Never heard the name Budweiser before? No, it is not the name of your neighbour's pet bulldog. It is the brand of beer! Yes, the golden stuff you pour down your throat right before you go to work. They are one of America's best selling beers (lagers) made with the addition of rice into their lager. Whatever, as long as it gets us high, who really cares what goes into the beer. Other than their famous lager, they have several other types of beers like American Ale and Chelada. Check out the interesting and refreshing history of Budweiser Brewster on their site. A little knowledge of the alcoholic beverages we enjoy so much is good.

Budweiser

Food & Wine Magazine is monthly publication on the latest on dining, cooking and entertainment. In their website, you can find recipes, restaurants, wine and articles on famous chefs. They have one of the best recipes collections on the Internet and more coming each month. In addition, you can watch videocast of famous chefs in action, creating masterpieces for all tastes. If you are looking for the best spots for dining, they have it too. A comprehensive guide on the best restaurants worldwide is available as well. You can also sign up for their weekly newsletter.

Food & Wine Magazine

Cooking Light is a publication specially for healthy food and cooking. You can read more about healthy living, eating right, fitness and even beauty in their magazine. Their website is an extension to their magazine. It offers viewers tips on healthy cooking, recipes and even nutrition advice. You can even create an account with them and keep all your favourite recipes, your menus and even your shopping list online. Best of all, you can share it with your friends or even total strangers. They have a newsletter which offers more cooking tips and recipes.

Cooking Light

Subway is a very popular cafe style restaurant selling sandwiches. They have many branches (franchises) overseas as well. They are well-known for their submarine sandwiches, pizzas and salads. Their slogan is "Eat Fresh" and they aim to be the healthy alternative to fast foods. Their menu have been touted to be healthier and more nutritious than their competitors. But surprisingly, they are not endorsed by any medical association for their health claims. Like most big names, they have started targeting kids in their advertising.

Subway

When I first visited the site, I was kind of put-off by the looks and the chunky interface. The design was so uninspired for a dining site. But if you can get pass the layout, it is actually a very useful site for those who like to dine out. It allows you to make restaurant reservations online, which is kind of cool. Choose the location and then the restaurant you want and then book a place for yourself. With over 20,000 restaurants using Open Table to manage their reservations, I think the guests would be pretty glad to have a single site to do all their reservations. They even have reservations for overseas restaurants so that you can still spend hundreds of dollars eating that sausage and caviar in Berlin. Reservations made by customers are free.

Open Table

If you need someone to blame for America's (and pretty much the rest of the world's) obese problem, you have to look no further than McDonald's. They are the ones that started the whole fast food and junk food craze that never actually ended. Now the whole world is fat and we get tons of diseases and illness. Heck, most of us can't even run a quarter mile before we faint from exhaustion. I kid you not, last week the lift in my office building broke and I had to climb DOWN 3 levels of stairs, I think I nearly got a stroke! Been eating too many of their hamburgers and milkshakes these last few years. And seriously, comparing to other fast food joints, I think McDonald's sucks sesame seed buns but still we flock to their restaurants. Perhaps it is their imperious yellow arches that is some sort of mind control beacon that makes us unable to resist the call of their McNuggets, Tasteless Fries and BigMacs. Oh, don't forget to upsize your order while you are there. We only live once.

McDonald's

They are the major competitor for the soft drinks market against Coca-Cola. We all love our soft drinks right. And both Coca-Cola and Pepsi love their pockets and they are seriously slogging it out. Just watch the TV advertisements and commercials. For me, I kind of like Coca-Cola better but that is not to say I won't drink Pepsi. Just my little preference. Anyway, Pepsi's products include carbonated soft drinks, ready to drink teas, canned coffees, energy and sports drinks as well as juice-based drinks. Even if you don't like cola, you might just have one of their other soft drinks in your fridge. Their logo, which is a red, white and blue circle, is one of the most well-known logos in the world. Whenever I spotted a Pepsi logo, I would somehow feel refresh even when I am still thirsty. Coca-Cola's red logo can't give me that effect.

Pepsi

Need some energy boost? Well, Red Bull is here to help. This little energy drink which is supposed to give you guys alertness and more strength. I never believe that drinking a few cans of yellowish piss looking drink can suddenly give you an energy boost myself, but since many people swear by it, what can I say? Their slogan is "Red Bull give you wings!" which basically means that you can fly like an angel after drinking Red Bull. Their logo is two red bulls locking their horns at each other, which is appropriate since that is exactly what happens after you drink Red Bull. An interesting fact is that this drink was based on a Thai energy drink called "Krating Daeng". Another interesting fact is that the energy boost which many claim to have, is most likely due to caffeine in the drink. It is not some sort of magical potion conquered up by some witch in some cave somewhere.

Red Bull

A large Pizza restaurant chain in the United States. We all know that Americans love Pizza and can't get enough of it. Heck, some even live entirely on Pizza for lunch, dinner and leftovers for breakfast. And they are just a phone call away. Kind of scary if you think about it. How lazy can we get? And the difference with Pizza Hut and other competitors? Well, other than a rather ridiculous brand name, Papa John's claim that they use fresher ingredients and dough and hence will produce a better pizza. Currently, they have over 3,500 restaurants serving in 29 countries. Other than regular and specialty pizzas, their side-dishes include chickenstrips, wings, breadstrips, apple pie, cinnamon pie as well as drinks and desserts. Very typical American style Pizza menu though. Anyway, if they are to provide authentic Italian Pizza, most probably they won't be so popular.

Papa John's Pizza

One of the most well-known brands throughout the world. Even the kids would know about this brand. It is Nestle, based in Switzerland, although their name is French. Maybe the French invaded Switzerland during the Second World War and never left? I don't know, but we allowed them into our kitchens and allowed out kids to drink their milk. Seriously, they are a global foods company and their product line includes beverages, infant formulas, cereals, frozen and prepackaged foods, confectionery, ice-cream, bottled water and many more. If you can't find an item in your kitchen with their brand name on it, then you are living in Mars. They operate in over 87 countries and employ about 280 thousand staff. Most of their products are not produced in Switzerland itself but are made locally. Makes good economical sense.

Nestle

Jimmy John's is a teenage college students' first love. Their gourmet sandwiches can be found in almost every college and universities in the United States. But I don't get it - why gourmet sandwiches. I would expect a distillery or a brewery to be located next to universities, but certainly not sandwich shops. Perhaps it is because sandwiches are comfort food or because they are quick and easy to consume on the go. Whatever it is, Jimmy John's has one of the widest selection of sandwiches known to man - just check out their menu - Pepe, Big John, Totally Tuna, Turkey Tom, Vito, Vegetarian, Billy Club, Hunter's Club, Country Club, Beach Club and the famous J.J.B.L.T. If you like sandwiches and subs, this is the place to be. Their slogan is "Your Mom wants you to eat at Jimmy John's". Whatever that means.

Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich

Ben & Jerry's Home Made Ice-Cream is one of the world's most loved ice-cream. Their ice-cream is available worldwide and are made from the freshest ingredients to make the perfect ice-cream. From the milk used to the fruits and the flavours, you don't have to worry about the quality of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Their flavours include Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Chip, Cookie Dough, Chunky Monkey, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Half Baked, New York Super Fudge Chunk and much more. You can check out their gift shop at their website if you are their fan.

Ben & Jerry's

Baskin Robbins has been in the ice-cream market for over 60 years. Now, they are famous worldwide for their ice-cream snacks and treats for both the young and the old. They have over 5,600 stores in 40 countries making them one of the largest ice-cream chain. Their ice-cream flavours include chocolate chip dough, golden medal robbin, jamoca almond fudge, oreo cookies n' cream, pralines 'n cream, reeses® peanut butter cup, very berry strawberry and so on. They also have sundaes, cakes, beverages and other snacks like sweets and puddings.

Baskin Robbins

Cold Stone Creamery offers the customers the best of ice-cream with the freshest of ingredients. Their signature process includes the use of a frozen granite stone to prepare their wonderful creations. What they do is to mix fruits, nuts or candy into their ice-cream on this stone to produce a "creation". They have the finest ice-creams, smoothies, shakes, drinks and cakes for all tastes. They also have the "grab n go" ice cream tubs for those looking for a speedier solution. They have over 1,350 stores in the US.

Cold Stone Creamery

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream produces fine ice cream. They have different "series" of ice cream, like the Grand Ice Cream, Slow Churned, Loaded Ice Cream, Dibs, Fruit Bars and Sherbert. Their Grand Ice Cream flavours include Almond Praline, French Vanilla, Mocha Almond Fudge, Spumoni, Toffee Bar Crunch, Real Strawberry and many others. Their Slow Churned Ice-Cream is a light flavoured, no sugar added ice-cream and comes with yogurt blended flavours too. On the opposite spectrum, you can try their Loaded Ice Cream with more of everything!

Dreyer's

The first Giant Food store was opened in 1936 and it has grown leap and bounds through the years. They offer their customers good prices, wide variety as well as an engaging shopping experience. They have started to remodel their stores to provide larger produce areas, salad bars, gourmet meat departments, expanded deli. Furthermore, they are offering more organic and natural produce. Giant shops usually come with a pharmacy for your convenience. You can also shop online (with home delivery or quick pickup) at their website.

Giant Food, LLC

Poultry. This is it. The ultimate site for poultry lovers out there. Tyson Foods is famous for their chicken produce. They have a beef and pork line as well. If I am not wrong, they are one of the largest food production companies in the world, with sales amounting to like billions of dollars. This is their corporate website where you can find more information about their products, their corporate profile and happenings. Not really that exciting actually.

Tyson

Yes, it is big business. Why? Because everyone loves a good sweet confectionery right? And I am pretty sure that the revenue for confectionery worldwide probably hit US billions per year. This site helps seek out news, resources, data and happenings in the food and beverage industry by industry experts. You won't be overwhelmed with too much information, just the important ones. It works as a online news service and is available free of charge.

Confectionery News

Ahhh...whisky (or whiskey). Whisky is indeed one of the finer things in life. Sit back and enjoy a glass of the best scotch whisky and everything will be fine once again. The Macallan claim to be one of the largest and most popular distillers of single malt whisky in the world. If you have no idea what single malt here means, well you are not a real gentleman. Single malt simply means that the whisky is made from only malted barley from a single distillery without any mixes and only in Scotland. Yes, those skirt wearing hairy barbarians in Braveheart have the monopoly in whisky. You can visit their website to see the process in which The Macallan is made - from the ingredients, to the fermentation, to the distillation, to the aging process and finally the end end product. They also claim that their whisky are the "finest cut" and they take only the top 16% for maturation. And all their whisky are aged sometimes for 50 years or more. I don't know - 50 years is just too long for me to wait.

The Macallan

Yup, they are the manufacturers of the scary soup which some of us really hate when we were young. Our mothers would open a can of campbell's soup and pour the disgusting stuff into the pot and then you will be forced to drink the poison. Sure there are people who loved Campbell's soup and nowadays they do have a good number of variety. I even enjoy their soup once in a while. But when I was young, it was like everyday there was Campbell's soup. Sure it was convenient, nothing much skill is required. But come on, everyday? Anyway, Campbell's has a huge variety of soups available now - Chunky, Fun Favourites, Select Harvest, Oriental, Healthy Request and so on. Hey, definitely much better than before. And very good (and hearty) for a quick meal on a cold evening.

Campbell's Soup