Todd Kliman, food and wine editor:
• As a restaurant critic, I try to read up on the competition. This one's a wee bit younger than usual: Adventures of a Koodie.
• The reading equivalent of eating potato chips, or reading People magazine. Fast, fun, forgettable, but you'd pick up a list like this the next time in spite of yourself: 15 Chefs Reveal Their Fast-Food Guilty Pleasures.
Sophie Gilbert, assistant editor and Sophie at the Stove blogger:
• Struggling to choose between low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie, and points-based diets? Consumer Reports says for long-term weight loss, Jenny Craig might be the way to go: Jenny Craig Diet Earns Top Rating From Consumer Reports.
• And more good news for Jenny Craig: a celebrity-chef panel on Good Morning America found its frozen meals to be the best-tasting compared to other brands. But "best," of course, doesn't always mean "good:" 'GMA's' Diet Food Challenge: Tasting the Top Brands.
• José Andrés wasn't the only big winner at the James Beard awards: the anonymous and foul-mouthed person behind the Twitter handle Ruth Bourdain (a mash-up of Anthony Bourdain and Ruth Reichl) also took home an award: Whoever He or She Is, Ruth Bourdain Wins a Beard.
• The New York Times assembles five unique thinkers—including academic Temple Grandin and Polyface Farm owner Joel Salatin—to debate how best the government can tackle animal cruelty in agriculture: Preventing Cruelty on the Farm.
Kate Nerenberg, assistant food and wine editor:
• Like a cross between Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a reporter worked a Taco Bell drive-through window and reports back: Taco Bell and the Golden Age of Drive-Thru.
• Only David Chang could get away with serving meat in a pastry shop: The Duck Starts Here.
• The last two seasons, I've felt so very guilty when I've brought my CSA produce home only to find it wilted a few days later. Thanks for this, Serious Eats: How to Make Your Herbs Last Longer.
Ann Limpert, food and wine editor:
• The folks at Eater made the rounds at the James Beard Awards after-parties and got themselves together enough the next morning to recap: James Beard Awards 2011 Hangover Observations.
• That same night, Grub Street got Thomas Keller to admit he's an American Idol fan: Thomas Keller Has a System for Watching American Idol, Craves Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
• "Some bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents" is how auction house Morrell & Company describes Bernie Madoff's wine collection, which goes on the block May 18: Bernard Madoff Wine Collection to Be Auctioned.
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