Over four months have passed since Vladimir Putin decided to launch his imperialistic invasion of Ukraine, and the conflict doesn’t appear to be coming to an end anytime soon. Nor does Putin’s Botox supply, although it must be noted that there are some truly wild conspiracy theories out there about how the Russian president could have recently used a body double in Iran (and it looks like he simply laid off the Botox a bit, the better to awkwardly fidget). Yet rumors persist that Putin’s health is ailing, so it stands to reason (even if he wasn’t a global semi-pariah) that people would be talking about successors.
Actually, that talk’s been going on since Putin launched his dismal war in Ukraine. His inner circle reportedly grew concerned and started maneuvering about how to install a successor with the reported understanding “that in the fairly foreseeable future he will not run the country.” Now, intelligence leaders are starting to really name names, and that includes word by ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, who appeared on the One Decision podcast to do just that. Via Business Insider:
Sir Richard Dearlove, who served as head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, asserted this week that the most likely heir candidate is Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a longtime Putin ally known to be one of exceedingly few officials to have the president’s trust.
“I’m almost certain it would Patrushev,” Dearlove said on a Thursday episode of the podcast “One Decision,” which he co-hosts, during a discussion about the ongoing impacts of Putin’s war in Ukraine, more than five months after Russian forces invaded.
It’s worth noting that Putin’s inner circle hasn’t articulated as much. In fact, they’re outwardly saying that Putin’s health is great, and maybe they’ll even trot him out on horseback one of these days to prove that he’s still got it. What “it” might be, only time will tell.
LeBron James made his first appearance on a basketball court since April when he suited up and played in a Drew League game earlier this month. James teamed up with DeMar DeRozan, a fixture in the annual Los Angeles-based pro-am league, to put on a show in a packed gym at King/Drew Magnet High School in his first Drew League appearance in more than a decade.
The game generated a ton of interest from basketball fans, and in the aftermath, DeRozan appeared on Draymond Green’s podcast to discuss what happened. DeRozan told Green that James got in touch a week before about potentially playing in a game. The news of James heading to the Drew hit the internet the day before things tipped off, and DeRozan recalled showing up to the gym and being greeted by thousands of fans.
“Just to see the kids out there being able to see @KingJames come play in Compton, you cannot beat that”
“It was one of those moments that you can’t duplicate,” DeRozan said. “Like, I remember when Kob came and played at the Drew, that was one of the most epic moments, how he did that. But there wasn’t even supposed to be a game played that day. So, this time around, with Bron coming, it was a game that was supposed to be played. I’d been playing in it, and to wake up that morning and see the line around the Drew League stretch around the corner, it just took it back to that old school, early-2000s feel.”
DeRozan went on to talk about how special it was for children to see James play basketball in that building, which helped make the environment “special.”
“[There were] a couple moments where I just looked around, you see kids, just … the smile and the excitement on their face, like, that’s something that they’re gonna remember forever,” DeRozan said. “And that’s what it’s all about.”
Even before they landed the lead roles on Issa Rae’s new HBO Max series, Aida Osman and KaMillion have been living and breathing this rap sh*t. The new show, appropriately titled Rap Sh!t, tells the story of two estranged high school friends – the poetic, lyric-focused Shawna Clark (Osman) and the confident, sexually liberated Mia Knight (KaMillion) – reuniting to form a rap duo. While this is both actors’ first times starring in a lead role, their TV counterparts are entities the two have been manifesting for years.
Before Rap Sh!t, KaMillion had been putting out independent mixtapes and singles for eight years. Osman had worked as a writer and producer on shows like Big Mouth and Betty, and was initially hired to be a writer for Rap Sh!t. With Rap Sh!t, the two are at the forefront of their own sharp pen game after years of putting in work behind the scenes.
“It’s so complicated and scary and weird to actualize,” Osman says of being a lead on television. “Every time I see the photo of me and Milly in the car that they’re using for the Rap Sh!t art, I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s somebody else. That’s not me and her’ But like, that is me and her. That’s me and my friend. When I drive by the billboard now, it’s so weird to see that that’s us. It’s surreal.”
Alicia Vera/HBO Max
Aida Osman plays the lyric-focused Shawna Clark. She is also a writer on the show.
Osman’s affinity for hip-hop began as a secret love affair. Having grown up in a Muslim household in Lincoln, Nebraska, she was not allowed to watch TV or listen to hip-hop, which the TV writer and actress on a hip-hop-centered show admits is “crazy… because look at me now.” As a teenager, she would often take her computer and sit in her room, watching Nicki Minaj videos in secret. She played drums and performed in her school’s choir throughout high school, and by college, she was quietly writing her own rhymes and exploring beatmaking.
Today, Osman’s mother is more than supportive of her work, even if she doesn’t quite get it.
“[My mom] hates Big Mouth so much,” Osman says. “She’s always like, ‘What is this? They’re ugly.’ She thinks it’s all ugly, and she thinks the concept is so stupid. But she always pauses at the credits like, ‘That’s my baby.’ And I’m like, ‘Which is it? Which is it?’ I don’t even know if my mom understands the concept of Rap Sh!t, but we’ll see.”
KaMillion, on the other hand, has always been immersed in the world of hip-hop, having grown up in Jacksonville, Florida, and hearing music constantly playing outside. “I started writing poetry at first,” says KaMillion, “just looking at the community that I was raised in, and everything I was going through. Everything started out as poetry, and then I just put a beat to it. When I felt like I could do it, I started rapping and getting with different producers. Hip-hop has just always been in me just because of how I was raised in the neighborhoods where I came from.”
When we first meet Osman’s Shawna on the show, she is working the front desk at a Miami hotel. She is recognized for one of her viral freestyles, however, it is revealed that she now wears a mask when she records her rap videos, that way people can focus on her lyrics instead of her appearance. She is critical of the hypersexual nature of women rappers and is fed up with being slept on and wants very badly for industry professionals to take her seriously.
KaMillion’s Mia, on the other hand, strives to be a woman’s fantasy in regards to sexual liberation – a la Lil Kim in the ’90s. As an aspiring rapper single mother, a make-up artist, and an OnlyFans model, Mia wears many hats throughout the series.
Sex work is a big component of the Rap Sh!t universe. In the first episode, we see Mia live streaming on OnlyFans, taking requests and tips from men. In real life, KaMillion briefly dipped her toes in the OnlyFans waters during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, though not for what she considers sex work, but rather to share intimate pictures that wouldn’t make it past the Instagram censors. “We’ve all done odd jobs to come up,” KaMillion says. “I danced briefly to make ends meet, so I understood that aspect when it came to my character, because I’ve experienced it.”
While she became well-versed on the platform of her own accord, bringing the OnlyFans action to the screen was an entirely new challenge for KaMillion.
Alicia Vera/HBO Max
KaMillion plays the ambitious, sexually-liberated Mia Knight.
“When you’re recording kinky little videos on your phone, no one’s in there watching you,” KaMillion says, “but now, you’ve got to perform in front of the camera guy and the director. Like they’re up in your coochie, and I’m like ‘Did I shave good enough?’ ‘How’s every angle looking?’”
Although Shawna hasn’t done any sex work in the series, Osman, similarly to KaMillion, said one of her most challenging scenes to shoot was a virtual sex scene in the first episode, in which she is having FaceTime sex with her long-distance boyfriend, Cliff (Devon Terrell).
“There will be a closed set for things like this, so it’s just you, the cameraman, the producer, the main writer, and the showrunner,” Osman says. “But every time that we film a scene, we do a practice round before, where the necessary crew comes in and maps out what the scene is going to look like. So to lay in a bed while Issa Rae is just watching me masturbate is the goofiest thing. I felt funny and stupid, and I couldn’t take that scene seriously. I kept cackling mid-orgasm.”
Throughout the series, the promising rappers navigate the treacherous music industry as their single, “Seduce And Scheme,” continues to go viral. They face challenges like handling personal relationships as artists, remaining couth at industry functions, and the pressures of viral fame. All the while, the two channel the spirit of women in rap to help them get through the titular rap sh*t, both on-and-off screen.
Viewers with a keen ear will catch the characters referencing iconic quotes by female rappers in casual conversation. In the second episode, when Mia and Shawna are brainstorming ideas for songs, Mia says she wants to make “something fun, something for the summertime, something for the girls to get ready and party to,” referring to Saweetie’s 2019 interview for Amazon Music’s Rap Rotation. In a later episode, where the ladies head to New York City, Mia recreates Nicki Minaj’s 2017 viral “you b*tches can’t even spell Prague” video, recording a clip in front of a black Cadillac Escalade, saying, “Attention, this is how a bad b*tch leaves Miami and arrives in Queens. You b*tches can’t even spell Queens.”
Like the hidden Drake-lyrics in the dialogue of the first season of Rae’s breakout series, Insecure, and the Frank Ocean-lyrics in the second, this was something the writers did on purpose.
“It’s definitely about paying homage, and we love that,” Osman says. “It always feels amazing to catch a little easter egg like that. So with our show, it only made sense for the writers to be like, ‘Let’s put in our favorite moments from Black women in rap.’”
As Mia and Shawna become stars on Rap Sh!t, both Osman and KaMillion are becoming stars in real life, alongside their breakout characters. According to Osman, Rae first commissioned her to write “a month’s worth of television” when she was hired onto the show’s staff. She was comfortable working as a writer “for the rest of [her] life,” and even assumed that someone else had landed the role of Shawna before she was asked to do a chemistry read with KaMillion.
KaMillion had been working toward her breakthrough moment in music for nearly a decade, and now, with Rap Sh!t, she feels like the stars are all aligning.
“I think it’s a blessing for me to be able to make a living in hip-hop,” KaMillion says. “And, ultimately, to be on a show like this – that I feel is about to be culture.”
Bad Bunny has rapidly risen from relative obscurity to become one of the biggest artists in the world, accumulating multiple No. 1s, selling millions of records, and making history in the short amount of time he’s been in the spotlight. His latest impressive accomplishment comes courtesy of Billboard, which reports that BB’s new album Un Verano Sin Ti has become the most popular album of 2022 — even surpassing the inescapable Encanto soundtrack.
Un Verano Sin Ti, which was also the second all-Spanish-language album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (the first being its immediate predecessor, El Último Tour del Mundo, in 2020), has earned 1.606 million equivalent album units in the US. Encanto, which featured the immensely popular “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” had 1.565 million units. For those who don’t know, equivalent album units are a combination of straight album sales, 10 individual tracks sold from an album (track equivalent units), or 1,250 streams via a subscription — or 3,750 ad-supported streams (streaming equivalent units). While Billboard’s data doesn’t break down how BB reached his impressive 1.6 million EAUs, previous reports noted his totals were being driven mostly by streams, which kept the album at No. 1 for five consecutive weeks, then reclaimed its spot earlier this month, breaking a record previously set by Adele in the process.
Jon Stewart has been relentlessly championing the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act that would provide necessary care to veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their service. The comedian even dedicated an episode of his Apple TV series to the issue in addition to making several trips to Capitol Hill to urge Congress to keep its promise to veterans.
To Stewart’s horror, the bill died in the senate on Wednesday thanks to Senator Pat Toomey urging his fellow Republicans to vote against it. Once the bill’s fate became clear, the former Daily Show host unloaded on Toomey and the Republican caucus in a fiery and profane Twitter thread:
Congratulations @SenToomey You successfully used the Byzantine Senate rules to keep sick veterans suffering!!!! Kudos! I’m sure you’ll celebrate by kicking a dog or punching a baby…or whatever terrible people do for fun!!!!! 6 trillion for war- No guidelines or oversight…but for Veterans Healthcare?? Let’s play budget gimmick games. We live in the upside down. For the veterans, and their families and caregivers who will bear the brunt of this nonsense… this isn’t over… we will never stop the fight until this country honors its promise to you.
PS F*ck the R caucus and their empty promise to our veterans.
6 trillion for war- No guidelines or oversight…but for Veterans Healthcare?? Let’s play budget gimmick games. We live in the upside down.
Stewart continued to blast Toomey in a series of follow-up tweets where he wrote, “I call bullsh*t,” above a video of Toomey attacking the “budget gimmick.” Stewart also demanded that the senate not leave for summer recess until it does right by the veterans.
Beyonce‘s forthcoming album Renaissance is one of the most highly anticipated records of this year, that’s for sure. With the release of the massive single “Break My Soul” and the unveiling of the instantly iconic album art, this LP is no casual affair, especially since its her first brand new full-length since 2016’s classic Lemonade.
It’s so highly anticipated, actually, that it’s been leaked. This has led to an outpour of mixed responses; some fans are excited and grateful to have access to it, while others are upset and sad for the singer whose music is out before she wants it to be. Either way, Beyonce seems to be just flat out happy to be releasing the record, because today the “Love On Top” performer shared a thoughtful statement on her website about the record, which arrives officially tomorrow.
“This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.
Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.
I want to give a special thank you to Rumi, Sir, and Blue for allowing me the space, creativity, and inspiration. And a special thanks to my beautiful husband and muse, who held me down during those late nights in the studio. A big thank you to my uncle Johnny. He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album. Thank you to all of the pioneers who originate culture, to all of the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long. This is a celebration for you. Thank you to my Parkwood crew, my slab, Dream, and all of the talented producers involved. Mama, I luhhhh you. To my father, my O.G., my first teacher: You inspire me in every move that I make. I love you.
To all of my fans: I hope you find joy in this music. I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. Ha! And to feel as unique, strong, and sexy as you are.
Earlier this year, audiences were shocked to experience a Jim Halpert jumpscare in theaters when John Krasinski appeared in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madnessas the elastic superhero Mr. Fantastic. Despite his relatively small cameo, Krasinski still helped save the world (kind of) and proved that he could actually play a superhero, which is quite different from his most iconic role of lonely paper salesman Jim Halpert.
The former Office star stopped by to chat with Jimmy Fallon about his various new projects, and of course, Fallon brought up his most iconic character to spark one of the internet’s hottest debates: Is Jim Halpert Really The Villain?
“The internet is always right,” Krasinski joked as Fallon brought up an old article pointing out how Jim was sometimes manipulative. Fallon said there was “no way” Jim was the bad guy, to which Krasinski admitted, “Well they’re on to me because I played [Jim] as a supervillain,” the actor jokingly recalled. “That’s why I did Fantastic Four to balance it out — I had already done the villain.”
While Krasinski couldn’t give away any info about the just-announcedFantastic Four movie (or even confirm that he is in it at all), he did hype up his upcoming movie If, which will star Ryan Reynolds and his old Office co-star Steve Carell. “I should have started with ‘This is The Office reunion movie,’” Krasinski joked to the delight of the audience who just want to see Jim and Michael together on screen again. The fans need a Threat Level Midnightsequel!
Mayo is, for some reason, a very divisive food item. The people who don’t like it really don’t like it and they’re not afraid to be loud about it. They’ll swear it ruins a sandwich, makes them gag, or respond in some other hysterical manner over a condiment that is simply meant to enhance the flavor and texture of a given dish. And while we get that certain people can’t get over the mouthfeel, it’s worth noting that mayo is egg, oil, and vinegar blended together — pretty mundane, at its core.
And yet… the controversy endures. When my editor asked me to blind taste test mayos he wrote in Slack, “I love mayo, ya’ll are weird.” Unprompted, mind you. Who was the “ya’ll” in this conversation? Someone’s hate of mayo hurt this man so deeply that he lashed out in passionate defense of the condiment [spoiler: It was Drew Magary]. Anyway, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the assignment. So I collected all the mayos I could find — in stores and online — and tasted them blind on French fries.
Methodology
So do I personally like mayo? Yeah. It’s an essential ingredient in a lot of sauces and it adds fat and flavor anywhere you need fat and flavor. My most controversial mayo take is that I don’t think it’s the best sauce for a fried chicken sandwich because I almost always think mayo tastes better when it has something else mixed in it. But it’s also best when you (or a chef) are the one doing the mixing (rather than the mayo brand itself) — so I’ve excluded all spicy mayos from this blind taste test.
Here’s our lineup:
Acid League Maker’s Mayo Tangy
Best Food’s (Hellman’s) Real Mayonnaise
Best Food’s (Hellman’s) Organic Mayonnaise
Chosen Foods Avocado-Based Classic Mayo
Duke’s Real Mayonnaise
Kraft Light Mayo
Kewpie Mayo
Kroger Real Mayo
McCormick Mayonnaise with Lime
MNMLST Mayo
Miracle Whip
Plant Perfect Vegan Mayo
Primal Kitchen Mayo
Simple Truth Organic Mayonnaise
Sir Kensington’s Mayonnaise
Spectrum Culinary Organic Mayonnaise
Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise
Trader Joe’s Vegan Mayo Spread & Dressing
Truff Mayonnaise
Whole Foods 365 Organic Mayonnaise
Let’s dip!
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1:
Dane Rivera
Sharply tangy on the nose, almost unpleasantly so. This sauce is very light, it’s missing some of the more hearty and sumptuous qualities of mayo.
From my notes: “comes across as very sweet with a loudly present lemon tinge.”
Taste 2:
Dane Rivera
Very fragrant, I don’t normally describe the smell of lemon, eggs, and oil as pleasant, but this smells very good and mouthwatering. The consistency is very wet, it doesn’t look well incorporated but the flavor is great. It’s earthy and round, with a very pleasant buttery mouthfeel.
From my notes: “It has a luxurious and fatty texture and rich flavor.”
Taste 3:
Dane Rivera
Almost flavorless. With a whipped, airy consistency. It almost doesn’t come across as mayo at all, it’s more mouthfeel than anything. I’m guessing this is one of the vegan brands.
Taste 4:
Dane Rivera
Very eggy with an unctuous mouthfeel. It has a sort of dirty flatness to it and almost no tang.
Taste 5:
Dane Rivera
Awful. It’s intensely sweet to the point of being wince-inducing. This is a budget brand for sure, and it tastes like they’re doing the bare minimum.
Taste 6:
Dane Rivera
Very flavorful with hints of earthy mustard and herbaceous rosemary. Still… it lacks tang and most importantly, creaminess. It’s way too oily.
Taste 7:
Dane Rivera
The first mayo of our tasting with a bright lemon-forward flavor. After the initial brightness, the flavor is very nicely balanced, it has a luxurious fatty creamy quality to it in texture and flavor. This is what you want out of mayo.
Taste 8:
Dane Rivera
Very fragrant and spicy on the nose. The consistency on this one is really weird, it’s lumpy in appearance but feels loose as I dredge a fry through it. If taste 3 isn’t the vegan brand, this one is. The flavor confirms it, it’s very vegetal and while it gets in the ballpark of mayo, I don’t see this enhancing and elevating the flavors of a dish, as a good mayo does.
Taste 9:
Dane Rivera
Very light and citrusy. I can see this brand being someone’s favorite, a hidden gem for sure, but the consistency is just a bit too watery to my liking. It has a runny, alomost-wet mouthfeel. Great simple flavor, though.
Taste 10:
Dane Rivera
Very interesting. This has a fatty flavor with a slight umami quality to it. There is a bit of fragrant smokiness hovering on the backend and a really well-balanced classic mayo flavor.
From my notes: “This is in the running for the number one spot so far.”
Taste 11:
Dane Rivera
After the luxurious and creamy texture of Taste 10, this one is a real step down. The consistency of this mayo is very chunky and gelatinous, but I like the flavor. It’s a bit heavy on the oil and slightly plant-y. If this is a vegan brand it’s doing a very good job at emulating the eggy flavor of mayo.
Taste 12:
Dane Rivera
Very sour, tangy, and oily. It tastes like mayo, but it also tastes like it’s going bad.
Taste 13:
Dane Rivera
There is a strange green hue to this one… is it vegan? The flavor would suggest otherwise. Nope, it’s definitely the real thing. Eggy, fatty, creamy, slightly lemony, and pleasantly herbaceous on the backend.
Taste 14:
Dane Rivera
This is excellent. You can taste the oil a bit too much (nothing a good stir/shake couldn’t fix), but it has the perfect balance of lemony tang and sumptuous fatty notes. It’s not in the running for the top spot but this is a top-five mayo, for sure.
Taste 15:
Dane Rivera
From my notes: “This is fucking great.”
Very bright and tangy with an earthy flavor with subtle umami qualities and a luxurious mouthfeel. It’s buttery, bright, and bursting with flavor. It’s making this lukewarm fry taste elevated, suddenly the salt is jumping out more, the butteriness of the potato is in play — this is an absolute flavor enhancer.
This is the only time I’ve tried plain mayo and didn’t think it could use an ingredient or two to take it next level. As of now, this is without a doubt my number 1.
Taste 16:
Dane Rivera
Awful. It’s very oil forward, and not well combined. The flavors don’t taste incorporated, all the right ingredients are there but they haven’t come together properly.
Taste 17:
Dane Rivera
I fucked up. I know this is Truff because I can smell and taste truffles. There is a heavy umami mushroom flavor to this, it tastes more like mushrooms than anything else. If you like truffles you’ll love this. As a mayo, I actually think the truffles hold it back, not elevate it.
Taste 18:
Dane Rivera
A great classic mayo. Eggy, creamy, fatty, with some nice backend tang. A really nice consistency here, this is a solid jar but doesn’t really stand out.
Taste 19:
Dane Rivera
Mustard forward and very fatty. A bit oily to the tongue, overall good, not great.
Taste 20:
Dane Rivera
Yikes, this was clearly from a squeeze bottle and it looks straight up gross. But the consistency is very thick with a luxurious mouthfeel and a great flavor. Very fatty, tangy with some mustard and subtle sweetness.
Light mayo, why bother? This barely comes across as tasting like mayo, it doesn’t have the right mouthfeel and the flavor is way too light. Kraft boasts that their mayo is 1/2 the fat and calories and they achieve this by scaling way back on the oil. It’s not a sacrifice that’s worth it — just use less regular mayo!
The Bottom Line:
If you want to taste the mayo, a light variety just isn’t going to cut it. If you’re concerned with cutting calories and you need to opt for a light mayo, you’re sacrificing the flavor for half the calories. The logic doesn’t hold.
I didn’t know this about Miracle Whip prior to this ranking but this isn’t technically mayo. The word mayonnaise is nowhere to be found on the jar and while it has all the same ingredients, and shares shelf space with mayo, the consistency and flavors just aren’t quite what you want them to be. It tastes cheap and loaded with sugar, and it is.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is the main driver of flavor here.
The Bottom Line:
Miracle Whip is basically mayo, but can’t call itself mayo, which should give you an idea of its lack of quality. This really only exists to be the punchline of Kanye’s famous line about his mayonnaise-colored Benz.
Simple Truth is Kroger’s Organic label and this mayonnaise is indeed made using organically grown eggs and oil. It’s not worth it, stick to the regular Kroger brand. This one is way too sharp and tangy.
The Bottom Line:
Grossly tangy. If you care enough about organic sourcing, splurge for the higher-priced options if you want something that actually tastes like good mayo and not this sour mess.
I feel bad about ranking a vegan mayonnaise so low but this just isn’t good. It’s made using canola oil and a whole bunch of gums and yeasts and it just tastes gross and plant-y, with a powdery, and not well-incorporated texture. This one really stands out as obviously vegan, which may be something you want. For me, it comes across as a pale imitation.
The Bottom Line:
A vegan mayo that doesn’t even get in the ballpark of tasting like the real thing.
I almost never like products from this brand so I’m not surprised to see their take on mayo near the bottom of this list. Acid League’s Maker’s Mayo is made using apple cider vinegar, sunflower oil, egg yolk, and distilled vinegar with some added yuzu flavor and living ACV. That’s great for gut health and all but I’m just looking for a good mayo, not a gut biome refresh.
Okay, we’re finally in decent mayo territory. This meets the bare minimum flavor requirements, it’s tangy and hearty but a bit too sweet. It tastes cheap and ,at $2.99, it is!.
The Bottom Line:
Cheap but it gets the job done. If you don’t like your mayo coming across as sweet, move on to our next choice.
McCormick has dubbed itself the #1 brand of Mexico and as someone who is Mexican (and Guatemalan), I could… not confirm this brand’s popularity. I’ve honestly never even seen McCormick mayo in anybody’s house before, Mexican or otherwise. The brand advertises its use of lime and for the most part that doesn’t really translate to the flavor. It’s a bit more citrus-forward but doesn’t taste particularly different than what you’d expect.
The Bottom Line:
A bit brighter than your typical basic mayo, but still pretty bland. It’s good, far from great.
Admittedly this vegan mayo has a very weird texture that looks very obviously not like mayo, but the flavor is a pretty good match. While it isn’t quite as luxurious and elevated as what will be ranked ahead of it, it’s easily better than a lot of the basic budget mayos. It is made using avocado oil and chickpea broth (aquafaba), as well as white vinegar and some guns, which explains its weird consistency.
The Bottom Line:
A great vegan mayonnaise that approximates what mayo can provide pretty well.
12. Truffle — Mayonnaise Black Truffle Infused (Taste 17)
This brand snuck its way into the ranking but I should’ve suspected that a band called “Truff” might, you know, put truffles in their mayo. It feels wrong to not rank this mayo when I have thoughts on it, so I’m placing it here in the middle of the ranking. Truff makes its mayo with cafe-free eggs infused with black truffle oil in a sunflower oil base. The truffles flavor absolutely dominates everything.
The Bottom Line:
Good if you like truffles. If you don’t or are merely curious, you’re going to find this way overwhelmingly truffle forward.
I’m really surprised at how different Best Foods (Hellman’s) Organic Mayo tastes compared to the OG, and even more surprised at how much worse it is. Not that it tastes bad, it doesn’t, but there is absolutely no reason to pick up the organic version over this in flavor is what you’re after. Best Foods uses soybean oil, and organic whole eggs, and sports a darker almost olive-toned color than your typical mayo. It’s fine, but a bit too oily.
The Bottom Line:
Not better than the non-organic version, and different enough that you might actually dislike this compared to the OG.
10. Chosen Foods — Classic Mayo Avocado Based (Taste 6)
Chosen Foods makes a point of mentioning that this is an avocado-based mayo but… that just doesn’t matter that much. Sure, avocado oil is marginally more healthy and nutrient-dense than sunflower or soybean oil but it has no effect on the flavor, it’s purely marketing. The flavor is fine enough, but you’re paying a higher price for a more expensive ingredient that doesn’t improve the flavor in any way.
The Bottom Line:
Don’t give in to the marketing. It’s a good mayo, but the use of avocado oil isn’t doing a whole lot to justify the price.
Trader Joe’s makes its mayo using organic expeller pressed soybean oil, and adds mustard seed and other spices to the formula to give it a slightly more elevated taste. It works! This is a great-tasting mayo with organic ingredients that actually feels like it justifies the price. There are better mayos out there though.
The Bottom Line:
If Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise is the most convenient choice, pick it up. It’s not the best but it more than gets the job done.
Whole Foods makes their Organic Mayonnaise with canola oil and whole organic cage-free eggs. The flavor is very simple and straightforward but for the price, it can’t really be beaten. The use of canola oil does have us giving a little side-eye to this particular jar, but the flavor is right where you want it to be.
The Bottom Line:
The best flavor-to-price ratio.
7. Primal Kitchen — Mayo with Avocado Oil (Taste 13)
With Primal Kitchen, less is more. Than mayo features just a handful of necessary ingredients and is made using avocado oil, organic eggs, organic eggs yolks, organic vinegar, sea salt, and organic rosemary extract. The result is delicious, simple, and slightly herbaceous.
The Bottom Line:
One of the better-tasting pricier mayos on the market.
MNMLST is the only brand in this ranking to use grapeseed oil in their recipe, as well as coconut vinegar and coconut sugar in addition to eggs, lemon juice concentrate, and sea salt. Does the oil make a difference? Not sure, but that coconut vinegar and sugar definitely do lend a sweet nuttiness to this.
The Bottom Line:
An interesting take on sweet mayo that doesn’t come across as too sugary.
Spectrum Culinary’s Organic Mayonnaise is made with expeller pressed oil, cage-free organic eggs, and a bit of honey. Like MNMLST, this mayo attempts to add in the sweetness of cheaper brands but does it right. The honey adds an earthy and floral sweetness to it that pairs well with the tangy mustard-dominant aftertaste.
Sir Kensington’s Mayo has probably the most hipster-pandering label and name of any mayo brand. But you know what? The hipsters know how to make their mayo. This stuff is simple and great. The brand uses humane-certified free-range eggs, sunflower oil, cane sugar, and organic lemon juice and everything tastes well incorporated.
I think it’s kind of corny when people say things like “Heinz is the only brand that matters” when it comes to ketchup, or “McDonald’s fries are the best in fast food,” when really all you’re doing is taking a purely subjective view of flavor and confusing taste with nostalgia. Hellman’s, or Best Foods as it’s known to folks west of the Rockies, is that brand for mayo.
People swear by this stuff and that definitely has a lot to do with the fact that this is probably the first brand most people have had so this is just what mayo should taste like to people. You know what… they’re kind of right. Best Foods delivers — they don’t do anything special but the balance between egg, oil, and acid is perfect.
It’s sweet, creamy, fatty, flavorful, and flexible. You can do a lot with this sauce, on its own and as a base.
The Bottom Line:
It’s just what mayonnaise should taste like. It’s been the most prominent and visible brand for a reason. The Pepsi of mayonnaise.
If Best Foods is the Pepsi of mayonnaise, Duke’s is the Coca-Cola. This mayo has bite, or as the bottle exclaims, “it’s got tang!” But it’s not just tangy, that’s to be expected, it’s smokey, spicy, and earthy — no doubt a consequence of the paprika and cider vinegar. It has a really present flavor that jumps out at you.
Standing side-by-side with Best Food’s, it smokes the rival brand.
The Bottom Line:
Better than Best Foods and a toss-up for first place.
As I said in the tasting, this is the only mayo that doesn’t taste like it needs any additional ingredients to make it good (Duke’s comes close) so I have to give it the top spot. It is the best mayonnaise I’ve ever tasted that wasn’t homemade. This Japanese-style mayo is thicker and more luxurious than American mayo, with a brighter and altogether more complex flavor. It is made using egg yolks, soybean oil, rice, and balsamic vinegar.
The flavor not only cuts through on a french fry, but it actually managed to elevate the flavors of the fry, allowing me to taste the salt and potato even more, which is what a great mayo should do. Mayonnaise is a flavor enhancer, it should elevate, compliment, and enhance the flavors of whatever you put it on and this brand truly lives up to that task.
The Bottom Line:
Creamy, sweet, luxurious, bright, sumptuous, umami-packed. This mayo explodes with flavor while improving whatever you put it on. This is, as far as we’re concerned, a kitchen staple whether you’re looking for straight mayo or need to make a more complex sauce. Put it on everything.
Tove Lo is back to provide us with more amazing summer jams, following “True Romance” and “No One Dies From Love.” This new track is called “2 Die 4,” from her forthcoming album Dirt Femme, which arrives later this year.
“2 Die 4” is a pulsating, clubby banger with a fun beat drop and excited lyrics: “I’ll go on all your adventures / If you wanna find yourself / I’ve been to so many places / But I’ve never felt better,” she sings. About the song, she said in a statement, “With ‘2 Die 4’ I wanted ‘instantly iconic’ energy. I’ve never sampled anything before, and this feels like the perfect first moment. Lyrically I wanted it to be that ‘pick me up when I’m feeling down’ song. At first, it’s like a warm hug, then you shake it off, let out a scream and start dancing!”
She added about the video: “I wanted to make something nostalgic, sexy and iconic. The character for this scene is wonder woman with big dick energy and I just love it. Now, if you know what’s good for you, go listen on repeat.”
Watch the video for “2 Die 4” above.
Dirt Femme is out 10/14 via Pretty Swede and MTheory. Pre-save it here.
Like a rich parent threatening to cut you off, the Republican National Committee is warning Donald Trump that if he decides to run for president in 2024, they will stop all payments to the various law firms that are representing the former president in matters both personal and professional.
According to ABC News, the RNC has shelled out nearly $2 million since November 2021 to pay for Trump’s mounting legal fees as he faces growing scrutiny and the possibility of new (and very serious) charges following the Department of Justice’s announcement that it’s officially investigating the former president’s direct role in the deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021. But the political committee, which utilizes donor money to pay these fees, isn’t attempting to make any sort of political statement with its message to Trump, nor is it suggesting they’d prefer to see another candidate in the running. Really, it’s just the opposite: Because the group maintains a “neutrality policy,” it can’t be seen as favoring one candidate during a presidential primary, and paying Trump’s legal bills could certainly be considered a violation of that policy.
“The party has to stay neutral,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in January. “I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024.” Just that if Trump—who McDaniel says “still leads the party”—opts to make another run at the Oval Office, he’ll have to foot his own legal bills. Which may not seem like a big deal, but ABC News previously reported that in October and November of 2021 alone, the former president’s legal fees totaled $720,000, as Trump is facing a handful of investigations, “including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York.”
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