Features

“Chickens this amazing don’t just happen”

Found by on Tuesday, 12th April 2011
The Atlantic
» The Atlantic

Fowl are always fair in the eyes of these chicken's owners.

Humans have the beauty pageants. Dogs have the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. But who knew chickens, too, had their own line of competitive narcissism? In The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens, photographer Tamara Staples documents the fascinating and glamorous world of poultry fanciers and their prized barnyard beauties, from the surprisingly elaborate judging process to the distinct personalities of individual birds that shine through Staples's portraits.

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A dear dairy day for Portman

Found by on Tuesday, 12th April 2011
Image credit:
» Marie Claire

Blood will always be thicker than a vegan shoe sole.

Despite being Hollywood's most famous vegan, mummy-to-be Natalie Portman has given in to pregnancy cravings and returned to being a vegetarian. The 29-year-old Oscar winner, who designed a vegan footwear line in 2007, revealed her new diet in an interview yesterday in Atlanta on the Q100 Bert Show.

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Pass the Truffle Salt darling

Found by on Monday, 11th April 2011
Sabrina's Passions
» Sabrina's Passions

Foodies refuse to go quietly in Austerity Britain

The simple things in life give me the most pleasure and few as much as food. Flavours and textures, likes and dislikes, new discoveries and old classics. I share my rants, raves and culinary misbehaves with you, every step of way…

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When Retro Goes Wrong

Found by on Monday, 11th April 2011
Debate Your Plate
» Debate Your Plate

If Mad Men made these kinds of food adverts, I'd begin watching regularly and with religious zeal

We complain about today’s pushy marketing tricks – but check out this ad for popsicle moulds! What’s worse? The crazy-eyed kid or the mould that looks like a rotting steak? And as for the other popsicle?! As Freud (who constantly smoked cigars) put it: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Yep. We can safely say: Evel definitely is evil.

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South London Chef Teaches Caribbean Grandmothers How to Cook Goat

Posted by on Sunday, 10th April 2011
Image credit: 7th Heaven Lamb
» Cheque Please!

It wasn’t supposed to be this way — to spend years preparing for a fairytale honeymoon in a five-star resort on an exotic tropical island only to be served by a chef who learned his trade living down the road from my basement flat in Peckham.

The restaurant in question is Dasheene — named after the plant used to make callaloo — and the South Londoner in question is Orlando Satchell, a man with an evangelical zeal to put Caribbean cuisine on the map.

Dasheene is couched in the sedate setting of the Ladera hotel on the island of St Lucia, where birds come and perch on the tables and the only sound late at night are the frogs burping words of love. Continue reading »

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Take Comfort from Experts

Found by on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
Image credit: Vigilant20
» Association for Psychological Science

Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf?they may be bad for your arteries, but according to an upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart and emotions. The study focuses on “comfort food” and how it makes people feel.

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Pineapple Boulevard

Found by on Saturday, 19th March 2011
Fork in the road
» Fork in the road

Eighties-style pizza topping given back her dignity

After seeing wrought iron pineapples all over the West Village and wondering what they meant, I decided to investigate. Painted garish red, and the only one left of what once was a pair, this pineapple lingers on Hudson Street. For centuries after the pineapple was introduced into Europe by Columbus at the end of the 15th century from the island of Guadelupe, the fruit remained the sweetest thing anyone had ever tasted. And it quickly became a symbol of both hospitality and the high life.

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Dessert Island Discs

Found by on Thursday, 17th March 2011
Food is the new Rock
» Food is the new Rock

David Chang Likes Pavement, GZA and Fat Elvis apparently

Welcome to the first installment of “Dessert Island Discs”, a new FitnR feature which has us asking chefs about the music in their restaurants and on their iPods.  First up is David Chang, Executive Chef and Owner of the Momofuku empire- which will be expanding outside of New York City for the first time at the end of this year.

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Wal-Mart Just Too Cheap say Customers

Found by on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Reuters
» Reuters

Wal-Mart's lengthy struggle to open in New York City has hit fresh problems — a controversial report that said America's biggest discounter does not just sell cheap, it makes neighborhoods poorer.

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Iowan Farmers Can’t Handle the Truth

Found by on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
slashfood.com
» slashfood.com

Farmers from Iowa decide criminalising documentary food makers is probably easier than making their farms less appalling.

Cramped cows and abused chickens are at risk of losing a powerful ally: filmmakers. A new bill up for House ruling in Iowa today would make whistle-blowing documentarians like Robert Kenner of "Food, Inc." fame criminals, reports the Iowa Independent. And similar action is on the table in Florida. Any undercover videotaping or photographing of livestock or farm operations would be a classified aggravated misdemeanor calling for two years in prison and a penalty fine of up to $6,250; subsequent offenses would be class D felonies (five years and up to $7,500 in penalties). Tough break for journalism

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