Food scarcity is a real problem in many parts of the world, but in affluent nations, there are different kinds of food limitations. Not being able to find a "cooler ranch" flavored snack and having to settle for "original flavor" is definitely a first world problem. Here are just a few examples of some food shortages from around the world.

• Would you spend about $100 for some Twinkies? Limited-edition baked goods might trump loooots of t-shirts.... [url]
• Illegal hunting in South Africa could endanger large carnivores like cheetahs, lions and leopards. A boom in bushmeat trade threatens the food security of rural communities. [url]
• The American poultry industry has invested a lot of resources to create copious amounts of white meat on various farm-raised birds, but now there's more demand for dark meat. Look out for genetically modified six-legged chickens soon. [url]
• The European Parliament has voted (again) to ban shark finning practices that endanger certain sharks. The EU first passed a ban in 2003, but it left loopholes that allowed for shark finning to continue. Shark fin soup fanatics may need to start looking into the viability of shark farms soon. [url]

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Bacon is one of the most universally enjoyed foods... it's been called the "gateway meat" for vegetarians (and it's created quite a few ex-vegetarians). If you can't resist bacon, then you'll probably enjoy these links, too.

• Smucker's has a Maple Bacon-flavored syrup to make breakfast even more bacon-y. It contains neither bacon nor maple syrup. Discuss. [url]
• Can bacon help you during the zombie apocalypse? Maybe not, but it's still delicious. [url]
• Need another excuse to love bacon? As a bacon sandwich, it's a hangover cure. Who funds this kind of research... the alcohol industry or the pork lobby? [url]
• If you want to prepare for the worldwide shortages of bacon next year, start slowly weaning yourself off the crispy-fatty goodness now. Just focus on bacon's association with increased risk of heart disease and cancer while you experiment with Tempeh or Seitan recipes. [url]

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It's almost Thanksgiving (here in the US at least), and the traditional meal for this holiday is the humble turkey. So here are a few links about turkeys that might be informative or entertaining if this is your first time cooking a large bird. Have a fun (and safe) Thanksgiving, everybody!

• Underwriters Laboratories (UL) continues to deny a safety certification for any turkey fryers because they're so dangerous if used incorrectly. UL even states that the risks are not worth a great-tasting bird. [url]
• Turkeys have been known to "attack" people when taunted. Wild turkeys make lousy house pets. [url]
• There are a lot of meaningless food labels for turkeys -- such as "all natural" or "minimally-processed." But if it's labelled "fresh" that actually means the turkey has not been cooled below 26 degrees Fahrenheit and has not been fully frozen. [url]
• Alton Brown has a Thanksgiving turkey recipe that promotes the benefits of brining. Alton can't guarantee that you won't overcook your turkey, but brining increases the odds that a cooked turkey won't turn out dry. [url]

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Packaging designs can make foods and drinks more attractive. There's a reason why people shy away from food that comes in generic black & white packaging that looks like Dhamra Initiative rations. Here are just a few examples of some interesting packaging designs that probably aren't going to hit the store shelves anytime soon, but it'd be cool if they did.

• If you've ever tried to reach into a Pringles can for the last chip, there's a better can design that transforms a can into a bowl for easier snacking. Once you pop, you can't stop -- because turning the bowl back into a can is like re-folding a map.... [url]
• WikiCells have nothing to do with anyone being able to edit a spreadsheet. WikiCells are a strangely-named form of food packaging that consists of an edible membrane filled with some kind of nutritious liquid or emulsion or foam or solid food substance. All the cool kids will be eating these in the future, but some people will wonder why we don't just eat fruit. [url]
• Really old soda cans had pull tabs that came off and posed a choking hazard. Current aluminum cans have push in tabs that are slightly better, but now there's an even better design (called a 'smart tab') that lets you re-close the can. Still, an even better design would prevent your soda from losing its carbonation, so watch out for the 'smarter tab' someday. [url]

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Who hasn't sampled some grapes at the grocery store before buying a bunch? That's a pretty minor theft, and presumably one that stores take into account when they're pricing grapes. The really big problems are when huge amounts of food go missing. Recently, there have been a few bizarre food-related heists, and in case you missed them, here they are.

• Over 80,000 pounds of walnuts were stolen in California -- possibly by a delivery driver with a distinct Russian accent. Rocky and Bullwinkle think they know who to investigate.... [url]
• A stolen food truck in Florida was recovered -- in a crazy guy's backyard as part of some kind of doomsday-type bunker. The police commented that it's okay to build doomsday bunkers in your backyard, but just don't make them out of stolen vehicles and equipment. [url]
• This summer, Canada's strategic maple syrup reserves were raided by thieves, making off with about $30 million worth of the sugary condiment. Thankfully, they recovered 600-800 barrels of it in New Brunswick and have it under police protection. An investigation is still on-going to find out who could be behind such a sickly sweet score. [url]

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Food science has come a long way and makes a lot of incredibly delicious foods that last longer and stay fresher and provide more vitamins/nutrients than previously thought possible. But just as any technology is a tool that can be used for either the benefit or to the detriment of humankind, there's also the dark side of modern food production that has produced some of the most unhealthy foods in history. Here are just a few examples of sketchy food stories that you might want to avoid.

• A factory making counterfeit ketchup was found in New Jersey -- where thousands of plastic bottles labelled 'Heinz ketchup' leaked and caused a foul stench. The would-be counterfeiters apparently gave up on trying to pour out the ketchup and abandoned their ketchup scheme, leaving it all to rot. [url]
• Schools are cracking down on Flamin' Hot Cheetos for being too high in calories, salt and fat. These Cheetos are almost addictive because they're spicy, and kids who eat too many of them suffer from stomach pains and leave a trail of dusty red fingerprints.... [url]
• Monster Energy drinks are being investigated after reports of deaths from possible caffeine poisoning. Energy drinks are sold as nutritional supplements, so they're not subject to the FDA-mandated limit of 71 milligrams of caffeine for typical soft drinks. Some estimate the amount of caffeine in these drinks supplements is over 200 mg. [url]

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There are plenty of cases where food regulations are reasonable safety measures, but sometimes there are serious government decisions that sound a bit ridiculous (eg. the Supreme Court deciding that a tomato is a vegetable in 1893). Here are just a few examples of more recent politically-charged food proposals.

• Pizza is not a vegetable, but just 1/8 of a cup of tomato paste counts the same as a half cup of vegetables, according to Congress. It's actually not that easy to directly compare the nutritional value of various servings of fruits and vegetables, but plenty of people simply see highly-processed foods as an unacceptable component of school lunches. [url]
• The USDA had a suggestion to try out a "Meatless Monday" recommendation, but it quickly backed off doing so. The proposal would have encouraged corporate and school cafeterias to offer a vegetarian meal on Mondays, but there were obvious objections from parts of the agriculture industry. [url]
• California's Proposition 37 would require labels on genetically modified foods -- and consumers will likely be surprised at the amount of GMOs in their diet. If it passes, the result of this vote could make GM foods a larger national issue. [url]

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Some people freely admit that they have trouble boiling water when it comes to cooking techniques. But some seemingly simple tasks aren't so easy to do if your standards are set high enough. The proliferation of cooking shows doesn't quite help because every TV chef has his/her own way of creating the same dish -- so there's no consistent method. Here are just a few examples of some "easy dishes" to prepare.

• A perfectly fried egg is cooked in a small pool of olive oil over medium-high heat. But in this particular demonstration, the perfect egg might be a bit more runny than some people like their eggs. [url]
• Freezing water might not sound like a tricky task, but if you want optically-clear ice cubes without any annoying bubbles or haziness in them -- there are a few tricks to it. When water freezes slowly, fewer air bubbles get trapped inside -- so cool your water down slowly in an insulated container. [url]
• There are plenty of tips on how to properly cook a hard boiled egg. Start with room temperature eggs, cold water and remove them from heat about a minute after the water boils... but there are no guarantees on how easy those eggs will be to peel. [url]

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Drinking wine on special occasions is a popular tradition all over the world, but it seems like more people would like some other excuses for drinking wine, too. Red wine had gotten a lot of publicity for various health benefits, but if you want to drink some wine, maybe you should be asking yourself why you need so many different reasons. Here are just a few interesting links about wine to go with your favorite beverage.

• There's a persistent statistic that wine drinkers tend to live longer than teetotalers or people who drink other forms of alcohol. But according to a recent study, those wine drinkers also correlate highly with people who possess healthier habits in general. So wine could merely be the drink of the healthier -- and not some magic elixir for longer life. [url]
• Some Australian researchers have developed a process to turn wine into clothing -- and it also works with other forms of alcohol. Bacteria are used to ferment the alcohol into a formable fabric, and the garments retain characteristic odors of their original beverage. So if you really like the smell of beer, there's a perfect shirt for you.... [url]
• There's a possible "miracle molecule" in red wine called resveratrol -- and it seems to give older mice some improved mobility. Consuming more red wine might seem like the easy answer for older people to gain mobility improvements, but the study also suggested that a 150lb human would have to drink 700 4-ounce glasses of red wine a day to see an effect. Good luck with that! [url]

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Ketchup actually started out as a fish sauce and somehow evolved into the much more widely-consumed condiment we know today. Early recipes of ketchup contained sodium benzoate -- which was banned in the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. That ban led to other formulations which contained vinegar as a preservative and used ripe tomatoes. Here are just a few more fascinating factoids about this tangy, thixotropic, tomato-based foodstuff.

• MIT researchers have developed LiquiGlide -- a non-stick coating that could let people get every last drop of ketchup out of a bottle easily. Anticipation is no longer making me wait.... [url]
• Malcom Gladwell is famous for (among other things) his talk on spaghetti sauces and the discovery that customers want a spectrum of choices when it comes to spaghetti sauces. But ketchup seems to be the exception to the rule because there's just a single dominant brand -- and there are far fewer than 57 varieties of it. [url]
• Should ketchup count as a vegetable in school lunches? The tomato sauce on pizza may not count as a vegetable serving according to mothers and the USDA, but it might for some politicians. [url]

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