Good Eats

A Chicago restaurant ban on foie gras pate that animal lovers love to hate has been lifted by city legislators after two years. The ban caused widespread derision among foodies, fury in the restaurant industry—and plaudits from animal rights advocates who wanted to save the force-fed ducks and geese whose super fatty livers make the pate. Mayor Richard Daley bulldozed the repeal through the City Council, reports the Sun Times . More »

With a gallon of organic milk costing a whopping $7 and a conventional gallon going for $2.99, cash-strapped shoppers are skipping organic groceries. That means the $19 billion industry, which has ballooned 150% since 2001, may now be shrinking, Newsweek reports. “I miss it terribly,” said one former Whole Foods regular. “But I just can’t afford it anymore. Food everywhere is so expensive.” More »

Switzerland faces a potato shortage just weeks before hundreds of thousands of famished European soccer fans descend on the country expecting to snack on French fries. The nation, which is co-hosting the upcoming international soccer tournament Euro 2008, is mashing the pending crisis by lifting trade barriers to import 5,000 tons of extra spuds, reports Der Spiegel. More »

The gas production, need for space, and food requirements required by organic and free-range livestock hurt the environment more than their traditional counterparts, the BBC reports. Organic poultry can heat the earth some 45% more than indoor poultry, one group said; and a UN division found that farm animals heat the Earth more than transport. The reports have led experts to push indoor "precision husbandry." More »

One of Japan's prized delicacies is having an identity crisis: fugu, the pricey puffer fish that's poisonous unless prepared correctly, now has a farmed cousin that's harmless, the New York Times reports. But gourmands looking forward to eating fugu liver—the most delicious and potentially deadly part of the fish—are being thwarted by the fugu industry, which is fighting to keep a ban on the livers, even from detoxed variety. More »

Vanishing culinary breeds are getting a new lease on life, thanks to the efforts of an ethnobotanist with an interest in America's foodie past, the New York Times reports. While Makah ozette potato sounds like a "Final Jeopardy" answer, the once-endangered vegetable is one of the many culinary artifacts Gary Paul Nabhan aims to bring back to America's dinner tables. More »

If your idea of good eating doesn't stretch to yak's penis or duck testicles, then Beijing's Guolizhuang restaurant definitely isn't the place for you. The exclusive restaurant's menu is made up almost entirely of penis and testicle dishes, Der Speigel reports. Well-heeled businessmen flock in for dishes such as "Jasmine Flowers with 1,000 Layers"—otherwise known as sliced donkey penis. More »

San Francisco startup Tcho has all the sweet Silicon Valley trimmings, the Economist reports; high-profile tech alums, online beta testing and stock options for all. But its product is even sweeter: top-quality chocolate. The company has developed a means to grade cocoa beans' complex nuances on a "flavor wheel," taking a cutting-edge approach to a timeless artisanal craft. More »

For the third year in a row El Bulli, the restaurant-cum-chemistry lab outside of Barcelona, has been named the world's best restaurant. Feran Adrià's "gastronomic temple" got the top gong from a group of 700 chefs and critics. For Bloomberg's food writer El Bulli is "highly technically accomplished," but fundamentally "theater." More »

Today a New York judge delayed a law requiring Big Apple eateries to list calorie content on menus. Set to kick in today, the law is now slated to take effect Friday—which gives the city time to sort out a suit by New York restaurants, which are seeking yet another stay. Meanwhile, the Village Voice visits a few restaurants to chat up servers and reconsider TGI Friday's' 2,000-calorie ribs. More »

Yes, your probiotic flaxseed Kashi cereal is still organic, but shoppers looking to stick it to the man by going green be advised: the nation's top 30 corporate food processors—think Pepsi, Kellogg, Kraft, General Mills—have been quietly buying up vast swaths of the organic aisle of your supermarket, Treehugger reports. More »

You might look for a $99 espresso shot in a crowded Italian café before the second floor of a London department store. Yet it's the latter where you'll find the cup brewed from two of the world’s rarest coffee beans, one of which is sniffed out and, er, digested by an Indonesian civet, the Guardian reports. But is the java foodie paradise or marketing racket? More »

They can’t promise German sausage or bonneted barmaids, but North American beer festivals pour pint after pint of terrific local brews. Portfolio lists the best in fests, from now through October. Mondial de la Bière (May 28-June 1): Try beer, cider, mead, and cheese over 5 days in Montreal. Oregon Brewers Festival (July 24-27): Enjoy free-admission tastings of more than 70 local beers at this Portland event. More »

Cappuccinos are commonplace, but new gourmands get their caffeine fix from tea. After falling out of favor during the Revolutionary War, tea is experiencing a comeback in the US; sales have tripled since 1990 and gourmet tea can cost thousands per pound. Portfolio pours a cupful of tips for would-be drinkers: Beware the bag: Bagged teas are usually considered lower-quality. More »

Harry's Bar in Venice has offered hospitality to tourists and expatriates since the days of Ernest Hemingway. But in recent months Harry's has noticed a sharp drop in the number of Americans showing up at the home of the Bellini cocktail. So restaurant owner Arrigo Cipriani has a novel solution: a 20% discount to subprime-stricken Americans for everything on the menu. More »

Food & Wine has posted its Best New Chef awards for 2008. Look for their profiles in the July issue, but take a peek at the winners here: Jim Burke: owner of James , a modern Italian restaurant in Philadelphia's Bella Vista neighborhood. Gerard Craft: owner and chef at Niche in St. Louis, where bacon and eggs sandwich and braised pork belly top the menu. More »

Inspired by WWII food rationing, a British celebrity chef has declared war on the UK’s poor eating habits. Jamie Oliver is encouraging families in one South Yorkshire town to shun takeout and ready-made meals in favor of home-grown food and other healthier alternatives. “People are really busy, they’re on tight budgets, and no one has bothered to teach them how to cook,” Oliver said. More »

America's best hot dog is to be found in Beantown, writes Raymond Sokolov in the Wall Street Journal . On the eve of a new baseball season, Sokolov criss-crossed the country in a quest to find the top dog. Hollywood, New York, and (especially) Chicago offered strong contenders, but perfection in a bun was found at Speed's—a humble hot dog stand in a Boston parking lot. More »

Fear of contamination today forced Italy to recall its celebrated mozzarella cheese, Reuters reports. Rome is withdrawing the cheese of 25 companies in the Campania region near Naples, source of the country’s best buffalo mozzarella, after a garbage crisis is thought to have spread cancer-causing dioxin. The European Commission had threatened a trade ban; South Korea and Japan have halted imports. More »

Grocery-shopping in New York City takes a hefty toll on one’s pocketbook, Henry Alford writes in the New York Times , but at 99-cent stores, more diamonds in the rough exist than one might expect. Alford embarked on a challenge: to craft a week's worth of meals made mainly from on-the-cheap ingredients, culminating in a 99-cent dinner party. More »