Cheat Sheet

If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, is the way into his pants through dessert? So think students at a Colombian cooking school; they have created what they’re calling a “love dessert,” made with passion fruit, chocolate, and Viagra. One of the creators of the dish, Sebastian Gomez, says he wanted to “reinterpret the blue pill into a new kind of aphrodisiac.” He says the recipe, which he wouldn’t disclose, details just how much Viagra to dissolve into the dessert, a pudding topped with whipped cream and served in a parfait glass. Of course, because Viagra is a prescription drug, the dessert is not available for sale.

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Jamie Oliver has a new place to search: a dating Web site for foodies. The Naked Chef is partnering with dating site Match.com to create a space “where food lovers meet.” The site offers users “Dinner Date Tips,” “Foods to make you fall in love,” and recipe suggestions for “making the first meal for your partner.” Says Oliver: “My site and Match.com both have great communities on them and hopefully, by partnering up, we’ll be able to bring single food lovers together and make some love matches—or maybe even a marriage—happen.” Karl Gregory, marketing director at Match.com, adds, “This partnership brings dating to the Jamie Oliver community and gives people who are serious about food the chance to meet like-minded people.”

Sarah Palin’s book Going Rogue came out Tuesday, and The Huffington Post is serving up Palin’s pearls of wisdom on politics, government, her marriage, and food. On the subject of meat, Palin writes, “If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore: If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat? I love meat. I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak. But I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that there's plenty of room for all Alaska’s animals—right next to the mashed potatoes.”

NFL legend Dan Marino has succeeded in football and the movies—and now he’s set his sights on restaurants. Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a Florida chain of pizzerias, will be opening in Las Vegas in the coming year, with funding from the former Miami Dolphins quarterback. “I’ve known Anthony for over 25 years,” Marino said. “He’s been a friend and we started a few pizza places a few years back and I’ve been involved with them as an investor and someone who’s kind of helped them along the way.” As thanks, the restaurant’s namesake has named a dish after Marino. “He has an eggplant dish there that I always used to order, so he just started calling it ‘Eggplant Marino,’” Marino explained. Marino’s pizza joint will join some of the country’s greatest chefs in Vegas, a place the former QB had never visited before he went to take a look at the new Anthony’s location there. “It’s beautiful here,” he said. “The whole place is really nice.”

On Top Chef’s fourth season, chef Richard Blais was known for his cunning and cleverness in his cooking. This week, retired NBA star Charles Barkley was the butt of Blais’ joke. On an episode of TNT’s Inside the NBA, Barkley was offered a milkshake from Blais’ Atlanta-based burger restaurant Flip. Producers told Barkley that the milkshake was the restaurant’s famous Krispy Kreme flavor, and he tried the drink and pronounced it “pretty good,” at which point producers revealed that the flavor was not, in fact, Krispy Kreme, but foie gras. The show’s host then defined foie gras for viewers as “the food product made from the liver of a duck or goose.” Cue Barkley grimace.

This week, Australian scientists at the Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries have finalized the development of an apple with the fruit’s longest-ever shelf life. The red apple, called RS103-130, can stay “crispy” for up to two weeks outside the fridge and up to four months in the refrigerator. The new apple also can resist apple scab, a fungus that attacks both the apple fruit and their trees. “This new variety is sweet,” said Tim Mulherin, Queenland’s primary industries minister. “It ticks the other boxes too because it is disease-resistant, so requires few or no fungicides. Initial taste tests have been outstanding. Out of the five apple types tasted, the new variety scored the highest.” Because the apple doesn’t require pesticide treatments, the cost of production is brought down drastically. “If you’re an apple grower and this [new apple] lives up to its promise, then it really is quite a breakthrough,” said Dez Barbara, a senior research scientist at the University of Warwick’s Horticulture Research International.

Land previously owned by some of southern Italy’s most ruthless Mafia bosses has been co-opted…and is now serving as cooperative farms, turning out pasta, wine, and olive oil under the label Libera Terra, or “Free Land.” The group of farmers owes the opportunity to work the land to Don Luigi Ciotti, a priest who collected a million signatures to get the Italian parliament to allow land previously owned by the Mafia to be turned over to the Italian people for “socially useful purposes.” But the farms, which grow products marketed as “from lands freed from the Mafia,” weren’t immediately embraced by residents. “When we first started, nobody from the towns nearby wanted to come and thresh our wheat,” said the cooperative’s vice chairwoman, Francesca Massimino. “Cultivating seized land was something unprecedented, and people didn’t want to be seen as working for us.” Eventually, however, the Italian people got behind the project and started buying the collective’s products. “In the early days, our customers would buy a pack of pasta [just because they] wanted to help,” said Francesco Galante, spokesman for the cooperative. “Our aim is to secure a faithful clientele which will stick to our products because of their quality.”

Scientists from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna announced this week that nothing short of a global fishing ban can save the bluefin tuna population of the Atlantic Ocean. According to the ICCAT, Atlantic bluefin tuna’s “spawning biomass” is less than 15 percent of what it was before industrial fishing took its toll. That decline is severe enough for the tuna to be categorized under Appendix 1 (most endangered) of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. “What’s really needed is a moratorium for bluefin,” said marine biologist and tuna expert Carl Safina. “That’s the bluefin situation.”

With the H1N1 virus spreading across the country, Americans are turning to a classic home remedy, Vitamin C—specifically orange juice. And the orange juice market, which had been hurting, is seeing some seriously positive effects. The Wall Street Journal reports that the frozen, concentrated orange juice contract at ICE Futures U.S., the global soft commodity futures and options exchange, has risen 22 percent since September. “I bet that 30 percent to 40 percent of the increase in sales that we’ve seen in orange juice can be attributed to health concerns,” said James Cordier, analyst and founder of Optionsellers.com in Tampa, Florida. All this in a season when the orange crop is suffering the negative effects of last winter’s cold snaps followed by a drought, which resulted in a 16 percent decrease in orange production from last season.

Reykjavik has been home to Iceland’s three McDonald’s restaurants since 1993, but not for much longer: The economic slump is forcing the closure of all three eateries. “The economic situation has just made it too expensive for us,” said Magnus Ogmundsson, the managing director of Lyst Hr., which holds the McDonald’s franchise in Iceland. A Big Mac in Reykjavik already sells for 650 krona ($5.29)—but even that price can’t generate a significant enough profit for the chain to maintain its presence in Iceland. “The unique operational complexity of doing business in Iceland combined with the very challenging economic climate in the country makes it financially prohibitive to continue the business,” said Theresa Riley, a spokeswoman at McDonald’s headquarters. “This complex set of challenges means we have no plans to seek a new partner in Iceland.”

Open since 1582, Paris restaurant La Tour D’Argent is one of Europe’s oldest restaurants, with a world-renowned wine cellar—but not for long. In a fundraising effort, the restaurant will auction off some of its nearly half-million bottle wine collection. “All the luxury sector has been hit hard, and we haven’t been spared,” said André Terrail, the owner of La Tour D’Argent. “Every [wine] has come from our cellar, has only made one journey in its lifetime, and has been handpicked,” said David Ridgeway, the restaurant’s sommelier. “I would rather people enjoyed it, rather than collecting wine for the sake of it,” he said. And others agree. “With a legendary cellar like this, it’s probable that we’ll see Russian and Chinese among the prospective buyers,” said Alexis Velliet, chief auctioneer at Piasa. The auction is scheduled for December.

Necco Wafers, the 162-year-old Massachusetts-made candy known for their cardboard-like texture, is trading in artificial additives for all-natural ones, making the candy the largest mass-produced candy in the U.S. to become 100 percent natural. Instead of its old colorers and sweeteners, Necco will be using beet juice, purple cabbage, cocoa powder, and turmeric to color its quarter-size candies. The shift to all-natural is “a smart move by Necco,” said Bernard Pacyniak, editor of the trade publication Candy Industry. “It’s taking advantage of consumer needs and demands,” he said. But everything isn’t going to appear exactly the same as before the ingredient shift: Green Necco wafers are being scrapped. “We lost green,” said Jackie Hague, the company’s marketing VP. Apparently, the lime flavor could be reproduced naturally, but not the bright green color.

The shuttering of legendary food magazine Gourmet has hit foodie circles hard: At the final party for Gourmet, Editor Ruth Reichl painted a bleak picture of the future of print media. “I think print magazines as we know them will cease to exist,” she said. The party was also a celebration of Reichl’s new TV series, Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth, which will air despite the magazine’s closing. “I do think that there is going to be something that will be very exciting and that will incorporate video, instant shopping,” Reichl added on a more hopeful note. In related news, Condé Nast’s still-living food mag, Bon Appétit, is laying off at least six members of its editorial staff.

Baby-food producer Plum Organics has recalled a batch of its apple and carrot baby food, saying, “A routine test determined the formulation was incorrect.” But that’s not the whole story: “The recall was undertaken as a precaution due to the risk of potential contamination with Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism, a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition,” the recall notice continues. The baby food, which had an expiration date of 2010, contains carrots, a food the Centers for Disease Control warns can often be more susceptible to diseases like botulism. Although “the incidence of the disease is low,” says the CDC, “the mortality rate is high if not treated immediately and properly.”

Coca-Cola is rolling out a new product: Coca-Cola in mini cans. The cans, which contain 90 calories instead of the standard 140, are about two-thirds of the size of a normal can. “The Coca-Cola mini can is a great option for smaller thirst occasions, and for calorie-conscious consumers,” said Hendrik Steckhan, president and general manager of Sparkling Beverages, Coca-Cola North America. “Our new sleek mini cans support the idea of moderation and offer people yet another way to enjoy their favorite Coca-Cola beverage.” The new mini cans will make their debut in Washington, D.C., and New York this December, just in time for Christmas. Coca-Cola stocking stuffers, anyone?

This song is about you, Starbucks: Carly Simon is suing the coffee giant for failing to sufficiently promote her 2008 Brazilian-inspired album, This Kind of Love. Starbucks’ music label Hear Music produced Simon’s album, but only days before it was set to hit stores, Starbucks downscaled its music program. In her lawsuit filed last week, Simon claims that the album’s poor sales were a result of Starbucks’ mismanagement. “We are disappointed to hear that [Carly Simon] may be taking this action,” said Starbucks spokesman Sanja Gould. “Starbucks has great respect for Ms. Simon and is hopeful that this matter can be resolved in an amicable manner.” But it sounds like Simon won’t go out without a fight: “All of a sudden you’re the ugliest girl at the prom, and you’re not picked,” she tells The New York Times.

It’s that time of year again…This month’s issue of Esquire features the magazine’s picks for best new restaurants of 2009, and the list offers few surprises. The editors’ choice for Restaurant of the Year goes to Beverly Hills’ The Bazaar by José Andrés, lauded as a “masterpiece.” Chef of the Year is Barton Seaver of Blue Ridge in Washington, D.C., a man who, the Esquire editors say, makes them “feel good about living on earth.” Hostess of the Year goes to Kaitlin Yelle, 21, of Miami’s Meat Market. “After a mere four months, she’s already reached the pinnacle of her profession,” they say. Others included on the list are Atlanta’s Paces 88 and Pacci Ristorante; New York’s Sho Shaun Hergatt, Marea, Locanda Verde, and Corton; L’Albatros Brasserie & Bar in Cleveland; LeMaire in Richmond, Virginia; Sea Salt in Naples, Florida, and Sra Martinez in Miami; Society Café Encore at the new Wynn Encore in Las Vegas; Perla’s Seafood and Oyster Bar in Austin. From the West Coast: Nopalito in San Francisco; Rivera in Los Angeles; Prado in Paradise Valley, Arizona; and Bottega in Yountville. And of course the list wouldn’t be complete without a little celebrity loving—hence the award for Richard Gere’s The Bedford Post Inn in Bedford, New York.

On Monday, American Elinor Ostrom became the first woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in Economics for research she conducted demonstrating how communities of all types can act together for the common good when confronted with a shortage of resources, challenging the notion that when finite resources go unregulated by public or private institutions they will be used up. The inspiration for her research? World War II victory gardens. During the war, many communities in the U.S. and Britain worked together to grow food. “My mother had a victory garden during the war,” Ostrom, who shares the prize with Oliver Williamson, says, “so I learned all about growing vegetables and preserving them by canning.”

The November issue of Gourmet magazine, founded in 1941, will be its last, publisher Condé Nast announced Monday. “It’s Rachael Ray’s world now—we’re all just cooking in it,” The New York Times reports. By all accounts, the announcement stunned everyone at the magazine, included star editor Ruth Reichl. The magazine, according to the Times, “poured money into sumptuous photography, test kitchens, and exotic travel pieces, resulting in a beautifully produced magazine that lived, and sold, the high life.” Condé Nast will continue to publish the more recipe-focused Bon Appétit. In choosing Bon Appétit over Gourmet, the Times reports, “Condé Nast reflected a bigger shift both inside and outside the company: influence, and spending power, now lies with the middle class.” Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast’s chief executive, said Gourmet could have some undetermined future on the Web or in other media, such as books, broadcast, or Web businesses. Reichl’s immediate future is also unclear. In a farewell tweet, she said, “Sorry not to be posting now, but I’m packing. We’re all stunned, sad.”

Famed New York City French restaurant Chanterelle will not reopen after a planned renovation. In a post memorializing the fine dining establishment, Josh Ozersky of The Feedbag writes that the food was wonderful, of course, but there was more to the place. “It’s a blow,” he writes. “The restaurant personified the mom-and-pop restaurant: haute cuisine as a labor of love. Its owners, David and Karen Waltuck, personified integrity, and the restaurant served a timeless, meticulous food that totally transcended all fashions and fads.” Ozersky’s late father was one of Chanterelle’s many devoted customers, praising it for “its light-flooded interior and the warm but considerate familiarity which extended downward from the Waltucks through the staff.” A year after the senior Ozersky died, his wife stopped in to have lunch with a friend: “Karen Waltuck wandered by their table to say hello, and instantly remembering her, asked where my father was. Carol explained what had happened, and Karen just burst out crying. That was the kind of people Chanterelle’s owners were, and that was the kind of place it was.”