Sliced bread turns 84 July 7, 2012

                                                                                   You know that saying, "The greatest thing since sliced bread?" It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to those of us born in the last few generations since we've always had sliced bread, but the invention of the slicer sure had an impact on the world when it debuted 80 years ago.

The first loaf of pre-sliced bread was sold on July 7, 1928, but its inventor, Otto Rohwedder, had been working on it since 1912. Invention Dimension profiled Rohwedder, who was a jeweler until 1916 when he decided to work on this idea full time. The world would have been treated to sliced bread in 1917 if a fire hadn't destroyed the blueprints and prototypes at the factory set to produce the first bread slicers. Rohwedder didn't give up, though. He worked until he made up for those losses, and kept plugging away at perfecting his bread slicing machine. He sold the first one to a bakery in in Chillicothe, Mo., in 1928, and a star was born.

I think fate may have played a part in that 1917 fire, because it wasn't until 1926 that the electric pop-up toaster became popular in the US. Would sliced bread have caught on without the new toasting device? We'll never know, but they sure do go well together!

New Potatoes Developed to Make Better Potato Chip

Americans love their potato chips -- in fact, about 13 percent of the nation's potatoes become them. Now, thanks to Cornell's potato-breeding program, we'll soon have two new varieties designed specifically for chip-making, reports The Cornell News Service.

Waneta and Lamoka potatoes, named after two twin lakes in the Finger Lakes region that Cornell calls home, both have long storage life and an appealing color when sliced. Since potatoes are usually harvested in the fall but don't head for the chipper till spring, it's important to have a potato that stores well. These new varieties are also resistant to common potato diseases in the area: golden nematode, which infects roots, and scab, which forms pits in the root vegetable.
And they'll make for tastier snacks, too. The Lamoka is high in starch, which makes for a less greasy chip because it soaks up less oil when fried. The Waneta is less prone to bruising, which should make for fewer of those funky green chips at the bottom of the bag. There were 40 acres of the new varieties planted in 2010 (and 400 acres slated for 2011), and since each acre yields a whopping 30,000 pounds of potatoes, these new chips should be making their way through the big Pennsylvania processing plants like Utz and Herr's soon. Happy crunching!

The Truth Behind Olive Garden's "Tuscan" Cooking School Read

Photo: YouTube

Sorry to burst your bubble, Olive Garden fans, but that "cooking school" in Tuscany, the one where the chain's chefs supposedly go to learn the secrets of Italian cuisine from the source? It's pretty much a sham.

This according to a former Olive Garden manager, who's causing a flurry of discussion at Reddit (much of it oddly trading on obscene jokes about breadsticks-you've been warned). The manager, posting as FIDELIA079, claims that he scored a lucky, all-expense-paid (except souvenirs) trip to the chain's Tuscan "culinary institute" in 2007.

It seems the Olive Garden doesn't even own the place. They just book all the rooms at some hotel in the off-season, close the place to the public, and take over the restaurant. Sporadic "classes" lasted "maybe an hour here or there" where they would "talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute" before taking the group site-seeing for the day. Lots of drinking ensued.
If it sounds like just a ploy to allow the ubiquitous strip-mall-Italian chain to claim that its staff is trained in the Old Country-apparently, it is.

"The only time we saw the 'chef' was when she made a bolognese sauce while taking pictures with each of us to send to our local newspapers," the anonymous ex-manager says. "They sent pre-written articles to our local newspaper with fake quotes from me and a group photo. Also, every year when they would run the promotion I was supposed to wear a special 'chef' coat and make conversation with guests who ordered the promotional meals."

Does this come as much of a surprise? Seriously, if there's anyone out there who thinks then Olive Garden really serves authentic Italian cooking, then boy have we got a trash bag full of authentic Louis Vuitton purses to sell you.

Still, the insights of disgruntled ex-manager FIDELIA079, whoever he is, are pretty entertaining, especially when it comes to what happened to that coveted "special 'chef' coat":

"I sold it at a garage sale to someone who was going to be a Server-Zombie for Halloween. It had my name on it."

Fake Blueberries In Cereals, Baked Goods

Kellogg's, why did you try to fool us again? Yes, those blueberry bits in cereals and infamously lackluster packaged muffins from the gas station? Not real. Real sugar and food dye; but not berries from the berry bush. We can't say we're surprised, just officially disgusted.

It turns out, some of our biggest industry bakers are only good as colorists. A new video released by the Consumer Wellness Center last week shows that this is actually no secret. As we've seen before, the front of packages always sound better than the back. If you turn over a Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin box, touting fresh blueberries on the front, you'll find an ingredients list with an item called "blueberry flavored crunchlets." Crunchlets -- a word we hope never becomes official -- is defined as a mix of sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2. Voilà, blueberry! Minus, of course, those real-deal elements: antioxidants, manganese, vitamins C and E, and dietary fiber.

You can also expect similar frauds in cereals, breads and muffins from Betty Crocker, Target and General Mills, whose Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal contains neither blueberry nor pomegranate. Who to trust? A real baker. Or the makers of products like Natures' Path Organic Optimum Blueberry-Cinnamon Breakfast Cereal, which actually contains real blueberries and cinnamon.

Appliances That Talk Back

"I smell awful; would U clean my crisper and wipe me down ASAP?" Are we ready for a refrigerator that tweets its most intimate thoughts? How about, "Does my butt look big since I gained 20 lbs.?" That's right, a bathroom scale with WiFi, so you can tweet to friends about life's ups and downs.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this year was all about smart technology in the home, reports CNN. And just to make sure everyone got the message, Jane Lynch, who plays Sue Sylvester on the hit Fox show, Glee, was hired as the LG spokesperson to sing the praises of its washing machines that send text messages ("R U trying to put me through the wringer?") and ovens that download recipes and can even teach you to cook ("Add a pinch of salt and whip it. Whip it good.") The new LG fridge even keeps tabs on how fresh your food is. (Shades of Lost in Space? "Danger, danger, Will Robinson. Spoiled milk on Shelf 2!")
Seriously, these new appliances are anything but playthings. Major companies like Samsung and Panasonic are working on big-ticket items, like a $3,500 refrigerator with a touchscreen interface that lets you draw up shopping lists, get recipes from sites like Epicurious, post on Twitter, download music, and watch YouTube.

This kind of future-dreaming to make housework less onerous has been going on for decades (check out this 1956 video from General Motors on The Kitchen of the Future). The problem up until now wasn't the technology; it was getting Lynch onboard to scare the hell out of everybody into making it happen.

Could You Live On A Food Stamp Budget?

We talked earlier this month about whether we could live on a $15 a week grocery budget. Many of us thought we could, though it would be hard, time-consuming and rather boring. Now, CNN reporter Sean Callebs is attempting to see what it's like to eat for $176 a month, the most a single food stamp recipient can get in a month. The economic stimulus bill is calling for raising food stamp payments by 13 percent, a sign that the current payments are not enough, Callebs says.

So far he seems to be doing OK, eating basic but healthful meals like chicken stir fry and grilled cheese sandwiches with salads. He's also eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and a lot of pasta with tomato sauce. But, Callebs points out, he has time to cook and is well-educated on which cheap foodstuffs are also healthy. He also has energy to run three or four miles a day, making his carb-heavy diet less of a weight gain risk. The average food stamp recipient may be working two jobs, with little time to spend in the kitchen chopping and stir-frying lean cuts of chicken.

Callebs is also getting a lot of interesting comments, ranging from budget and shopping tips to admonishments to "stop whining" to thank-yous for raising awareness about consumer food spending.

Wine in a Pouch?

If you're nostalgic for those fun Capri Sun pouches you sipped as a kid, you might be interested in the new package wine package vintners are trying out in an effort to be eco-friendly.

Indulge Wines, headquartered in Buellton (Santa Barbara County), California, recently rolled out two 1.5L wines packaged in an "Astrapouch": a 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, North Coast; and a 2009 Pinot Noir, Central Coast. Although right now they're only available in California, by summertime, wine-drinkers nationwide will be able to purchase the portable pouches. (Each pouch is the equivalent of two 750mL wine bottles.)
Winemaker Alan Philips has good chops. He formerly made wine for Foley Estates Winery (in Lompoc, also in Santa Barbara County) and has consulted on many Central Coast winery projects. A cut-out handle on the Indulge Wines' pouch allows you to grab-and-go, whether it's to the local park for a symphony performance or into the back yard to sip with a dinner of grilled fish. Owner and founder Pierre LaBarge IV has a master's degree in viticulture and a keen interest in wine production.

The wine is eco-friendly for many reasons: It's drinkable up to 30 days after opening (so it won't go to waste) and fewer fossil fuels are needed to transport the wine than if it were inside a glass bottle. Just two percent of the product is its weight -- the remaining 98% is the wine. Unlike boxed wines, which are essentially a bag inside a box, there is no cardboard or paperboard needed to package the wine.

And finally, you're probably wondering: Is this wine any good? I sampled the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, North Coast, and enjoyed the balance of zippy, acidic notes with minerals. My conclusion is that it's the perfect transition into warmer weather. The wine is not packed with tropical-fruit notes but it's still fresh and crisp, and a nice departure from all the heavy red wines you've probably been drinking all winter long.