Edible Audio: One Hundred Songs About Food

WHAT IF? An imaginary record cover for a compilation of food-inspired music.

AOL recently contacted me to create a playlist of food-inspired songs for its "Blogger Radio" station on AOL Radio (see below for details on how to listen). After much digging through my own music collection (and some serendipitous searching online), I came up with 100 songs.

There's a heavy emphasis upon jazz and blues, a slathering of R&B, a douse of hip-hop, along with a sprinkling of pop classics and a dusting of heavy metal (o.k., just one -- Def Leppard's cheesetastic "Pour Some Sugar on Me").

As I pored over all of this gastro-music, it became pretty clear that food is more often than not a (barely veiled) euphemism for sex. Candy seems to trump just about everything edible as the most frequent object of desire. Other songs are culinary in name only (take Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki," for example), while others immerse themselves in a heady contemplation of appetite -- I'm thinking here of the Fat Boys' great, tragicomic "Jail House Rap." And then there's food as abstraction in the form of Dizzy Gillespie's manic be-bop standard, "Salt Peanuts."

You can find the complete playlist (in alphabetical order) below. It's not comprehensive, so if you have a favorite food song that isn't covered here, please share it in the comments.

Tune In: For PC Users, listen by clicking here. If you're on a Mac, download the AOL Radio player, log in with your AOL/AIM screenname, and select "Blogger Radio" under the "Soundtracks & Themes" category. The playlist will be up until June 14, when the station gets turned over to the next DJ/blogger.

Agenda: 5/30 to 6/5

FEATURED EVENT

A Day a Whey
Saxelby Cheesemongers will lead a trip to the Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley, New Jersey, which produces farmstead cheese, yogurt, and gelato from the milk of East Fresian sheep. The day-long tour and picnic takes place on Sunday, June 3 (transportation leaves from Saxelby Cheesemongers, 120 Essex Street, at 11:00 a.m.). $75/person (register online at brownpapertickets.com).

Cold Comfort

As the mercury rises, we've recently been savoring Sharon's Sorbet passion fruit sorbet. It's tangy and amazingly creamy, despite the fact that it's made solely from passion fruit, sugar, water, and pectin. Find it at your local grocery or online for $4.99/pint from icecreamsource.com.

Agenda: 5/23 to 5/29

COMING UP

Kiss the Cook
The Friends of The FCI, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for students of the French Culinary Institute, will host a "Live Chef Auction" for "dates" with star chefs such as David Chang, Melissa Murphy, Jacques Torres, Jean Georges Vongerichten, and Dan Barber. Winning bidders might land sushi with Jean Georges or a trip to the Greenmarket with Dan Barber, among other prizes. The auction will take place on Monday, June 11, 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., at Cipriani, 200 Fifth Avenue. $250/person (646.254.7521).

Sole of a Chef

Fashion victim (and chef) Mario Batali has partnered with Crocs to launch a new Bistro model featuring "a thicker metatarsal area to help protect the top of the foot, as well as a supportive arch and foot bed circulation nubs to ensure all-day comfort." They can be sterilized in clean water and bleach, or just toss them in the dishwasher like Mario does. The special edition clogs, due out in late Summer 2007, will retail for $39.99.

Agenda: 5/16 to 5/22

FEATURED EVENT + GIVEAWAY

New York Toasts Italy
Bene magazine will present a day of Italocentric shopping and dining on Saturday, May 19. Seven Italian restaurants -- including Otto, Maremma, and San Domenico, among others -- will serve special tasting menus hosted by the chefs and special guests. The price is $115/person, including an "Italian passport" to shopping discounts around town. Bene is offering an exclusive giveaway for TFS readers (full disclosure: I've written for the magazine): Five pairs of free tickets for the dinner at Maremma, featuring chef Cesare Casella and special guest Bill Buford, New Yorker writer and author of Heat.

To enter the giveaway, send an email with your contact information and "CONTEST" in the subject line to contact@thefoodsection.com. All entries must be received no later than Wednesday, May 16, at 11:59 p.m. E.S.T. to be eligible. Five winners will be chosen at random.

Update (5/17/07): Congratuations to winners Tiffany C., Michael S., Megan T., Carrie B., and Brian M.

Nut Job

Made in Germany, the Nusskubus Nutcracker is comprised of two beechwood cubes with different sized hollows carved in the sides for cracking various nuts: "Simply place a nut in one of the hollows and slam the two cubes together." It's stylish, functional, and, slam, therapeutic. $35 at MoMA.

Agenda: 5/9 to 5/15

COMING UP

Brooklyn Uncorked
The Long Island Wine Council, Edible Brooklyn, and Edible East End will present a wine tasting event bringing together nearly 40 wineries from the Hamptons and Long Island's North Fork. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 16, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at BAMCafe, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn. $30/person (reserve online).

Cube Control

Kathleen Hills' bone china Sugar Lump dispenser keeps all your cubes in a row. Perfect for obsessive compulsives and tic tac toe aficionados. $34 at Greener Grass Design.

2007 James Beard Awards

The James Beard Foundation's book, restaurant, and chef awards were presented last night in a ceremony at Lincoln Center (the media awards event took place Sunday). The award for Cookbook of the Year went to Matt Lee and Ted Lee for The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, Michel Richard received the Outstanding Chef Award, Chicago’s Frontera Grill was named Outstanding Restaurant of the Year, David Chang of New York's Momofuku Ssam Bar and Momofuku Noodle Bar was named Rising Star Chef of the Year, and Chanterelle's David Waltuck took the prize for the New York City category of the Best Chefs in America.

Below is a complete list of all the book, restaurant, and chef awards.