Fifteen bowls of wanko soba is equal to one regular-sized serving, and Azumaya rewards you with a certificate of achievement if you’re able to make it through 100 bowls or more. While I was granted a certificate certifying how much I ate (as well as a small wooden ornament), my own record is a paltry 62, and Hallams…

I was told there are no explicit rules saying you can’t take a break, but it’s not really socially acceptable. Japanese society is very much centered on social cohesiveness and there’s a sort of ingrained emphasis on fitting in and not drawing attention to yourself (which I think is one of the reasons Otaku culture is… Read more

My photographer for this, Joy Asico, (who took the banner photo for this story) would like me to let everyone know that while I ate 62 bowls she ate 63 bowls. And as the person who wrote this story, I will also share that she did it just to spite me. I apologize this crucial detail didn’t make its way into the… Read more

I’ve heard about the “belt of fat” theory, which says that the reasons it’s always skinny people who win eating contests is because there’s room for their stomach to expand, where as heavier people (such as myself) have a sort of belt of fat around their stomach which prevents expansion. Not sure how true that is… Read more

Thanks for this! I was able to pull a bunch of additional distilleries from this article, including an entry for Australia. Read more

Not a very good picture (certainly not as good as ones taken by the photographer I traveled with, Joy Asico (asicophoto.com), but this at least gives you a sense.

Added! Read more

Added to the story, thanks for the info. Read more

Thanks, added! Read more

Thanks for these! They’ve been added. Read more

Actually, I’m pleased to say you are incorrect. The TTB waived those restrictions several days ago. Read more

Thanks, but I can’t find anything to substantiate this. Do you have a link? Read more

I left this one off the list because it’s not actually a distillery, just a facility that packages and blends alcohol for the larger conglomerate. My goal for this story was to list places people could contact directly to get hand sanitizer, and I don’t think this facility is at all public facing. Read more

So unfortunately I don’t think the list put together by the Distilled Spirits Council is accurate. While Forbes is in itself an extremely unreliable source of information (at least when it comes to its Contributors network), there was a Forbes story which says that distillers need only say that they’re interested in… Read more

Hi all! If I missed a business it was entirely unintentional, so please let me know if there’s more to add to this list. What’s most helpful is to provide the name of the brewery/distillery/winery, and a link to the source which says that they’re producing hand sanitizer (and for the sake of accuracy and my time,… Read more

It’s definitely kind of a restaurant insider thing (although Bon Appetit has written about them often enough that they seem to have started to trickle down into more mainstream consumer consciousness). What’s weird is that once you know what they look like you start to see them a surprising amount, particularly if you… Read more

This obviously isn’t as good as fresh off the boat, but Whole Foods sells 2 pound bags of frozen wild caught gulf shrimp for around $23. The texture sometimes isn’t great but wild gulf shrimp beats slave-farmed Thai shrimp any day of the week. For whatever reason the website doesn’t list the 2 pound bag at that price… Read more

Biscuits (based on what I’ve read/know) are a dish with southern origins and the ham biscuit permutation as it exists is southern. Stuffing bread with meat isn’t rocket science though, and it seems like pretty much any culture with some form of bread (whether it’s risen wheat bread, fermented bread like injera, flat… Read more

Red eye gravy (made from combining ham drippings with coffee) is very much a thing! Ham biscuits are meant to be portable though, so gravy might be tricky. Read more