Why Junk Food Really Is Addictive

Ice cream and chocolate bars are addictive because the mix of ingredients in them activates our "bliss point", according to Professor David Kessler, a leading scientist.

Snacks, cereals and ready meals can trigger the brain in the same way as tobacco, according to the former head of America's food standards watchdog.

Professor Kessler, ex-commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty many people cannot stop eating them even when full.

He argues that manufacturers are seeking to trigger a "bliss point" when people eat certain products, leaving them hungry for more.

"It is time to stop blaming individuals for being overweight or obese," he said. "The real problem is we have created a world where food is always available and where that food is designed to make you want to eat more of it. For millions of people, modern food is simply impossible to resist." Source

London Restaurant Uses Touchpads for Orders, Projectors for Mood Alteration

The Inamo restaurant in London’s fashionable SoHo district isn’t known for its splendid food or outstandingly accommodating waitresses.

Instead, the new Asian fusion eatery is getting raves for its use of a touch pad-projection system that allows diners to send food orders directly to the chefs and makes the dining experience fully interactive. Source

Robot Chef Cooks Okonomiaki

What's cooking at Tokyo's International Food Machinery and Technology Expo? For this robo-chef, it's Okonomiaki, Japanese pancakes. Source

How Soup Can Help You Lose Weight

In the battle to lose weight, hunger is the dieter's worst enemy. But research has revealed a simple aid to taming the appetite: soup. Imagine a typical lunchtime meal - say, chicken and vegetables with a glass of water. If you eat the food and drink the water, you will feel full for a couple of hours before hunger kicks in. But if you blend the food with the water - to make soup - you will stay hunger-free for much longer, and less likely to snack through the afternoon. How can blending the food into soup make such a difference? The answer lies in the stomach. When you eat the same meal as a soup, the whole mixture remains in the stomach, because the water and food are blended together. The scientists' scans confirm that the stomach stays fuller for longer, staving off those hunger pangs. Source

What's Wrong With Orange Juice?

That glass of sunshine sitting on the breakfast table isn't as pure and simple as you think it is, according to an exposé of the orange juice industry. In her new book Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice, author Alissa Hamilton examines the "rift that exists between the reality of processed orange juice and retail rhetoric." Although orange juice "has come to symbolise purity in a glass," she writes, it may be heat processed, watered down, sugared up, doctored by flavour engineers and stored for a year. Hamilton, 36, lives in Toronto. She has a doctorate in environmental studies from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Toronto. She is a fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, based in Minneapolis. The fellows are a diverse group working to change U.S. food policies and advance the idea of healthy, green and affordable food for all. She says making the food system more transparent is her particular area of interest. Source

KFC Gambling on Chicken that is Grilled, Not Fried

In a culinary gambit backed by buckets of big money, KFC is hoping to replicate its founder's recipe for success with the national introduction of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

This week's rollout is KFC's most ambitious attempt to win over health-conscious customers as the chain known worldwide for fried chicken tries to reinvigorate lackluster U.S. sales.

"It's going to get people who haven't eaten KFC for a long time to come back into our restaurants," said KFC President Roger Eaton. "It's going to get people who have never eaten KFC to come into our restaurants." Source

Harvard Professor Develops Inhalable Chocolate

A Harvard professor has come up with what he call "Le Whif" — inhalable chocolate with zero calories. Each Le Whif dispenser — a box of 24 will cost 40 euro, or about $53 — looks like a blend of an asthma inhaler, a tube of lipstick and a shotgun shell.

Le Whif comes in "four luscious flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and plain chocolate," and will be introduced at a gala party in Paris on April 29, followed by 10 days at the Cannes Film Festival and then later a "surprising" appearance in Chicago. Source

Top 10 Cookery Schools in Europe

1. Menfi
2. Finca Buen Vino
3. Le Marmiton
4. Vallicorte
5. Gualtiero Marchesi's Gourmet Cookery School
6. L'Ecole de Cuisine
7. Cooking with Stavros
8. Casa Ombuto
9. Promenades Gourmandes with Paule Caillet
10. Refúgio da Vila

Source

Angry? It Might Be Something You Ate

Research is finding a connection between food choices and your mood. Aggression is a behaviour that many food experts say can be altered by diet. What we eat can even affect our sense of right and wrong.

"Food is not just something that fills our stomach. It's very active biologically and chemically, and it affects us," says Jack Challem, Montreal-born author of The Food-Mood Solution. "Your body needs vitamins, protein and other nutrients to make the brain chemicals that help you think clearly, maintain a good mood and act in socially acceptable ways.

Too Much Red Meat Could Lead to Blindness, Claim Scientists

Researchers have shown that those who consume 10 portions or more a week are nearly 50 per cent more likely to experience deterioration of the retina in old age.

But tucking into chicken at least three times a week can have a protective effect, reducing the risk of blindness by more than half.

Pub of the Future Will Take Your Order Automatically'

Microchips embedded under people's skin will enable drinkers to order their favourite tipple and pay for it before they get to the bar, an expert on future technology has claimed.

"Exciting technological innovations will only enhance the customer's experience, actively engaging them and inspiring them."

According to the most recent figures from the British Beer and Pub Association, around 39 pubs are closing each week in the UK as a result of the economic downturn and increased competition from supermarkets.

Coca Cola is Back in Favour!!

Cola has come back into favour, as consumers ditch expensive bottled waters and fruit smoothies, according to a drinks industry report.

The research is the latest evidence that consumers are turning to cheaper and less healthy food and drink in an attempt to cut their costs in the recession.

Sales of cola increased by 4 per cent to £1.29 billion pounds during 2008, according to Nielsen, a market research company. This compares with sales of smoothies which fell by 20 per cent to £172 million and sales of bottled water which declined by 9 per cent to £417 million.

Italy's Vending Machine Cooks Pizza in Minutes

A pizza vending machine which can make the classic dish from scratch in three minutes has been launched in Italy.

The vending machine, which has been greeted by the country's pizza-makers with a mixture of horror and disdain, has clear plastic windows to allow customers to see the ingredients being mixed and cooked. It can produce a piping hot pizza for just 3.50 euros (£3.30) - about half what you would pay in a restaurant.

Food Advertisements - What Makes Us Buy It?

Food product choice is overwhelming as well as TV commercials and print advertisements that want to sell their food products to us. Who to believe? How to choose? Do you trust what is shown to you?

Obviously, it’s up to each of us to decide what we eat but if we’re constantly bombarded with images of food every time we pick up a magazine then we’re going to be swayed in what we choose.

So what’s behind the advertisements? I am not an expert but here are a few examples of tricky advertisements that sell food to us.

Beer May Be Bad For The Prostate

St. Patrick’s Day is here, and men better be careful. Researchers say that drinking one pint of beer a day could raise the risk of prostate cancer.

Research Shows Alcohol on TV Promotes Drinking

Research Shows Alcohol on TV Promotes Drinking.