Would You Wear Bacon Cologne?

Photo: Fargginay

No need to check the date -- it's not April Fool's Day anymore. Which means that Fargginay's new Bacon cologne is not a joke.

The fragrance, meant to be worn by either men or women, is a mix of essential oils and, well, bacon. The company offers two versions of the scent: Bacon Classic and Bacon Gold. (Classic veers more maple, while Gold contains a citrus note, according to the company's perky Q&A section.)

We can all agree the bacon is delicious, but a cologne? Really? The company insists the fragrance actually smells good. "These are sophisticated aromas," the website reads. "There is a top, middle and bottom note. Both Bacōn Classic and Bacōn Gold are comprised of essential oils, flowers, herbs and the essence of bacon. The bacon is the bottom note. Hidden in just the right place. It's there alright, and the real fun is in finding it."

According to a press release:

bacōn is a passion project mirrored after one of the 20th Century's greatest legends. The Legend of Fargginay began in 1920 when quite by accident John Fargginay, a Parisian butcher discovered the ability to dramatically elevate his customers' mood with a secret recipe blending herbs & essential oils with the essence of...bacon. As the story goes, film stars & heads of state would frequent his shop to procure the magical elixir. With a wink of the eye and the secret code, "fargginay," customers would be slipped a discreet pouch containing the formula said to trigger pleasant memories. After a massive fire on July 4, 1924, the business was lost and so was the formula...Until now.

bacōn's tagline: "scent by the gods." Our suggestion: "stench of a diner." And suddenly, we're hungry.

The eau de ew comes in both bacōn Classic and bacōn Gold, each only $36.

Take a look at the perfume's kitchy commercial below. We will, however, confess that we're impressed with the packaging.

Blind Tasters Can't Tell Cheap Wines From Expensive

Photo: weelibrarian, Flickr

People can't tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine, says psychologist Richard Wiseman after conducting a survey of 578 drinkers at the Edinburgh International Science Festival, reports The Guardian. The participants sampled a variety of red and white wines in a blind taste test with prices ranging from about $6 to $50. The results concluded that people could only tell the difference between cheap and expensive white wines 53% of the time, and 47% of the time for red wines. In other words, it's about the same percentage as if they merely guessed. The Claret was the hardest to pinpoint, with only 39% getting it right, despite the price tag differences of about $5 for one bottle and $23 for the other. The Journal of Wine Economics backs up Wiseman's findings. Its 2008 study, "Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?" reported that:

Individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine. In a sample of more than 6,000 blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less.

Maybe it's time to add some swill wine to that expensive Bordeaux collection.

Many Imported Olive Oils Fail Quality Tests

That premium extra-virgin olive oil you shelled out a little extra for may not be quite as premium as you'd hoped, according to a second study released yesterday by the UC Davis Olive Center and the Australian Oils Research Laboratory.

According to the report, researchers found that five of the top-selling imported "extra virgin" olive oil brands in the U.S. were inconsistent, and that 73 percent of the samples tested failed sensory standards, which indicated they were of poor quality or had been adulterated with cheaper refined oils like canola, seed or nut oils.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the brands tested included Filippo Berio, Bertolli, Pompeian, Colavita and Star.

It's the second study released by the groups in the last year. The first was published last summer, but drew heavy criticism for small sample sizing, unknown storage conditions and testing methods. And already, the current report is coming under attack by the North American Olive Oil Association, which represents marketers, packagers and importers of olive oil.

"Consumers can continue to trust the quality of the imported olive oils they buy in supermarkets throughout the United States, contrary to what the authors of a report funded by a small contingent of domestic oil producers would like them to believe," the release says.
But Patricia Darragh, executive director of the California Olive Oil Council told Slashfood that the new study used two International Olive Council (IOC) recognized panels and extended the original study by using more samples of each brand. The first study analyzed 52 samples of 14 brands. The current study looked at 134 samples from eight producers.

"The results were similar," says Darragh. "What that means for consumers is they need to read the labels very carefully. There are a lot of good olive oils produced throughout the world, but consumers need to check the labels."

By definition, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the highest quality of olive oil. While it can vary in taste and color, to be labeled extra virgin, it must meet standards set by the IOC. The issue around olive oil purity has been heating up. In October, the USDA updated olive oil standards for the first time since 1948.

It has also been getting serious attention in California, which produces 99 percent of the olives grown in the U.S. Earlier this month, the California Senate Health Committee approved a bill introduced by Sen. Lois Wolk tightening the standards for what can be labeled "extra virgin" in California, and will impact what is brought into or sold in the state should it eventually be approved by the legislature and be signed by the governor.

Is Road Kill Safe?

Several news sources have recently pondered, is roadkill safe to eat?

The answer? Well, sort of.

On the pro-roadkill eating side:
If an animal was recently killed but otherwise healthy, the meat is actually much fresher than what you might find in a grocery store, explained Steve Rinella of the Travel Channel's "The Wild Within" on HuffPost Food recently (see his video of finding and preparing raccoon roadkill, after the jump). Daniel Klein of "The Perennial Palate" has a similar philosophy in this video, in which he prepares venison tartare from a deer collected from the side of the road that was "still steaming."

Even PETA basically agrees with both men. The animal-rights group advises, "If people must eat animal carcasses, roadkill is a superior option to the neatly shrink-wrapped plastic packages of meat in the supermarket."

Most recently, Food Safety News interviewed several roadkill-eating enthusiasts and gathered that there are a few good general rules of thumb to follow, such as the fact that eating roadkill in the winter may be safer since the animal is essentially refrigerated upon its death. Rinella adds that for raccoons, when the blood has not yet coagulated and the hair is not oily, those are both good signs that the animal was recently killed and therefore okay to eat.

Laws vary state by state, but in some states, eating roadkill is encouraged, usually via the game warden phoning interested individuals when a fresh carcass is found. In Alaska, roadkill meat is distributed to charities, after being sent to a volunteer butcher.

On the anti-roadkill eating side:
It can be hard to tell the health of an animal after it has died, so Slate advises to be wary of tularemia or "rabbit fever," a bacterial infection transmitted by inhalation, when taking rabbits from the roadside.

Additionally, animals raised for slaughter typically go through food safety checks that roadkill animals are obviously not subjected to.

So, how does one know if the recently killed deer on the side of the road will make a healthy venison stew? Well, one can never be sure, though based on the clip below, perhaps we should be

Kobe Beef

Kobe beef was originated in Japan; eating meat from four legged animals was prohibited in Japan for more than a thousand years prior to 1868. This ban was especially strict during the EdoPeriod (1603-1867). Buddhist influences were primarily responsible for this dietary restriction, but other cultural factors and the need to protect draught animals in times of famine may have reinforced the taboo. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the new leaders of Japan wanted, among other things, to reduce traditional social barriers and to encourage the adoption of beneficial Western habits. Despite the prohibition against the eating of meat in the late 1860’s, the consumption of meat remained extremely low for another century. Until very recent times meat usually meant pork in eastern Japan and beef in western Japan. Historically, and even today, the people of the Kinki Region (Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka) have been the heaviest beef eaters. An exclusive grade of beef from cattle raised in Kobe, Japan is how the name came about. The cattle are massaged and fed a special diet that includes some amounts of beer. This specialized treatment results in beef that is extraordinarily tender and full-flavored. It also makes the beef very expensive, which is why it's rarely available in the United States. The massive increase in popularity of Kobe beef in the United States has led to the creation of "Kobe-style" beef, taken from domestically-raised Wagyu crossbred with Angus in order to meet the demand. Farms in America and Britain have attempted to replicate the Kobe cattle. U.S meat producers claim that any differences between their less expensive "Kobe-style" beef and true Kobe beef are not largely different. Kobe cattle are fed American and British grass. Which is different from the more expensive Japanese feed. After all beef imports into the USA from Japan were banned on September 10 2001, due to the discovery of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad-Cow Disease (MCD), many retailers began to heavily market the U.S. raised beef as "Kobe-style". The ban on the import of Wagyu beef to the United States ended on December 12, 2005. Now that Kobe beef is so popular and is a known as a high quality of beef it’s in your and my best interest to try it!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu

www.1stflash.com/files/Kobe-Wagyu-Beef.htm