If there's a way to eat something, there's someone out there with a "right" way to eat it. Sometimes etiquette dictates how you should eat, but sometimes efficiency trumps the normal rules of society (don't ask when). If you're looking for more efficient ways to eat some common fruits, just check out these guides to eating apples, oranges and bananas.

• If you eat an apple by pulling out the stem and eating it top down, you'll probably be able to eat the entire apple without really tasting the core. Of course, some joker is going to say that it's better to eat it up from the bottom... [url]
• Do you hate cutting/peeling oranges? Can't decide to make an equatorial or polar cut? Here's your new method: slice a bit of the top and bottom off and then cut the peel so that it can unroll. The drawback is that you don't end up with any pieces that you can readily use to make an orange-peel-teeth smile. [url]
• Most people peel a banana from the stem down, but did you know that monkeys peel bananas from the other end? Monkeys don't care which end of the banana is the top. They just want to peel bananas in an easy way, instead of making a banana joystick with the stem and mashing the top of their bananas. [url]

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It turns out that many Americans aren't paying much attention to the ongoing battle over labeling genetically modified foods. A recent survey by researchers at Rutgers University found that half of Americans know very little or nothing at all about GM foods, while a quarter have never even heard of them. Furthermore, they found that many Americans are also confused about what types of GM foods are on the market. Meanwhile, heirloom fruits, vegetables, and grains are gaining popularity. These are plants that have been grown and passed down from one generation to another -- some for more than 100 years -- often selected for their superior flavor, as well as other characteristics such as productivity, hardiness, and adaptability. If you want to avoid GM foods, why not spend some time rediscovering heirloom varieties? Here are a few links to get you started.

• Glass Gem corn is a stunning variety of heirloom corn that's named for its multi-colored, gem-like kernels. You really have to see it to believe it. Glass Gem is the result of many years of selective breeding of corn that exhibited vivid, translucent colors.[url]
• Tartine Bakery in San Francisco has started incorporating heirloom and ancient varieties of grains into the bread they make. Apparently, these older varieties of grains -- rye, barley, einkorn, and emmer -- have a different gluten quality that makes them easier to digest. [url]
• In case of an apocalyptic disaster that destroys the world's crops, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will make sure we can rebuild the global plant population. Built on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Svalbard, Norway -- away from civilization -- the seed vault can hold up to 4.5 million different seed varieties and keep them safe from disasters caused by climate change, asteroid strikes, plant diseases, nuclear warfare, and even earthquakes. [url]

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It seems like every other day we hear about yet another chemical in our food supply that's bad for our health. Maybe it's because the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, which is supposed to help regulate the use of chemicals in consumer products, has failed us with its assumption that "chemicals are safe until proven harmful," and has turned us into unwitting human guinea pigs. Phthalates in vinyl, perfluorinated chemicals in non-stick cookware, brominated flame retardants in electronics, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in coolant/dielectric fluids, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in insecticides -- these are just a few chemicals that, over the years, have been discovered to be unsafe, long after they were introduced in consumer products. Here are a few more:

• The FDA will likely ban trans fats in foods. Trans fats, typically found in partially hydrogenated oils, help increase the shelf life of processed foods and make deep-frying oils last longer. However, the FDA has now concluded that the negative health effects of trans fats -- they raise LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower HDL (good) cholesterol -- far outweigh their benefits. [url]
• The FDA is now warning people to reduce their consumption of acrylamide, which tends to form when starch-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures, like in frying or baking. Acrylamide, in high doses, can cause cancer in animals and likely also in humans. So, in every humanly possible way, avoid eating tasty things like fries, chips, toasted bread, and even coffee. [url]
• The FDA is keeping an eye on bisphenol A (BPA). While there have been a ton of fear-mongering media reports on BPA, the FDA has concluded that at this time, there is no strong evidence that BPA is unsafe at the very low levels we get exposed to through our diet. However, it will continue to study BPA and recommends that people who want to reduce their exposure to BPA should: avoid using plastics with recycle codes 3 or 7; never put hot liquids in containers made with BPA; and throw away scratched plastic bottles. [url]

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It's not easy to introduce a new soda (or pop or whatever you like to call carbonated soft drinks). Just try to find a bottle of New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, OK Soda or 7Up Gold -- and those are just the discontinued sodas that had some significant marketing campaigns behind them. The successful introduction of diet sodas has evolved into a trend toward "healthier" sodas with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, real sugar, no BVO, herbal supplements and all sorts of other ingredients that might provide some kind of health benefit. However, some of these healthy sodas are dying off because consumers don't seem to want sodas that sound too good for you. Here are just a few examples of healthier sodas you might want to try.

• Pepsi Special is a diet soda that contains dextrin -- an indigestible fiber that can make a person feel full and reduce the body's ability to absorb fat from foods. This beverage has recently been approved for sale in Japan, but it's not the only soft drink with dextrin on the Japanese market. (NB: drinking a lot of indigestible fiber might keep you in the bathroom for a bit longer than usual...) [url]
• A few years ago, Coke and Pepsi both introduced "healthy" sodas (Diet Coke Plus and Tava, respectively). These carbonated beverages were fortified with vitamins and minerals, but they didn't quite catch on. [url]
• Coke and Pepsi weren't the first to try adding vitamins and minerals to soda -- in 2004, 7Up Plus hit the shelves a few years before Diet Coke Plus and Tava. 7Up with antioxidants also ran into some problems, and a lawsuit from the Center for Science in the Public Interest made the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group agree to stop adding vitamin E to drinks and claiming to have antioxidant health benefits. [url]

Nature has devised some convenient ways to protect foods until we're ready to eat them -- bananas have nice yellow peels, grapes come in handy bunches, etc. People have also devised a few interesting packages for food (not just Pringles cans), but there's always some room for improvement. Here are just a few examples of some ways to store food/drinks in interesting ways.

• Almost everyone can recognize an egg carton -- a container design that's well over 50 years old. However, the humble egg carton might still evolve if an "eggbox" design (that can fold flat) gets commercial interest. [url]
• Coca Cola is experimenting with a Coke bottle made of ice, but it's only being sold in Colombia. Looks like a cool idea to have the bottle melt away, but the refrigeration necessary to store the bottles isn't too environmentally friendly. (Also, you have to drink it all in one sitting?) [url]
• You can get a 12-course meal to fit into a can -- and you don't even need a can opener to eat it. The pop-top can contains 12 layers of deliciously compacted food, but you have to be a bit careful about getting everything out so you don't mix up the appetizer with the dessert. [url]

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If fruits and vegetables tasted even better, maybe people would include more in their diet. Part of what researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are trying to do is to improve the taste and nutritional profile of specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, in the hope that Americans will adopt a healthier diet. For generations, humans have been inadvertently breeding the nutrients out of fruits and vegetables, by selecting varieties that are more palatable (i.e., higher in sugar and starch). Then, somewhere along the way, appearance became important, and farmers began breeding aesthetically pleasing varieties, often at the expense of taste. So, now we're stuck with some pretty bland products. Here are some more tasty links.

• For the past 70 years or so, people have been breeding tomatoes for a uniform red color, but in the process, a gene that increases sugar content in tomatoes was inactivated. The gene, SlGLK2, increases the formation of chloroplasts, which are responsible for producing sugars through photosynthesis. Researchers have shown that by re-inserting an intact copy of the gene into tomatoes, they could increase the amount of glucose and fructose by up to 40%, while still retaining the uniform color ripening trait. Too bad they weren't actually able to taste them (federal regulations prohibit sampling experimental crops). [url]
• Researchers have found that today's Fuji apples are mealier, less flavorful, and more susceptible to disease than they were in the 1970s. The culprit: climate change. Studies in controlled temperature environments have shown that higher temperatures have been linked to a decrease in taste and texture in apples. Who knows what other crops might also have been changed due to global warming? [url]
• University of Florida researchers have discovered that they can improve the taste of fruits by exposing them to far-red light. They were able to use specific wavelengths of light to manipulate the production of volatile compounds that control aroma and taste in fruits like tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries. Imagine your produce tasting even better after being stored in your far-red-light-equipped refrigerator! [url]

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Certain things are almost guaranteed to taste good to us -- salt, sugar and fat are just a few examples of ingredients that most people enjoy and (sometimes) can't stop themselves from eating. Eating anything in excess can be bad for you (see the "truckload of vegetables" debating technique), but people seem to especially focus on salt, sugar and fat. Here are just a few links that provide some data points on the health effects of these three tasty food items.

• For decades, we've been told that our salt intake was probably too high, but a recent study -- spanning 50 years and over 45 countries -- concludes that dietary salt intake is normal at around 2,600 mg to 4,800 mg per day (versus the US recommendations of no more than 2,300 mg per day for a healthy person). This conclusion suggests that our salt intake is regulated by physiology and biological need, not by how much salt is in our food. [url]
• Various kinds of processed sugars seem to be an increasing part of the modern diet, and sugar intake correlates with obesity rates across many countries. Should we try to restrict sugar intake with taxes or allow more artificial sweeteners on the market? Or..? [url]
• It's a myth that eating fat will make you fat -- eating an excess of calories from any source (eg. carbohydrate, protein, alcohol) makes you fat. In fact, the percentage of calories from fat from our diets has actually gone down in the US over the last 30 years, but obesity rates are clearly much higher. [url]

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Which of these are berries: bananas, watermelon, avocado, strawberries? Surprisingly, all of them, except strawberries. According to the botanical definition, a "berry" is a fleshy fruit that's produced from a single ovary. Strawberries are actually "accessory fruits" which consist of many small individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle. The "seeds" that you see on the surface of strawberries are the actual fruits, and each of them surrounds a tiny seed. Here are some more strawberry-related links.

• Japanese electronics company Sharp is working on growing strawberries in the Middle East, where it's difficult to grow them and expensive to import. The strawberries will be grown at a facility in Sharp's Middle East Free Zone Establishment in Dubai, in a controlled environment of optimal temperature, light, and humidity. These will all be precisely controlled using Sharp technology, such as LED lighting and "Plasmacluster" air-purification technology. [url]
• There are more than 600 varieties of strawberries in the world, but only 3 types: June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral. Some of the most popular varieties grown in the U.S. include Honeoye, Allstar, Chandler, Jewel, Seascape, Tristar, and Earliglow, which is considered to be one of the best tasting strawberry varieties out there. [url]
• A new wild strawberry species was recently discovered in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. It grows at elevations of 3,000-5,000 feet. Unlike other local wild strawberries, which have only 8 sets of chromosomes, this new strawberry (Fragaria cascadensis) has 10 sets of chromosomes. [url]
• Japanese researchers have developed a $50,000 strawberry-picking robot that can pluck a strawberry every 8 seconds. The robot uses a 3D stereo camera system to determine which berries are ripe based on color, and when it finds a ripe one, it extends its arm, snips the stem, and then places the berry in the basket. [url]

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The problem with hunger isn't limited to not having enough to eat -- other hunger issues arise with over-active cravings that lead to obesity and other health problems. For many people, it's not so simple to just "eat less and exercise more" despite how simple that formula sounds. Here are just a few links on the topic of watching what you eat and trying to control caloric intake.

• Dietary research increasingly suggests that not all calories are equivalent, and there is some evidence that high-glycemic foods (from processed carbohydrates) can cause blood sugar spikes and stimulate hunger. It's not clear if the cravings caused by refined carbohydrates can be reduced to fight obesity, but avoiding high-glycemic foods could be part of a strategy (along with an exercise regime) to help people lose weight. [url]
• Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich tried to eat on a budget of $4.50 a day for a week -- to raise awareness for hunger. The average amount allocated to individuals in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is just $31.50 per week, and it's not an easy diet to live on without getting hungry. Good thing Panera has some 'Pay What You Want' locations.... [url]
• Some genetically modified mice developed brain cells that could respond to light -- one group had neurons that were activated by light and another group of mice had neurons that were de-activated with light. Using these mice, researchers were able to control how much the mice ate by shining light on particular areas of the brain -- making mice eat when they were beyond full and preventing mice from eating when the mice were hungry. [url]

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Chemistry labs are usually pictured as a clean room environment with an array of colorful liquids sitting in weird glass containers -- or sometimes as an RV racing through a desert with some crazy guy in a gas mask and dead drug dealers sliding around on the floor (a la Breaking Bad). But home kitchens are also a type of chemistry lab, and food science is getting more advanced as people with entirely too much free time (ahem, Nathan Myhrvold...) experiment with novel cooking techniques. Here are just a few links for budding home master chefs.

• If you want to grill a nice steak at home, don't try to mimic how your favorite steakhouse does it. Steakhouses optimize for speed, but at home, you can take your time and get it just the way you like it. [url]
• Some fancy cooking techniques have been called "molecular gastronomy" to describe the intersection of food science and chemistry/physics. The definition of this field of study hasn't quite been nailed down, but some chefs are starting to publish papers in scientific journals. [url]
• Harvard researchers and professional chefs are teaching an online course for haute cuisine techniques. This introductory course has no pre-requisites, and starts Oct 8th.... [url]

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