food

With all the talk of lolcats and their beloved "cheezburgers," it's no surprise that this cheeseburger in a can is spreading like wildfire across the Web. Apparently you just open up the can and take out the cheeseburger, and maybe heat it up somehow before you eat it. Amazing. I guess these mean we're really prepared for the zombie apocalypse.

The "Cheeseburger in a Can," sold by a German outdoors retailer called Trekking Mahlzeiten, is only 257 calories, which is awesome, but it still costs 3.95 euros, which our lousy exchange rate translates … Read more

NEW YORK--What if you could get that coveted table for two at one of the hottest restaurants in town...by paying $25 for the reservation?

New York's famed Restaurant Week is fast approaching, which means that black books and BlackBerrys are filling with reservations aplenty. But this year, a new start-up called Tablexchange.com might put a fork in the system. The New York-based company has a simple model: it's a marketplace for buying and selling reservations at chic, trendy restaurants. It's brand new, and it's already controversial.

"So let's have a show of … Read more

More than anything else, convenience fuels many businesses today. Entertainment. Software. And, as the Wall Street Journal reports on McDonalds' foray into high(er)-end coffee bars, food.

The confrontation between Starbucks Corp. and McDonald's Corp. once seemed improbable. Hailing from very different corners of the restaurant world, the two chains have gradually encroached on each other's turf. McDonald's upgraded its drip coffee and its interiors, while Starbucks added drive-through windows and hot breakfast sandwiches.

The growing overlap between the chains shows how convenience has become the dominant force shaping the food-service industry. Consumers who are unwilling to cross the street to get coffee or make a left turn to grab lunch have pushed all food purveyors to adapt the strategies of fast-food chains.

We're seeing much the same thing in the software world.… Read more

Forget the Slow Food movement. True geeks are in a rush to spend their cash on the latest electronics, not snobby epicure. So when we spotted a fast-food restaurant that's automated, our heart rates sped up accordingly.

Kitchen Mogu Mogu is a Singapore-based Japanese fast-food restaurant that styles itself after similar dining concepts in Japan. In fact, it feels like buying from a vending machine, only in this case it's hot Japanese grub, not sodas or candy bars.

The transaction is easy. Tap the touch screen for your orders and make your payment. You can choose to pay … Read more

Purfresh, which used to go by the name Novazone, has tested and now will more actively market a sunscreen for things that come out of the ground.

Called Eclipse, it's a powder made from multicrystalline calcium carbonate. You spray it on onions and other crops to reduce solar stress. Farmers can lose 30 percent or more of their crops to overexposure to the sun, said Purfresh CEO David Cope. The remaining, salable crops can also get damaged and lose some of their value through overexposure. Spray on the powder--which is rated SPF 42--and you can eliminate losses due to … Read more

It will be delicious, nutritious, and kill tapeworms.

TyraTech, a green technology incubator, is developing a cheese that will be as nutritious as regular food but also kill intestinal parasites, according to CFO Keith Bigsby. The company has signed a deal with Kraft Foods to bring these functional foods to market. Kraft will pay the company engineering fees and, if products come out, royalties from sales. TyraTech is going to try to send me a glass of a drink they are working on for a taste test.

If you are reading this, you probably don't have a tapeworm, but … Read more

Now here's a Web app that could save you money on something you're bound to be doing on a weekly basis: buying food. GroceryGuide takes all the data from weekly grocery sales circulars and makes them available online in one large database. Similar to some of the aggregation sites that do this with electronics deals, you can either browse by store, or create a list of three items you'd like to search for from up to two different local stores at a time. If you find an item you like, you can then add it to a … Read more

Something for the tea lover and gadgeteer in your life that won't break your holiday budget.

The Tea Stick from Chiasso for $20 is a stainless steel spring-loaded stick and sieve. You use the tiny shovel to scoop loose tea and load it in the stick. The stick is completely enclosed when dunking.

Yes, I know, this is Train Wreck: Dysfunctional corporate behavior. But hey, there's a time and a place for everything. And the holidays aren't about blogs, they're about family, friends, food, and of course, drink.

Wine is a complex subject that can be intimidating for novices. It takes years to really know what you're doing just with American wines, let alone those from France, Italy, Australia, and everywhere else. If you want to learn enough to buy or order good wine but don't know where to start, you're in the right place.

Years ago I wrote a column called Tobak's great wine for techies. It's timeless stuff. Click on this link and you can read the archives. You'll find articles that will teach you everything you need to know to get started with wine.… Read more