Two's a Trend: Matroyshka Measuring Cups

Worldwide Fred has updated the iconic matroyshka doll as a useful kitchen gadget. At right, Fred's M-Cups ($12.50 at perpetual kid) are a set of six plastic measuring cups that nest like the real Russian tchochkes. Anthropologie's version (left) -- a set of three Matroyshka Measuring Cups ($28) -- aim for a more traditional look, though they are dishwasher and microwave safe.

Jamie Oliver Launches Dating Site

Would you trust the Naked Chef to find you a romantic partner?

Building on his online readership of 1.4 million unique visitors per month, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has launched a dating site.

According to Marketing Magazine (via @BrettAndersonTP), the Jamie Oliver-branded site is a collaboration with the Match.com online dating service. Under the tagline "Where food lovers meet," it displays dating profiles and photos, along with recipes, dinner date tips, and advice on the food that "will make you fall in love."

Introducing GastroBuzz: Filtering the Food Talk on Twitter

I'm happy to share that I've been working on creating a new site called GastroBuzz that aggregates tweets from the world of food: from the delicious to the disgusting, the poetic to the profane, and the serious to the silly. It officially launches today.

The site tracks the Twitter accounts of leading chefs, food journalists, authors, and food bloggers. The idea is to provide a place to find your favorite chefs and writers, discover new voices, and track the state of the gastrosphere live and in real time (more on that is coming soon).

The list is a work in progress (and constantly being updated), so if there's someone that you think GastroBuzz ought to be following, we want to hear your feedback.

You can read food tweets at the GastroBuzz website or follow the GastroBuzz Twitter List on Twitter. Be sure to follow @GastroBuzz as well to stay tuned for blog updates, news, and announcements.

Barcodes That Are Good Enough to Eat

Fast Company features the work of D-Barcode, a Japanese design firm that creates sophisticated designs out of ordinary barcodes for (mostly Japanese) packaged goods. A number of the ingenious designs have food themes, from a pizza to a pair of chopsticks picking up noodles.

An exclusive design can run as high as $4,000, but the company will license existing codes starting at $1,500 (plus an annual $200 fee).

At Asian Talks: Hold the Onions, Please

Reuters India is reporting that the chefs charged with preparing the menus for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders at the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Singapore this week have been told to minimize the use of garlic and onion "to ensure the talks are not an olfactory challenge." Breath mints will also be "readily available."

Restoration Cookware It's Not

Walk into any upscale cookware store, and you'll see an array of cooking equipment designed to look as if it was just plucked from a Paris flea market.

Now, Sur La Table is getting into the business of selling the real thing: actual antique French pots, pans, and tools.

There are worn copper Gaillard pots (right), silver champagne buckets, colorful glass siphon bottles, and some poor grand-mère's prized triple-blade mezzaluna.

Many of the pieces are still in good enough shape to use for actual cooking, while others are so beat up they basically make for (pricey) decorations. See the collection -- online only -- at the Sur la Table website.

VICE Launches Food Video Series

VBS.tv, the online video network run by VICE Media, has launched of a new series called MUNCHIES profiling chefs, critics, and eaters.

The first episode follows chef David Chang as he dines on Korean fried chicken in Midtown Manhattan and hosts chef Jose Andres for a late-night dinner at Ssam Bar. Tune in for lots of self-deprecation, swearing, drinking, and pork buns.

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:

Giant Cookbooks Descend on New York at Phaidon Pop-Up Store

Phaidon, the publisher of such door-stoppingly huge cooking tomes as The Silver Spoon and 1080 Recipes, and -- more recently -- I Know How to Cook and Coco: 10 of the World's Greatest Chefs, 100 Emerging Culinary Stars, will open a pop-up store in New York City for the holiday season.

The temporary shop, called PHAIDON|STORE, will occupy a 2,500-square-foot retail space at 100 Wooster Street (between Prince and Spring) from November 2, 2009, through January 2010.

According to a press release, the shop will hold special events and offer concierge services and same-day delivery in Manhattan. Here's hoping they won't charge by the pound.

Chemists Identify Formula for the Perfect Gravy

Following in the footsteps of such important scientific breakthroughs as the formulas for the perfect bacon sandwich, perfect pancake, and perfect Yorkshire Pudding, the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK claims to have come up with "a chemistry-based recipe for the perfect gravy."

Chemist and author John Emsley has fine-tuned a gravy recipe that includes a surprise ingredient: soy sauce. Why? To bring out the umami flavor of the gravy, he says.

Also in the mix: the juices of a roast joint of meat, flour, the water from boiling cabbage, iodized salt, pepper, and something called "gravy browning" (caramelized sugar). There you have it.