Photo: Pointnshoot, Flickr

Shoney's is hoping a new restaurant prototype it premiered last week in the city where the family-dining franchise got its start will mark a rebirth for the beleaguered chain.

The revamped flagship eatery in Charleston, W. Va., features a new skillet-driven menu -- "we have breakfast skillets, pot-roast skillets and an apple pie skillet for dessert," boasts ShoRest marketing director Denise Biafore -- with a new orange-and-avocado color scheme and new decorations, including live plants.

"We're taking it back to its glory days," Biafore says. "A lot of people think Shoney's is a dying chain."

In a recent marketing campaign, Oscar Meyer proclaimed that its "Deli Creations" flatbread sandwiches were "blogworthy."

I beg to differ.

Nobody likes to be manipulated, and I would argue that bloggers like it less than most. There's something about spending a few lonesome hours a day cranking out content that really ups the curmudgeon quotient and makes us a mite persnickety about our production process. While other blogs, including Gawker, might not be too picky about where they get their tips, I tend to get mighty cranky when multimillion dollar corporations tell me what is and is not blogworthy.

With that in mind, here's something that really is blogworthy: fried bologna sandwiches. For anybody who hasn't tried this backwoods delicacy, the concept may sound a little questionable. However, the combination of bologna and heat produces a dish that is incredibly delicious and startlingly different from a basic bologna sandwich.

Insert _____ possum/raccoon/squirrel joke here, if you must.

But don't laugh. A West Virginia hot dog has nothing to do with roadkill, and it's not simply a hot dog eaten in West Virginia either. It is a regional specialty with its own rules, legions of die-hard fans, even its own website. A true West Virginia hot dog is slathered in bean-less beef chili and topped with mustard, coleslaw and chopped onions, then quickly "steamed" in a microwave to soften the bun.

On a recent trip to Welch, WV (don't ask), I had a couple for lunch at a gas station/lunch counter/hunting supply shop near the town of Beckley. They were $1.29 for two, with creamy homemade slaw spooned out of a Tupperware container. The sweet gooeyness of the steamed bun reminded me of Chinese pork buns, cut by the acrid bit of the fresh white onions. I ate while perusing Polaroids of dead buck deer and other hunting trophies pined to the wall, and came out with a strange urge to learn how to use a shotgun.

Here at Slashfood burgers have been on our foodar since May. Heck, now that we're into summer they're on everybody's mind, including the good citizens of Akron, Ohio, who hosted the National Hamburger Festival this past weekend.

The hefty hamburger above was cooked up this weekend, but not in Akron. Weighing in at 10 pounds, Big Bad Bubba's Double Wide hails from Huntington, W. Va. Specifically Hillbilly Hotdogs, which last year created a 5-pound burger known as, you guessed it, Big Bad Bubba's Single Wide.

This weekend HH added the BBDW to its menu. This massive sandwich may sport a 6.5-pound patty, but it's still less than one-sixth the weight of the largest burger I've ever heard of. Either way, I'd love to see Kobayashi take one down, if only so he could declare himself a big bad bubba, even if he is only half-wide.

CalorieLab has just released a list of the fattest states in the country for 2006. Their research reveals that Mississippi is the fattest state, where approximately 29.5% of the population is obese based on a three year statistical average. If the statistics are extended to include the overweight population, as well as those who are obese, the results show that over 2/3 (67.3%) of the state's residents are either overweight or obese; Mississippi is the only state to have that dubious honor. Following close behind in the obesity count are Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky. Colorado is the leanest state, followed in no particular order by Hawaii, Montana and a handful of the New England states.

The data was gathered from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System database from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which reveals some very interesting information about some of the factors that contribute to obesity, such as diet, nutrition and physical activity levels. For example, only 16% of adults in Mississippi eat the recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, compared to 29% in California and 30% in Vermont.

Fruit and vegetable intake is not going to turn the tide against obesity, especially considering that every state except one (Nevada) saw an increase in the percentage of the obese population over the last year. Diet does, however, play a large role in health and gradual changes in daily eating habits, as well as physical activity patterns, could change some of these numbers over time.