70-Year-Old Lobster Deserves Freedom

Restaurant heeds PETA call to let old-timer return to the sea

(NEWSER) - A lobster almost as old as the Lincoln presidency will return to the ocean today after being freed by PETA, the Village Voice reports. The animal rights group persuaded a New York City seafood restaurant to release George, estimated to be 140 years old, and plans to free the old-timer in an area off the Maine cost where lobster trapping is forbidden. More»

NY company recalls more than 500K pounds

(NEWSER) - A person each from Maine and New York has died in what authorities believe may be an outbreak of E. coli in ground beef that is suspected of sickening dozens of consumers. The suspect beef was produced by New York company Fairbank Farms, which has recalled more than half a million pounds of beef. The ground beef and packaged patties, all stamped with "EST 492," were sold in eight states, reports the New York Times . More»

High-iron reds make a poor accompaniment, scientists confirm

(NEWSER) - Researchers conducting intensely necessary studies have confirmed what connoisseurs have always told us: Red wine doesn’t go with fish. Tasters tried 38 red wines and 26 whites while noshing on scallops. They discovered that wines with higher iron content—meaning most reds—unpleasantly accentuated the seafood's “fishy” taste. If researchers added a substance to the wines that masked iron, the taste diminished. More»

From onion blossoms to overhyped chefs, these things need to go away

(NEWSER) - Asked to name the decade's worst dining trends, chefs and other food experts couldn't shut up. There were too many (including "mache, water sommeliers, organ-meat entrees, unisex bathrooms, bacon tattoos on chefs, over-flaunted kitchen burns, chefs tables") for Christopher Borrelli to list them all, but he hits the top 10 in the Chicago Tribune:

• Fried onion blossoms: Too sweaty, too greasy, too little onion, and too much fried stuff.
• The $40 entree: When your neighborhood bistro has hit these heights, it's time to say enough is enough.

Fiona is a 1-in-30-million genetic mutation

(NEWSER) - The one-in-30-million special at one Boston eatery isn’t on the menu. Caught off the Canadian coast, “Fiona” is believed to be a rare yellow lobster. The spotted 7-year-old (the coloring is actually closer to orange) is fed sushi-quality tuna and will eventually be sent to live at a museum, the owner tells the Boston Globe. Meantime, nobody’s eating her. “That would be like steaming a Rembrandt.” More»