"eating" news and stories

It's a dangerous world out there, folks. Should we add food blogging to that list of things to watch out for? That's the question posed by Leslie of The Weighting Game.

Leslie got a letter from a reader who originally asked this question about food blogging being addictive and possibly some kind of eating disorder. The reader had started a food blog, but soon realized that it made her obsess about food and actually "hide what (she) was eating from the internet." She has since stopped blogging.

Although I follow plenty of food blogs myself, I've never run across the type of blog that The Weighting Game and its commenters are talking about, the kind that is more of a food journal than a food blog. I personally think there's nothing wrong with sharing photos and recipes and having serious or fun discussions on food related topics. I do think this a great question to ask ourselves, though, so what is your opinion on food blogging as an eating disorder?

If you're reading Slashfood right now, chances are that you're a foodie. In my experience, if there's anything a foodie likes besides eating/cooking, it's reading a book about eating/cooking. These are a few of the books I consider the best cooking books, but we all have strong opinions on this subject. What are some of the cooking books that you think should be on the list?

1. Larousse Gastronomique , the classic food encyclopedia.
2.Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking
3. Cookwise (I can't wait for Bakewise) From Shirley Corriher
4. Julia Childs' classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking
5.The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
6.Jeffrey Hammelman's Bread: A Bakers Book of Recipes and Techniques
7. The United States of Arugala is a history of American foodie-ism by David Kamp
8. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Exactly one week from today, I'll be in San Francisco taking a class in artisan bread making at the San Francisco Baking Institute. I'm so excited that I'm positively giddy.

I've been planning this trip for some time, and I do have some ideas about how I'm going to spend my free time in the city. However, there's only so much you can learn from tourist websites, so I need your help: if you have any suggestions on food related destinations I want to hear from you. What are your favorite San Francisco foodie haunts? Where would you eat in the city? Where would you go for food souvenirs?

I'll have a lot to do while I'm in San Francisco, but your suggestions will make the trip even better!

Have you ever thought about real chefs, from high ranked restaurants, and wondered where they like to eat? Well, Bloomberg.com writer Richard Vines has answered.

He spoke to a multitude of well known chefs, mainly from London, and asked them what their favorite restaurants were. Did you know, for example, that Alain Ducasse loves a sushi restaurant in Tokyo called Sushishou? Richard Corrigan of Bentley's adores Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo, Italy. Gordon Ramsay gave his choice, too, but you'll just have to read the whole story to find that out.

Most of the chefs on Mr. Vines list name restaurants in France as their absolute favorite. I'm not saying you need to jet off to France, Italy, Japan, or wherever, right now, but if you happen to have travel plans for any of those locations you may have just found one more point of interest to visit. I think a few of the restaurants mentioned have just landed on my "to visit" list.

Can you imaging living on tea alone for over twenty years? That's what life is like for a Vietnamese man, Phan Tuan Loc. At first he couldn't eat meat anymore, and then he stopped eating food entirely about twenty years ago. Now he lives on three cups of tea with sugar per day.

His family tried to keep this a secret and he tried to stop going to social events, but eventually people noticed that Phan Tuan Loc just didn't eat, and it freaked them out (I know I would be). Even stints at hospitals couldn't figure things out. Now Mr Loc just drinks his tea and gets a protein solution transmission from a health station when he feels really weak.

I love to eat. It's one of my favorite things to do, and I certainly can not see myself living without food, especially for twenty years. Apparently there are other cases like this (at least according to the article), and I just feel sorry for them. I don't even want to think of such a possibility. I'm sure there are worse fates, but this one is still right up there.