Eating Humble Pie: A cough-syrup-in-the-gravy scandal? Furor over a switch from soft Wigan pies to a crustier kind from another British town? Just another year in the annual world meat-pie-eating contest in England. (The winner ate an entire pie in 35.86 seconds. Probably much bigger than the ones in this picture.)

Will There Be a Domino's Classic? The pizza chain is changing its recipe for sauce and dough, and will change up its cheeses so that it can keep up with changing American tastes. The new pizzas will be in all stores by Dec. 27.

Face Time: Food Network's top "foodgasm" shots of the year. 'Nuff said.

Bark If You Love Beer: A dog collar that opens beer bottles. C'mere, boy!

Want Wi-Fi With That Big Mac? McDonald's plans to offer free Wi-Fi at 11,000 locations as part of its bid to turn into a place to hang out.

Feels Like a Brown-Bag Day, Kids: In its continuing probe of school cafeterias, USA Today reports that 26,500 of them haven't had their required health inspections. It's never a good sign when "norovirus" replaces tater tots as the side of the day.

Sounds Fishy: If you're someone who takes fish-oil supplements, consider where it comes from ... and how a single company has control over 90 percent of a vital, but little-known fish called the menhaden, according to this New York Times opinion piece.

Drinking and Dying in the Line of Duty: A Chinese police officer drinks himself to death at a government function. What does the Chinese government do? It declares him a martyr who died in the line of duty.

Of course serious, useful food gifts have a place on everyone's shopping list. (Here at Epicurious we have a great guide to Edible Gifts, for example.) But there's always room for a silly gift or three as well.

So, in no particular order, 12 random silly food-related gifts:

Inflatable fruitcake

Mustard Marvin spread head

Fast food eraser set

Bagel keychain

Chile pepper or popcorn tie

"Raw bacon" magnets

Eggnog gumballs (nonalcoholic)

Pizza earrings

Bar code "Groceries" bag

Make-your-own-candy set - gummies, chewing gum, or chocolate

ABC (already been chewed) gingerbread men cookie cutters (they are missing body parts)

Food face dinner plate

Do you have any favorite silly food gift ideas to share? Post your suggestions below!

Funky Rhode Island-based kitchen-gadget manufacturer Fred and Friends is finding that one of its designs is, ahem, running aground with some people.

The problem is that its Gin & Titonic ice-cube tray ($6.99) is a spoof of the 1912 Titanic disaster. You know, the one where 1,522 people died.

"Sink one in your drink," the company's Web site reads. "Ice ahoy!! You get 4 ocean liners and 4 icebergs ... just add gin, Leo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet for a perfect party."

In Germany, holiday grocery shopping turned into a police incident when a 74-year-old man, a 34-year-old woman, vying for the same cart, sparked a battle with salamis as truncheons and wedges of hard cheese as daggers.

The incident left the woman's 53-year-old mother's head cracked on a glass case, the 74-year-old with a punch to the face, and the woman's 24-year-old brother having been bludgeoned with a sausage. Two of them had to go to the hospital, but it wasn't clear if there would be any charges.

According to the cops, so many Christmas shoppers had snapped up carts that tensions were high among those looking to refill their larder.

But is it really that surprising a story?

Like brussels sprouts, perhaps, coconut is one of those foods that food-lovers seem to fight about. Some people adore coconut: It's got a light, flaky texture and creamy flavor that are completely unique. But a surprising number of people don't (full disclosure: including yours truly), and all the delicate, delectable coconut cakes, coconut macaroons, and coconut cream pies in the world won't change their minds.

But maybe this will: The BBC news wire this morning featured this story (with hilarious video accompaniment) demonstrating the unusual use to which octopuses (octopi?) are able to put coconuts, even if the human coconut-haters among us don't see the appeal. I for one could watch this about twenty times and never get bored. Even if there is coconut in it.

Fighting for Brown Moo Juice: The dairy industry has formed the Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk campaign as a bulwark against the growing movement to strike chocolate milk off school menus. Those who want chocolate milk banned from school say it's a sugary drink that encourages unhealthy food choices. The dairy industry says that when you take chocolate milk away, kids stop drinking milk altogether and simply choose even less healthy beverages instead.

Man Killed by Exploding Gum: A Ukrainian chemistry student blew his own jaw off when he chewed gum that had been dipped in explosive liquid. The 25-year-old, who died, had a bizarre habit of soaking his gum in citric acid before putting it in his mouth, and may have mixed up his solutions.

We all have friends and family members who are seemingly impossible to shop for, especially during the holiday season. They either have everything or want nothing. What's a gift-giver to do? Some might shrug and say, "I give up!" But if you happen to have any friends who love yoga and cookies, then I have just the perfect gift suggestion.

A friend introduced me to the amazing world of Gingerbread Yoga People If you ask me, it's pure genius. What yogi or yogini with good taste and a sense of humor wouldn't love these adorable cookies? Actually, what non-yogi wouldn't love these?

For the record I did send it to about 20 people (12 of which do yoga about four times a week) just to make sure that I wasn't the only one who found the cookies appealing. An amazing 19 out of 20 were just as thrilled as me (the 20th email just bounced back).

In a recent study conducted by Dr. Thomas Gould of Temple University and just reported in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, mice who were fed alcohol followed by caffeine did not really sober up but rather continued to make poor choices such as walking into parts of the maze that had loud noise or bright lights: Gould found that "alcohol calmed the caffeine jitters, leaving an animal more relaxed but less able to avoid threats--a combination that the authors speculated could make people more likely to believe they are not drunk or not impaired enough to have problems functioning." Dr. Gould theorizes that "people who have consumed both alcohol and caffeine may feel awake and competent enough to handle potentially harmful situations, such as driving while intoxicated or placing themselves in dangerous social situations.”

Do you have any proven remedies for sobering up? Cold showers? A mouthful of garlic?

Guess what's been brewing on the International Space Station for five months? While orbiting the earth at 17,000 miles per hour, scientists grew barley from seeds. Sapporo then brewed the galactic barley, transforming it into 1,500 Space Barley beers. Does the $20 bottling taste out of this world? BBC News reports that drinkers would never guess the origin of this specious beer. No word yet on when we can expect our first celestial sparkling wine.