Food News

In today’s food news, via our friends at Food News Journal: Duff beer is apparently doing quite well in Latin America. But is it licensed for distribution in the United States? Plus, China cracks down with the death penalty for food safety violators.Read on for more news of the day via Food News Journal.• E.

Yesterday saw the launch of Gilt Taste, the food website of luxury online retailer Gilt Groupe. We’re not terribly interested in the $200 steaks and $75 cheesecakes for sale, but quite excited to see the familiar face of the site’s Editorial Advisor: Ruth Reichl!Reichl has assembled a team of some of the most talented people in the food journalism world to contribute to this “new kind of magazine.

More and more markets seem to be jumping on the local food bandwagon, selling produce that is prominently labeled as “locally grown.” But with no official certification process or legal definition, what does “local” mean when we are talking about food? How do you define it for yourself?The Boston Globe recently wrote about the problems that have come up as locally grown food has become more popular.

The phrase “counterfeit cheese” might conjure images of back alleys and trench coats stuffed with fake Parmesan, but your local grocery store could very well stock a forged cheese or two.Officials in Switzerland have begun cracking down on the cheap knock-offs of their beloved Emmentaler, using cheese DNA tests to shut down violators worldwide.Emmentaler, that hole-y cheese also known simply as “Swiss cheese,” is a protected food product, like Parma ham and Champagne.

When we posted a Passover recipe for sweet and crunchy quinoa salad last week, we had no idea that quinoa may not actually be kosher. A comment on that post brought it to our attention, and this weekend the New York Times delved more deeply into the fascinating debate surrounding this South American grain and its place on the Passover table.

Yesterday ABC announced that it is canceling the long-running soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children to make room for a food-focused daytime talk show called The Chew. Hosted by a revolving cast of food personalities, including Mario Batali, Top Chef’s Carla Hall and chef Michael Symon, The Chew sounds like a food-centric version of The View.Food shows replacing soap operas — is this the beginning of a new, foodie era on daytime TV?

Bon Appétit has seen a lot of changes in the last year, from its cross-country relocation to the appointment of former GQ style editor Adam Rapoport to editor-in-chief. Is the magazine’s content going to get the same kind of shake-up?Judging from a recent interview with Rapoport, beginning next month we can expect a whole new Bon Appétit.

TIME magazine recently released its list of the 140 best Twitter feeds, but as it’s a little lacking in the food department, we thought we’d compile our own list of 50 food-related favorites on Twitter.From fictional foodie Ruth Bourdain to sustainable seafood experts Seafood Watch, we’ve rounded up the feeds we turn to for recipes, food news and thoughtful commentary. Read on for the full list!1. @Barry_Estabrook 2. @bittman 3. @ethicurean 4. @Francis_Lam 5. @goodappetite 6.

The New York Times recently took a look at a number of gadgets that may now be unnecessary, thanks to the multitasking capabilities of smartphones and other consumer technology. The verdict? Books are worth keeping — except for cookbooks.Is it time to move beyond cookbooks?The article points to an iPad app, Martha Stewart Makes Cookies, as the future of cookbooks.

In today’s food news, via our friends at Food News Journal: The science behind the tastiness of lukewarm food. Plus, bread subsidies in Egypt and poor eating habits and anemia in women.Read on for more news of the day via Food News Journal.

We’ve heard it before: Plastic containers can release chemicals into the food and liquids we store in them; It’s not smart to microwave food in plastic or leave plastics, including water bottles, out in the sun. I’ve avoided these behaviors, but thought I was safe using BPA free water bottles and take out containers. Well, a recent study reported by NPR suggests otherwise. It’s one of those articles you hate to read. NPR reports that a new study has found that most (most!

When you’re on the hunt for a new recipe, are you more likely to open a Google search window than a cookbook? If so, Google’s new recipe search feature just made it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.The feature basically restricts your search results to only recipes, then allows you filter them by ingredient, cook time and calories.

We love whoopie pies, but maybe not as much as the state of Maine does; lawmakers there are planning on making the whoopie pie the official state dessert. While this seems like an easy choice to us — we always vote “yes” on dessert — there are complications.Some say the whoopie pie was actually invented in Pennsylvania, and others question the wisdom of putting the state seal of approval on a calorie-rich dessert when over 30% of students in the state are overweight.

We’ve baked a lot of recipes from Martha Stewart over the years — her precise cooking style and beautiful plating are especially inspiring when we’re making desserts.So we were interested to hear that next week Martha is debuting Martha Bakes, a new TV show which will teach viewers how to master various baking techniques over the course of thirteen episodes.

This morning I sat down at my desk with a mug of hot chocolate and a giant gummy tarantula left over from Halloween. I settled in and opened my weekly Goop email from Gwyneth Paltrow, which was all about breaking the addiction to sugar. Awesome, hopefully no one else could see what I was eating for breakfast.In my own life, I’ve learned to fight against the constant battle of sugars making their way into my body.

After that kerfuffle two years ago with Tastespotting shutting down and then relaunching as an independent site, we thought NOTCOT had decided to steer clear of the food world. So it was with surprise — and tentative excitement — that we saw they’d launched a new site dedicated to foodie eye-candy: Tasteologie.The site follows the same format as the other NOTCOT sites (and, it should be noted, Tastespotting).

I’ve always considered my kitchen to be a true representation of myself. A little polished, a little rustic — and sometimes a little sloppy. I’ll be the first to admit that if it’s been a long day I don’t do the dishes before bed, but I’ve never considered the kitchen too gross to not serve food to people. It’s a clean ship, even if it’s unkempt once or twice a week.But would it pass a restaurant-grade health inspection?

Evan Kleiman’s interview with Alissa Hamilton this past week about commercially-produced orange juice really stopped us in our tracks. The good news is that the OJ you buy in the grocery store is technically 100% orange juice. Are you ready for the bad news?Alissa Hamilton is the author of Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice, and if anyone can be considered an OJ Expert it’s definitely her!

Hooray for honesty in the government, especially if it starts in the fridge.We were tipped off to a New York Times article about President Obama’s more casual, laid-back style in the White House, and it mentioned his preference for this organic, fair trade bottled tea…Honest Tea is based in Bethesda, Maryland, and all of their teas are certified USDA organic, which is important with tea, considering tea leaves are not washed (this according to the company’s website).

We love all things oatmeal, but especially steel cut oats. A hot bowl of these tasty, nutty oats with a little milk and sugar is the best winter breakfast we can imagine.Well, it turns out that the Scottish nation takes this morning bowl of oats very serious. So seriously, in fact, they have a running competition for the world’s best oat porridge! Here’s a look at this year’s winner of the Golden Spurtle.

There’s a new game in town. And we think it may give Epicurious and Food Network a run for their money. And what’s that? These guys are missing an “e” in their name? Funny, we here at The Kitchn couldn’t help but notice…Cookstr is a new website from some big names in cookbook publishing—Will Schwalbe, a former editor-in-chief at Hyperion, and Katie Workman of Workman publishing.

We were very sad to hear about Paul Newman’s death on Friday, and, as a food-loving community, we wanted to take a moment to appreciate what he brought not only to our televisions but to our pantries…Paul Newman started the Newman’s Own line of foods more than 25 years ago and referred to it as “the joke that got out of control.” His mission was to create all-natural products that would generate funds he could channel back into his favorite charities.

Have you seen these new TV ads? The backlash against high fructose corn syrup is getting its own backlash from the Corn Refiners Association…We’ve seen two ads so far. One involves two moms discussing HFCS over a jug of juice. The other has a couple debating the health risks of a popsicle (above). In both, the general script goes something like this (paraphrased):Person 1: “You’re serving me a product with high fructose corn syrup?

We’ve missed the lectures that Owen Taylor, city farms training and livestock coordinator at Just Food, has been giving about raising chickens in NYC. Twice, actually. But we had to know more about these chickens who, we hear, are laying eggs all over our bustling metropolis. So we called Owen, who was kind enough to answer a few questions.How did this program get started? Chickens and cities don’t inherently seem to mix.Actually, cities and chickens do mix.

It keeps happening: discoveries like the one reported on the front page of today’s New York Times (High Mercury Levels Are Found in Tuna Sushi) keep telling us that eating tuna just isn’t a great idea.After being pregnant last year, I all but completely removed it from my diet. But lately, there are some interesting “lower” and “lowest” mercury options out there, which Burrows’s article neglects to discuss.