Internationally renowned chef Wolfgang Puck flew to Sydney, Australia for this week's meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to promote a forthcoming .food Internet address amid fears by big brand owners like Marriott, Nike, and Verizon that a planned expansion of the domain name system will require them to spend big bucks protecting their name from fraudsters and cybersquatters. Web site names and e-mail addresses ending in .food -- such as www.wolfgangpuck.food, www.spagorestaurant.food, www.yourname.food and millions more -- will provide restaurants, retailers, caterers, food-lovers and chefs worldwide a unique opportunity to own meaningful new web addresses, Puck said in a press release.

"This is a great way for the finest food enterprises to stand out from the crowd on the Internet," said Puck, who owns more than 100 fine dining and casual restaurants in the United States as well as a national catering company and several consumer product lines. "Owning a .FOOD address is like opening a business on the best street in any city in the world." Puck told attendees at the ICANN meeting that a portion of the proceeds from .food will be donated to philanthropic organizations like Meals on Wheels and scholarships at the Culinary Institute of America, among others. Early next year ICANN will begin approving applications for top-level domains named after cities, companies, brands and entrepreneurial ventures.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch announced his support earlier this month for a .NYC Web address. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in February that the City Council and Office of the Mayor will pursue the .NYC domain. ".NYC is the best real estate opportunity in New York City since the Dutch bought Manhattan. I can't wait to sign up for edkoch.nyc, and while I'm at it I'll probably sign up for mayorkoch.nyc as well," Koch said. Former Vice President Al Gore has also backed the domain name expansion offering support for .eco, an address to promote environmental awareness. "This is a truly exciting opportunity for the environmental movement and for the Internet as a whole," Gore said in a press release. Read a related story in CongressDaily here (subscription required).