I don’t care how much you like Pho soup, beating the Pho Challenge of the Pho Garden restaurant, in San Francisco, is nearly impossible.

The Pho Garden restaurant, on Clement’s Street, San Francisco, has become internationally famous for its unique Pho Challenge. The object of this trial is to finish a massive bowl of Pho soup, in one hour. Whoever passes this stomach test will have his/her photo posted on the wall of Pho Garden Champions, and won’t have to pay the $22 cost of the soup. But the ultimate prize is undoubtedly the bragging rights.

The idea behind the Pho Challenge belongs to one of its owners. Always up for a good challenge, he thought of a way to challenge his own customers, and came up with the idea of a giant bowl of Pho soup. He managed to finish the whole thing, on his third try, and once he convinced himself it was doable, dared his customers to do it themselves. Even though you needn’t finish the broth to beat the challenge, the 4 pounds of noodles and 4 ponds of mixed beef are often to much to handle in a 1 hour time limit.

Opened in 2008, the Pho Garden has quickly become a popular eating destination, in San Francisco, and is about two open in a second location. If you’re ever in Frisco, go for the Pho Challenge.

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I’m glad to present an ice-cream that could go into the record  books as tastiest dessert ever created, the Every Topping under the Sun-dae

The idea for this delicious concoction belongs to the guys at TopCultured, who thought those giant Cold Stone ice-creams could be even better if they contained all the toppings the creamery offers. So they simply mixed all the 40 toppings (!!!) into one delicious piece of heaven, and had one guy go through the “torture” of eating the whole thing. In case your wondering, he did eat the entire Every Topping under the Sun-dae, and he’s still around to tell his tale.

This sweet heart-stopper consists of 1 quart of Sweet Cream ice cream, 1 quart of Oreo Cream Filling ice cream and the 40 toppings listed below:

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The Poutine Eating Championship is a yearly food-eating competition where the contestants have to eat as much poutine as possible, in just 10 minutes.

I bet you’re still stuck on poutine, right? Many people outside Canada have never even heard of this delicacy, but they just eat it up there in the north. Poutine consists of french fries, cheese curds and brown gravy. Some say it sounds disgusting, but I wouldn’t mind trying some.

Anyway, during the World Poutine Eating Championship 2010, contestants had to gobble up as much poutine as possible, in 10 minutes time. The winner, 24-year-old Pat Bertoletti, churned 13 lbs of the stuff, and won himself a $750 prize and a cool trophy. Asked what he was going to do with his prize, Pat said he will spend it in a bar.

REUTERS photos by Mark Blinch via Daylife

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Ted Reader, one of the most famous celebrity chefs in the world, has prepared a giant hamburger, in an attempt to put his name in the Guinness Book of Records.

The cooking process of the world’s biggest hamburger began at 4 am, on Thursday, when a giant beef patty was placed on a custom barbecue, to slow cook. The burger was unveiled at noon, and it caught the eye of dozens of Toronto passers-by. It was topped off with all the fixings you’d find in an average burger, including lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and barbecue sauce.

The 590 lbs-heavy burger was made with 300 pounds of meat, which makes it three times as heavy as the current record holder. Guinness is yet to acknowledge Ted Reader’s record, but it’s only a matter of time.

The making of the world’s biggest hamburger is part of a marketing tour to promote Ted Reader’s latest cook book, Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet Burgers. It contains 110 different burger recipes.

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It’s true, cupcakes are one of God’s greatest gifts to man, and I like them just as much as the next guy, but i certainly wouldn’t pay $150,000 for one.

ROX, a Scotland based diamond and jewelry chain, teamed up with Cupcake Glasgow, to create what you might call a priceless treat. Their creation may look like any other small cupcake, but it’s actually sprinkled with tens of sparkling diamonds. That makes it worth 100,000 British pounds.

Creating the world’s most expensive cupcake was the best way to market “Glam in the City”, Scotland’s largest consumer show, which will take place between 18 – 20 June, 2010. If you’re interested, the outrageously expensive cupcake can be ordered at the ROX store, in Glasgow. But watch your teeth, I hear those diamonds are pretty tough to chew.

Photos via Xinhua

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It took 65 kg of chocolate but the Rolling Stones never looked this tasty. Even that big-mouthed Mick Jagger looks good enough to eat.

It all started with a dream. Alberto Dorna Pujol, the owner of a Catalan pastry shop always dreamed his idols, The Rolling Stones, would once play in his shop window. Since the chance of the real Stones coming to the town of Berga, to play in a pastry shop, were pretty slim, he decided to fulfill his dream, by taking advantage of an old Catalan Easter tradition.

Catalans usually make chocolate figures on Easter, and since Alberto is a master chocolatier, he decided to make the figures of  the legendary Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, out of chocolate. The result is impressive, and attracted a lot of attention to his Dolceria Pujol pastry shop. Well done!

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Young French artist, Stephanie Kilgast, creates the most delicious-looking miniatures that you could never shove down your throat, since their made of plastic. But if you like staring at your food, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Great things can come out of being bored, and Stephanie Kilgast is the perfect example. She discovered her passion for miniatures, in 2007, when she was looking for a new hobby, to keep her occupied. She realized creating miniatures took her back to when she was just a little girl, making tiny foods, out of clay, for her Barbie dolls.

Her new passion just grew and grew, until she realized she wanted to dedicate her entire life to making food miniatures. She struggled to get her architecture degree and now she’s a full time artizan. The best thing about her tiny creations is that they can be worn as jewelry. Ever dreamed of having two ice-cream cones as earrings? Well, now you can, courtesy of Miss Stephanie Kilgast.

She sells her tasty-looking miniatures on sites like Etsy and Dawanda, and you can check out all her creations on PetitPlat.fr.

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In Tuban, a village in the East Java  province of Indonesia, earth is used to make “ampo” a creamy snack believed to have medicinal properties.

According to Rasima, the ampo cook of Tuban, there is no real recipe to making this bizarre snack. All she does is look for clean, gravel-free soil, in the village’s rice paddies, pound it into a solid block, using a stick, and scrape rolls out of it,with a bamboo dagger. The rolls of soils are then baked and smoked for an hour. Rasima then takes the earthy snacks to the village market, where she earns about $2, to supplement her family’s income.

Tuban is the only earth-eating village on the planet. There are people, around the world, who enjoy eating sand, or kaolin, but not baked soil. Villagers believe ampo is a natural pain-killer, and that it makes babies’ skin softer, if eaten by their pregnant mothers.

As for the taste of ampo, “it’s nothing special, it feels cold in my stomach” says one of the Tuban locals, who has been eating ampo, ever since she was a child.

via REUTERS

Photos by REUTERS via Daylife

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I’m mad about cool looking cakes, and if you’ve been here before, you already know that. Now, I know I said stuff like “I wouldn’t eat this!” about other disgusting-looking cakes, but compared to this Alien facehugger cake, they all look mighty delicious.

Presented at the “That Takes The Cake 2010” sci-fi themed cake show, in Austin, the edible Alien facehugger looks like it crawled right off the set of an Alien movie. I’m sure it’s tasty and everything, but just looking at it, instantly kills my appetite.

I know many of you wouldn’t mind having this particular facehugger grab a hold of your face, but their are much nicer looking cakes out there. Hat’s off to the artist that made this, though.

via GreatWhiteSnark

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The small town of Rivarolo, near Turin, Italy, hosted a Guinness World Records attempt for the longest chocolate bar in the world.

The record to beat was 6.98 meters, but A. Giordano, a local chocolatier, and his team outdid themselves and made an 11.57 meter-long chocolate bar. The event was sponsored by a Rivarolo shopping mall, who also brought in the Guinness representative to acknowledge the attempt.

As you can imagine, the crowd gathered during the event was treated to a delicious piece of chocolate delight.

via Guinness World Records

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46-year old Vipula Athukorale spends tens of hours creating some of the most intricate food-art masterpieces in the world.

Mr. Athukorale has worked, as a chef, in high ranking restaurants in Grece, Cyprus, Bahrain, Iraq and England, creating amazing works of edible art, out of butter. Actually, he uses pastry margarine, but “margarine sculptures” doesn’t roll as smoothly off the tongue. This fancy chef won two gold medals and a silver one, at the international Salon Culinaire Awards, in London, last week , for his detailed Rolls Royce, and scenes from Pinocchio and Pied Piper stories.

According to the artist, the Rolls Royce took around 90 hours to complete, and features detailed interior and underside. In order to get everything right, Vipula Athukorale doesn’t even breathe, when sculpting margarine. To keep his hands from shaking, he leans in toward the artwork, takes a deep breath, does some sculpting, then leans back and breathes out. He also washes his hands in ice-cold water, to prevent his hot fingers from damaging the artwork.

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Now this is what all chocolate eggs should look like: huge! I remember, as a kid, I was nuts about those Kinder chocolate eggs, with the toy in the middle, but looking at these babies…I was a dumb kid.

These beautiful ornate chocolate eggs are made by Tim Fonseca, executive pastry chef, at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Boston. There’s not much else I can tell you about these chocolaty masterpieces, except that all chocolate eggs should be like these.

via ThePastryChannel

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Calm down Apple fanboys, I’m not calling your venerable hero cheesy. It’s just that what else are you going to call the head of Steve Jobs, made of Mozzarella cheese?

An able cook, who also happens to be an avid Apple fanboy, decided to show his appreciation for the “greatest consumer electronics company of all times”, by making the head of its leader, Steve Jobs, out of Mozzarella.

I have to say the cook made great use of only cheese and pepper, to create a very detailed image of Steve Jobs. He’s going to serve Steve Jobs’ Mozzarella head at an iPad Launch Party. If you want to do the same, head over to The Cook’s Den, for detailed instructions on how to make your own.

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They say you shouldn’t play with your food, but when something as awesome as the Death Star is involved, rules don’t really apply. And plus, it’s food art!

The Death Star cantaloupe isn’t very new, It was showcased for the first time in 2008, on the Evil Scientist blog, together with hints on how to make your own. Apparently, all you need is the cantaloupe, a pen knife and five minutes. Placed against the right background, the Death Star cantaloupe looks just as deadly as the real thing, but it’s much tastier.

The Death Star watermelon needs a bit more carving, because it doesn’t have the texture advantages of the cantaloupe, but the end result is even more impressive, and just as tasty. Unfortunately, both organic Death Stars are very vulnerable, even without that damned exhaust port.

via Kuriositas

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Over 900 people took part in the World’s Longest Lunch event, during the 2010 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

On March 12, Melbourne weather was almost perfect for the longest lunch in the world. nearly 1,000 hungry strangers gathered at a 400-meter-long table, and enjoyed several scrumptious dishes and various types of wine. The oriental theme of this unusual event included entertainment like dragon dances, martial arts and parasol dancers.

But the true unsung heroes of the 2010 World’s Longest Lunch were the servers. This disciplined fleet of swift-footed soldiers made sure everyone was served almost at the same time. And that’s no small feet.

Photos by Agencies via CCTV

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