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Beer Making, choosing and imbibing: these discussion groups will help you find out everything you want to know about beer and related beverages. Read the regular posting on which beers are best, based on the votes of Usenet participants. (Anyone can vote, although you do have to supply your own beer.) On the Web you will find more beer information than you can shake a handful of beer nuts at. Web:
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Beer Ratings So many beers, so little time. If you feel too overwhelmed to go taste test all the beers in the world yourself, don't worry. Some guys on the Net have done a lot of the work for you. Read their beer ratings and see what they say to try and what to avoid. Web:
Beverages Unless you drink only water, somewhere, sometime, you are a consumer of commercial beverages. As such, you have my personal guarantee that there is something, somewhere, on the Net that will interest you. We all know that the world is full of fanatics, but it doesn't really hit home until you see something like these Web sites: someone has used enormous amounts of time and energy (and a fair amount of talent) to create entire Web sites devoted to beverages. Check it out for yourself. While you are there, take the beverage purity test to see how beverage savvy you are. (I rated 17 percent, which puts me in the third lowest category.) Web:
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Cereal Cereal is not just for the first meal of the day. In fact, it's more than just nutrition and sustenance -- it's fun, and if you read the box, you could even call it a literary adventure. More than that, it's a facilitator of a great social experience by bringing people together on the Net to talk about how cereal makes an impact on all our lives. Don't be left out of the cereal movement. Grab a spoon and dig in. Web:
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Cheese If you like cheese, even just in passing, you must spend some time at this Web site. You will find much information about the cheeses of the world: how they are made, what they are made of, where they are made, what wines go well with particular cheeses, history of cheese, how to make cheese, a cheese glossary, and more. Web:
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Coca-Cola You can pooh-pooh the contributions of America to world culture, but there is no gainsaying the fact that Coca-Cola has virtually defined the concept of ubiquity. It would be difficult to find anything as well-known as this peripatetic soft drink, so I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I tell you that the Coke fanatics of the world have a definite presence on the Net. If you have any interest at all in Coca-Cola and its social accoutrements, here are some Internet resources to help you explore this beacon of international culture, clearly the most important beverage in the refrigerator of American hegemony. Web:
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Cocktails It is interesting that so much of our popular culture has been developed around the acts of creating, mixing and drinking alcoholic beverages. Can you think of any other drug that has specially trained people (bartenders) whose sole purpose is to create and serve a large number of different preparations (cocktails) based on that one particular drug? Do you not think it's interesting that alcohol companies spend huge amounts of money to promote an image for their particular version of this drug? Would I be a spoilsport if I pointed out that the main reason one administers alcohol to oneself is to cause one's brain cells to act abnormally in a way that makes one feel good? I guess that would be too much, so forget I said it. In fact, forget all of this. Just enjoy these cocktails Web sites and drink up. Web:
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Coffee Some people like to sip it; some gulp it down in the morning before their eyes are open. Some people like to have it flavored and run through various elaborate preparations which result in a thick, syrupy brew or a decadent foamy concoction. And then there are the hardcore people who don't bother brewing and simply munch on the beans themselves. If your drug of choice is coffee, you will feel right at home in these Usenet groups where people talk about preparation, storage, growth and sale of this popular beverage. The Web sites offer the perfect reading material for your coffee break. Web:
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College Food Ah, those good old college days. How nostalgic we will be when our hair turns silver and we wax eloquent about mystery meat burgers and the blue-green algae surprise. Come on in and discuss college dining halls, cafeterias, and pay-for-it-even-if-you-don't-want-it food plans. Usenet:
Diners In 1872, a fellow named Walter Scott began selling small food items from the back of a covered freight wagon in Providence, Rhode Island. From that inauspicious beginning came the tradition of diners: prefabricated restaurants that feature counter service, booths, and basic American foodstuff served fast and cheap. Diners are the last surviving, authentic bastions of romance in the lexicon of American food service, a place to hang out and talk the night away while enjoying the ambience of genuine American blue-collar probity. Web:
Epicurious Epicurious is an online magazine dedicated to the three major areas of culinary enjoyment: eating, drinking, and playing with your food. I find the articles imaginative and well worth a regularly scheduled look. My suggestion is to poke into the Web site once a week to see if anything new and exciting has arrived. You will find reviews, recipes, food commentary, wine information and -- my favorite -- complaints about stupid food. Web:
Fast Food Fast food refers to cheap food that is sold, prepared, and served to you within several minutes. Fast food is usually bought at a franchised outlet, which, as often as not, allows you to order, receive and devour the food all without leaving your car. Fast food outlets tend to standardize their offerings. For example, a Big Mac (multi-layer hamburger with secret sauce) will look, feel and taste pretty much the same from one McDonalds to the next. (Actually, if the carefully trained employees prepared your Big Mac correctly, it will look, feel and taste exactly the same.) Since the cost of fast food is reasonable and there is no real wait, such restaurants are a favorite of busy parents everywhere. If you are a fast food buff or buffette, and you want to share your ersatz culinary experiences and opinions, what better place could there be than the Net: the home of fast, cheap, simple, satisfying experiences? Web:
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Food Labeling Information The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a system of labeling requirements for all foods that are sold in the United States. Food labeling requirements control how nutritional information is listed on all packaging. The next time you are in the supermarket, notice how your shopping experience is enhanced by knowing the exact nutritional breakdown of each item you buy (calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and so on). As you are waiting at the checkout stand, you may want to pause briefly and offer a silent moment of thanks to the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Web:
Food Safety It is hard to imagine anything with broader public health implications than making sure our food is safe and nutritious. Food requires proper handling at each step of the way, from production and processing, through distribution and final preparation. Here are some excellent resources that will allow you to find whatever information you need about food safety: how to prepare food properly, germs that cause illness, current public health concerns, and much more. As you might imagine, a great deal of food safety regulation and education is done by the government. As you visit these Web sites, I am sure you will appreciate how complex and difficult it is to maintain a system of safe food. Remember this the next time you hear someone complain that government is a waste of money, and people should be left to fend for themselves in the marketplace. Our food safety system works so well, we can take it for granted, but only because other people are working hard on our behalf. Web:
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Food Talk and General Discussion It is universally acknowledged that -- out of all the things people put in their mouths in public -- food is the most socially acceptable. There is a lot to say about food, and people on the Net are more than glad to say it. If you would like to take part in the discussion, just pull your chair up to the virtual table and join the group. What I like best about the Net is you can talk with your mouth full. Usenet:
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French Fries Okay, let's be honest for a moment. Is there anything you would rather do, right now, than connect to a hot French fry Web site and indulge yourself? Learn about history, world culture, art, government, little-known facts, foreign customs and the law. All of this from the lowly French fry? It almost sounds too good to be true. (It's not.) Web:
Fun Foods We need to eat just to stay alive, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun at the same time. We all know that some foods are just naturally more fun than others. For example, a plateful of turkey with cranberry sauce and baked sweet potatoes is serious food -- ice cream is fun. A dry red Merlot wine can be a treat to enjoy with your linguini and clam sauce at a pretentious, over-priced Italian restaurant, but for pure enjoyment, Kool-aid is definitely the drink of the people. And ketchup -- well, all I can say about ketchup is that anyone who grew up with my brother has enough first-hand experience with the consumption of ketchup to last a lifetime. However, when it comes to appreciating these special foods, eating them is only part of the fun. You should spend at least a few hours a week on Usenet, talking, reading, learning, and generally sharing in the collective experience. Usenet:
Global Gourmet It's a culinary emergency. Your husband has just called to say that he is bringing home his mother, father and sister for dinner. His mother is from New Zealand, his father is from Poland, and his sister has just spent the last five years living in Mexico. What to do? Turn to the Global Gourmet for international recipes and advice, and within minutes, you are whipping up a wonderful meal of Lamb Turnovers with Curried Yogurt Sauce (New Zealand), Cheese Pascha from Lwow (Poland), and Grilled Snapper with Charred Habanero Salsa (Mexico). Thanks to the Net -- and your superior culinary proficiency -- the dinner is a complete success, and contentment blankets the family like a gentle rain that falls from the heavens above. Web: History of Food Where do you ask for information on what type of food the peasants ate during the French Revolution? What do you do when the in-laws are due any moment and you need the recipe for figgy pudding? Check out this Usenet discussion group and move forward, into the past. Usenet:
Homebrewing Making your own beer can be fun, but you have to know what you are doing. If you are interested in homebrewing, the Net has resources to help you. You can start with the basics -- such as, how do you make beer at home? -- and work your way up to experimenting with esoteric recipes. Along the way, you can meet other homebrewing enthusiasts around the world and swap tips. Web:
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Junk Food Every morning, I have a large nutritious breakfast, consisting of (1) a tall glass of fresh vegetable juice made with my own juicer (carrots, celery, cucumber, beets, tomatoes, some cilantro, kale and dandelion greens, all organic), (2) a blended mixture of tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper and romaine lettuce, (3) three pieces of fruit, and (4) some fresh nuts. Lunch is a big salad with either beans, fish or tofu. Dinner is a pound of vegetables with a potato, yam or rice, along with (again) beans, fish or tofu. The reason I am telling you this is to explain why I am not qualified to write about junk food. You are on your own. Web:
Mead Mead is a honey-based fermented beverage that people have been making as long as there have been people (and bees). Traditional mead is made with honey, water and yeast. Other varieties use particular spices and juices. Once you find out about mead, I bet you will be tempted to make some. If so, here are some resources to get you started. Web:
Pasta Pasta (also known by the lower-class name of macaroni) refers to wheat-flour dough that has been shaped and dried. Pasta is used throughout the world, particularly in Italian cooking. Pasta comes in a variety of forms. However, I am a simple person. My favorite dish is plain old spaghetti and tomato sauce, which, in its leftover incarnation, is also my favorite late-night snack and breakfast food. If you are a pasta-phile, you'll enjoy these Internet resources, where you'll find a huge number of recipes for pasta creations and sauces, as well as a modicum of general pasta-related information. (Hint: When I was in college, I once made a large pot of spaghetti sauce with some friends. I had the adventurous idea of putting in some vanilla. Don't try it. We had to throw away the entire pot.) Web:
Restaurant Talk and General Discussion Oh my, we all like to spout off about what is good or bad in the world, and this is a great place to do it. Do you have a favorite restaurant that you simply must praise? Or did you just spend too much money for a dinner that tasted like warmed-over cardboard, and you feel obliged to warn everyone in the world to stay away? Join the discussion on Usenet, and let the fish and chips fall where they may. Usenet:
Restaurants on the Web Check out the menus of these fine restaurants on the Web. See their menus, and maybe even fax in your order. You'll find some of the most interesting places to eat in a variety of cities around the world. Web:
Sushi You start with a bowl of misoshiro (miso soup), move on to an appetizer of hijiki (dark, brown seaweed) and grated daikon (white radish), and then settle into a delightful repast of sushi, seasoned with tamari (soy sauce), wasabi (spicy green condiment) and gari (thinly sliced, pink pickled ginger). Don't make the mistake of thinking that sushi is raw fish. (Raw fish is sashimi.) Sushi is a rice-based food, made by taking vinegared rice, rolling it with vegetables, fish, sea food, egg or pickles, and then wrapping the mixture in nori (thin sheets of dried seaweed). Some types of sushi are rolled and sliced into round pieces. Others are shaped into a cone or placed on top of a cylindrical chuck of rice. Yes, some sushi has raw fish, but once you get used to it, it will be your favorite. At the end of your meal, be polite and say to the chef, "Gochi so sama desh-ita". (The accent is on the last syllable.) Web:
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Vegans If it came out of an animal, vegans want no part of it. That means all the rich yummy foods are off limits -- butter, milk, cheese and eggs are among the things that will not pass a vegan's lips. Look at the vegan-oriented Web pages, or talk the talk with other vegans on the Net. Web:
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Vegetarian Resources The word "vegetarian" was first used in England in 1847 by the people who started the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom. Today, vegetarianism covers a wide variety of eating choices. Some people simply avoid meat, but eat eggs, dairy products and fish. (Technically, you could call such people ovo-lacto pescetarians.) Other people eat only fruits and vegetables and nothing else (true vegetarians). Some will eat eggs (ovo vegetarians), or dairy products (lacto vegetarians), or both (ovo-lacto vegetarians). Other vegetarians are very strict, avoiding the use of any animal products whatsoever including non-food products (vegans). Perhaps the most strict are those people who will only eat foods that can be harvested without killing the plant (fruitarians). Web:
Vegetarian Talk and General Discussion A vegetarian will say, "I eat in a way that makes sense to me, in order to preserve my day-to-day vitality and maintain my long-term health." A non-vegetarian will say, "Is it worth living forever if you can't have a hot dog?" This debate seems to be the central nutritional issue of our times, and here are some places to talk about it. Share your vegetable-oriented opinions, thoughts, hopes, dreams and recipes with vegetarians all over the world. Usenet:
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Wine Tired of the pedestrian charms of beer? Move up to the big time where drinking is an art form and 1983 was a good year. Join the Bacchus society, wine lovers extraordinaire, learn to appreciate the best in bouquet, taste and color, and maybe even make your own homemade wine. Beer lovers of the world, unite with the oenophiles: you have nothing to lose but your grains. Web:
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Wine Zines When you are sitting in the study rolling a little vino around on your tongue and you need some interesting reading material, check these great wine zines on the Net. Whether you are a seasoned wine taster or a novice, you will find these Web pages highly agreeable with robust content and balanced, supple designs. Web:
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