Just from watching this commercial.

Cause what says “Manly Man” more than a big pat of butter on your burger?  (H/T So Good)

$2.68 a lunch?  Heck, a trip to Starbucks costs more than that.

And secondly, what child willing chooses a salad bar? I joke, but actually, healthy meals are completely doable in that price range.  But they need to cook smarter, not shop harder.

Mental Floss keys us into little known menu items that your favorite fast food stop may not be advertising:

1. In-N-Out Burger - OK this one totally jumped the shark.  I mean its even on their website.  Moving on.
2. Starbucks Short Size - No need to elevate your heartbeat over 140, go for the kids size caffeine!
3. Jaamba Juice Candy Inspired Smoothies - Skittles, Fruity Pebbles and other obesity inducing favorites.
4. Chipolte You-Can-Dream-Burritos - Little known policy - Chipolte will make you anything you want if they have the ingredients for it.
5. Wendy’s Grand Slam - 4 beef patties, one bun, aka the Meat Cube.  Doesn’t everyone like their meat to have right angles?
6. Shake It, Shake It Real Good - Lot’s of places will make a Neopolitan shake - vanilla, chocolate and strawberry swirled in one.
7. Naked Chicken - for something slightly less gut-busting you can order chicken, no breading at Popeye’s.
8. Taco Bell = Chipolte, they will make anything they have the ingredients for AND they have green chili sauce but don’t advertise it. I am personally angry about this deception.
9. Subway Pizza Lives! You just have to ask.  Seems this option was not helping Jared fit into his new pants.
10. The Fatburger Hypocrite - veggie burger with bacon.  Name says it all.

We’re in harvest season, when all things are bountiful. And soon we won’t be.  So what to do over the winter frost?  There is an option.  Our ancestors used to store, store, store.  So maybe there is a lesson to be learned.  Here’s soom useful tips on how to squirrel away nuggets for some winter eating.

photo courtesy of flickr user thisisbossi

Sigh.  Next they will be concern trolling that secret police will be raiding the kitchens of apple pie baking grandmas everywhere.

For the record - no one sane has proposed any kind of food ban (with the exception of extremely endangered species, but that’s not health concern related).  People should be free to eat as many jelly donuts as they like.  Of course, the it would be nice if the health costs were reflected in the food prices.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will be hosting a live Facebook chat on Oct 1st to talk about local food systems. Last month, Merrigan put out a memo outlining proposed programs to strengthen local food systems:

1. The Community Facilities Program

The Community Facilities (CF) Program supports the success of rural communities by providing loans and grants for the construction, acquisition, or renovation of community facilities or the purchase of equipment for community projects.

As examples, she says an NGO (non-governmental organization) could receive USDA grant money to construct a community kitchen to teach healthy cooking classes using produce from farmers, a farmers’ market, or cold storage to help a school buy and serve fresh produce directly from farmers.
2. The Business and Industry (B&I) Guarantee Loan Program

The purpose of the B&I Program is to help new and existing businesses in rural areas gain access to affordable capital.

As examples, she says the loans can be used to aggregate local farm products so they achieve enough volume to serve a school system, to build a mobile slaughterhouse, or to add equipment and storage facilities for a local food processor.
3. Value-Added Producer Grant Program

The Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Program provides grant funding for agricultural producers who add value to their raw products through processing and/or marketing, thereby increasing farm income.

Selling value-added products is a very important tool for farmers to capture more of the retail dollar from the food they grow. I’ve actually met a few farmers who have received this particular grant. Merrigan’s examples are an organic cooperative receiving a grant to conduct a feasibility study and develop a marketing plan to provide locally grown produce to schools, a farmer receiving a grant to direct market pasture-raised lamb to restaurants and stores, or a dairy farm receiving a grant to plan and execute a marketing campaign for their ice cream.

For those who don’t know, Merrigan is a member of the “Sustainable Dozen“.  She’s got a crazy resume that includes heading up Tuft’s Center on Agriculture, Food, and the Environment and was one of the main authors of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. As Sam Hurst at Gourmet points out:

At Tufts, Merrigan has directed a group of projects designed to stimulate community gardens, develop regional marketing strategies between consumers and local farmers, and promote food and gardening education in local schools. This is not the traditional career path of high-ranking USDA officials.

And she’ll be taking your questions.  That’s government accessibility you can believe in.

I’ve always wondered what mac n’ cheese flavored Cadbury Eggs would taste like.  Mmmmm sweet consolidation.

Ham sandwiches and chicken mcnuggets no more.

The Washington Post art critic interviews Jose Andres, owner of the Mini Bar in DC.  For those who are not familiar with the DC restaurant scene, Mini Bar is the chef’s table at Atlantico, and they are probably the hardest seats to get in the city.  And my dream date destination.  Sadly, very heavy on the word DREAM.

Would you feel clean, fresh feeling after hosing down with bacon soap? To each his own.  (via MenKnowPause)

Michael Bauce writes about how his cooking classes at a local elementary school are changing the way these kids think about food.  It’s all tall order:

This is the place where many of them get exposed to real food for the first time. A lot of kids just eat junk food. They don’t even have dinner with their family. It’s shocking. If I ask, “How many of you eat dinner with your family at home at night?” less than half the hands go up.

It’s going to take a lot of work to reverse trends like these.  Luckily there’s people like Bauce that are stepping up to re-introduce a new generation to the art of cooking AND eating. (via Ethicurean)

I love the food network.  The crazy food scientists, the Secret Life of Tootsie Rolls, the fact that they just rolled out an show called ” What Would Brian Boitano Make”. I even love Emeril, with his cheesy grin and overused “Bam!”

But Emeril does not love me, and neither does the Food Network.  In fact the entire food establishment seems to scorn people like me, with maybe one exception.  See, I don’t like meat.

I know this is shocking and crazy sounding after all the bacon posting I do here.  But the bacon posting is really for you dear reader, because I am afraid that you won’t love me for my meat-less ways.  I kid, but there is a certain amount of truth here.  Non-meat eaters tend to be persona non grata around foodies.  Could you imagine if a Top Chef contestant refused to cook meat? Colicchio would laugh them off the stage. Could you imagine “Cooking Manly Man Style” Emeril Lagasse being told that he had to forego the pork belly to feed the likes of me? “Bam” would not encompass that temper tantrum.

Even Boitano invites “bacon-crazed” roller derby girls over for 4 course bacon extravanganza. It’s lonely being veggie.  The one bright spot in all of this is Mark Bittman, who actually wrote a cookbook for us of the non-meat variety.  Boston’s Vegetarian Festival has gotten so popular they’re expanding it to 2 days.  And Meat-less Mondays are gaining steam.

Yet, we are still the fringe.  I’m not saying the Food Network should take Emeril’s meat away.  But a veggie friendly show is badly needed.  Or even better yet - instituting Meat-less Mondays on the channel would be a phenomenal way to get all their shows to be a little more accepting of the non-carnivore foodies out there.

photo courtesy of flickr user World Economic Forum

Last night, Bill Clinton hosted an anything-goes meeting of the minds with a diverse group of bloggers to kick off the 5th Annual Clinton Global Initiative conference.  I was lucky enough to attend, and we got a few really good questions in about agricultural aid.  I’ll have more on the policy later, but I wanted to share one memorable line of the night.

Natasha Chart asked the former President about how they (aid organizations) plan to address the problem of seed patents turning peasant farmers into indentured servants of mega-seed companies like Monsanto.  While we didn’t get him to declare that this indeed is a problem in need of fixing, he did exclaim:

“If it were up to me, we’d do it all organically.”

Now Natasha had not even mentioned the word “organic” in her question. Clinton kinda pulled that out of no where.  It was unclear if that was the solution that he thought food activists want to hear, or even if he fully understands what it means for developing countries to go organic and has heard the arguments for and against an organic solution.

I for one, don’t think that we have to have an organic solution, but we do need a sustainable one. I’ll have more on Clinton’s comments from last night later.

photo courtesy of flickr user jessicafm

World, I give you deep fried butter.  Only in Texas.

How those arteries feeling now? (H/T Chris Cassidy)

Hate when I lose entire posts to the Internet gods.  Guess its their way of telling me that my yammering isn’t all that important anyways.

Addiction is bad. Crack, coke, meth, whatever the vice may be, people can do unbelievably stupid things to support a habit. Apparently for one South African man that vice is cheese:

Police Captain Shooz Magudulela said Gumede was then linked to 16 other cases of housebreaking.

He said that Gumede broke into houses between 7.30am and 5pm.

Once he had broken into the house he would eat the cheese before taking the valuables.

Can’t say I blame him.