Le Nouveau Brewski

Suntory Beer’s latest promotional brainstorm, reports the specialist magazine Japan Design Close-Up, is a new label that reads Beer Nouveau. Obviously an attempt to cash in on the Japanese craze for Beaujolais Nouveau, it must give Suntory drinkers the confident feeling that the beer was made only a few months ago. Or hey, within the last year, for sure.

I’ll Give It a 9, Because I Can Grasp It

American Bandstand Grill is a Miami-based restaurant chain owned by--who else?--Dick Clark Productions. Hold on, we’re wrong. It’s not a restaurant, it’s a concept: a “rock-’n’-roll-themed, memorabilia-studded grill concept” that will provide “one-stop evening entertainment.”

Your Gene Splicers At Work

Genetic engineers are planning to add a safety gene to the starter culture that makes Brie cheese. It will produce a chemical lethal to certain bacteria, including the deadly Listeria monocytogenes. Meanwhile, the Calgene company will ask the FDA this summer for approval of a gene that suppresses the enzyme that causes tomatoes to soften. The idea is that this will make it possible to harvest tomatoes riper and to ship them without flavor-destroying refrigeration.

Any Burger in a Desert Storm

New development in the struggle to provide Stateside eats for American troops in the Gulf: lunch wagons serving hot dogs, burgers and fries near depots, truck stops and satellite phone-home points.

Ma Prose

Ma Maison has given its name--once the most famous among Los Angeles restaurants--to a line of flavored vinegars. The intriguing thing is trying to guess what language (or languages) the press release was translated from: “Vinegar has been appearing throughout the ages starting sometime in biblical period passing way to Cleopatra, the middle ages, 1934 Charles IV establishes the first regulations for vinegar, 1580 Henry III completes this job, 1867 Napoleon III supports Louis Pasteur’s theory of vinegar used as a preservative, until present day with the introduction of Ma Maison Orange and Grapefruit Vinegar.”

Don’t Badmouth the Broccoli

The Colorado Legislature is debating a bill that would make it possible to to sue for damages anybody who makes “reckless and unfounded claims” disparaging a food product.

Fantasy Corner

Upcoming technology, so they say: laser slicers; a griddle with second heat source in a lid for cooking on two sides; a shopping cart with a calculator built into the handle.

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