"FoodNews" news and stories

This year was certainly a big year in food: food recalls, new food web sites launching, products being revamped, and plenty more. It was tough to keep up with it all.

So test your food-news savvy with YumSugar's Real or Fake Quiz: The Year in Food. Ask yourself: Did Baskin-Robbins really retire the French Vanilla flavor? We can admit we only anwered 9 out of 11 questions correctly.

Take the quiz: 2010 Headlines: Real or Fake?

Vegemite -- the yeast-based savory spread that is a distant cousin of Marmite, and beloved by Kiwis and Aussies -- is getting a makeover for the first time in 85 years, the Times Online reports.

Kraft Foods surveyed hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders and Australians to find out how they took their morning dose of Vegemite, and found that many wished it was more easily spreadable, or paired it with cream cheese on toast. Thus, the new incarnation incorporates cream cheese and one other secret ingredient.

It remains to be seen whether those who love it will appreciate this new incarnation -- early indicators say "no" -- but the company is cleverly reaching out to those who love it to give this new Vegemite product a new name. Early submissions include "I Just Mite," indicating that rabid fans might just adopt this newcomer.

[Via Times Online]

Just how tumultuous a year was 2008 when it comes to food news? In November, a man in India died at a company-sponsored pastry eating contest. That same month a couple sued McDonald's. For what? Philip Sherman left his cell phone at a McDonald's in Fayette, Arkansas, and he claims that employees found naked pictures of his wife Tina and posted them online.

Alright, what's so new about McDonald's being sued? Fair enough. Perhaps, one of the craziest news in food for 2008 is the world's largest fruit mosaic created by over 1,000 students from Pingyuan Middle School in China. The mosaic consists of 349,200 navel oranges, 18,172 apples and 5,153 pomelos. And, it made the Guinness World Record being 60 m (196 ft 10 in) long and 37 m (121 ft 4 in) wide, with a total area of 2,220 m² (23895 ft²).

This past summer, CNN posted a story online of the world's priciest foods. And, apparently gold is an edible mineral. Companies, such as Fancy Flours, are selling edible gold leaves for approximately $15,000 per pound. Now, one of my favorite food stories from 2008 comes from Wacky Archives: creative food sculptures. These adorable and insane food creatures are hilarious, especially the one of the egg shell transformed into a baby carriage carrying its yolk. And, there's the anthropomorphized roll of bread, seen above, biting onto its knife.

What are some of your favorite crazy food moments from 2008?

I recently read a revealing article from Parade magazine that uncovers common food myths. Some of them were shocking. Do people really think that margarine is healthier than butter? Although butter contains saturated fats that raise cholesterol, margarine is loaded with trans fats. Unfortunately, my parents believed this myth; and, just recently, over the past few years I have begun to discover the many different delicious creamy butters that exist.

A myth that I believed prior to reading this article was that fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier than frozen ones. In some cases, you can get more nutrients from frozen fruits and vegetables. This depends on how old the "fresh" produce really is. After being harvested, fresh fruit can spend many days being sorted through and shipped to markets. Fluctuations in light and temperature affect the nutrients in produce. On the other hand, the negative effects of canned and frozen produce have to do with its taste, texture, and additives.

Another revealing myth is that decaf coffee has no caffeine. There are plenty more! For example, people actually believe that bananas are fattening. Many people argue that cooking vegetables destroys their vitamin content. What do you think about these busted food myths? And, which ones do you think are less obvious?

Last week, I listened to a story on NPR about countries in Central America, notably Honduras, that are turning to genetically modified crops as the global food crisis worsens. Honduras is the only country in Central America that has embraced genetically engineered corn.

Genetically engineered corn is against the law in most of Central America where the crop has been grown for thousands of years. They ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to protect their many diverse varieties of corn from contamination. But with the price of corn doubling, Honduras has recently decided to use GMOs.

The food crisis is bringing about a new trend towards genetically modified crops. Egypt just approved GMO corn, and China increased its funding in research on GMO foods. However, this may be a destructive temporary solution. Environmentalists are concerned that biotech crops could damage the natural diversity of plants. These crops are made by injecting new genes that were found in other species. In essence, they're getting rid of previous natural varieties and creating new ones.

What do you think? Should countries view GMO foods as a solution to the current food crisis?