"The upside -- if there is an upside -- to having a highly concentrated food economy where a very small number of corporations exert tremendous power is that when they move, everything changes," he said. He pointed to McDonald's decision, following years of complaints from customers and animal rights groups, to stop tolerating inhumane livestock slaughter. "The way the whole industry slaughtered animals changed overnight," he said. "You don't have to love McDonald's to see that engaging with them might actually produce some positive results."

Of course, the downside -- and there is a downside -- to engaging in conversations with representatives of powerful corporations is that they will spend the bulk of the time telling you what their company is doing right. And later, if they do make changes based on external pressure, they'll frame it as if they've simply discovered a new way to be right.

via Is Walmart allergic to Pollan?.

I didn't know the Michelin Guide had pulled out of Las Vegas (or Austria and LA for that matter), which is one of the things I learned from this profile on the restaurant guide's troubles in the Financial Times. Also, the Guide is losing $21 million a year. It makes sense historically, but it's so weird that this is published by a tire company.

See also this profile from the New Yorker of the Michelin's inspectors.

I made these Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies tonight. I'm pretty happy with how they came out. The Oreos get soft, which is nice. I think I made the cookie part a little bigger than they were supposed to be, because they took longer to cook, but... You know, still worth it. Food bloggers take much nicer pictures.

Just expanding on a link I put on Kottke last week. If sugary drinks were more expensive, less people would drink them. If less people drink sugary drinks, less people will be obese.

A tax-induced 20-percent price increase on caloric sweetened beverages could cause an average reduction of 37 calories per day, or 3.8 pounds of body weight over a year, for adults and an average of 43 calories per day, or 4.5 pounds over a year, for children. Given these reductions in calorie consumption, results show an estimated decline in adult overweight prevalence (66.9 to 62.4 percent) and obesity prevalence (33.4 to 30.4 percent), as well as the child at-risk-for-overweight prevalence (32.3 to 27.0 percent) and the overweight prevalence (16.6 to 13.7 percent).

My latest @eatBoston event was this past Wednesday, Guacaholics Anonymous. It was pretty awesome. 8 restaurants, 7 amateur chefs showcasing the best guacamole in the city. There was traditional guacamole, guacamole with fruit, guacamole with bacon, cowboy caviar... If you like guacamole, it was pretty awesome. Additionally, we raised some good money for Community Servings, Share our Strength, and Lovin' Spoonfuls. There still a few tshirts left over If you are a guacamole lover, it goes without saying that you need one of these.

Look, I know I'm a little late to this meme party, but everyone loves a beignet. This meme only works if you look at the words and don't try to read them out loud.

Posting has been light the last couple weeks as I've been putting together the 2010 Boston Bacon & Beer Festival with SoWa Sundays. One of the other things I do besides Unlikely Words is @eatBoston, a local food and restaurant information source. I like to put on events with Boston area restaurants every couple months.

It's probably an impossible task, but I'd like to shift the direction of the bacon meme. It's tired. In order to do this, I asked some of Boston's best restaurants to offer a unique take on bacon. Along with some great local and craft breweries, there will also be butchery demonstrations showing attendees where bacon comes from. And what's a festival without music? The event sold out over 1300 tickets 3 weeks ahead of the event and there will be no tickets available at the door. Chris Piascik did the poster above along with some other designs.

For a full list of the restaurants and breweries, you can visit the info page.

My brother sent this excellent video by Quarter Productions who gave us the awesome video of Chris Piascik drawing. The music is perfect for this video of a butcher using the entire hog.

I love when the announcer says something like, "The bear doesn't even know it's a contest."



Via Kerry Skemp

I may have posted this Swedish Apple Pie recipe before, but it's Thanksgiving, or as I call it in my head Pietime. Anyway, here's the recipe for the best and dead simplest apple pie ever. I suggest making 2 of these pies at a time. You'll just be disappointed if there aren't any leftovers.

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Cut up and peel 4-6 pie apples into a pie plate.
Mix fist of sugar and a fist of cinnamon and sprinkle onto apples in pie plate.
Mix 1 cup flour with 1 cup sugar.
Mix sugar and flour with 1.5 sticks of butter and 1 egg.
Spread mixture evenly on top of apples.
Cook until golden brown (45-65 minutes).
Eat pie.
Eat leftover pie for breakfast.