Salted caramel

Mancunium · Unread post by **Mancunium** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 3:39 pm

African_blue_basil (T-H-L)

Although the combination of a perennial plant with the scent and flavor of sweet basil would seem to make it a very desirable culinary variety, the high camphor content can interfere with its use in cooking. It is, however, an attractive ornamental.

African blue basil makes delicious pesto
San Francisco Chronicle, 7 November 2013 link

Q: In your book, "Golden Gate Gardening," you talk about using African blue basil in pesto. I didn't think it was edible. What's the deal?

A: ... Perhaps the inedibility myth began with the Wikipedia article on African blue basil, which says that "high camphor content can interfere with its use in cooking. It is, however, an attractive ornamental." Wikipedia cites the article I wrote for The Chronicle in 2005 (http://bit.ly/H0q8oX), in which I reported how tasty I found it but ignores my culinary enthusiasm. I question whether the writer of the Wikipedia article has ever eaten, or even grown, African blue basil.

Eat me

SB_Johnny · Unread post by **SB_Johnny** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 11:46 pm

It's not in the article now, but for years the article on Ragweed (T-H-L) had language suggesting that grazing animals avoid it. Utter bullshit.

Hex · Unread post by **Hex** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:53 pm

I was looking for a recipe and happened across an American one that specified using canola oil. It's not common over here, so I thought I'd look up what it is.

Ha! Ha! My mistake.

Canola refers to both an edible oil (T-H-L) (also known as Canola oil) produced from the seed of any of several varieties of the rape plant, and to those plants, namely a cultivar (T-H-L) of either rapeseed (T-H-L) (Brassica napus L.) or field mustard/turnip rape (T-H-L) [no such article] (Brassica rapa subsp. oleifera, syn. Brassica campestris L. [sic, no italics]). Consumption of the oil is not believed to cause harm in humans[1][dead link][2] and livestock,[3] and for use as biodiesel (T-H-L).

Canola was bred naturally from rapeseed at the University of Manitoba (T-H-L), Canada (T-H-L) by Keith Downey (T-H-L) and Baldur R. Stefansson (T-H-L) in the early 1970s, and had a different nutritional profile in addition to much less erucic acid (T-H-L). In the international community Canola is generally referred to as Rapeseed 00 or Double Zero Rapeseed to denote both low glucosinolates and low erucic acid (T-H-L). In addition to varieties from the traditional Rapa dn Napus [sic - ?] species, recent cross-breeding of multiples lines of Brassica juncea (T-H-L) have enable this mustard variety to be classified as a canola variety by lowering both erucic acid and glucosinolates to the market standards, achieving LEAR status (for low erucic acid rapeseed). It may also be referred to as canola oil and is considered safe for human consumption.[4]

At this point I gave up and looked at canolainfo.org instead, which despite being completely obvious industry promotional material, still instantly gave me more useful general information.

Where does canola oil come from?

Canola oil comes from the crushed seeds of the canola plant. Canola is part of the Brassica family. Cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower are also part of this same botanical family. Each canola plant grows from 3 to 6 feet (1 m -2 m) tall and produces beautiful yellow flowers. As the plant matures, pods form that are similar in shape to pea pods, but about 1/5th the size. Each pod contains about twenty tiny round black or brownish-yellow seeds.

Once harvested, canola seeds are taken to a facility where they are crushed to extract the oil contained within the seed. This oil is then further refined and bottled as canola oil. Basic characteristics of this cooking oil include a pale golden color, light texture, neutral taste and high heat tolerance. The average canola seed is 45% oil. The remainder of the seed, which is very high in protein, is processed into canola meal and used as a high quality animal feed.

Farmers have been growing canola for almost 40 years.

Where is canola grown?

Canola is grown primarily in the prairie regions of Western Canada, with some acreage being planted in Ontario and the Pacific Northwest. Smaller volumes are also grown in the North-central and South-eastern United States.

Canola is different from rapeseed

In the early 1970s, canola was developed using traditional plant breeding techniques to significantly reduce the levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates that were found in the parent rapeseed plant. The name "Canola" is a contraction of "Canadian" and "ola", which means oil.

There is a strict internationally regulated definition of canola that differentiates it from rapeseed, based upon it having less than two percent erucic acid and less than 30 micromoles of glucosinolates. Oilseed products that do not meet this standard cannot use the term canola. High erucic acid rapeseed acreage, although still grown, is now confined to production under contract for specific industrial uses, including environmentally friendly lubricants.

Thanks, industry dudes.

enwikibadscience · Unread post by **enwikibadscience** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:40 am

How to write, move from the general to the specific. Would someone tell Cwmhiraeth to do this instead of miscopying and pasting a patchwork jumble of nonsense?

Someone shoot me, then write up a DYK hook for the main page when the body is found.

Mancunium · Unread post by **Mancunium** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:49 am

Wikipedia is just plain wrong about carrot cake
Columbia Daily Tribune, 3 December 2013 link

Wise journalists, students and trivia contestants know not to trust Wikipedia unthinkingly. There is no better support for this rule of thumb than the open-source encyclopedia's entry for carrot cake, which begins:

"Carrot cake is a cake or pie which contains carrots mixed into the batter. The carrot softens in the cooking process, and the cake usually has a soft, dense texture. The carrots themselves do not enhance the flavor, texture and appearance of the cake."

The misinformation contained in these three sentences boggles the mind. Carrot cake is self-evidently not a pie. Carrots absolutely enhance the flavor of carrot cake — it's not like all their flavor compounds evaporate while the cake is baking. Furthermore, as sentence No. 2 of the above paragraph attests, they affect the texture, too, lending the batter moisture and body. Carrots also quite obviously enhance the appearance of cake, assuming you consider bright, cheerful orange specks to be a visual enhancement. I do, and freckle fetishists the world over agree with me. To assert that the "carrots themselves do not enhance the flavor, texture and appearance of the cake" is to inadvertently raise all sorts of troubling questions about the nature of perception and existence. [...]

Carrot_cake (T-H-L)

enwikibadscience · Unread post by **enwikibadscience** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:23 am

Mancunium wrote:Wikipedia is just plain wrong about carrot cake
Columbia Daily Tribune, 3 December 2013 link
Wise journalists, students and trivia contestants know not to trust Wikipedia unthinkingly. There is no better support for this rule of thumb than the open-source encyclopedia's entry for carrot cake, which begins:

"Carrot cake is a cake or pie which contains carrots mixed into the batter. The carrot softens in the cooking process, and the cake usually has a soft, dense texture. The carrots themselves do not enhance the flavor, texture and appearance of the cake."

The misinformation contained in these three sentences boggles the mind. Carrot cake is self-evidently not a pie. Carrots absolutely enhance the flavor of carrot cake — it's not like all their flavor compounds evaporate while the cake is baking. Furthermore, as sentence No. 2 of the above paragraph attests, they affect the texture, too, lending the batter moisture and body. Carrots also quite obviously enhance the appearance of cake, assuming you consider bright, cheerful orange specks to be a visual enhancement. I do, and freckle fetishists the world over agree with me. To assert that the "carrots themselves do not enhance the flavor, texture and appearance of the cake" is to inadvertently raise all sorts of troubling questions about the nature of perception and existence. [...]
Carrot_cake (T-H-L)

Well, I just got a pound delivered, and I am throwing them into a German chocolate cake batter and mixing. A little tricky with round pans, but if it does not turn out, well, Wikipedia is not a how-to.

enwikibadscience · Unread post by **enwikibadscience** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:30 am

I don't see the last sentence in the article or recent history. I thought carrots were mostly or sweetening and color, and American style carrot cakes, modern, can be made with or without carrots, but, if there was a source tied to ths.

DanMurphy · Unread post by **DanMurphy** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:38 am

My favorite carrot cake:

Mancunium · Unread post by **Mancunium** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:46 am

enwikibadscience wrote:Well, I just got a pound delivered, and I am throwing them into a German chocolate cake batter and mixing. A little tricky with round pans, but if it does not turn out, well, Wikipedia is not a how-to.

Please don't! L.V. Anderson is not just a Wikipedia critic: she or he is a cook. Her or his detailed recipe is included in the Wikipedia-denunciation story and, if you follow it, you will have this:

Eat me

EricBarbour · Unread post by **EricBarbour** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:56 am

"Or pie" added 14 March:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =540306781

The "do not" added 2 November:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =579594519

All removed 13 November, almost THREE WEEKS before this item ran:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =579887704

What quality journalism!

Mancunium · Unread post by **Mancunium** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 1:40 pm

In Malaysia, Spinach Sparks Tussle on Wikipedia, Jeers on Social Media
Wall Street Journal, 16 January 2014 link

The simple water spinach has shot into the spotlight in Malaysia, where the vegetable, which grows wild near drains and paddy fields, is now at the heart of a political debate – and a battle on Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia is crowd sourced and entries are created, updated and edited by the public. That means topics involving politics and religion can get touchy and are often subjected to edit wars—frequent tweaks and additions by voluntary editors and others. Now, thanks to a casual remark by Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, the usually staid and bland Wiki-entry on Kangkung, the Malay term for water spinach, is getting a piece of the action.

On Sunday, Mr. Najib addressed public concerns about the rising cost of living owing largely to government action to reduce subsidies on fuel and electricity. He cited a decrease in the cost of kankung, which is already cheap to begin with, as an example of how the government was working to ease inflationary pressures. [...] Mr. Najib’s comments quickly became the butt of jokes by many who have referred to them as out of touch with reality. [...] On Wikipedia, the kankung entry is involved in a “revert” tug of war. Reverts happen when a volunteer editor tweaks an entry on the Wiki-page only to have someone else log in and change it back to the previous version. A January 13 revised entry jokingly stated that the Malaysian premier “encourages people to eat kangkung frequently because of its high nutritional value. He has even dropped the price of kangkung on Jan. 13, 2014.” [...]

Ipomoea_aquatica (T-H-L)

Malay Wikipedia article Kangkung link

"Let them eat kangkung"

enwikibadscience · Unread post by **enwikibadscience** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:37 pm

It's been going on on the English Wikipedia also, my watch list exploded with it a couple of days ago, but I never checked it out.

The Joy · Unread post by **The Joy** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 2:43 am

Baklava (T-H-L) is another food/drink article with nationalists constantly attacking it. It'll go quiet for awhile and then someone starts it all back up again. I think there was a kind of custard that was always being mangled too, though I can't recall what it was.

And, yes, they've argued over corn maize.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... _arguments

vs :popmaize: ?

Mancunium · Unread post by **Mancunium** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:59 pm

Lamington invented in New Zealand, new research proves 'beyond doubt'
Watercolour painting shows coconut covered cake is not really Australian and is only an imitation of the earlier 'Wellington'
The Guardian, 31 March 2014 link

The Lamington, Australia’s famed dessert, was actually invented in New Zealand and originally named a “Wellington”, according to new research published by the University of Auckland. Fresh analysis of a collection of 19th-century watercolours by the New Zealand landscape artist JR Smythe, shows that in one portrait, “Summer Pantry” dated 1888, a partially eaten Lamington cake is clearly visible on the counter of a cottage overlooking Wellington Harbour. The first known reference to a Lamington before this was a recipe published in 1902 in the Queensland Country Life newspaper.

Historians had believed the Lamington was named after Lord Lamington who served as governor of Queensland between 1896-1901. [... academic-style presentation of evidence ...] Dr Arun Silva of the centre for academic knowledge, excellence and study at the University of Auckland, said the news clipping and Smythe watercolour made it “inconceivable” that the Lamington was an Australian invention. “What we have here is conclusive evidence that the Lamington cake was in fact a product of New Zealand. The documentation of Lamington’s visit and the pictorial evidence in the watercolour prove it without a doubt. “I wouldn’t exactly say it was a rewriting of history, more a realisation that our culinary past is much more entangled than we’d previously believed,” Silva said. [... &c. ...]

The 19th century watercolour painting by JR Smyth that University
of Auckland researchers say shows a 'Wellington' cake (circled).

Wikipedians jumped into action: link

Revision as of 04:35, 1 April 2014 (edit) (undo)
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'''lamington''' is a dessert of [[New Zealand]] origin.<ref>{{cite news|last=Priol|first=Olaf|title=Lamington invented in New Zealand, new research proves 'beyond doubt'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... ate=Monday 31 March 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=Monday 31 March 2014}}</ref> It consists of squares of sponge cake coated first in a layer of traditionally [[chocolate]] sauce, then in [[desiccation|desiccated]] [[coconut]]. Lamingtons are sometimes served as two halves with a layer of [[cream]] or [[strawberry]] [[jam]] between, and are commonly found in [[South African]] and [[Australasia]]n outlets such as cafes, lunch bars, bakeries, home industries and supermarkets. A raspberry variety is also common in [[New Zealand]], while a [[lemon]] variety has been encountered in [[Australia]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Refe ... and/Icons/ | title = Iconic Kiwi Foods, Lamington | accessdate = 2007-12-16 }}</ref>

A cream-filled lamington

April Fools' Day jokes 2014 – the best on the web
The Guardian, 1 April 2014 link

The Guardian Australia's April fools' story has gone down rather too well, even fooling Wikipedia. Readers in Australia woke up to news, filed by Guardian reporter Olaf Priol, that their most famed dessert, the Lamington, was in fact created in New Zealand and called a "Wellington". [...] The lamington's Wikipedia page referenced Priol's article, beginning with the sentence: "A lamington is a dessert of New Zealand origin." [...]

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 9:26 pm

WE NEED TO talk about the Wikipedia page purporting to represent “Irish cuisine”. The page’s text is an admirably detailed and accurate representation of nearly every kind of food Irish people eat or have eaten, but Twitter user Louise O’Connor noticed yesterday that the pictures leave a lot to be desired. In fact, they’re tragic.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/irish-cuisine-w ... 5-Aug2017/

Unread post by **Zoloft** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:25 am

Less potatoes than I expected.

Unread post by **Midsize Jake** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:56 am

Quality food photography is no mean feat - the lighting, backgrounds, and depth-of-field are all crucial, and sometimes you have to spray and/or brush things (like glycerine, vaseline, or even things like silicone sex lubricants) on the food to make it look more appetizing. You especially can't use flat lighting or flash photography like an untrained person with a cheap camera or smartphone would, it ruins your contrast and color depth and makes everything look like puke.

Anyhoo, no offense to the Irish, but their cuisine isn't generally considered among the best or most popular in the world, so it's less likely you'll find people who really know how to shoot food going out of their way to promote it, the way you might with Italian cuisine (T-H-L) or French cuisine (T-H-L) - or one that has smaller numbers of really super-devoted adherents like Afghan cuisine (T-H-L). The obvious point of comparison is of course Scottish cuisine (T-H-L), for which the photography is slightly better but still lacking, but in terms of world popularity, Irish and Scottish cuisine may be more comparable to something like Uruguayan cuisine (T-H-L) or Tunisian cuisine (T-H-L) - and the quality of the photography reflects that. (Lots of red links for Scottish dishes, though, unlike the Irish ones.)

So, the Wikipedia approach results in inconsistent article-quality levels (no big shocker there), and to some small extent it might reinforce existing dominance hierarchies among cultures and even help discourage people from trying new things, or at least foods. But IMO it's not really so bad, big-picture-wise... The fact that they have such articles at all for some of the smaller and less-known countries is a good thing, and it's not like you see a lot of negativity in the article texts.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:17 pm

So clearly the challenge is to find someone who can make Irish food, smear it with sex lubricants, turn some spotlights on the result and examine it without throwing up.

Textnyymi · Unread post by **Textnyymi** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:26 pm

So clearly the challenge is to find someone who can make Irish food, smear it with sex lubricants, turn some spotlights on the result and examine it without throwing up.

Colcannon and Crisco oil?

Alison · Unread post by **Alison** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 2:41 am

Textnyymi wrote:
So clearly the challenge is to find someone who can make Irish food, smear it with sex lubricants, turn some spotlights on the result and examine it without throwing up.
Colcannon and Crisco oil?

I uploaded that Colcannon photo like a decade ago, in my kitchen. I'm shocked to see they're still using it

Unread post by **Midsize Jake** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:23 am

Many of the less-appetizing photos have now been changed out by User:Smirkybec (T-C-L), who appears to be a very nice-seeming female Ph.D. student (though it looks like she's on one of those self-defined curriculums) in Dublin. I wonder if she read about it here, or directly on The Daily Edge...? (I'll bet she doesn't like us one teensy little bit!)

Before I saw Alison's post just above this one, I'd also thought it was curious that they hadn't used Ms. Smirkybec's choice for the Colcannon photo, at least since 2010 when it was uploaded. My guess is that any folks who thought to change it realized that the original photo was one of Alison's, and because Alison is so well-liked, they just left it in place out of respect for her. Unless they actually didn't like her, in which case maybe they thought Alison would ban them since she's an administrator. It's also possible that they suspected the newer photo to be copyrighted, though that doesn't usually stop them on Wikipedia (even if it sometimes does on Commons).

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:51 pm

The French article uses Smirkybec's choice.

Alison · Unread post by **Alison** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:48 am

Poetlister wrote:The French article uses Smirkybec's choice.

OMG - what?? This is just wrong.

Let me state right now that Colcannon does in no way, have bacon in it. Potatoes, kale, onion, salt, pepper, butter (lots of it). But bacon? Absolutely not!! Thanks, Wikipedia, for leading everyone astray again.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:24 pm

Maybe the French editor misunderstood the English article: "It is often eaten with boiled ham (T-H-L) or Irish bacon (T-H-L)." (The second link is misleading; it does not lead to an article on Irish bacon but to Back bacon (T-H-L).)

Alison · Unread post by **Alison** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:35 am

And wait - spring onions? Really?? Another example of Wikipedia going off into areas in which it has absolutely no expertise, which will rapidly become to gold standard for cooking colcannon. I'll have people correcting me at some point, because "Wikipedia clearly says so" - never mind that my family have cooked it for generations. If I cared enough, I'd try fix it, but ... meh.

The Garbage Scow · Unread post by **The Garbage Scow** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:49 pm

I just ate breakfast and now I'm hungry again...

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:25 pm

The English language Wikipedia and its food and cookery content is controlled largely by male editors and male-focused content. Meet the women who are tipping the scales.

The Big Issue

Johnny Au · Unread post by **Johnny Au** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 2:23 am

Sushi pizza (T-H-L)

The article cites this Toronto Star article: https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/ ... ronto.html

Funnily enough, the Toronto Star article cites that Wikipedia article, making it potentially an example of cito-genesis.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:11 pm

Johnny Au wrote:Sushi pizza (T-H-L)

The article cites this Toronto Star article: https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/ ... ronto.html

Funnily enough, the Toronto Star article cites that Wikipedia article, making it potentially an example of cito-genesis.

There's no doubt that the article largely draws on the paper's own research. This is how it quotes Wikipedia, very disparagingly:

There isn’t much reliable information online, but one of the first hits is a questionable Wikipedia entry for sushi pizza that notes a female chef in Montreal claims to have invented the dish in 1992, linking to a 2008 thread on food website Chowhound, that quoted a post from a 1999 thread about sushi pizza in a still-active Usenet forum called alt.food.sushi. The poster there recalled that he first had it at a spot called Atami on Edouard Montpetit Blvd. in Montreal where he was told by the female Japanese chef that it was her invention.

The Garbage Scow · Unread post by **The Garbage Scow** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:46 pm

Sounds like something someone made up one day. And then they tried to see how many people they could trick into to talking about it

Beeblebrox · Unread post by **Beeblebrox** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 8:42 pm

I recall seeing sushi pizza on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsey was thoroughly disgusted by it and made the chef take it off the menu.

Kumioko · Unread post by **Kumioko** » Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:20 pm

Beeblebrox wrote:I recall seeing sushi pizza on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsey was thoroughly disgusted by it and made the chef take it off the menu.

I don't know about Sushi Pizza but there is a place by me here in DC that has Sushi with pizza toppings and it's actually really good. They also have a Mexican inspired one with a Spicy Guac and a peper slice (you can choose jalepeno, Habenero, Ghost or Chile) slice.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Thu Sep 27, 2018 1:15 pm

Try pizza topped with pineapple and sliced onion. You will never forget the experience.

greyed.out.fields · Unread post by **greyed.out.fields** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 3:07 am

Poetlister wrote:Try pizza topped with pineapple and sliced onion. You will never forget the experience.

Hawaiianpizzaphobe! (hold the onions though)

Jim · Unread post by **Jim** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 3:30 am

greyed.out.fields wrote:
Poetlister wrote:Try pizza topped with pineapple and sliced onion. You will never forget the experience.
Hawaiianpizzaphobe! (hold the onions though)

The only fruit that should come anywhere near a pizza is tomato. And you can never have enough onion.

Eric Corbett · Unread post by **Eric Corbett** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:22 am

I've never really thought of pizza as food, more like packaging material.

lonza leggiera · Unread post by **lonza leggiera** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:09 am

Jim wrote:
greyed.out.fields wrote:
Poetlister wrote:Try pizza topped with pineapple and sliced onion. You will never forget the experience.
Hawaiianpizzaphobe! (hold the onions though)
The only fruit that should come anywhere near a pizza is tomato. And you can never have enough onion.

And olives and jalapeños.

Jim · Unread post by **Jim** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 6:21 am

lonza leggiera wrote:
Jim wrote:
greyed.out.fields wrote:
Poetlister wrote:Try pizza topped with pineapple and sliced onion. You will never forget the experience.
Hawaiianpizzaphobe! (hold the onions though)
The only fruit that should come anywhere near a pizza is tomato. And you can never have enough onion.
And olives and jalapeños.

Well, jalapeños - yes, ok - I confess I forgot that a chili pepper is a 'fruit' - but olives, ugh, no thanks - horrid, evil grapes. And don't even get me started on the 'BBQ sauce' that gets put on meat pizzas over here...

The Garbage Scow · Unread post by **The Garbage Scow** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:29 pm

I just ate breakfast and now I'm hungry again. Thanks guys!

Jim · Unread post by **Jim** » Fri Sep 28, 2018 1:57 pm

The Garbage Scow wrote:I just ate breakfast and now I'm hungry again. Thanks guys!

Here - have some breakfast pizza tips, reference courtesy of List of breakfast foods (T-H-L). Enjoy!

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:42 pm

This week the debate around iconic Aussie food names blew up again. The mighty potato scallop was at the centre of the debate, but other culinary delights were also dragged into the argument. This included the 90s process school meat of choice - devon. Apparently there is some disagreement when it comes to this label to the extent that someone at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) took to Wikipedia to add their name of choice.

www.gizmodo.com.au

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:20 pm

The Argentinean wine producer FECOVITA supported by Moscow Sommelier Association established ten scholarships for sommeliers to update already existing and write new articles on wine in the Russian Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the most popular information source in Russia, visited by a million and a half people every hour. At the same time, the materials of the Russian section are carelessly structured, full of inaccuracies and references to outdated USSR-era norms, and the data are based on the statistics of the early 2000s.

FECOVITA together with the Moscow Association of Sommeliers offer wine professionals to do what they are best in: to share accurate and reliable information about wine. This time, sommeliers could share their knowledge not in the restaurant, but on the pages of the free encyclopedia. In the course of the project ten articles will be corrected or written, the authors of which will receive scholarships in the amount of 21 000 rubles (about 700 USD). We hope that this measure will at least partially support those professionals who, because of the pandemic and the restrictions caused by it, have lost their jobs or have been forced to change them to less paid ones.

wineindustryadvisor.com

Unread post by **Zoloft** » Sat Aug 21, 2021 5:30 am

In Soviet Wikipedia, paid wine editors uncork you!

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:23 pm

A plant-based food company just swapped out the image for bacon on Wikipedia for a vegan alternative. THIS, known for its impressive meat-alternatives, has pranked the internet by swapping out the meat bacon for images of its own ‘THIS Isn’t Bacon’ on the rasher’s Wikipedia page. However, people visiting the page wouldn’t may not have even noticed the new images, due to the fake bacon being hailed by many as looking even juicier and more real than the previous images on the site.

unilad.co.uk

If an employee of the firm did that to promote its product, is that paid editing?

Without Comfort · Unread post by **Without Comfort** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:47 pm

I hope the account was banned for not declaring its conflict of interest. I'm surprised at the prank because a lot of vegans don't want to call non-meat products by meat names. That's why chick'un and other items are spelled oddly. I think a number of vegans are understandably revolted by anything being made to resemble meat.

Bezdomni · Unread post by **Bezdomni** » Sun Sep 12, 2021 11:23 pm

Will the bacon caballeros ride again? I've heard you can't herd soy like you can pigs.

full disclosure... I've been herding gargoyles this weekend.

Ada Sinn · Unread post by **Ada Sinn** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:02 am

Whoever swapped that photo should be indef banned.

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 11:33 am

Ada Sinn wrote: ↑
Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:02 am
Whoever swapped that photo should be indef banned.

The account This Isn't Bacon (T-C-L) is indeed "blocked indefinitely from editing because your account is being used only for advertising or promotion". In fact, it wasn't only used for this purpose; there are edits to articles Francis Bacon, asteroid 2940 Bacon and so on.

Without Comfort · Unread post by **Without Comfort** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:31 pm

I wonder if this was an alternate account of someone's. At least some of the edits stuck, so not a vandalism-only account (if one grants that the food in question is not bacon though I'd call it bacon).

Poetlister · Unread post by **Poetlister** » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:41 am

Without Comfort wrote: ↑
Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:31 pm
I wonder if this was an alternate account of someone's. At least some of the edits stuck, so not a vandalism-only account (if one grants that the food in question is not bacon though I'd call it bacon).

It was probably someone who works for or is associated with the firm that makes the stuff. if not, it might be someone already active in editing about veganism.