Eat at Joe's!

College Food Banks

Wow, seems odd, but also seems like a really good idea.  Also shows how bad times have gotten:

"Campus food banks help students through tough times" at USAToday

Come to think of it, there were probably a few months when I was in college when I could have used a food bank....

Blacked Out

I'll be blacked out tomorrow. 

New Grocery For Northeast Central Durham?

On the one hand, the area in question is not well served by grocery stores or decent places to eat (or a lot of other things for that matter).  On the other hand, a close friend's family describes the chain in question as the "Dented Can Store":

"City approves incentives for new Alston grocery" at the Herald-Sun

Given that the chain is getting $150,000.00 of Durham's money to open the store, on top of the chain's getting $1,000,000.00 to open a distribution center in Lexington — well, I hope it works out.  Otherwise that $1,000,000.00 will not do much for the city or the state.  ;-D

Thank You, FDA, Finally

MedPage Today: "FDA Bans Off-Label Cephalosporin Use in Animals"

TANSTAAFToy

"Regulations For Fast Food Kids Meals Set To Go Into Effect Thursday In SF"

"Burger King joins McDonald's in charging for kids' meal toys"

While I personally feel fast food chains can all go choke on their "HCrappy Meal" toys, generally I think if someone wants to give something away for free, or charge for it, fine.  Hell, let every kid get a free spent depleted uranium penetrator, as far as I care.  They're only "mildly radioactive."  The real question here is "Why would someone buy their kid one of these meals in the first place?"

I was raised by parents who tried to introduce me to a variety of foods.  In that spirit, they might have fed me a Happy Meal on occasion — I don't ever remember getting one, though — but what I was generally expected to eat was what they were eating.  At home, that meant what they were cooking (but I was sometimes allowed to skip a particular item: e.g., if they were making fried fish, slaw, cornbread, and potatoes, I'd be allowed to eat my fill of the cornbread, slaw, and potatoes, and skip the fish).  If we went out, which wasn't a lot, I (after a certain age) ordered off the menu; I never remember seeing any sort of child's menu.  If I committed some horrid sin, like ordering a tuna fish sandwich and a cup of hot chocolate for my birthday at a nice seafood restaurant (yes, this really happened), they might check, but I was allowed to hang myself under those circumstances.   

So, why buy your kid this stuff?  To distract them with the toy?  Perhaps one could bring a toy or a book.  Perhaps they're hoping not to be bothered by their kid while they're killing their Big Mac.  I guess we'll see whether parents value being able to ignore their kid at a dime per kid or not.  Personally, I imagine it'll fly: I can see mothers all over the Bay Area giving their kids dimes to put in some Ronald McDonald House "donation" box, the same way my mom used to give me dimes to stick in those March of Dimes collection boxes.

For my beloved City of San Francisco:  Since you've already dived further into the regulatory waters of dictating meal content (as has the State of California with another ill-considered foie gras ban), why not regulate menus?  Forbid the presentation of children's menus altogether.  Or tax the presentation of a "child's menu," or that child meal itself.  Remember, it's for the children.  That phrase will get about anything passed.  

When none of that works, chuck the whole mess into the water off Alcatraz.  I hear about anything will drown off there.

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Edit: "Wild Bears Shit in Woods," or it might as well say that.  Who did The Atlantic et. al. think was paying for those burgers and buying those Happy Meals?  And yes, most fast food places have a "dollar menu," but the same places are constantly testing the waters of newer, more upscale products they can still throw through a drive-through window quickly.  

Soylent Green Is Politicians

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  I had two Thanksgivings, which was awesome.  Not sure if I have twice as much to be thankful for or what, but it certainly left me with no time to blog about either.  

If any of the rest of you need food ideas for Second Thanksgiving, Xmas, Festivus, or what have you, perhaps you should try the newest edition of the Ron Paul Family Cookbook:

Is It Fair?

On the one tentacle, there's still time to get your Deep Fried on at the N.C. State Fair.  I suggest finding some deep fried Oreos; if you want something more like real food, I suggest an ear of corn, as they're delicious.  

On the other tentacle, Sean Wilson of Fullsteam points out that while the North Carolina State Fair awards three hundred forty-three — 343 — medals to North Carolina wines, there are none — 0 — for North Carolina beers.  That's right:  One of the most active food and drink scenes in the state and its newly active — dare I say fermenting? — and growing industry gets absolutely no recognition.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  To wit:

"No win, no place, no show: craft beer at the N.C. State Fair"

Think about it.  

And enjoy your autumn, however you choose to do so — it's kinda nice out there.  :)

More Foie Gras Stupidity

This idiocy was already tried in Chicago and failed, but Californians are going to try it themselves, apparently:

"In California, Going All Out to Bid Adieu to Foie Gras"

Kick Durham When It's Up

Right, Raleigh -- you don't want to be "like Durham," which is why you're changing your laws to be more like Durham's:

“I don’t think the city of Raleigh is going to fall apart if we don’t have food trucks,” Odom sniffed. “I’m not looking forward to being like Durham.”

I love the way people treat us as a city, don't you?  I also love that the Durham Herald-Sun is covering this.  Thank you.  :)

After 6 Years & 2 Floods, Nana's May Be Drier... After A Bunch More Work & Money

Herald-Sun: Drainage work OK'd for Nana's building

Parking Downtown

Why is it that making three-point turns on a busy narrow street is considered safer and better than parking, er, "left side of curb"?  The statement in the linked article is bogus, as one has to cross the yellow line both to make a 3-point turn and to park on the left of the street. 

[N.b. -- it took me longer to find the above link than it took for me to get the parking ticket in question.  :(  I gave up on finding a statute, but I guess that's county or state, not city.]

Dog-Gone-It!

After decisions by various local planning organs, Mr. Joseph Scarfo of Joey D's NY Dogs may be moving to another town:

"Food laws send Durham hot dog vendor packing"

That'd be unfortunate, especially after leasing the space.  I'm wondering what the hell "lease" even means when you can't put a hot dog cart on the leased spot.  I'm also wondering if it's typical for ordinary citizens to be asked to pay for the cost of changing a local ordinance.

Edit:  The "supply customers with bathroom" thing is particularly ridiculous: my understanding is that a brick & mortar food business only has to supply bathrooms if they have seating.  That's why all the places like Wimpy's had to get rid of their picnic tables outside.  Why would a mobile cart be forced to have a bathroom when a building doesn't?

Britain: "The high price we pay for cheap food"

... our supermarkets managed to destabilize Britain's food infrastructure. The supermarkets have left behind farmers, milk producers and fishermen. They all have knowledge they should be passing down, but there is no new blood wanting to pick up the rake, the fishing net or the gate latch at 4 a.m....

— Arthur Potts Dawson (via CNN and TED) on the British food industry.

According to the article, the average age of a farmer in Britain is 64.  

Chickens Come Home To Roost... On The Corpses Of Outlawed Taco Trucks

About 4 years ago, I posted about something I'd read in the N&O about Raleigh's restrictive ordinances for mobile food vendors ("Taco trucks get the runaround").  Instead of adapting to the new climate, Raleigh responded to an increase in mobile taquerias by applying, er, selective enforcement.  When it was pointed out that many existing food carts were also prohibited by the same ordinances, those ordinances were re-drafted to exclude, say, that Sabrett's hot dog truck that hangs out in front of a Home Depot.  Taco trucks and their ilk were still suppressed.  A lonchera noted in the article was cited in March 2005, and eventually run out of business.  

Fast-forward 5 years or so to today.  Food trucks in Durham, at least, happen to be booming.  So it's with a certain amount of satisfaction that I read in Durham's Independent about how Raleigh is now reconsidering, at least, how badly they're restricting such trucks ("Food trucks starving for Raleigh approval"), and what to do moving forward.  

Raleigh, congratulations.  Please try not to be so racist this time about what you're doing.  It should be easier for you now that garden-variety White folks are starting food trucks too.  

No Drink For You!

From the NYT: Plan to Ban Food Stamps for Sodas Has Hurdles

From The NYT: "Math Lessons for Locavores"

It takes about a tablespoon of diesel fuel to move one pound of freight 3,000 miles by rail; that works out to about 100 calories of energy. [...] A single 10-mile round trip by car to the grocery store or the farmers’ market will easily eat up about 14,000 calories of fossil fuel energy.

All's Fair In Love, War, & Coffee

This article about Nestlé and "fair trade" is 5 years old, but it points up some of the problems with labels like fair trade, organic, and local (via richardthinks).

Wow, I really would love a quarter's worth of Spam squirted thru a little metal tube

http://gastromatic.net/

[Via Wine Authorities, after they clearly had too much to drink.  Dude.]

We Have Successfully Infiltrated the Highest Levels of the United States Government, Part II

While I realize the POTUS and his family have, um, somewhat more resources than a lot of us, hearing about their vegetable garden is still heartening: '“There’s nothing really cooler,” Mrs. Obama said, “than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”'

Stew was, of course, all over this; no word yet on whether chickens will be taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  :)

Which raises a question in my mind: what would you do to have local vegetables or meat?

[Title from here.]

The Presidential Sweet

Here at Eat at Joe's!, we're all about the inauguration.  So that's why we're bringing you: 

Cake Wrecks: The Presidential Sweet

“Before we get barbecue, I have a few words to say about the economy.”

From Examiner.com:

2008 in review: top ten food stories and quotes from the presidential campaign trail

And a Merry Christmas to you from the staff and management at Eat at Joe's!  :) 

We Have Successfully Infiltrated the Highest Levels of the United States Government

According to the New York Times, "Mr. Obama looks like the first foodie president since Thomas Jefferson."  Whether Obama is a "foodie" or not, the article is a nice broad survey of what some other people would like to see the President-elect do with respect to the US and food.  It remains to be seen whether any substantive policy changes will come to pass.

Repeal Day

Hell, why isn't the end of prohibition a national holiday?

[Thanks to "(insert title here)" for bringing this important matter to my attention.  I'd buy him I drink if I knew how.]

Election Day Feeding Frenzy

Eat at Joe's! would like to join the [edit: Post-]Election Day frenzy by listing places giving out free food or the like.  Unfortunately, most of the ones I know about are chains: Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, and Ben & Jerry's come to mind.  I do know Six Plates is offering $2 Lamby Joes if you bring in your "I Voted" election sticker.  If you know of anyplace else doing something similar, please leave a note in the comments.  (Apparently some localities have laws against offering Election Day enticements, even if those offerings are non-partisan.  I have no idea what local law is on the matter, so let's be careful out there.)

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Edit:  Maybe I can keep up a list:

• OnlyBurger: Post-Election special (5 November 2008)
• Six Plates: $2 Lamby Joes
• Watts Grocery: Cupcake

Eat at Joe's! Urges PETA to Use Human Brains When Thinking

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

Meals Tax Article in Today's Herald-Sun

Today's Herald-Sun has an article by Ray Gronberg on the prepared meals tax.  The article is about a city and county government panel meeting held to decide how they want to spend the possible extra income, and on what sound like political accommodations being made to make the bill more, er, palatable to some voters.  [Registration required, and the H-S doesn't post articles permanently; go look now if you can't get a copy of today's paper.]

The comments seem to be somewhat vociferous. 

Edit - Also see: The Short of It.

Up and up and up....

“The food inflation that you’ve seen now, at least in the meat and poultry sector, probably is mild compared to what may be coming in the future.”

Burger Nation III: The Inflation Issue II

"If you are making something concerned only about the price, you are off in the wrong direction."

Yeah, right.  And the direction you're off in is....

The "Farm Bill"

Speaking of food prices, I'm going to delve into politics here, which is probably a mistake, but who the hell decided that all mistakes were bad?  :)

---

Last week, the U.S. Congress passed a bill increasing its -- our -- obligations to the tune of about $60 billion/year over the next 5 years.  The bill has popularly been called a "farm bill," but as the NYT points out, it could more appropriately be called a "food bill."  Why?  Over 2/3 of the bill's spending is not for the farm subsidies that some complain about.  Instead, that 2/3 plus some -- over $40 billion/year -- is in extra money for things like food stamps. 

I don't know how you folks feel about food stamps, or U.S. agriculture in general.  But in my opinion, the U.S. has been doing almost crazy stuff for 30 years or more to both keep the price of food down and keep U.S. farmers in business.  Folks in the U.S. spend much less on food than those in other countries: usually less than 10% of our money goes directly for food.  That's pretty cheap.

But it's about to get worse.  Hell, it's already getting worse, as any casual trip through a grocery store will tell you.  Wheat, which not too long ago was $3/bushel, is actually retreating from highs near $12 to about $11/bushel.  Other commodity crops are almost as bad.  Why?  It's complicated, but it seems (among other things) as if the price of food is responding to other governmental acts over the past year or so influencing the use of agriculture for energy generation: more ethanol from corn, say.  But that means less land for growing other crops, including food.  (Gas, if you haven't noticed, is flirting with $4/gallon.)

I don't know why Congress waited a year to see what any intelligent person who looked at the right numbers could have seen: food is going to continue to get more expensive.  Maybe Congress is doing the right thing, or maybe not.  But I do think that agriculture is the linchpin of the American economy: people, both here and abroad, depend on the US for food.  Maybe Congress's latest tinkering will be good, or maybe it won't.  But I hope it helps. 

Decision 2008 Primary: Burger Nation

For well over a year, I've been doing intermittent, yet serious research into who leads Durham in a very important part of our way of life:  Who has the best burger in the area?  I know there's the occasional vegetarian and vegan reading this blog, but I also know a lot of you crave burgers.  [Ok, I do.  :) ]  But since I'm a democratic kind of guy, I think we should put the question to you, the burger-polis, about who does the best job. 

Now, if we're to do this right, we'd set up some categories, define exactly what a burger is, settle side issues like fries, beverages, and condiments, as well as the huge issue of the bready wrapper.  And what about bacon?  What about those poor establishments that just can't generate a rare bacon cheeseburger with sauteed onions and mushrooms, with Bass on tap?   We need to have a fair primary, with all these issues settled, and the best possible range of solvable questions presented to the voters. 

We're not going to do that.  :)

But we are going to have a primary, from which I'll select a number of contenders to go on the ballot later.  As the local super-sized delegate, I may remove or add whomever I like to the ballot.  The field will need to be fattened up narrowed to 9 or less.  When I get a field of free food contenders I'm happy with, I'll get the payola/graft machines well greased set up free and fair elections using our mathematically dubious tried and true polling mechanism. 

The comments are your primary polling place.  Vote early and often. 

Burger Decision 2008 begins now. 

Edit: The poll, results, and further discussion are here.