Best of the Moment
food-drink-sport
central-south-america
Various | Boston.com | 26 July 2010
Stunning photo essay from the world's greatest cycle race. Wonderful combination of landscape and action, with much to appreciate even for non-cycling fans
John Rawling | Guardian | 25 July 2010
Unsparing obituary of two-time world snooker champion, Hurricane Higgins - flawed sporting genius who mesmerised with his manic, twitching play, while inflicting extraordinary abuse on himself and others
KW | Wine Economist | July
Constantly disappointed bar manager runs gauntlet of Afghan bootleggers, police in search of drinkable wine. Lovely piece mixing social commentary, humour and dash of wine snobbery
Tim Harris | Prospect | 21 July 2010
Advances in genetics make it possible to debate sensibly the part played by genetic endowment in sporting success—including racial differences, previously a taboo subject
Richard Williams | Guardian | 22 July 2010
Enjoyable anecdotal history, recalling 100 years of the Col du Tourmalet, the first mountain to be included in the Tour de France. Perfectly practicable, said the original route planner, after falling down a ravine and having to be rescued
Simon Kuper | Foreign Policy | 21 July 2010
World Cup encouraged a lot of high-flown theorising about soccer and life, but really, it's just a game now—globalised, homogenised. Geopolitics have drained away. No more festering WWII resentments.
Masahiro Matsumura | Project Syndicate | 21 July 2010
How sumo fell into the grip of gangsters, and why a recent gambling scandal could presage a showdown between police and Japan's biggest organised crime group
Chris Jones | Esquire | 12 July 2010
Great read. Retired Las Vegas weather-man turns to casino surveillance, spots a way of beating "The Price Is Right", inveigles himself and friends on to show, walks away with jackpot
Gideon Rachman | FT | 16 July 2010
Entertaining, well-researched account of meeting with usually reclusive, vastly rich, somewhat colourful Russian aluminium magnate. But why? Presumably Deripaska is up to something
Sean Wilentz | New Republic | 13 July 2010
Nicely balanced obituary, which manages to explain why New York Yankees boss was so often reviled when alive—and yet is so much missed, following his death this week
John Turnbull | Global Game | 11 July 2010
Tongue-in-cheek essay on cultural, literary, philosophical significance of soccer goalkeepers. They are "personalities defined by the choices they make—especially when they dive for a penalty"
Wil Haygood | Washington Post | 11 July 2010
Classic newspaper reporting. Complex national issue brought alive in local, human terms. Interviews with families in Kentucky town where 52% are obese—and fast food the only entertainment
Freddie Maake | Guardian | 10 July 2010
Interesting if true. South African musician claims to have invented infernal instrument by blowing into bicycle horn at age 10. Gets no royalties, struggles to support nine children, happy anyway
William Saletan | Slate | 8 July 2010
The astonishing and grotesque world of competitive eating, complete with corporate sponsors, broadcasting deals, contract disputes with "stars". Man who ate 72 hot-dogs in one go explains how he "fools body into accepting more"
Bruce Palling | Gastroenophile | 6 July 2010
Critic confronts pretentious London restaurant. "What is the style of the food? I think it is best described as laboratory cuisine, with tweezers being the most visible implements in the kitchen"
Jancis Robinson | 3 July 2010
Authoritative overview of the marketing of Bordeaux wine from 2009. Up close for non-oenophiles but still interesting. Some chateaux sold out within 30 minutes, months before the wine even reaches the bottles
Rick Bookstaber | 27 June 2010
The best sort of humour. Builds slowly, so that only by the very end do you suspect you are being made a fool of. Even then, some of the ideas—a shorter pitch, two balls, free substitution—have a plausible ring
Elizabeth Weil | NYT Magazine | 29 June 2010
Profile of San Francisco's shy, eccentric, ice-cream-making genius, Jake Godby. Flavours include "hibiscus beet", "government cheese"—and "secret breakfast", made with bourbon and toasted cornflakes
Peter Singer | Project Syndicate | 28 June 2010
Apparently yes, since so many players do it, even in the World Cup. But wouldn't it be great if more footballers chose to tell the truth, setting an example for spectators and other players?
Richard Williams | Guardian | 27 June 2010
For sports fans only perhaps, but the best post-mortem on England's under-achieving football team. "When the end came, it was a real coup de grâce, flavoured with controversy, delivered by merciless opponents"
Ian Jack | Guardian | 26 June 2010
Brief, eccentric, very enjoyable history of the football, from waterlogged leather skull-shaker to much maligned Jabulani. Apparently Jabulani means rejoice in isiZulu. Adidas expects to sell 13m of them at up to £80 each
Rajiv Sethi | 22 June 2010
Behavioural economist asks, and answers, two footballing questions. Why do players take dives so often and so obviously? And why do national styles of play persist over generations?
Xan Brooks | Guardian | 23 June 2010
One for the annals. Ten-hour match goes to 59-59 in the fifth set. "The man who was once Mahut is now a string-bag of offal. The man who was Isner is a parched piece of cow-hide"
Deborah Blum | Speakeasy Science | 23 June 2010
Sad story of great Australian racehorse of the Depression era, Phar Lap. Recent research proving he died of poisoning ties up loose ends of shameful episode and case of epically bad sportsmanship
Robert Lipsyte | TomDispatch | 20 June 2010
Sports Dads, what they do to their children, and why so many adults either adore or despise sport. "I remember that coach walking out to the mound to tell his 11-year-old boy that he would now find out if he was a man"
Rafe Bartholomew | Deadspin | 17 June 2010
Billy Ray Bates, basketball natural, washes up drunk at 26. So he moves to the Philippines, where it's so much easier to mix professional sports with alcoholism and epic debauchery
Terry Eagleton | Guardian | 15 June 2010
Short, tongue-in-cheek, thought-provoking essay on social functions of football. Offers the working masses distraction, excitement—but also tradition, artistry, solidarity, engagement
Mike Steinberger | Slate | 14 June 2010
Billionaire collector's lawsuit against Christie's tells of potentially huge fraud in fake Pétrus and other fine wines, with prices boosted by 100-point reviews from Robert Parker
Jeff Blum | n+1 | 10 June 2010
Nicely judged mix of serious information and derisive snark. Especially recommended to non-football-fans who want a rough idea of what everyone else is talking about in the month ahead
Dave Eggers | Slate | 10 June 2010
Republished 2006 article with gently humourous take on US indifference to football. Is it because it's the chosen sport of communists, because Americans didn't invent it, or just because of distaste for fakery and diving?
Andy Connelly | Guardian | 9 June 2010
Brief history of cake-making from Egyptian times, with scientific, philosophical footnotes. And recipes. "Baking a cake on a cold, drizzly, miserable day can't help but make you feel better about the world"
Lewis Lapham | Truthout | 8 June 2010
Languid, intelligent, reflective essay on place of sports in American life. "The product is entertainment, but the franchise is the democratic dream of Eden"
Ian Buruma I Project Syndicate I 7 June 2010
Notion that international sport inspires fraternity is romantic fiction. Football nationalism is deeply felt, perhaps even useful as outlet for primitive impulses. It helps to have traditional enemies, old hurts, humiliations needing redress
Christopher Hitchens | Slate | 6 Jun 2010
"I now drink relatively carefully". A whisky, a half-bottle of wine at lunch, same at dinner. "Not always more, but never less". Great virtue of alcohol: makes other people less tedious
Tony Curzon Price | Open Economy | 7 June 2010
Short, brilliant blogpost on elite views of World Cup. British equate it disdainfully with commerce. French recognise it as sacred ritual in which "the unity of nation becomes visible"
Simon Kuper I Fanhouse I 29 May 2010
Economist analyses England prospects. The good news for fans, there will be goals; the bad, the team will perform like a cheap battery. And no German has missed a penalty in a World Cup shootout since 1982
Rick Reilly | ESPN | 19 May 2010
Quite possibly the world's dumbest sport: the Sauna World Championships. Nobody but a Finn has made it through to a final. "Slapping backs a definite no-no among saunists"
R.W. Johnson | LRB Blog | 25 May 2010
World Cup in South Africa on point of collapse under weight of incoming VIPs. 50 heads of state expected, but FIFA has already booked up all the top hotels—and Joe Biden wants 300 tickets
Gay Talese | New Yorker | 23 May 2010
Classic Talk of the Town note. Not really about anything much—the closure of a old-school Italian restaurant—but so engagingly written, you can't help but feel sorry for the loss
David Macfarlane | Walrus | June 2010
Canadian purist laments American takeover of professional ice-hockey. "Transformed in the digestive tract of American consumerism, the sport has become an American entertainment"
Michael Pollan | NYRB | 20 May 2010
Industrial food hurts society, health, environment. Main cause of America's obesity epidemic. Hence surge of popular interest in fresh food, local farming, home cooking
Simon Kuper | The National | 19 May 2010
Gripping review of brave, mostly ignored book on football match fixing. Includes basic rules for fixing matches without people knowing, even at World Cups. Match fixing industry now mature, stable, global.
Jeremy Harding | LRB | 7 May 2010
Huge essay on food supply and demand. May be shortfalls ahead, thanks to increasing world population, rising living standards, climate change. But government action would be unpopular. Voters don't want austerity
Hugo Mercier | Cognition And Culture | 28 March 2010
Optimal strategy for penalty kick is to aim into top third of net. But with risk of missing goal entirely. So most footballers aim in bottom third. To be stopped by goalkeeper is more honourable
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt | Serious Eats | 19 April 2010
Sous-vide on a shoe-string. "Fill up your cooler with hot water, seal your food in a plastic Ziplock bag, drop it in, and close your beer cooler until your food is cooked. It's as simple as that"
Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski | FT Mag | 16 April 2010
Current England soccer side probably strongest ever. Would be even stronger if it made serious use of analytics, especially for fixing its weak point: penalty kicks
Cole Morton | London Times | 11 April 2010
Everyday subject, beautifully done. English breakfast as test of character, digestion. From pompous hotel in St James's to truck stop in Lancashire where heart attack included in price
David Cho | The Awl | 12 April 2010
"Should you eat this? Probably not. It is very much what you think it is, a sloppy and salty mess, and will make your stomach hurt for several hours after you've consumed it"
Luke Dittrich | Esquire | 2 April 2010
Close-up profile of champion sprinter. Runs "at a level approximately thirty years beyond that of the expected capabilities of modern man. Mathematically, Bolt belonged not in 2008 Olympics but in 2040 Olympics"
Jonah Lehrer | WSJ | 3 April 2010
Challenging competitions are supposed to bring out our best. But when people are forced to compete against a peer who seems far superior, they often don't rise to the challenge. Instead, they give up
Masked Man | Deadspin | 23 March 2010
If you like WWF wrestling, you'll love this profile. Even if you don't, it's a pretty amazing story. "Every detail of André's life is subject to fantastical reinterpretation, and failing that, normal human error"
Maik Grossekathöfer | ChessBase | 15 March 2010
First chess game at 5, beat father at 9, grandmaster at 13, world champion at 19. "Kasparov can calculate more alternatives. My intuition is better". (Translation from Spiegel)
Andrew Corsello | GQ | April 2010
Extravagant profile of Manny Pacquiao, world-champion Filipino boxer: "a cyclone of madness and dysfunction and karaoke and tango dancing and grown men vying to fluff his rice"
Sean Gregory | Time | 10 March 2010
Financial information giant diversifies into sports statistics. First product targets big consumer market of fantasy baseball players. Later, advanced and expensive analytics for major-league clubs
Mark Rowlands | TLS | 3 March 2010
Philosopher applauds "Eating Animals", Foer's latest book, as "brilliant synthesis of argument, science and storytelling ... original and breathtaking in its vivacity"
Kim Severson | NYT | 2 March 2010
Report from rabbit-killing seminar in Brooklyn. Rabbits "the new chicken". Easy for urban farmers to raise, breed. Increased restaurant demand for meat. But you do have to kill them
Deborah Blum | Slate | 29 February 2010
US government ordered industrial alcohol poisoned during prohibition, so it wouldn't be turned into drinkable spirits. Americans went on drinking, perhaps 10,000 died from poison
Grant Achatz | NYT Diner's Journal | 16 February 2010
"I saw cooks using tools as if they were jewelers—wrapping young pine nuts in thin sheets of sliced beet, using syringes to fill recesses in strawberries with Campari"
Virginia Heffernan | NYT | 4 February 2010
Popularity of videos showing figure-skating accidents and injuries suggests macabre anticipation may be subsconscious part of even this sport's appeal
James Kaelan | The Millions | 2 February 2010
Paean to lyrical British soccer commentator, Ray Hudson, who describes his art thus: "Literally, when the lights go on, I just get out there and tap dance my way through it"
Garry Kasparov | NYRB | 21 January 2010
Rise of computer-chess means younger players can train harder, learn faster. But human game becomes more like computer game—calculation crowds out style, theory
Mike Sager | Esquire | 7 January 2010
Great profile of Ultimate Fighting promoter who is "equal parts Don King, Oliver Twist, and South Boston gym rat". Minders, wise guys, sweat, swearing, stubble, money
Roger Ebert | 6 January 2010
Unable to eat or drink after three rounds of cancer surgery, film critic says he doesn't miss the food nearly so much as the social pleasures of eating, especially in a neighbourhood cafe
Nick Paumgarten | New Yorker | 27 December 2009
Whole Foods boss sees himself as "daddy" of the company, but behaves more like crazy uncle. "We sell a bunch of junk", he says. Travails of a right-wing hippy in big-business world
Wright Thompson | ESPN | 16 December 2009
Epic journey through underclass America, and detritus of the boxing world, in search of a small-timer who fought Muhammad Ali once, in 1961, then disappeared.
Rachel Sanderson | Financial Times | 27 November 2009
Wonderful profile. Italian entrepreneur behind Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Eggs. His business now bigger than Fiat
Ezra Klein | Washington Post | 25 November 2009
<p>Nudges to help you eat less, without taking the fun out of it. Use smaller plates. Start with soup. Have fewer courses</p>
Hank Hyena | H+ | 17 November 2009
<p>In 3-10 years manufactured meat will be commonplace, popular, healthy. And livestock farming will die</p>
Haseeb | Card Runners | 17 November 2009
Insider's evaluation of mysterious new player who is taking down champions. Jargony, but excitement comes through
Ryan D'Agostino | Esquire | 19 November 2009
<p>Clichéd approach, beautifully done. Keller perfect guest, helps in kitchen. "Suddenly the air was brackish and sugary"</p>
Elizabeth Kolbert | New Yorker | 4 November 2009
<p>Review of books by Jonathan Safran Foer et al on eating animals. If you knew the facts you probably wouldn't do it</p>
Shira Springer | Boston Globe | 25 October 2009
<p>Bankrupted Boston Celtics player kept entourage of 70, spent wildly on cars, watches, gambling, mansions </p>
Salma Abdelnour | More Intelligent Life | 28 October 2009
New York food writer enjoys unusual dinner party. Dishes include roasted bamboo worms, stir-fry crickets. Crickets taste "almost like crunchy fried vegetables, or baby shrimp"
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt | Serious Eats | 9 October 2009
<p>Definitive, illustrated explanation. Experiments show only significant variables to be boiling time and water temperature</p>
Malcolm Gladwell | New Yorker | 10 October 2009
<p>Degenerative brain injuries a common hazard for American football players. Game is arguably as brutal as dogfighting</p>
Wright Thompson | ESPN | 5 October 2009
Wonderful essay on $2,500 tickets at new Yankee stadium. The fans are priced out, the rich only want them as bribes
David Mitchell | Guardian | 4 October 2009
<p>In praise of fixed service charges. They minimise embarrassment, and you sometimes get a bargain</p>
Juliette Tang | SF Bay Area Guardian | 23 September 2009
Profiles of seven women active in Bay Area bondage scene. Intriguing, educative—but not safe for work, nor, perhaps, home
Nathan Rabin | AV Club | 15 September 2009
"God clearly did not mean for humans to eat chicken, bacon, and low-quality, gelatinous cheese at the same time"
Roger Ebert | Granta | 4 September 2009
<p>"<span class="dropcap">O’</span>Rourke’s was our stage. We regulars knew each other. We dated each other. We slept with each other
Timothy Dumas | Smithsonian Magazine | August 2009
<p>Gorgeous tale of Nicky and Bobbi, hugging couple in the album-cover photo. Now she's a school nurse, he's a retired carpenter</p>
Lionel Barber | Financial Times | 30 August 2009
Skidelsky on early life in Japan and China, lost family fortune, Mosley—and, of course, Keynes
Rogert Ebert | Chicago Sun-Times | 25 August 2009
Film critic tells how AA meetings helped him stop drinking. "These were the same people I drank with, although now they were making more sense"
Graeme Wood | Atlantic | 18 August 2009
<p>It screams and it stinks. Is there anything to be said for the camel? Well, in Dubai they make a "pungent" chocolate from its milk</p>
Helen Thomson | New Scientist | 11 August
<p>How to arbitrage between bookmakers, how to win (slowly) at roulette, how to count cards, and other odds-defying strategies </p>
Skip Hollandsworth | Texas Monthly | 1 August 2009
<p>Hair-raising account of undercover cops infiltrating the secret world of Houston dogfighting. Many animals were hurt in the making of this story</p
Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski | Financial Times | 7 August...
<p>Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch" has given us the ideal of a lifelong one-club supporter. But most fans are more fickle and more promiscuous</
Lynn Barber | Telegraph | 4 August 2009
<p>Izabella St James, ex-member of Hefner harem, recounts life in the boring, grubby confines of the not very sexy at all Playboy mansion
Blake Hurst | The American | 30 July
Critics of industrial farming have it all wrong, says Missouri farmer. Farming has always been messy and painful, and bloody and dirty
Jenny Diski | London Review Of Books | 31 July 2009
"I sautéed the steak of Bernd, with salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg. I had it with Princess croquettes, Brussels sprouts and a green pepper"
Michael Pollan | New York Times Magazine | 29 July
The strange decline of cooking. Americans watch more and more of it on television, but they do less and less of it themselves
Wendy Mitchell | Austinist | 29 July
"Final male-to-female ratio was about 18:5. Definitely not your typical yoga class demographics"
Jonah Lehrer | Frontal Cortex | 21 July
On McDonald's latest calorie-bomb: "If the human tongue has a secret password, then this sweet, salty and fatty breakfast sandwich is the code&qu
Stephen Fry | Lord's Cricket Ground | 14 July
Twenty minutes of heaven for cricket lovers. Peroration: "Most of all it is up to us to keep the faith and be unashamed, be proud of our love of
Elizabeth Kolbert | New Yorker | 13 July
Human hunger evolved on the savannahs of Africa, where food was hard to find. But in America today, calories are cheap and effortless
Roger Bate | The American | 3 July
Cricket is immobile, whereas baseball has America's spirit of restlessness. Still, Tendulkar would make a reasonably good baseball player.
Jim Hamm | Esquire | 6 July
It grabbed me by the mouth so that our teeth were gritting together. It shook its head side to side and just ripped my mouth all to pieces
Ethan Zuckerman | My Heart's In Accra | 5 July
Get married, stop seeking a pay raise, put off having children. And
remember, “we’re designed to pursue happiness, not to find it.”
Louise France | Guardian | 5 July
BBC's Wimbledon footage has all the predictable
crowd scenes, but the money shot is always a
woman, preferably blonde, probably busty
Joel Stein | Time | 3 July
There is so much you can't know about your spouse when you get married, like that one day she will want to eat her placenta