Think of a food or ingredient that you hate. Think hard, can you taste it? Do you get a visceral reaction to that taste ? I know I can trick myself into sense memories for a variety of things, mostly terrible ones. For example, tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks. As I sit here and type those words my lips are puckered, my tongue is curled up inside my mouth and I can feel my skin crawl. Chocolate is the food item that gets me. The smell of chocolate is enough to make me leave a room. Oddly enough, the taste of  it may not be so bad for me ( I had some chocolate bacon cheesecake last week, and I liked it, I just couldn’t eat the chocolate sauce), I can’t get past the smell.  According to a Huffington Post article the top 10 most Polarizing foods are:

• Cilantro
• Celery
• Black Licorice
• Green Pepper
• Marzipan
• Mayonnaise
• Blue Cheese
• Vegemite/Marmite
• Coconut
• Liver

As an aside being a super taster must be one of the worst super power ever.

Cilantro in particular has had numerous studies done on it to see what there is about it that makes people either love it or hate it. Turns out it may be more smell than taste.  I’m sure you have met someone who has complained of cilantro tasty soapy or other similar descriptions. next time you have them feeling agreeable have them hold their nose and taste it, see what they think.

The others tend to be more of the acquired taste variety.

I have heard people complain of celery in in its raw state, particularly its stringy qualities, but rarely have I heard it complained about as cooked ingredient. Perhaps I have just tuned it out.

While Licorice and its vegetable roots, anise,fennel seeds, fronds, liquor and even pollen also typically fall into the love it or hate it camp, it’s popularity as an ingredient makes it hard to avoid.

Green Pepper? really? I love the stuff. Along with celery their friends onion and carrot it can do no wrong in my book.

I don’t actually think of Marzipan as a food but I’m not much of a sweet eater. Outside of creepy, non marzipan babies I’m not sure that is is something that really gets eaten. It seems to be  more decorative than anything.

Mayonnaise was a real head scratcher, outside of controversy surrounding its superiority over Miracle Whip it seems to be pretty innocuous. I mean what is more bland than mayonnaise other than a mayonnaise sandwich on white bread.

Blue Cheese is a common one, considering its smell is derived from the same bacteria that causes foot odor it’s no surprise. I love the stuff but its flavor and smell are a big part of what I enjoy and I can certainly understand why others don’t. Even if you don’t like it there is still no excuse to serve ranch with Buffalo wings, that is just wrong.

Vegemite and Marmite are often lumped together but lovers of each will tell you that they are not the same. While they both have yeast as a base they have very different flavors and qualities. If you have never tried either one, I encourage you to find a friend who has a jar and give it a try. It is a very strong flavor but delicious in its own peculiar way.

At first I was shocked by coconut, and then I realized, I don’t like it in any form other than raw fresh coconut. The sweetened stuff is gross and I actively avoid it in most recipes. Apparently I’m less open than I thought. Coconut also contains lauric acid, which can cause a soapy flavor in overripe coconut.

And last but certainly not least hated is liver. This very site rated liver as the most hated childhood food. While I still have not learned to embrace a big plate of calves liver, chicken livers, venison liver, pate and foie gras are all winners in my book.

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.

From the the rise of CSA’s and home gardening, to home brewing and wine making, to in-home soda production, everywhere you looked there was some way to do it yourself in the kitchen. No matter where you live you can likely find a CSA or farm market near you to take advantage of locally produced food.

CSA availability in the US

CSA’s and farm markets are just one part of an overall move towards healthier eating across the board. School lunches were a hot topic that received attention from the First Lady, the Food Network and Jamie Oliver. If Jamie Oliver running around in a full body hair net and apron doesn’t make you want to eat healthier I don’t know what will.

At the same time that people are eating closer to home and making more of their own things, technology has become a major tool to make that easier. Apps for recipes, restaurants and even foraging have enabled people to find out about their food no matter where they are.

Looking ahead to 2012 I see a lot more of the same with a few twists. “The War on Food” will continue (and “the War on Food” will become a phrase) I think we will see a continued trend away commercial food products, and as a result the major food manufacturers will step up their campaigns to combat the erosion of their market. Already we have seen Michelle Obama shift her focus away from healthy food choices, and towards increased exercise as a way to combat childhood obesity. Many have claimed that her change in focus is directly due to the influence that major  producers like Monsanto have lined the pockets of her husband enough to change her focus.

Also in 2012, I think we can expect to see a new player in the food TV market. With The Food Network going all MTV with reality shows all the time, and the Cooking Channel picking up the MTV2 spot it looks like there is room for someone else to fill in the gap for actual cooking shows. As much as PBS has great cooking shows they don’t really have the juice to compete. Bravo has a great following with Top Chef but I don’t think that cooking instruction fits their motif.  Someone has to step up.  Please Save us from more Rachael vs Guy

(Note: Coolios inclusion on this show does not make his cookbook any less ridiculous)

Lastly in 2012 I think we can expect to see some shifts in the fast food industry. One of the major regional chains is going to step up and go Nationwide. Whether it be Culvers, In N Out, Umami Burger or some other player, someone is going to try to bring their version of fresh and local across the country to ride the wave of that food trend.

And for my oddball prediction in 2012, I am going to predict that farmed guinea pigs will make there way into the US market as the final piece of Peruvian food craze.

So what do you think So Good readers, what food trends do you expect in 2012?

A tribute to Steve Jobs using 3,750 apples – by artist Olivier Lefebvre.
H/t to Darren Rovell.

Yes, what you see above is not some murky picture of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.  Apparently, Paula Deen’s butter-flavored lip balm does in fact exist, based on eye-witness accounts.  While not yet available on Deen’s site, is it really that much of a stretch to think that this could happen?  Rather, the question that has been keeping me up at night is whether people will actually buy something like this.

As we have seen with the national bacon obsession, apparently there is no limit to what people will flavor with bacon, nor which of those items people will then buy.  With this in mind, could butter be far behind?

It has long been said that popcorn, toast, and baked potatoes are just vehicles for people to get their butter fix.  If you can think of a savory food light on flavor, someone has tried to pour butter on top.

If this is the next big thing – consider me all in – and watch me get an early jump on the competition.

My product line under consideration:

Butter-infused vodka – Goes down as smooth as… well, you get the picture.
Butter perfume – Paula Deen isn’t Maxim’s Hottest Female TV Chef for nothing.
Butter coffee –Talk about a rich mug of joe.
Chocolate covered butter – People will eat anything covering in chocolate.
Butter ice cream – I’ll just take vanilla Haagen Dazs and reduce the vanilla bean by 28%. Voilà!
Butter nuggets – I have no idea what this is, but people love anything in nugget form.

Would you buy butter lip balm, or better yet, other butter-inspired products?  What did I miss in my product line?

H/t to Holly Bailey for the snap.

Photo via: Fort Worth Star Telegram

The creation, made by Justin Martinez, is actually marshmallow infused with pink bubble gum extract, which is battered, then fried.

I read about a couple of guys from Austin that recently passed the final test, becoming two of the fewer than 125 masters in North America.  Why so few?  Just look at the four-step process:

1.  Introductory Sommelier Course & Exam over two days
2.  Certified Sommelier Examination, a one-day exam given in three parts: a basic blind tasting of two wines, a written theory exam, and a service exam
3.   Advanced Sommelier Course, taking place over three days, with the exam lasting two days thereafter
4.   Master Sommelier Diploma Exam in three sessions: an oral theory test, a wine service test, and a blind tasting of six wines

This final part of step 4 is the most compelling.  The candidate must verbally identify the following info from six distinct wines: grape varieties, country of origin, district and appellation of origin, and vintages of the wines tasted. Doesn’t this sound completely absurd?

How sensitive does your palate have to be to pick up on such nuance?  I can barely tell the difference between Orange Crush and Sunkist.

Can you imagine trying to cook for someone with that kind of sensitivity?  Not a good idea for someone with questionable skills in the kitchen.

While this process is noble, it is certainly expensive, with classes and tests alone costing $2,500. It is worth it? Does this just reinforce the snooty/elitist culture of wine-folk?  Doesn’t this seem worse than the SAT?

What do you think?

H/t to Addie Broyles for the tip.

Budweiser points out that the average man uses 5 gallons of water each time they shave. Apparently they also walk the walk and don’t mind having scruffy employees. They boast on their Facebook page:

In 2010, over 1,200 A-B employees saved 42,000 gallons of water by not shaving in the week leading up to World Environment Day.

Beardo alert! There were some scruffy dudes in that office that week. Water plays a big part in beer brewing, so Budweiser has made it a goal to reduce its own water usage. In the past three years, the brewer reduced its water use by 34 percent.

One question: where is the gender equality? Shouldn’t Budweiser also ask women to not shave in the week leading up to World Environment Day? Somehow I’m guessing women with hairy legs don’t play quite as much into the image Budweiser is trying to portray as bearded men does.

Well So Good readers, any thoughts on this campaign? Random? Cute? Amusing? A good cause? Stupid? Also,