Food News, Christmas Edition

Women eat more during the holidays? Apparently it's because we have more stress. Oh, wait, look at this: Alcohol may protect the brain after trauma. Imagine what it does for stress! (via)

In the "I already knew that" department, vegetarians are smarter.

From Satya Magazine, the facts behind "humane" eating:

Regardless of how they’re raised, all animals killed for the refrigerated aisles of the grocery store are sent to mechanized slaughterhouses where their lives are brutally ended. By law, animals must be slaughtered at USDA-certified facilities, where horrific acts of cruelty occur on a daily basis. Everyone from federal meat inspectors to slaughterhouse workers have admitted to routinely witnessing the strangling, beating, scalding, skinning, and butchering of live, fully conscious animals.

More from Satya: Bryant Terry wants to build a "more just and sustainable food system in the Southern U.S." Here are some of his recipes.

Subscribe to Satya. I did.

Washington Post interviews author Isa Chandra Moskowitz of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World fame. (They haven't taken over the world, but they do seem to be taking over blog posts.)

Bad Food Britain: a view of Britain's dystopian food future.

Speaking of bad food, Tom Philpott doesn't like faux guacamole. But the recipe he offers as "real" guacamole sounds revolting to me. It's bad enough that guacamole has to contain yucky avocados, but raw tomatoes as well???!! Gag me with a tortilla chip.

Check out Vegan Cookbook Tester to see how those cookbook recipes really stack up: Yumm or Yuck?

The McIlhenny Company's Avery Island facility was almost lost to Hurricane Rita last year. (Rita, the forgotten Cat 5 hurricane.) So they've scrapped plans for a new museum to build a levee. "We've got to protect the nation from bland food," company vice president Tony Simmons said.

Want video with that food news? Jay Leno interviews Tobey Maguire.

Tobey might want to read this: Top 10 Survival Tips for a Vegetarian Christmas.

So they polled 40 Santas in Scotland and discovered they're too fat, and costing the NHS too much money. Say it with me: Bah, humbug.

There's still time to make cookies. Watch this space for Carnival of the Recipes on December 24.

Still looking for the perfect present? A couple ideas: Dorothy Parker martini glasses and Great Drinkers shot glasses.

WDIK Food News Editorial: That study on smart vegetarians seems to have created controversy where ever I've seen it posted on the internets. It's really not saying anything other than that people who have slightly higher IQs are more likely to later become vegetarian, which isn't surprising, as anyone who's ever become vegetarian will tell you. It takes brains to live among omnivores in a Big Mac society. It also puzzled some people because some of the self-identified vegetarians also reported eating chicken and fish. This I put down to the learning curve. Many people spend several years or more becoming vegetarian, and during that time they wish to refer to themselves as vegetarian, but they haven't completed the process. This used to bug me, but now I think I get it. There really isn't a category in either our questions or the fill-in-the-bubble scoresheet for "not-quite-there" vegetarian or vegan. So in the meantime, they choose the category they think they fit best. Those of us who answer "caucasian" in polls are doing the same thing.

Comments

[kabbage]

My comment has nothing to do with this post, but I wanted to be sure you are aware of this site, with English sheep performing Jingle Bells: http://www.golakes.co.uk/xmasbaarmysheep/

Enjoy!

[KathyF]

Oh, that is too funny! Now if we could just have singing cows.