The blog is getting renovated! Image by Mario Sixtus, www.sixtus.net; Flikr.

Stay tuned for an all new Gluttonize!

They each measure about 35 centimetres tall. Image by Sam Ilić, Flickr.

In Beijing, this past January, an estimated 80 tons of chocolate was used in a delicious replication of the terracotta army and the Great Wall.  The troop of 400 cocoa miniatures and the 10 metre wall was on display at the Beijing Olympic Park, and made its way from the mainland to Taipei’s National Taiwan Science Education Center in late June.

Some mushrooms don't like Chinese people. Image from http://www.saidaonline.com/en/news.php?go=fullnews&newsid=9621.

Several hundred mysterious and sudden cardiac arrest cases have been raising alarm in China’s Yunnan province, and scientists are pointing the finger at an enigmatic and inconspicuously murderous fungus, the Little White.   Don’t eat it.

The BBC article, here.

Nice. Image by David Trood, The Image Bank.

Yes, yes, that’s what tastebuds do, but without saliva to dissolve food into the chemicals that those little papillae interpret and “taste,” they’re just decorative pink bumps on your tongue.

Acting as the rich slather on toast probably wasn't really the original purpose for butter. Image by A. Carmichael, Stone

However, long before butter appeared as salted or unsalted in grocery store fridges, they held a little more significance in many cultures worldwide.  Regarded as medicinal, magical or sacred, the milk product at one point or another was (and in some places still is ) more cultural symbol than kitchen staple.

During the Vedic Age, Indians believed butter to be divine.  As a deity thought to be able to regenerate life, the bread-spread found its way into prayers and offerings.  Prior to the annexation of Tibet by China, yak butter was not only sculpted, but deceased lamas would bathe in baths of the boiling fat before being embalmed.

Yak butter is sometimes spread on temple statues. Image from B_cool on Flickr.com, Wikipedia Commons.

There is also an old belief among the Bretons that butter had the property to absorb disease, thus its placement near the sick would help combat the ailment.  As it supposedly internalised illnesses, butter used in this fashion was often buried after the death of the sick person.  In Iceland around the seventh-century, folklore attributed the colour of butter as a supernatural connection to fire.  As such, farmers’ prayers made to the smith god Gobhin would include requests to watch over the butter they produced due to its alleged elemental affinity.

Butter is still special now, but perhaps in a very different way. Image by Gary Sludden, Photodisc.

Whatever the interpretation, butter was never simply something with too much fat.

Put these on your breasts. Image by Daisuke Morita, Photographer's Choice.

A certain shameless women’s magazine wrote recently that by “wrapping a refrigerated raw lettuce leaf around each breast until it wilts” helps with those irritating side-effects.  Try at your own discretion.

Lemons are sour, yellow, and can zap you. Image by Southern Stock, Photodisc.

Perhaps that might be taking it too far.  However, if you stick say a nail and a penny in a lemon, you’ve made yourself a battery!  Well, there’s a more precise science to it, but that’s not really my forte.  Read more about it, here.

If you look closely, you can kind of make out tons of tiny people. Not actually. Image from life123.com/food/cooking-tips/popcorn/how-to-make-perfect-popcorn.shtml.

In the state of Indiana, there is a town called Popcorn.  If you’ve ever tried Dale & Thomas brand popcorn, then you might be familiar with this place.  That, or you might actually be from there!  But that’s highly unlikely as there really aren’t too many people in Popcorn, Indiana.

Why waste time opening the bag when you can eat right through it? Image from Foodcollection.

If only.

Chinese, Korean, and a whole host of Asian eaters happily consume what Westerners have rather appropriately named, cellophane noodles.  These starch-based noodles (made of starchy things from potatoes to mung beans) are called a bunch of different things depending on where you are in the world.  In China, they are commonly referred to as fun see (粉絲) – literally powder thread – and you’ll see them lots in hot pots and Chinese shabu shabu in the Canton region.  The higher profile incarnations of these clear, translucent noodles include japchae (잡채), Korean glass noodles.

Cellophane noodles in their dry form. Image from notsaybye.blog.sohu.com/51869373.html

Cellophane noodles are more or less flavourless and are a rather unappetizing texture when overcooked, especially since there’s no redeeming inherent flavour.  They’re most successful as a moderating agent in highly flavourful sauces or to add texture variety to otherwise texture-monotonous dishes.

Japchae (Korean glass noodles) prepared with beef. Image by Erik Rank, FoodPix.

A word of caution when purchasing Chinese fun see (ie. produced in shady Chinese factory X and imported extremely cheap overseas) as it might take on a lead-reminiscent flavour because there is actually lead in the noodles, a more-recurrent-than-you-think element in many Chinese-made food products.  Happy cellophane eating!

This goopy stuff can outlive you. Image by Megan Fizell, Tres Jolie Studios.

Well, not forever, but a pretty long time.  Thanks to what the bees do to the chemical nature of honey, it could outlast your shelf life on the planet.