Potato chip authenticity in the USA

In America, potato chips carry more than grease and salt. They carry meaning. That’s the message carried by this new study: “Authenticity in America: Class Distinctions in Potato Chip Advertising,” Joshua Freedman and Dan Jurafsky [pictured here], Gastronomica, Vol. 11, No. 4 (Winter 2012), pp. 46-54.  The authors explain: “Our study uses the language of […]

The World’s New Center of Pancake Research

With publication of the new study “Pancake Flipping is Hard” by three researchers at the University of Nantes, the city of Nantes becomes the de facto international capital of pancake research. Details of the study are given below. First, here is a Google map showing primary sources of pancakes in the city: The study is: “Pancake Flipping […]

Verdi’s Gastromusicology

The Bibliore blog reports: In opera, eating and drinking function largely as they do in society—they define social relationships…. [Some] gastromusicological laws may be deduced from Verdi’s operas: A meal is never sad. Hunger is never happy. A shared meal or drink is a socially cohesive event. The presence of food or drink precludes immediate catastrophe (unless poison is involved)…. […]

Improbable Research