For your expanded attention span:
•NY Times wine critic Eric Asimov takes a break from tasting wines this week to sample twenty beers. Specifically, he's looking at American pale ales. While Asimov recalls the days when the domestic beer field was pretty dismal, he concludes that things have seriously changed, mostly because of "some farsighted brewers who envisioned a better future." [NYT]
•When we think of great steak, delicious chunks of fat often come to mind. But does fat always mean great steak? No. While the USDA measured quality by fat content decades ago, cattle today is different. Fatty steak without proper aging and flavor is essentially like eating butter. As with butter, "it's rich, certainly. It tastes thick and fills your mouth the way down fills a pillow. But is it flavorful? Is butter 'intense'?" [The Atlantic]
•And finally, ever wonder what the American "ethnic" food section in a grocery store looks like in foreign countries? If you guessed boxes upon boxes of Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets and Jim Beam BBQ sauce, you'd be correct. [Buzzfeed via Serious Eats]
