nosh nook #46 - monday, may 18, 2009

dallas couple finds jesus inside cheese snack (link)
05.16.09 - dallas/forth worth news 11 - by beth wagner

the best thing about finding jesus is that he's so omnipresent & everyone's done such a bang up job spreading his word that you can find him pretty much anywhere. these days, you don't even have to be in a church to find him. he's on t-shirts. he's on tv. as a dallas-area couple discovered, he's even in your afternoon snacks, just waiting for you to eat him. it's like the body of christ you get during mass but cheesier & less like styrofoam.

when the texas couple found a cheeto shaped like jesus, dallas reporter beth wagner just had to find out more about this miraculous discovery. as her hard-hitting journalism explains, one day, on the way out of town, dan bell went to the gas station & picked up a bag of cheetos. in his munching, he came across a particular cheeto that was shaped like jesus & decided to keep it, even naming it "cheesus." a word of advice to my friends & family--if i ever start collecting & naming my snacks (before later trying to sell them on ebay), please contact a doctor on my behalf.

my favorite part about wagner's story is where she speaks to the ubiquitousness of cheeto jesus--"various incarnations of cheesus have shown up before; in houston, missouri, and on the internet site youtube."  no way!  on the internet site youtube?!!!  i mean, houston & missouri make sense, maybe even a conan or ellen appearance, but i didn't think that cheesus would ever go on youtube!  that means they've really hit the big time!  congratulations internet website http backslash www youtube.com!  a word of advice to you regarding your new found fame...don't start worshipping the cheesus, because you'd totally be breaking a commandment if you did...number one, i believe.

nosh nook #45 - friday, may 15, 2009

vancouver mayor pays up after lost hockey bet to chicago counterpart (link)
05.14.09 - vancouver sun - by gerry bellett

yesterday was a sad day for my hometown boston bruins, as they exited the playoffs after losing to the carolina hurricanes in game 7, in overtime, with the winning goal scored by the same guy who had sucker punched a bruins player just two games earlier, possibly breaking a bone in his face. on monday night, the vancouver canucks suffered a similar fate, as they were bounced from the playoffs by the chicago blackhawks, 7-5.

as gerry bellett reports, yesterday, his hometown mayor--gregor robertson--made good on a bet he had with chicago mayor richard m. daley, where the mayor of the losing city had to send a package of local food & drink to the mayor of the winning city. robertson shipped daley "cases of beer from molson’s, granville island brewery and storm brewing; musqueam first nations smoked salmon; dried morel mushrooms from pacific rim mushrooms; chocolates from bad girl and purdy’s; que pasa hand-cut organic tortilla chips; vegetarian blueberry sauce from thai princess and a couple of cartons of the mayor’s own happy planet fruit juices." HOLY CRAP. you can leave that molson's junk up in canada, but i would eat the hell out of everything else in that gift bag. daley's sending robertson a consolation prize--chicago beer & sausages.  sorry chicago, but i'd much rather have the vancouver stuff.

it makes me chuckle a little bit. to an outsider like myself, robertson & daley seem to be from two completely different planets. robertson presides over the most marijuana friendly city in canada, gets to oversee the city during the 2010 olympic games & is the co-founder of happy planet, an organic food & drink company. daley is chicago irish & the son of the notorious richard daley. he's also a year-and-a-half away from beating his father out of the title of longest-serving mayor in chicago history. he's trying to get the 2016 olympic games, may be the most powerful mayor in the country & is definitely no stranger to controversy...a totally different planet--the daley planet.

nosh nook #44 - thursday, may 14, 2009

list calories, and diners will at least look (link)
05.13.09 - boston globe - by stephen smith

we new yorkers have always been trendsetters. last year, led by the genius of folks like nanny-mayor mike bloomberg, we forced restaurants with more than fifteen nationwide locations to list their foods' calorie counts on their menus, allowing restaurant-goers to assess the damage before deciding what to eat. now, after a few other locales (philly, seattle) have jumped on board with this idea, massachusetts has decided to join the party.

as steven smith reports, posting calories has had some effect on peoples' purchasing decisions. "surveys by the new york city department of health suggest that the calorie counts at least make people think a bit more about what they put in their stomachs." i've always been a bit skeptical of the idea that chain restaurants should be forced to post calorie counts. on one hand, i'm all for keeping businesses honest, but on the other hand, i'm not sure it's the answer to our health & dietary problems. if consumers can't figure out that a mcdonalds big mac has a lot of calories by now, they probably shouldn't be eating it. although MA is the exception, with their state-mandated health care, i find it perversely humorous that governments in general fight so hard for regulations such as this, but not to get people health care.

since this article came out yesterday, the mass public health council has voted to adopt the regulations, meaning that starting in november 2010, any restaurant with over twenty locations will have to start posting calories. all the thousands of other restaurants in the city don't have to worry about it though, so unless you're someone who eats at mcdonalds every single day, you're not going to know how many calories you're taking in at all times. if you are eating fast food every day, then you have an issue that's larger than restaurants posting calories on a menu board.

nosh nook #43 - wednesday, may 13, 2009

when ‘local’ makes it big (link)
05.12.09 - the ny times - by kim severson

if there's one thing that big business likes doing, it's co-opting stuff. as long as you can be one of the first to cash in on the latest trend, even if it's with a mediocre facsimile, you're golden, much like a pair of arches. take the grunge look. that is so not cool any more. the fashion industry wore that out quicklike. on a related note, for every nirvana, there were ten candleboxes. anyway, now, since we americans are so fickle, buying organic foods has moved out of the spotlight & being a locavore (buying locally) has stepped in to become the hip new food trend. it doesn't hurt that the word "locavore" sounds wolflike or at the very least, something with fangs. the big food corporations are already lining up to cash in.

kim severson really breaks it down quite well for the ny times in her story. yesterday, the NYSE had five potato farmers ring the bell in lockstep with a lays (frito lay/pepsi) marketing campaign aimed at promoting the localness of their potato chips. basically, they're airing spots in each of the five farmers' home states, explaining how they grow potatoes there & lays makes potato chips there, so it's local. then the ads go national soon after, promoting the idea to the entire country. apparently frito-lay has a "sustainability program" also...how quaint. hunts (conagra) has also jumped on board, promoting the proximity of their tomato farms to their cali processing plants. if they can promote that to local consumers, there's a good chance they'll buy, since they have a clear picture of the distribution chain.  it's all about how you spin it.

i am all for locally grown food, co-ops getting veggies & whatnot from local farms...our little socialist colonies. i've seen king corn & i'm hip to the evils of the huge, guvment sponsored, commodity crop farms. i'm assuming that guvment money has something to do with pepsi wanting to merge with frito-lay in the first place. hell, i'd get in bed for what's probably trickling down to them.

the spread of the locavore mentality isn't all evil. as severson explains, in central cali, there's a "grow & buy local" initiative, which is taking part of a county grant & urging farmers to replace commodity crops with grocery crops, which can fill local needs & farm stands. trickle-down!  she spoke with the director of guv relations for the virginia farm bureau, who said, "if promoting local agriculture will help america to become food independent, that’s what we want."  i agree.  as a non-practicing locavore, other than the freshness of my foods, shifting dependence to local sources is the main reason i have for wishing i bought entirely locally.  all i can say is, hopefully there's a potato farmer in my state so i can get me some local lays real soon.

nosh nook #42 - tuesday, may 12, 2009

slob ripper gets a personal trainer (link)
05.11.09 - the sun - by jamie pyatt

back in may of 1981, peter sutcliffe, better known as "the yorkshire ripper," was sentenced to life in prison for the killings of thirteen women in yorkshire county, in north england. the judge advised that sutcliffe should serve at least thirty years before being considered for parole. while parole may never happen, he's going to be turning 65 soon & that thirty year date is coming up soon. back in january, doctors declared him fit to leave prison. apparently he's not as fit as he should be.

as jamie pyatt reports for that bastion of high-brow journalism, the sun, doctors have also "ordered (sutcliffe) to lose four stone." that's fifty-six pounds in american! currently, he weighs 19 stone (266 lbs) because of "his favourite snacks — including burgers, chips, pasta, chocolate and biscuits." he's going to get healthy food instead & if he doesn't lose the weight, he can't leave the prison infirmary.

since he refuses to go to the gym, they've even brought in a personal trainer for him, to do some "upper body work." the exercise & healthier diet are probably for the best, since the dude has diabetes.  i'm assuming there are some out there who might be thinking, "why don't they just let him die?"  as one who doesn't believe in an eye for an eye, i think taking away his snacks & keeping him alive's the best way to go...that way he can die alone & snackless in prison.