Tien NguyenTwitter turned six years old this past Wednesday, which means six years of communicating via intermittent bursts of 140-character sound bytes and six years of convincing ourselves that even the most mundane of thoughts are worthy of a megaphone. According to the official Twitter blog, there are now 140 million active users tweeting 340 million tweets a day; these users include, of course, chefs, bloggers and other folks in and out of the restaurant industry who, thankfully, often use their precious 140 to tweet hilarity. Over the last few years, we've made a regular habit of posting some of the food-related tweets that catch our eye. Here are ten of our favorites.
Credit: Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page
10. Alton Brown explains his attire. As Alton Brown explained to the audience at Google's headquarters late last year, “I like bow ties because you don't get tangled up in them. I'm a man of action. Action man.” Just like Doctor Who.
Credit: Screenshot of Conan O'Brien's Twitter page
9. Conan O'Brien laments Applebee's untimely alcohol policy. Last year, a handful of Applebee's restaurants inadvertently served alcohol instead of juice to a few toddlers. The joke almost writes itself, but we particularly liked the writing we saw on Conan's Twitter wall.
Credit: Screenshot of Eddie Lin's Twitter page
8. Eddie Lin clarifies. For your reference, haggis is a Scottish delicacy, made with sheep offal and suet. Paul Haggis took on the allegedly awful Church of Scientology and lived to tell about it. Haggis!
Credit: Screenshot of Sam Sifton's Twitter page
7. Sam Sifton pages Thor. There are many food words we do not like. “Foodie” is at the top of that list.
“This is how I start my day.”; Credit: Screenshot from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Twitter page
6. Then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's breakfast of champions. Way back in October 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger's happy meal caught our attention. And, as it turned out, he needed all the smiley faces he could get: After his breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, he had a few rather serious issues to tackle, including the state's water crisis and a significant prison overcrowding problem.
Credit: Screenshot of Lou Amdur's Twitter page
5. Lou Amdur's search for a grain mill. Along with Ruth Bourdain, Lou Amdur may be one of our all-time favorite people we're following on Twitter. He may have sold his wine bar, but, we hope, will keep his Twitter account open.
Credit: Screenshot of Paula Deen's Twitter page
4. Paula Deen and her dog Otis are freezing in Savannah, y'all. Paula Deen's Twitter feed generally is full of self-promotional links to her recipes and cookware, but every once in a while, she uses those 140 characters to show a more personal side of herself. Like the day it was freezing in Savannah, y'all. We're not sure which image here is the most amusing — a fireplace in a bathroom, a dog in sweater, a dog in a sweater sitting in front of a fireplace in a bathroom — but all together, this was one of our favorite messages in a tweet.
Credit: Screenshot from Patton Oswalt's Twitter page
3. Patton Oswalt explains our love for Downton Abbey. Patton Oswalt's live tweet-by-tweet analysis of the drama and the food of Downton Abbey was just as entertaining as the show itself. We're hoping he'll live tweet the horror that is Miss Havisham's rotten wedding cake, among other Dickensian tragedies, during PBS's presentation of Great Expectations next month.
Credit: Screenshot of Ruth Bourdain's Twitter page
2. Ruth Bourdain riffs Ruth Reichl. From the moment s/he began to tweet pastiche as an ingenious mashup of Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Bourdain became one of our favorite Twitterers. There are many, many Ruth Bourdain gems; lest those tweets dominate this entire list, we chose just one of our favorites where Ruth Bourdain was particularly inspired by Ruth Reichl.
Credit: Screenshot of Mindy Kaling's Twitter page
1. Mindy Kaling verbs “Jonathan Gold.” Finally, the proper noun is a proper verb.
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