When most people think about macaroni and cheese, images of ultimate comfort spring to mind. Ideally, mac and cheese is a dish that is soft, creamy and without any difficult-to-chew bits. Unfortunately for Rebecca Shorten, her most recent experience with macaroni and cheese was decidedly un-comforting.
Gallery: Bizarre objects found in food
Sunday evening, Shorten was home with her fiancee, eating a quick dinner of pre-made mac and cheese from Tesco, when she found herself biting into something hard in her meal. Before she could prevent it, she swallowed the object. Looking more closely, she discovered two inch-long metal nails in her dish. Later that evening she was taken to the hospital, where it was discovered via X-Ray that she had indeed swallowed a third nail. She is currently in the hospital and on morphine to dull the stomach pains while she waits for the nail to pass through her system.
Tesco has recalled the product from their shelves and is investigating the situation more closely.
As of now, it's Pomegranate located in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The 20,000 square feet of shopping space includes aisles full kosher gourmet foods. An article from New York magazine calls Pomegranate a "kosher gourmet megastore." The supermarket seems to be a cross between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
Unlike other specialty markets, Pomegranate caters to the thousands of Orthodox Jewish families living in New York City. The store has three kitchens: dairy, meat, and parve (fish, vegetables, fruit and grains). Each has its own on-duty full-time rabbi. Customers can choose from a rich selection of freshly baked challah and homemade cheeses to aged prime beef-rib steaks to an olive bar and sushi bar. The gourmet food market is an obvious business trend. Is the kosher version of Whole Foods the new trend?
I live in Brooklyn, not far from Pomegranate, and I see several smaller gourmet kosher markets on Kings Highway. The prices are not cheap. So, I do not think that Pomegranate will have a hard time competing with existing stores. You can now visit the supermarket that's located on Coney Island Avenue at the corner of Avenue L.
As food prices rise, so do school lunch costs, reports the New York Times. Meal prices have increased about 25 cents across the country as schools struggle to feeds students with increasingly expensive fruits, vegetables, milk and bread.
While some schools are raising lunch prices, others are reducing food management costs, buying cheaper plates and cups, or replacing individual rolls with slices of French bread. The U.S.D.A. recently issued a report called "Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs," to help school districts learn to stretch their budgets.
Many worry that price increases are hitting schools hard just as administrators are getting hip to the idea of healthier - and more expensive - fare, replacing chicken nuggets with baked chicken breasts, french fries with fruit. Will we go back to the bad old days of "economy loaf" and iceberg lettuce salad?
There's so much news about Michael Phelps right now, I bet the guy could write his own ticket for the foreseeable future. When I heard a news blurb that he was going to be on a cereal box by next month I didn't think much about it.
Naturally I figured Mr. Phelps would be on the front of a Wheaties box, but apparently that's not the case. According to an article in the New York Daily News, the swimming champion will lend his image to Frosted Flakes (move over Tony). Some nutritionists are a little concerned about the message that sends to kids. While Michael Phelps can handle the excess sugar of Frosted Flakes, experts are concerned about regular cereal eaters who don't burn as many calories as he does.
I admit I was a little surprised by Michael Phelps' choice. It makes more sense when you think about how many calories he eats and burns through in one day, but you'd think the guy would be a little more interested in promoting slightly more healthy breakfast choices. Would you buy Frosted Flakes just because Mr Phelps was on the box?
I love seafood. Growing up, my family used to spend summers on Cape Cod, and we regularly grilled swordfish, tuna, and salmon on the back porch. When I got a little older, I discovered sushi, and I recently began eating raw oysters, a delicacy that I'd avoided for years. There are some weird items, like sea cucumber and cuttlefish that still give me the heebie-jeebies, but I will try pretty much any denizen of the deep, as long as it is properly prepared and relatively fresh.
As I've gotten older, though, the fish market has become like a game of Russian roulette in which the chambers are loaded with a mixture of mercury poisoning, overfishing, and guilt. As more and more warnings about pollution make the rounds, I find myself trying to decide between the great prices of farm-raised and the supposed safety of wild caught produce. Meanwhile, I also have to worry that my fish of choice is being overharvested, leading to depletion in the ocean, the end of biodiversity, and (presumably) armageddon. Given the consequences of the wrong decision, I'm more and more likely to forgo the ocean's bounty in favor of a nice, juicy hamburger.
Recently, however, Stop & Shop has made it a little easier for me to navigate the rocky shoals of politically correct pescotarianism. Recognizing the danger of overfishing certain species, they've decided to stop selling shark, orange roughy, and Chilean sea bass until these species have repopulated. As the Quincy, Massachusetts-based supermarket operates 360 stores, this is a pretty impressive commitment to the environment. At the same time, it's a nice step toward making fish delicious and guilt-free!
In spite of all the articles, all the op-ed pieces, and all the tables of comparison, I've found it remarkably easy to forget that the cost of groceries has steadily risen over the last couple of years. Part of this is the fact that I moved to New York about a year ago. Prior to the move, most of my family's food came from regional groceries and the friendly, neighborhood Wal-Mart. Moving into the Bronx, I was so stunned by food prices price of food that a few pennies here and there were pretty much irrelevant. Recently, however, I was buying a box of cereal when it struck me that the price had risen by a dollar over the last year. Given that the new price was just over $5, this translated to a 25% cost increase in one year. I was stunned.
When asked about skyrocketing food prices, most pundits pin the blame on our new favorite villain: rising gas prices. While gas is partially responsible, it's worth noting that increased shipping costs haven't caused the prices of every other consumer item to soar. In truth, the biggest force driving up the cost of food has been exports; basically, European markets are filling up with cheap American foodstuffs. Over the course of 2008, Europe will have imported $110 billion worth of our produce, a 22% increase over 2007.
When most people look at commercials for Klondike bars, I imagine that they see silly people doing fun, wacky things in return for yummy ice cream treats. Personally, I see cruelty, torture, and the dark side of addiction. Hunger is a harsh mistress; luckily, I've never been placed in a situation where I've had to do something embarrassing or illegal to get fed. To my shame, I have to admit that, under the right circumstances, I would probably humiliate myself for a Klondike bar. If the reward was a nice crême brûlée, there's no doubt: all bets would be off.
Because of this moral shortcoming, I can, to some extent, understand Tremayne Durham. A Brooklyn thug who was being held in an Oregon courthouse, Durham recently admitted that he did, indeed, kill a man in cold blood over a failed business deal. In return for his candor, he's probably facing life imprisonment.
What caused Durham to admit to his wrongdoing? Was it depression, guilt, a need for forgiveness, the first step on the road to redemption? No, Durham plead guilty to aggravated murder in return for a gargantuan fast-food feast. He received a bucket of KFC chicken, a bucket of Popeye's chicken, a serving of mashed potatoes, a serving of coleslaw, a slice of carrot cake, a pizza, two calzones, a tray of lasagna and a bucket of ice cream. The entire proceeding cost the state of Oregon a mere $41.70.
As Durham discovers that justice is sometimes served with a side of cole slaw, I'm going to start taking the idea of fast food addiction a lot more seriously...
Flying domestically over the past few years has become increasingly more and more nightmarish. Just last week we had a post on the lack of complimentary food served on domestic flights. Last Sunday, the New York Times had an article about airlines, such as US Airways, that are charging $5 for snacks and $2 for water. Airlines no longer offering basic amenities, like luggage space and meals, is depressing. But, it's more or less expected from airlines that are all on the verge of going out of business. To me, charging for water is the most shocking.
As someone who loves to travel, I'm desperately hoping that US Airways' $2 water bottles do not become a trend on other airlines. We can't bring water through security. So, we'll have no other option than to purchase water at the gate prior to boarding the plane. This means arriving at the airport extra early than we already have to in order to prevent dehydration on a transcontinental flight.
The article in the Times outlines an up-to-date list of current drink and meal offerings from major airlines traveling domestically. It's hard to pinpoint which airline is the stingiest. While Southwest, Spirit, and JetBlue offer no food apart from snacks, American, Delta, United, and Northwest all charge at least $4 for meals. Northwest charges $10 for meals! We all know how delicious airline cuisine is...Hopefully, these airlines will not follow US Airways and take away a simple necessity like water.
Over the last few months, the intrepid editors over at Consumerist have done an outstanding job of tracking the trend of smaller sizes for the same price. They call it the Grocery Shrink Ray and they've seen it hit everything from coffee, to peanut butter to yogurt (it also strikes non-edible products such as toothpaste and contact lens solution).
One of the debates that occurs around this topic of shrinking package sizes is whether it would be more honest for companies to simply raise the prices on their products instead of charging the same for a smaller amount. In the face of rising costs, Turkey Hill Dairy has decided to succumb to the dreaded shrinking size trend for their ice cream packages, as prices for ice cream's have risen dramatically in recent days. They announced this size reduction with a heart-felt letter penned by company President, Quintin Frey that was posted on their blog.
You know Duff Goldman as the owner of Charm City Cakes and the central character in the Food Network's reality show, Ace of Cakes. I have a friend who has something of a crush on him and often says that she'd like to "put him in her pocket." Well, today is apparently her lucky day, as Charm City Cakes has teamed up with Diamond Select Toys to turn Duff into a very pocket-sized action figure. That's right Charm City Cakes fans, you can now have your very own Duff doll.
In addition to the doll, you can also buy an assortment of accessories, including "two of the shop's signature cakes, a drill-powered mixer, a chainsaw, wooden spoon, spatula, guitar and flame-thrower! Also included is an alternate baseball cap to recreate another Duff Goldman look!"
They're available this fall and would make the perfect holiday gift for the Duff Goldman fan.
Are you feeling opinionated on a range of food topics, notably diets? On the website Opposing Views, you have the opportunity to view experts' arguments for and against low-carb diets, caffeine use, biotech foods, and on becoming a vegetarian. Afterwards, you can post your own comments.
There are so many overbearingly opinionated blogs. What a relief to finally find a site where doctors and scientists debate over hot topics. And, rather than totally ignoring what everyone else has to say, it fosters continued discussion with comments. Also, the site provides news headlines dealing with the various questions.
From all the food-related issues that Opposing Views thoroughly covers, I found the topic on caffeine the most interesting. This is no doubt due to my over sensitivity to caffeinated products. Also, increasingly we hear stories in the news stating that coffee can reduce our risks of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer. Just this past January, the media stated that doctors confirmed that while coffee helps fight type two diabetes, caffeine makes it worse. Such a contradictory study gives one an even stronger reason to check out this debate on Opposing Views.
One of my favorite early Saturday Night Liveskits was featured John Belushi as an Olympic athlete. The scene opens with clips of Belushi doing a high jump and running around a track, then cuts to a shot of him at the breakfast table. Clutching a cigarette, Belushi looks into the camera with complete gravitas and tells about his secret to staying fit: "I downed a lot of donuts. Little chocolate donuts. They taste good and they've got the sugar I need to get me going in the morning."
The commercial played off the classic "Wheaties" ads, which featured Bruce Jenner. The prevailing wisdom in those days stated that top-class athletes had to eat extremely healthy foods, like whole grain cereal and skinless, boneless chicken. However, as I recently read about Michael Phelps' daily eating regimen, I was surprised to see that his diet is much closer to John Belushi's than to Richard Simmons. To begin with, the Olympian consumes approximately 12,000 calories a day, roughly six times the RDA for a man his age. Second, it is heavily skewed towards carbohydrates and fats, which most diets eschew. Given Phelps' amazing energy expenditure (in the average week, the guy swims five hours a day, six days a week!
At any rate, Phelps' average daily menu is after the jump...
Over the past few years, fast-food joints like McDonald's and Burger King have cashed in on nutritionists' advice that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At this point, they all have a breakfast value menu. So, it's no surprise that food service businesses, such as Denny's and IHOP, which built their restaurants on the fact that they provide breakfast, are getting competitive with fast-food alternatives. An article from the Baltimore Sun explains that Denny's is going to offer breakfast skillets for $5.99. IHOP is now selling more to-go breakfast meals.
Restaurant analysts state that Denny's and IHOP will have to compete with the convenience, speed and low prices available from their fast-food competitors. Nevertheless, they should probably also realize that they may be targeting a different demographic alltogether.
Would you sign up for Denny's Real Breakfast Club? Signing up means that they'd send you emails with promotions, news, and offers.
Why are we so disgusted by the simple fact that all the drinking water on earth is recycled wastewater? Unfortunately, the natural recycling process, involving evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, does not deliver enough drinking water to the drier parts of the world. This Sunday, the New York Times Magazine had an article about Orange County's new facility where it's purifying 70 million gallons of recycled water a day.
Many people are skeptical and revolted by the idea that their drinking water is simply purified toilet water. But, if we were to analyze the general water infrastructure in the U.S., we'd realize that sewage enters all our waterways. The majority of us drink tap water that is disinfected at drinking-water plants far less sophisticated than the ones built in Orange County.
The water coming out of the Fountain Valley plant in Orange County is cleaner than many bottled waters, such as Poland Spring. However, to appease peoples' concerns about the water being unnatural and dirty, Fountain Valley puts the water back into nature (ponds, streams, lakes, etc.). Ironically, the water's purity dwindles when it goes back into the wild where it's exposed to bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural and industrial chemicals.
Should Fountain Valley care if people view their water recycling process as natural?
The onslaught of chills and Autumn leaves might be right around the corner, but it's still summer, so click through for some tips focused on that perfect summer treat: Ice Cream.
There's so much news about Michael Phelps right now, I bet the guy could write his own ticket for the foreseeable future. When I heard a news blurb that he was going to be on a cereal box by next month I didn't think much about it..jpg)
I love seafood. Growing up, my family used to spend summers on Cape Cod, and we regularly grilled swordfish, tuna, and salmon on the back porch. When I got a little older, I discovered sushi, and I recently began eating raw oysters, a delicacy that I'd avoided for years. There are some weird items, like sea cucumber and cuttlefish that still give me the heebie-jeebies, but I will try pretty much any denizen of the deep, as long as it is properly prepared and relatively fresh..jpg)
In spite of all the articles, all the op-ed pieces, and all the tables of comparison, I've found it remarkably easy to forget that the cost of groceries has steadily risen over the last couple of years. Part of this is the fact that I moved to New York about a year ago. Prior to the move, most of my family's food came from regional groceries and the friendly, neighborhood Wal-Mart. Moving into the Bronx, I was so stunned by food prices price of food that a few pennies here and there were pretty much irrelevant. Recently, however, I was buying a box of cereal when it struck me that the price had risen by a dollar over the last year. Given that the new price was just over $5, this translated to a 25% cost increase in one year. I was stunned..jpg)
When most people look at commercials for Klondike bars, I imagine that they see silly people doing fun, wacky things in return for yummy ice cream treats. Personally, I see cruelty, torture, and the dark side of addiction. Hunger is a harsh mistress; luckily, I've never been placed in a situation where I've had to do something embarrassing or illegal to get fed. To my shame, I have to admit that, under the right circumstances, I would probably humiliate myself for a Klondike bar. If the reward was a nice crême brûlée, there's no doubt: all bets would be off.
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One of my favorite early Saturday Night Live 
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
