Save Your Fork… There's Pie

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• The “speakeasy” has jumped the shark – making an appearance in some teen-oriented television show. Will that affect the crowds at Toronto’s newly opened Roosevelt Room? Given the fridge full of Red Bull behind the bar, I’d say they’re well prepared for their new target demographic.
• Is it acceptable to have a drink at lunchtime with colleagues, or is it another one of those things we don’t do anymore?
• More than a little spilt milk – there’s a push to serve chocolate milk in US schools, purportedly because it’s more nutritious than juice or soda. But it’s also sweetened. And oh yeah… our bodies don’t actually need milk, so wouldn’t it make more sense for the kids to get those nutrients from better sources?
• We tend to think of the US as the land of fast food, but it turns out there are many fast food items from US chains not available in that country. I’m disappointed to see the McLobster roll (served in the Maritime provinces) didn’t make the cut.
• Neighbours of director Guy Ritchie’s London pub The Punch Bowl are unimpressed by the constant traffic, even if the customers are royals and celebrities.
• Marion Nestle comes onside in support of a vegetarian diet. As all of us pseudo-veggies knew all along, it’s perfectly safe and probably healthier than eating meat.
• Women feed the world – too bad that, in many countries, they’re still not allowed to own the land they farm.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• That list of restaurant rules is spurring all kinds of discussion about service right across the continent.
• O rly?? A study out of the US claims that obesity *causes* certain cancers. While there is a direct link to obesity and uterine cancer (fat produces more estrogen) it appears that researchers are simply comparing rates of cancer and our good old (misleading) friend, Body Mass Index. Yeeaaahhh. I’mma gonna call bullshit.
• Cheese is driving the economic growth in the UK, but it turns out that the actor who portrays one of the food’s biggest fans (the animated character Wallace in Wallace and Grommit) doesn’t like the stuff at all.
• It’s all about the speed. McDonald’s rejects a wrap sandwich for their menu because it can’t be made fast enough.
• Roosters are ubiquitous images of farm life, but they’re not so easy to live with. Into the pot they go.
• And for urban farmers, chickens are the gateway animal into goats, pigs and more.
• Your rock icon, in Valrhona.  Cakes with images of rock and roll icons made from chocolate.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• Television history – Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray are set to appear on each other’s shows. I can’t be the only one dreaming of a Dynasty-style catfight, can I?
• More awesome stuff that dark chocolate does – apparently it prevents wrinkles. That explains how I can be 41 and look 33. Rock on.
• Do you need to go to culinary school to become a chef?
• I’m not a fan of FOX, but I also think Al Gore is a bit of a hypocrite, so this article in which Fox News takes the piss out of Gore for eating meat (he also owns a ranch) because it’s destroying the environment is pretty funny.
• Even kids don’t want the crap on the kiddie menu.
• After all his trials and tribulations with the Food Network, Anthony Bourdain must have been upset yesterday to discover they have bought a controlling stake in the Travel Channel where his show now airs.
• Here in North America, community gardens are everywhere – but in Italy they’re being grown on land once owned by the mafia.
• Foraging from public land like parks is one thing – but what about scrumping (picking up fallen fruit from private property) – is it akin to stealing?
• Some funny food t-shirts. (The steaks are high – ha!)
• Everyone likes those slippers with the light fluffy soles. Why, they’re like walking on bread.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• Although they’re popular in North America, folks in the UK still seem a bit bewildered by buffets.
• Did you sing that song (“way down yonder in the paw paw patch”) as a kid with no idea as to what a paw paw actually was? Turns out, it’s a pretty cool Southern fruit.
• Are small farms actually better for farm workers? Maybe not?
• The US is considering a “flu bill” that would guarantee 5 paid sick days to people who come in contact with the public – such as cafeteria workers, restaurant employees and other who do not normally receive sick pay.
• Young people in China are bypassing the traditional fare of their country for Western food.
• Does posting calories counts in restaurants actually work? Two studies have different outcomes.
• Have you gained weight since the recession began? Many people, switching to cheaper junk food options, have.
• Are chocolate desserts the “lazy cook’s great enabler”? Or is the author of this piece just a hater?
• While diners are generally shocked and horrified at the idea of a mandatory tip, it’s probably because many before them ruined things by being cheapasses.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• Preliminary studies seem to indicate that lycopene in tomatoes makes people feel full faster.
• Sam Kass, the personal chef to the Obamas, is also at the table when discussions of food policy occur.
• How wine became like fast food.
• Worms that get too much sugar have shortened life spans. Could this be the same for humans?
• Has Gordon Ramsay become a parody of himself?
• Potentially even more explosive than the issue of nutmeg in apple pie – what milk should be used for pumpkin pie?
• Restaurant critics are following New York Times Sam Sifton’s lead – they’re coming out of the closet and dropping the anonymity.
• What does your choice of beer say about you? The section on craft beer drinkers is particularly amusing.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• Back to the land without leaving your desk – Farmville has become the most popular application on Facebook – ever.
• From the “this study is a no-brainer” department – processed food is linked to depression. Or maybe it’s because people turn to junk food when they’re chronically stressed and upset.
• Please… don’t do this with your leftover Halloween candy. Please.
• Corner grocery stores in Newark NJ are getting new equipment, paid for by city officials, as long as they agree to stock fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Big Ag is feeling threatened by food advocates and begins to bully push back. Maybe because the facts aren’t in their favour.
• We’ve all seen Hellman’s attempt to manipulate consumers and the media with their skeezy “eat local” campaign, but it could be worse – they could be trying to turn us all into wannabe-rebellious hipster douchbags like the folks in the Miracle Whip commercial. Dudes, your choice of salad dressing makes you neither an environmentalist or cool as fuck. For serious.
• Two words – vested interest. As much as we all want to believe in and support small local farmers and ranchers raising grass-fed beef, the environment would still be better off if we all ate less meat (and dairy). An argument from a rancher citing the *lack* of environmental destruction caused by farming isn’t going to play well, especially with new figures showing livestock agriculture accounts for 51% of the world’s greenhouse gases.

Here’s some food for thought for today…

• So you say you like your portions big? Here’s some big foods that should fit the bill.
• A $180 investment got Michelle Obama and the White House garden folks 960 pounds of vegetables. Laureen Harper – we’re still waiting…
• Remember when the milkman delivered the milk right to your door? People in Manhattan can remember it like it was yesterday, because it was.
• I’m pleased to see that blood pudding has made this list – the world’s scariest foods.
• Too much salt? Lumpy sauce? Split Hollandaise? How to fix kitchen disasters.
• As much as farmers try not to become attached to their animals, losing one can be like losing a best friend.
• Little hands do the best picking – retailers in the US suspend dealings with a Michigan blueberry grower after children a young as 6 were found working in the fields.
• And finally, this list of rules for restaurant staff has been circulating over the past few days and the creator of Waiter Rant has offered up a rebuttal. An amusing aside – I was out for brunch yesterday morning and had a server do a good dozen or so of the actions on the verboten list, undoubtedly at the behest of the place’s manager.