In this terrific article in Vanity Fair, food writer Corby Kummer calls out tyrannical chefs who impose tasting menus that leave customers crying “uncle.”
Category Archives: Food and Drink
More Screwed-up Government
Take a look at the figures below, which shows (left pyramid) the categories that federal agricultural subsidies fall into, compared to
(right pyramid) federal recommendations for how often we should eat those types of food.
As Gwen Sharp notes at Sociological Images:
Just to clarify, the 73.8% figure for meat and dairy on the left doesn’t
refer just to direct subsidies; it also includes subsidies for crops
that are grown primarily to feed livestock. The “grains” category
(13.23%) refers to grains grown for human consumption. If you included
all grains in one category it would be much larger, but somewhat
misleading in that the vast majority of grains grown in the U.S. aren’t
intended for people to eat.Without subsidized grain, keeping livestock in confined feeding
facilities to fatten them up would be much more expensive, if not
entirely cost-prohibitive. Thus, farm subsidies are an essential
component of U.S. agribusiness.
The U.S. government does not look out for the interests and welfare of citizens. It looks out for the interests and welfare of powerful, organized interests.
Grateful for Turkey Factory Farms?
Perhaps you saw the news yesterday about the new PETA ad that NBC and many local TV stations around the country apparently refused to run because they considered it contrary to the spirit of the holiday. Here's the ad, and you can read more about it here.
Watch Out, Fido
Jonathan Safran Foer makes a good case for stirring you up in a wok with a little sesame sauce.
Sense and Nonsense 