The drinking water myth and other food and drink news

No, You Do Not Have to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day - If there is one health myth that will not die, it is this: You should drink eight glasses of water a day. It’s just not true. There is no science behind it.

Japanese Whisky Is Growing Scarce; Here Are New Brands to Stock Up On - ... it seems that Western drinkers have started consuming so much Japanese whisky that even the biggest producers have been forced to make adjustments to avoid running out of supply.

Irradiated Food Sounds Like a Terrible Thing. It’s Actually Really Good. Zapping food with radiation could prevent dangerous food-borne illness outbreaks—if only consumers would get behind the idea. ... At a special irradiation plant—there are just a handful in the United States—workers zap food with a machine similar to the kind that administers radiation to cancer patients. Most facilities use electron beams, but some irradiate with X-rays or gamma rays. While the dose of radiation is high, it doesn't stay with the food, and workers are protected from it with safety gear and massive concrete walls. The result, says Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on food-borne illness who has studied irradiation extensively, is that it kills as many bacteria as cooking at high temperatures, but without any loss of taste. "Food irradiation shows absolutely no detrimental impact on the food," he says.

Battle of the fizz: Cava takes on champagne - After decades of rising exports, producers of Catalan cava are brimming with confidence and have their eyes set on taking on the "king" of sparkling wine - French champagne. ... "Cava is beginning a second stage. We conquered the world with standard cavas. Now we are going to conquer it again with superior quality cavas," the head of the the association of small and medium sized cava producers, Pere Guilera, told AFP.

Hunter region wine glut sends grape expectations down the drain - The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia estimated 85 per cent of Australian grape growers made a loss on their grapes in this year’s harvest. The chardonnay harvest was particularly devastating for the Hunter; grapes sold for less than $300 a tonne while the cost of growing was between $1471 and $1776 a tonne, the federation said.

As Minimum Wages Rise, Restaurants Say No to Tips, Yes to Higher Prices

Dinner and Deception - Serving elaborate meals to the super-rich left me feeling empty.

Black pitmasters left out of US barbecue boom - The US is in the midst of a barbecue boom. But as television programmes and restaurants celebrate mostly white pitmasters, are the cuisine's African-American roots being forgotten?