You know those tourists who walk around big cities and feed the pigeons? Know how utterly annoying it is if you're trying to enjoy your lunch in the park and huge swarms of birds are invading your personal space?

Now you can tell those tourists to cool it, lest they want to harm their squawky friends. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds claims that bread serves as a "filler" for birds and doesn't leave room for the nutrients they need to thrive, especially when they are trying to feed their chicks.

What should we be feeding them instead? Why, "a healthy mix of seeds or worms, grated cheese, porridge oats or soft apples, bananas or strawberries," of course.

But, wait: so is feeding the birds bread actually harmful? Well, no, the Society admits.

Dude: is chocolate cake good for is? No. Could we be eating more nutrient-rich foods? Of course. Is it okay to indulge once in awhile? Yes.

But just to be clear: I'm not condoning feeding pigeons in crowded public spaces. That's just wrong on so many levels.

Remember when stuffed crust pizza seemed like a relatively new idea? The idea of stuffing a pizza crust, instead of relegating all the toppings to the surface of the pizza, seemed to stem from the fact that the doughy crusts on many quick service pizzas weren't that good and really needed something special to make them worth eating. Cheese and sauce were the answers and in a relatively short time, the formerly doughy crusts were doughy and greasy - enabling you to consumer twice as much cheese per slice.

In Japan, Pizza Hut has taken the stuffed crust idea to the next level by including whole sausage links inside the crust, along with a layer of cheese. The crust is pulled up and tucked around the sausage, giving the impression that you have a hot dog attached to the end of your pizza.

The whole concept seems to be rather over the top, but that being said, it also seems like this sort of pizza would be a big hit at sports stadiums or anywhere else that beer, pizza and hot dogs already coexist.

[via supersized meals]

Dear Domino's,

I'm not going to lie to you. When it comes to fast food pizza, I'm a Pizza Hut guy. Actually, before I even get to calling Pizza Hut, I'll go with one of the two local pizza places in my town. They're two of the best pizzas I've ever had anywhere, and I usually go with one of them. But last night I had this craving for one of your deep dish pepperoni pizzas. Plus there's a Domino's right next door to my apartment and I didn't feel like going across town.

So I went to you web site and almost ordered the pizza online. Not because I'm lazy, but because I've never ordered a pizza online before and thought it would be fun. I decided to just walk over because it's only about 33 steps from my front door. But while I was on your site I noticed something that troubles me.

For a long time, I assumed that only some kids and a couple of adults nostalgic for the sandwiches that they had as kids cut the crusts off their breads. I love crust, personally, but now know a number of adults who simply don't car for it on their sandwiches. They don't cut it off in neat, straight lines, but it's obvious when they abandon crusts on their plates - repeatedly - after eating. As a nod to them, and to both kids and nostalgia, here is another crust-eliminating kitchen cutter. We've already seen one gadget for those who don't like crust on their bread, but this one offers the advantage of cutting the bread into shapes, as well as removing the crust. I wouldn't mind using the heart-shaped one from time to time, especially with Valentine's Day coming up. But I'll still probably eat the crusts after I cut them off my sandwich.

Since we were talking about the best apples to use in making pies last week, it put me in the mood to make one myself. I love making pies because, even though there is some prep work involved, the procedure is very straightforward. Also, I really enjoy making homemade pie crust. It's fun to get your fingers dirty and a flaky, homemade crust is better than one you can buy at the store - especially because you can taste the work that went into making it.

If you've never made a homemade pie before, winter is the perfect time to start and apple is the best kind to start with. Not only are the apples easy to work with, but the fact that the weather is colder makes it easier to handle the dough for the crust. In summer, you need to work faster to keep the butter from melting as you work it in to the flour. After the jump, you'll find a photo-heavy, step-by-step guide to making both the crust and the whole pie. I make my crusts with a combination of shortening (non-hydrogenated, for those who are concerned) and butter. The combination of butter, which adds flavor and some leavening, and shortening, which adds tenderness and flakiness will produce the best crusts. I use a 3-1 ratio, so not much shortening is needed.

When fall comes around, pies are one of the best desserts you can bring to the table, whether you are opting for pumpkin or the fruitier flavors from apples, pears and cranberries. The crust is usually the most difficult part for most cooks, but once you have mastered the dough-making technique (or have broken down and purchased ready made-dough), the job is only halfway done. The second challenge is to make the crust look presentable. Fortunately, there are a couple of gadgets that can help. One is a lattice cutter, which can simply be pressed down into the dough to punch out a traditional-looking, although not actually interwoven, lattice top for your pie. If you want to make your lattice a little more creative, you can opt for the new oak-leaf lattice cutter, instead. The other thing that will really spruce up your pie is a set of piecrust cutters, which punch out little seasonal shapes from your dough. They can be used to create vents in the top layer of the crust or you can punch out shapes from the unused scraps of crust and use them to decorate the surface of the pie.

Mini desserts are wonderful things. Not only are they automatically cute due to their size, but you will never have to worry about a cake being large enough or whether there will be enough ice cream/gelato to go around, since all you have to do is match up the number of desserts with the number of guests you need to serve. They also provide built-in portion control if you are just making them for yourself. These Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes, made by Nicole at Pinch My Salt, are a great way to eat a rich dessert without going overboard because indulging in one (or two) is much better than indulging in a whole cake! The pumpkin cheesecakes have a lot of fall flavor since she combined pumpkin with a touch or maple syrup in the filling and used a spiced graham cracker crust for the base. When serving, though it is not pictured, Nicole topped these with whipped cream, lightly sweetened and spiced with cinnamon.

The crust of the bread is the best part as far as we are concerned, but for some reason, there are a lot of kids who don't like crust on their bread. Is it the taste, the color or is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just more fun without a crust? While philosophers ponder the question, you'll probably be cutting the crust of the sandwiches for your kids or for yourself, since there are plenty of adults who like to eat their sandwiches in this slightly nostalgic way.

Put down that knife and check out the Crust Cutter. The stainless steel cutter measures 4"x4" and is designed to remove all crusts with one swift motion. It also folds flat, for easy storage. The only downside is that once you've made it easy to remove the crust from the bread, you might never get Junior to actually give them a try. At least he'll be able to cut the crusts of his own sandwiches. Price: $3.95.

While reading the New York Times magazine yesterday, I noticed a piece about pies. Rhubarb pies, to be specific. The recipe is not what caught my eye, though, but this statement: "Pies cannot be successfully mass-produced."

I disagree. And I think that a lot of other people would, too.

The Times' argument goes along the lines that there is no way that a non-handmade crust could come close to equaling a homemade crust. And the Times must know some good cooks, because I know plenty of people who couldn't make even a graham cracker crust, let alone a "real" crust. Store bought crusts may not be showstoppers, but they serve their purpose in ease and reliability. They don't taste half bad, either, especially when you buy the unbaked, frozen crusts.

And in terms of store-bought pies, which can certainly qualify as "mass produced" compared to homemade based purely on quantity, places like Bakers Square and Marie Callender's have won scores of awards from the American Pie Council on taste and appearance. And I know that I have enjoyed a slice of pie from Marie Callender's more than a few times, even though I bake my own pies, too.

Is a middle-of-the-road store pie going to rival the best homemade crust? No, but not everyone is in a position to make, buy or eat the best pie in the world and that doesn't mean that they can never have a good pie, which is what a blanket statement like "pies cannot be successfully mass-produced" seems to imply.

If you read Jeffrey Steingarten's It must have been something I ate, you'll not only know that the best way to make a pizza is in a very, very hot wood-burning (or coal-burning) oven, but that it is likely to be nearly impossible to find one to use, let alone one to use on a regular basis. Jeffrey spent months trying to achieve the perfect pizza, getting grills up to temperatures in excess of 650F - at which point he decided that, with the addition of wood chips and extra coals, he could make a reasonably good pizza.

Instead of going to all that trouble, you can use VillaWare's Grill-Top Pizza Stone. It was created to take advantage of the high heat a gas grill can generate to produce a great crust. The stone itself is set on a rack above the grates of the grill, because it gets better heat exposure there. Personally, I'm a fan of grilled pizza, but this sounds like a fantastic idea. Maybe your grill won't get up as high as Jeffrey's modified one, but this sounds (to put it mildly) significantly safer. I know Mother's Day isn't past us (in the US) yet, but I think I'm getting a good idea of a Father's Day gift already....

Say what you will about them, but frozen pizzas are a staple component of many, many kitchens. They take no preparation and heat up wonderfully in the oven in the amount of time that it would take to have a pizza delivered. Well, some of them heat up wonderfully. There are some pizzas that are not even worth turning on the oven for.

In my opinion, the best frozen pizza is a homemade one, but I know that not all people have the time or energy to freeze their own, unbaked pizzas. Fair enough, even though you can buy pre-made, uncooked dough at many supermarkets nowadays.  Though certainly not covering all of the possible options for frozen pizza that there are, here is a quick guide to some of the pizza choices that will be waiting at your fingertips when you take a stroll through the freezer section: