You know your star is rising when your publicist follows you around a busy convention hall lugging your nitrous oxide tank, and it has nothing to do with your health. Indeed, Greg Grossman is healthy, as he should be: He is 13, with thick wavy hair and long dark eyelashes that would make a Jonas brother jealous. He wears sneakers, and ...

ASK any child where their food comes from, and the chances are they'll say the supermarket. And most adults don't know a lot more about how food ends up on their plate either. So it's no surprise that farmers who struggle to stay in business get angry when consumers complain about the price of the fruit and veg. But one shopper ...

Don't tell former Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl this week's closing of the venerable food magazine reflects any sort of judgment on the food elite. "It's one of the things that drives me crazy," Reichl said in a phone interview Thursday from Kansas City, Mo., where she was promoting the now-shuttered magazine's latest cookbook, "Gourmet Today." "People keep talking about it as ...

In Lynn Westney's paper "Dew Drop Inn and Lettuce Entertain You: Onomastic Sobriquets in the Food and Beverage Industry," she collected more than 200 punning restaurant names, everything from Grill from Ipanema to Lawrence of Oregano. She says Chicago-area folks demonstrate the most creativity, as evidenced by their dominance of the hot dog category, with spots such as Franks for the ...

New York » For many Jews, the thought of Passover conjures up images of families feasting on matzo, kosher wine and for a few brave souls perhaps, Gefilte fish. Chances are, the name on the packaging is always the same: Manischewitz. For the family that traces its lineage back to Behr Manischewitz and the Cincinnati bakery he opened in 1888, ...

Zagat Survey, the company that publishes grassroots restaurant guides, just sent us the results of a dining survey that may answer a few questions we all have about how restaurants are doing in this down economy. The survey is based on 145,000 local restaurant-goers in 45 U.S. markets. If you look at No. 5, you'll see why I often emphasize service ...

Voila! Marketers are tapping into the buzz of interest in classic French cuisine, thanks to the popularity of the movie Julie & Julia. The movie, written and directed by Nora Ephron, combines the memoirs of famed chef Julia Child and young fan Julie Powell. Since opening at No. 2 at the box office last weekend behind G.I. Joe, the movie has ...

WEST BEND, Wisconsin-As more travelers show an interest in local cuisines, a Milwaukee chef is taking the trend a bit further with a cooking school that travels to the food's origins. The Braise Culinary School holds classes on farms and in forests during warm months. Most classes start with a farm tour - or recently, a walk in the woods - ...

Chicago has a long history of feeding the nation and feeding its hungry too. Now, in the aftermath of a brutal recession, with the unemployment rate in the double-digits, 2010 dawns at a time of acute need and limited resources. One old invention for addressing that problem is still in business: soup kitchens. But even the practice of delivering food to ...

LOS ANGELES — As we limp into 2009, watching our mad money dwindle from a mountain to a mound to a modest lump, you'd probably rather not think too much about restocking the dent you put in your wine collection over the holidays. But there are many signs that this economic downturn could result in a mini-boom for wine lovers. Perhaps ...

Fearlessness for a 14-year-old boy often involves a skateboard and something not meant to be skated on. Or skated off. For 14-year-old Jeffrey Caves, however, fearlessness means preparing squab - something he never had cooked before - without a recipe, in front of strangers. Let us be more specific: squab seasoned with herbs and garlic, served on a bed of sauteed ...

Big is better, we've long been told, especially when it comes to food. Super-size this, double that, pile the trimmings high. Smaller, however, is increasingly proving to be smarter, more sustainable and equally satisfying when it comes to seafood. Eco-conscious top chefs and home cooks are turning to smaller and lesser-known fish not only for environmental and health reasons but because ...

Steve Brill owes a good part of his success to a dandelion. That, and an irate New York parks commissioner who didn't want him eating Central Park's greenery. It was 1986, and the now-famous forager - who roams yards and fields, eating things most people call weeds - was leading a wild foods tour in the park when two undercover agents ...

If you can't take the heat, find a dame who has a penchant for fire. Clad in a burnt-orange chef's coat, local cookbook author and chef, Aliza Green reached across the counter at La Cucina in the Reading Terminal Market and tossed a handful of black peppercorns into a hot pan as she imparted a bit of culinary wisdom to her ...

Premier healthcare alliance has announced Erick Neuharth, executive chef at St. Helena Hospital in St. Helena, Calif., has been named the winner of Premier's 2009 Culinary Creations Award. Neuharth was selected by more than 300 of his peers at Premier's annual Foodservice Forum, held in conjunction with its 2009 Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition, which drew more than 2,000 healthcare systems ...

The guy who reinvented ice cream is desperately trying to reinvent his company — before it melts. More than two decades ago, microbiologist Curt Jones devised a way to flash-freeze ice cream into colorful pellets about the size of BB's. Now in a tough economy, the outside-the-box company he founded, Dippin' Dots, is searching for a new concoction to take it ...

A minor revolution, in the form of cheese lasagna, had come to the cafeteria at Hampstead Hill Academy, but the struggle had only just begun. Kitchen staff accustomed to heating pre-made meals had to wrestle with sticky pasta noodles, then brace for balky eaters on this, the first "Meatless Monday" for Hampstead Hill and other Baltimore public schools. On Mondays throughout ...

The 2009 Taipei International Food Festival held three activities on July 4th and 5th. The Taipei City Government said that promotions for the Food Festival lasted three months and that during the last two days the best of the Festival was shown. The Young Chef Competition is about wisdom, skills, and experience A fascinating light show attracted everyone's attention as the ...

A MACHINE that makes and delivers pizza in three minutes will make its appearance in offices and factories around Italy from next week. The tomato-red machine, called Lets Pizza, prepares the dish from scratch. A window in the front allows customers to watch as the flour is kneaded, the pizza disc formed, tomato paste and other ingredients spread on top and ...

WASHINGTON - Not long after arriving at the White House, first lady Michelle Obama led reporters and culinary students through its cramped, stainless steel kitchen, enthusing, "This is where the magic happens." The food at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is fresh, seasonal and gathered from across America, as far away as the rivers of Alaska and as close as the first lady's ...