Mouthing Off

Imagine eating doughnuts (like these Vanilla-Raised Doughnuts) with shredded pork or dried seaweed! / © David Malosh

For some people, an international trip is a chance to go truly local—to try the fried grasshoppers in Oaxaca, Mexico, or the maggot cheese in Sardinia, Italy. For others, the Burger King across from the hotel is a selling point. Here’s the best of both worlds: Some re-envisioned American fast-food staples, which don’t include any sorts of bugs. 5 crazy fast food items. »

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In Singapore, you can press a few buttons and receive mashed potatoes slathered in gravy quicker than the time it takes to utter the words "instant mashed potatoes slathered in gravy." Here, more international vending machine triumphs.>>

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From the perfect knife set for someone with a broken heart to a 26-pound gummy bear with a one-year shelf life, here are some of the year's wackiest holiday food gifts.>>

Anna Williams

Tonight at 11 pm ET, Vinny Guadagnino and his castmates from MTV’s Jersey Shore are hosting Restore the Shore, a one hour special to encourage viewers to make donations that will help rebuild Seaside Heights, NJ, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy.
 
Guadagino will soon host his own talk show with a food angle, according to an announcement by MTV. On The Show With Vinny, he will interview celebrities at his family’s Staten Island house and serve them homemade Italian food, likely made by his mother Paula Guadagnino, who cooks enormous Italian meals for her family every day.

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© David Malosh

“It is a bit startling to achieve global recognition before the age of 30 on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom,” admits Pippa Middleton in her new book Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Families and Friends, which will be released next week. Also a bit surprising: the socialite's kooky Halloween party tips.>>

© Quentin Bacon

Is it my imagination or is food-related crime on the rise?

Not that criminal activity involving food is a brand new thing. Here’s an AP dispatch from July 2004, featuring the activities of Michael Monn, who was arrested on his 23rd birthday in Maryville, TN, while "drunk, nude and covered with nacho cheese." Take it away, AP:

"Monn was detained early Sunday as he ran toward a Jeep in the parking lot outside a swimming pool snack bar. According to police, he was stark naked and was carrying a box of Frito Lay snacks and a container of nacho cheese. 'The male had nacho cheese in his hair, on his face and on his shoulders,'" Here now, more recent crimes—some much more serious than others—from the culinary world. »

John Kernick

Snooki and The Situation can’t drink Ron Ron Juice because she’s pregnant and he’s sober after a stint in rehab, plus more reasons why this is the last season of MTV's Jersey Shore>>

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Teresa Giudice of Real Housewives of New Jersey isn’t a fan of Bethenny Frankel, even though Frankel is the most successful former housewife to come away from Bravo's reality TV series (her Skinnygirl beverage line sold to Jim Beam for an estimated $100 million last year). “Anything that tastes diet-y—for instance SkinnyGirl—I don’t like that,” Teresa said during Sunday’s episode. Instead of following Bethenny's steps to success, she and her fellow castmates demonstrated how they conduct business.
 
1. Research “Ingrediences”
Teresa Giudice met with an enologist at Brotherhood Winery to formulate a bottled bubbly peach cocktail named Fabellini. During the tasting, Teresa tells the enologist that she’s been researching “ingrediences” aka ingredients for her bellini.
 
2. Involve Your Husband
Joe Giudice joined his wife at the bellini tasting and proceeded to get buzzed, red-faced and overly chatty. “These people are looking at me like ‘would you shut your freaking husband up,’” Teresa says.
 
3. Order Sleazy Cocktails
Joe isn’t the only one who gets lit in a business setting. At a work lunch, Jacqueline Laurita ordered a provocatively-named cocktail by telling the waiter “I could use a Screaming Orgasm. I’ve always wanted to ask for that.” For the record, this drink includes vodka, amaretto, coffee liqueur and Irish cream liqueur.
 
4. Make Posters
For a friends and family tasting of her homemade desserts (red velvet cupcakes, frozen cannoli, tiramisu), Kathy Wakile set up a tent with posters in the parking lot of an ice cream store. “I don’t want to compare my book signing to her event but my daughters have posters like that when they have a lemonade stand,” says Teresa.
 
5. Choose a Quiet Setting—Like a Cemetery
Kathy invites Giacomo Berretta, CFO of Italian dessert company Bindi, to attend her dessert tasting. She takes him aside, next to a cemetery, and says “I want to sit down with you about making my dessert recipes with your flavorings and see where we could take this to the next level.” Later, reflecting on the meeting location, she says, “My desserts, they’re to die for.”

Related: In the Kitchen with Khloe Kardashian Odom
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What’s black and pink with spots all over? It’s reality TV star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi’s brand new Wild Cherry Soda for a franchise called Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shops on the West Coast. Specializing in oddball drinks (they're the ones behind Buffalo Wing soda, but also Apple Pie), the company wrapped Snooki's limited edition cane sugar-sweetened flavor in hot pink leopard print. It's the latest addition to the pregnant star’s mini-merchandising empire that includes slippers, perfume, bronzer and tanning lotion. Earlier this week, Snooki told Access Hollywood “I had a dream that [my son] came out and he was a gorgeous little baby, then he turned 2, and he turned into a Chucky doll and he was trying to kill me.” Maybe she should stick to water.

Related: Surprising Celebrity Food Products
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"Let's split something," are not the three little words you hope to hear on a romantic date. Here, Patti Stanger of Bravo’s reality TV series The Millionaire Matchmaker tells Food & Wine five signs that your date is cheap.