Twenty-three sake masters held a tasting event at U.N. headquarters Friday, giving diplomats and their staff a chance to sample various kinds the Japanese liquor often called rice wine. While sampling sakes made by 48 breweries across Japan, some hailed the “sophistication and craftsmanship” used to create the intriguing tastes.

A KFC franchise sits on Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, the site of nearly three years of demonstrations that have helped unseat two Egyptian presidents. But in a country rife with conspiracy theories, the Colonel hasn't been able to keep away from controversy during the constant protests. In early 2011, as demonstrators called for then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, rumors trying to paint them as Western puppets said they were being compensated for their fervor with KFC meals. The Los Angeles Times has the lowdown.

The Israeli blogosphere’s obsessive preoccupation with food is making veteran culinary writers reel. The Internet has become a flesh-eating plant that devours recipes in an insatiable frenzy. When you Google the word “recipe” in Hebrew − you get close to three million hits.

Bernard Vaussion, the retiring head chef who has cooked for French presidents for nearly 40 years, this week revealed the dietary secrets of the leaders at the top. According to Vaussion, Jacques Chirac savoured snails and sauerkraut, Francois Mitterrand had a taste for seafood, Nicholas Sarkozy took cheese off the menu and current president Francois Hollande likes “everything.”

The last six months have seen Iraq become Syria-lite. Jihadists move across the porous Iraq-Syrian border with impunity, fueling the sectarian violence. Al-Jazeera reported that Iraq has suffered more than 5,000 deaths this year alone. The Kurdish north, long considered the success story of Iraq, has not been spared. On September 29, a coordinated attack of car bombs and gunfire hit Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region.

Denmark was named the world's happiest country in the 2013 World Happiness Report, and Noma, the 45-seat restaurant in the capital city of Copenhagen, was crowned number one on the annual "World's 50 Best Restaurants" list in 2010, 2011 and 2012. But, the Danish people will be hesitant to tell you of such achievements given their Law of Jante, a Scandinavian mentality that essentially promotes the principle that one person is no better than anyone else.

Every year, the trade magazine Drinks International puts out a list of the top-selling alcohols in the world, and in the category of spirits, there is one brand that more than doubles the sales of its closest competitor every year. Smirnoff, Jack Daniel's and Bacardi don't even come close. That top-seller is South Korea's Jinro soju, a clear spirit traditionally made of rice. It's about 20-percent alcohol and has a light, slightly sweet taste.

CNN food and travel host Anthony Bourdain's excellent hour-long special on Israel-Palestine, in he which he explores both sides of the green line, begins with a line that could not ring truer for me. "It's easily the most contentious piece of real estate in the world. And there's no hope – none – of ever talking about it without pissing somebody, if not everybody, off," he says of Israel-Palestine and particularly Jerusalem.