Pot Dealers, Antebellum Chefs, and the Other Edible News You Missed This Week

It's Friday, and we're feeling good: not only does winter seem likely to soon loosen its death grip on the continental United States, but we'll also get an hour of evening sunlight back this weekend when we adjust our clocks for Daylight Saving Time. Could it be that we've really, truly survived yet another SAD-inducing season?

Let's hope so. But just in case you need to keep using your light therapy box a little longer, here are some great MUNCHIES articles and videos to check out while you sit in front of it.

Per usual, our esteemed video hosts took us around the world this week to eat and drink to abandon. In the latest episode of Keep It Canada, Matty Matheson brought us to the Quebec countryside to fish for trout, skeet-shoot, and check out some apiaries. Steel yourself: In Berlin, we chowed down on some insects at Sauvage, the city's first Paleo restaurant. In Istanbul, we met up with pot dealer Emir Ali Enç, whose handmade copper and silver vessels would be perfect for cooking up some chicken pot-cciatore. The latest episode of Chef's Night Out was a late-night romp through LA with Alisa Reynolds, chef at the Mid-City soul food spot My Two Cents. And in today's episode of Al-Kee-Hol, we got closer to the gods in the best way we know how: by boozing, an activity fully endorsed by the Kyoto priests we sipped sake with.

MUNCHIES Editor-in-Chief dug deep into the edible history of the antebellum south with Michael Twitty, a culinary historian whose "Southern Discomfort" tour educates diners about the slave kitchen origins of treasured American classics such as hoecakes and BBQ pork. We took a detour to India, learning why its cuisine is so fucking delicious and why its president recently banned the slaughter, sale, and consumption of cows. We ate spit-roasted guinea pigs in Ecuador (sorry, Fluffernutter) and, in the same country, stopped by capital city Quito's surprising—and surprisingly popular—Korean soap opera-themed restaurant Gran K.

But our worldly peregrinations didn't stop there. We forged on, to Tokyo, where chefs participating in the "Big Tits Ramen Festival" are serving up bowls of noodles topped with two round lumps of pork, or two eggs, to simulate every lonely gamer's dream of a real female body, but … in a dish of soup. We uncovered international Gouda fraud and smuggled Ukrainian meat.

But enough about our wanderings: It's the weekend, and that means it's time to chow down and drink up. Why not take a trip down the Atlantic City boardwalk and eat some dank sub sandwiches at Tony Boloney's, an inventive spot that's surviving the gambling town's decline? If you're imbibing this weekend, take heart in the fact that scientists say you're at your most attractive when you've had one drink (though that won't help you much if you decide to really live it up this weekend). Be thankful that you're not drinking 200-year-old, shipwrecked beer, like these professional tasters did, and, when you're good and pickled, remember that any good bar will ensure that your bartender is just as drunk as you are. Bottoms up, and happy weekend, y'all.