food rac·ism

food rac·ism (noun): An expression of racial prejudice that uses a stereotypical food item to make an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo.

In an opinion column published on CNN's website, Ruben Navarrette Jr. noted the use of the term food racism on a conservative radio program in regards to a controversial statement (see video below) made by an ESPN broadcaster about Colombian NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya:

walk-a·ways

walk-a·ways (noun): Retail customers so frustrated by store checkout lines that they leave a shop without completing their purchases (see also: queue management).

An October 16, 2009 article entitled "Smart retailers fight walk-aways at the checkout," published on the trade website retailcustomerexperience.com, defined the problem of walk-aways, potential causes, and their impact as lost revenue:

food swamp

food swamp (noun): A geographic area where the overabundance of high-energy foods (for example, caloric snacks sold at convenience stores) inundate healthy food options.

The Rand Corporation recently published a study finding that a ban on the addition of fast-food outlets to the neighborhood of South L.A. was unlikely to reduce obesity rates so long as there was a large concentration of convenience and small grocery stores where "high-energy" snacks are plentiful.

ven·dri·fi·ca·tion

ven·dri·fi·ca·tion (noun): The process by which an influx of fancy food trucks selling gourmet treats threatens to displace established, traditional street vendors.

Katie Robbins coined the term in a September 25, 2009 article in BlackBook reporting on rising tensions in New York neighborhoods between existing kebab and hot dog vendors and their new competition: social-media savvy entrepreneurs serving up cupcakes, schnitzel sandwiches, and Tahitian vanilla panna cotta (among other treats) from their high-end food trucks:

Illustration: Kogi BBQ Taco Truck, by Shiho Nakaza.

Food·i·ot

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: Brilliant taste-maker or the world's first foodiot?

Food·i·ot (noun): An overzealous gastronome whose exhibitionistic affection for food is an annoyance to his or her peers.

Writing in the September 22, 2009 issue of the New York Observer, Joe Pompeo launched a scathing attack on the rise of foodiocy and the proliferation of foodiots in New York City.

He largely blames the Internet for encouraging this phenomenon:

"New Yorkers’ water-cooler chitchat has changed. They used to talk about sex and politics and TV shows. Now they can’t stop yapping about what they’re shoving down their pie holes.

We see it in the meticulous record-keeping of eating habits on personal blogs. The ubiquitous Facebook updates and tweets about subscribers’ most recent meals. (Surely you also have those five or so friends whose feeds are 90 percent food-consumption-related?) The requisite iPhone pic before a certain kind of diner—let’s call him a foodiot—ravages his plate."

Food writer Melissa Clark concurred on the degree to which social networking applications have led to a rapid increase in foodiots:

"I feel like these technologies have totally unleashed the foodiot . . . People have this outlet now that they’ve never had before. And something small, when talking to two people, takes on a whole other magnitude when you’re tweeting it to your 1,000 friends. You may not think you’re bragging, but because of the number of people you’re sending it to, it takes on a greater weight."

hy·per·cook·ing

hy·per·cook·ing (verb): An environmentally-conscious way of cooking that seeks to maximize the impact of the energy used during the cooking process.

One hypercooking technique involves saving energy by turning off the source of the heat before a dish is fully-cooked and relying upon the residual heat to cook the food until it is done.

An article in the Columbus Dispatch described how author Jackie Newgent recommends using hypercooking in her book Big Green Cookbook:

"Newgent also recommends turning off the oven before food is completely cooked. If the dish -- say, a casserole -- needs the crunchy topping produced by extended cooking, she suggests a few minutes under the broiler for the same effect.

The alternative is part of a technique she calls 'hypercooking' -- getting the most out of the energy used."

fat wash·ing

fat wash·ing (verb): A technique for flavoring spirits with ingredients that have a high fat content (e.g., bacon): the fat is rendered, mixed with the alcohol, and then removed after a period of freezing.

 A December 2007 article in Food & Wine magazine explained how bartender Eben Freeman uses fat washing to flavor spirits:

Similarly, a September 13, 2008 article in the Boston Globe described how fat washing may be used to make a bacon-flavored bourbon:

meat·mare

meat·mare (noun): A terrifying dream afflicting some vegetarians in which the dreamer experiences extreme feelings of anxiety about meat. Nightmares might involve horrifying visions of meat or the (troubling) experience of eating meat.

A member of the vegetarian online forum VeggieBoards recalled this gruesome meatmare involving butchers:

am·bi·ent ice cream

am·bi·ent ice cream (noun): An environmentally-friendly version of ice cream that can save energy by being distributed and sold at room temperature (and then frozen at home).

The Times of London reported on August 24, 2009, that Unilever, the owner of Ben & Jerry’s and other ice cream brands, was developing a “low-carbon” product:

Unilever hopes that a product sold at room temperature will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ice cream is one of the company’s more energy-intensive products because of the need to keep it frozen during transport and storage. . . .

A spokesman for Unilever said that warm, or so-called ambient, ice cream was a “very interesting idea” but one that posed tough challenges that its scientists were trying to solve. “The key question which has yet to be fully answered is: how do you ensure that, when the ambient ice cream is frozen at home it will have the right microstructure to produce a fantastic consumer experience?”

However, Unilever denied it was developing any such product in an article published today on FoodNavigator.com: "A spokesperson for Unilever told FoodNavigator.com today that ambient ice cream is “something we are aware of, but we have no plans to develop this kind of product”. He declined to give details of any research or progress in the industry at large, but said the R&D ice cream specialists are “aware of all sorts of ideas."

carrot·mob