be sports, especially football, and really seems to bring out the best in these artists.

I can’t imagine the precision is takes to pull this off, or how many people have been injured by a tumbling mountain of 12-packs, but I like it. I also don’t know if this has anything to do with selling soda, but I do know that you don’t want any part of the disassembly.

Have you seen any of these displays in your local store? Anything nearly as elaborate? Would this influence your soda-purchasing decisions?

H/t to Darren Rovell for the top photo, then to Last Angry Fan and @TheMostRealKung.

One of the most famous brands in US history had a rough week last week. In case you haven’t heard, Twinkies, and parent company Hostess, declared bankruptcy last Wednesday – for the second time – and are inching closer to the abyss of extinction.

Yes, the golden sponge cake with a creamy vanilla filling could soon vanish from a convenience store shelf near you. Despite the Twinkie being everything I usually stand against when it comes to food – highly-processed, pure sugar, loaded with saturated fat – this is kind of an American tragedy.

I’m not sure how this tasty treat has fallen out of favor, but sales are down, and the company is in debt to the tune of $1.4 billion. And yes, that’s a big Twinkie.

I’m not sure how things got this bad. The Twinkie is everything that Americans love most about their snack food: cheap, sweet, and loaded with nostalgia.

For many, the Twinkie will be forever ingrained in our consciousness due to prominent placement on film and TV.

Remember Egon and Winston? Remember Sgt. Al Powell? How about Twinkie the Kid? Or even Archie Bunker (if I want to skew old)?

I am hopeful that someone will swoop in and save this cultural institution, because after the recent loss of Dublin Dr. Pepper, I am worried about where this country is going.

Would you miss the Twinkie? What is your fondest recollection of this slice of Americana?

H/t to the Paltry Sapien for the Twinkie shot. How about a tribute?

No one would doubt that America’s favorite food is pizza. As a result, people have come up with all kinds of ideas to try and take pizza to an even higher level, even though it has long since reached its innovation peak.

Cheese-stuffed crust? Unnecessary.
Pizza in a cone? The flat stuff works just fine.
Puff pastry crust? If it ain’t broke…
Dessert pizza? Nice try.
Rogue toppings (seafood, fruit, anything expensive)? Stupid.

Now the folks at Pizza Prints have come up with the idea of selling printed NFL logos that you can put on your pizza and then eat. Please note the last three words of that sentence.

The first time I saw this ad, I thought it was a joke.

Seriously, am I supposed to take a hot, freshly baked pizza and put a football helmet logo on top, thus allowing the ink design to “meld” with my formerly delicious pie, and then eat it as part of my first bite?

Um, no.

In the ad you will notice that no one actually takes a bite of the pizza. Pretty surprising considering how delicious ink and chemicals usually are.

There are bad ideas, and then there are Pizza Prints.

H/t to the Sports Guy for the heads up.

As any sports fan knows, based on the recent barrage of commercials during football games, sandwich chain Subway is now offering many of its 6-inch subs for $2. This limited-time offer replaces the previous price of $5, and has more than one person excited.

However, from this chair, I am less inclined to celebrate. When something is too good to be true, it usually is. Except in this case, there is no mysterious explanation. In fact, it only reaffirms my belief.

Subway uses the cheapest meat imaginable. Cold cut combo? Gross. Meatball Marinara? Sick.

If you have ever given a close look at the lump of processed, salted, smushed animal parts that your sandwich artist puts on your roll, you know what I mean. There is a reason they promote their “fresh-baked bread” and their “healthy” options – because neither focuses on the meat.

Moreover, this price point should clarify the question you should be asking yourself, if you find yourself in a Subway this month, sucked into the deal-seeking vortex of a $2 sub: Do I seriously want to eat a sandwich that costs $2? Please reread that question. The answer? No – you most certainly do not – especially when there are a bevy of local sub shops doing it right, for a fair price.

Seriously, for $2, what kind of sandwich are you expecting? Quality ingredients? Please, you can’t even make a decent sandwich at home for that amount. Your instincts are telling you something here, so don’t ignore them. This is not a $2 mini-sub – this is the same thing they have been selling for years, except for much less. This is what they call a red flag.

My new slogan for the chain: Subway – Eat Somewhere Else.

Take that Apolo Ohno.

H/t to Getty for the photo.

After reading the wonderful post from our friends at The Bitten Word, documenting food highlights from a two-week trip to China (!), I started thinking about some of the weirder food experiences I have had.

True, I have had all kinds of sushi – octopus, urchin, eel, and many others – but that’s all pretty tame stuff these days. My strangest encounter was probably in Jeju, South Korea a few years back, when I had a mystery appetizer that I later found out was aloe meat. The small filet was translucent, slimy, room temperature, and almost impossible to get down. Without knowing what it was, my imagination ran wild about what it could be, and did not help the ease of my attempted swallow.

That said, what strange food experiences have you had? Foreign countries? Mystery meat diner parties? Triple-dog dares? Game shows with Joe Rogan? Please share in the comments section, and your colleagues will judge how brave you are.

[Now, time to ask the boss about that So Good travel expense account...]

H/t to Pineapple fish for the Beijing bugs on sticks.

I know I speak for my colleagues here at So Good when I say that we are very thankful for great readers like you. Stop by for a slice any time.

When I went to see Michael Pollan speak earlier this year, he said something that kind of blew my mind. He said that around 40% of the items in a grocery store are new each year. The not-so-hidden secret of the supermarket is that companies will do anything to move “new” product, whether that is giving a cracker has a new flavor, detailing the new and improved formula of a familiar peanut butter, or anything else.

Needless to say, some new products are more compelling than others.

Exhibit A: Chocolate Egg Nog

I admit that I have a weakness for the nog, and when I saw it for the first time last weekend, I knew that the holidays were really here. I love how its sweet thickness coats my pipes like a holiday-themed Pepto. Delicious. What I was less enthusiastic about was seeing an adulterated form of this seasonal nectar, spiked with chocolate. Yuk. There is a reason you have never seen a recipe with chocolate and nutmeg. Another unnecessary product.

Exhibit B: Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

I have never been a fan of anything but the original flavor here, with the possible exception of chive cream cheese. I realize that it is November, and by legal obligation, all food products must have a pumpkin flavor option, but enough is enough. Nothing involving pumpkin belongs anywhere near a bagel, and only the laziest slacker would use it in a pumpkin cheesecake. Fail, part deux.

Am I missing anything here? Do these products sound appealing to you?

Now there are a bunch of great seasonal products out there… so what holiday-inspired food do you particularly love? Which ones do you detest?

In an attempt to turn around a weakening market share in the US, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced yesterday that it was bringing another unnecessary product to market. Similar to the lame ducks of Bud Light Golden Wheat and Bud Light Lime introduced in recent years, AB is taking another long shot at success in Bud Light Platinum.

Instead of going the way of Michelob Ultra and the low-calorie, fit ‘n fun lifestyle, Platinum is reportedly going the other direction, with a boozier (6% alcohol vs. 4.2% for Bud Light) and more caloric (137 vs. 110) beverage.

Seems that AB has picked up the not-so-recent trend of giving people an amped up version of what we are already consuming – more fat, more salt, more sugar, and in this case more booze and calories. What more could we want as Americans?

My issue here is the lack of originality, inherent contradiction, and likely higher price point of this product.

As we all know, there are many beers with higher alcohol content, and often, calories. Fortunately, almost all of these beers taste better than a Bud Light. So what need does this product fill? Why would someone buy this?

Also, how can this beer be called “light” with its calorie infusion?

Finally, have you ever heard of a product with “platinum” in its name that didn’t have a markup?

AB has its work cut out if it wants this beer to sell. They have until January, and I have my doubts.

H/t to Huffington for the top picture.

Like many of you, during college I was not afraid to buy and drink a ton of the cheapest beer I could get my hands on – Stroh’s, Hamm’s, Schaefer, Old Milwaukee, among many others. And while many of these brands have been driven into obscurity, I recently read that old, reliable Pabst Blue Ribbon has been making a major comeback. As reported by Darren Rovell of CNBC:

“Fastest growing domestic beers over last yr by $ %: Pabst Blue Ribbon +14.5%, Yuengling +13%, Bud Select 55 +12.2%, Bud Ice +4.8%”

This was pretty stunning to me, but it probably shouldn’t have been. Thinking back, I recall recently seeing PBR offered in both dive bars and top shelf restaurants. Somehow, the marketing gurus behind this inexpensive, amber beverage have found a way to make it appealing to both the working class/college student, as well as the urban hipster/yuppie crowd.

Pabst is now seen as a cool brand, and touches a piece of nostalgia that giants Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, and their huge marketing budgets, have not been able to tap into. Apparently, choosing your spots (see top), rather than wall-to-wall ads, can be a winning formula – even when up against an era of mass craft beer production.

It is hard to fake authenticity. And even though PBR is not a good tasting beer, it has carved its own niche into the culture, and the revenue uptick, among a landscape of decreasing profits, shows the bottom line.

What are your thoughts on Pabst? Are you an occasional partaker? Is it possible that the resurgence is related to their sterling new ad campaign?