"la times" news and stories

If you've stayed up watching convention speeches all this week and plan to next week as well, you, my friend, are a political junkie. The fact that you're reading Slashfood probably means that you're also a foodie. You're not alone. The LA Times recently published an article on political cookbooks, and there's a long and entertaining tradition.

From the "How to eat like a Republican" to the "Watergate Cookbook", to being the White House chef, the LA Times covers it all. There are even a couple of Axis of Evil cookbooks. It seems that wherever the worlds of food and politics collide, there's never a dull moment. What is some of your favorite politically motivated foodie literature?

We're big on the taco trucks here at Slashfood. We've blogged about them again and again, so it's appalling to hear that Los Angeles lawmakers made it a misdemeanor crime to stay parked in one spot for longer than one hour. Truck owners can be punished with a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail.

The main reason the law was passed? Local business owners were complaining that vendors - like the taco trucks - were taking away the business of the their brick-and-mortar restaurants. The restaurateurs were also peeved because they are forced to pay more bills than the vendors do, so the competition is "unfair."

The part that really kills me, though, is that the president of the local Merchant's Association was quoted as saying, "I don't want to put anybody out of business, but it's the fairness of it all...It's a big victory for the merchants, and it's going to clean up the area."

I have a cell phone that is just a phone. It makes calls. I am online eighty percent of my day. When I'm out of my house, I like to talk to live human beings.

The Los Angeles Times reports that "Wil Shipley, a Seattle software developer, uses his iPhone at the Whole Foods fish counter to check websites for updates on which seafood is the most environmentally correct to purchase. He quizzes the staff on where and how a fish was caught."

Why not trust that the guy behind the fish counter knows about the fish he sells? Do we only place our trust in Google now and not the people who work in our neighborhood shops?

Do you think it was smart for Wil to question the fish counter staff or just plain rude?

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California's almond industry is suffering as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder, but the secret death of bees isn't keeping area pastry chefs from using honey: Wildflower honey, apple and goat cheese tart, Honey shortcakes with honey-pine nut gelato, and Recipe: Acacia panna cotta.

The interplay of textures between greens and beans make for a good meal: Cranberry bean, lacinato kale and pasta soup, Warm salad of black-eyed peas, wilted mustard greens and bacon, and Dandelion green and Christmas lima bean tacos.

In drinking, you can make your own version of southwestern France's ratafia brandy, use a stemless glass perfect for picnics, and sip SIV's Wine of the Week, 2005 Luigi Pira Langhe Nebbiolo 'Le Ombre.'

The LA Times ran a piece yesterday on blogs becoming a new tool in many chefs' arsenals, and how they're entering a blogosphere that used to be reserved for us commonfolk. The difference, according to the author? Primarily, style and choice of content: commonfolk tend to "natter about what they fed their boyfriends last night, and fuzzily photograph their latest batch of heart-shaped cookies" while REAL chefs tell the stories behind the food, taking more time to detail the food's inspiration and its history.

I beg to differ. I'm biased, yes, but I think our Slashfood Flickr group is a perfect example of primarily amateur photographers and chefs taking outstanding photos of food, ones just as good as any in a cookbook. And I think people read food blogs to take in the "nattering" about day-to-day life and how it fits in with what fix and eat. And chef's blogs can be personal, too - they don't all fit neatly into one (bread) box, as this author seems to imply.

The article details several chef blogs that have been making waves, and how the chefs are using their platforms to make a statement. For some chefs, like Alison Barshak, a blog is a way to show off and advertise your new restaurant under the guise of giving viewers a tutorial on opening up an eatery. For others, like Michael Laiskonis, blogs are a chance to describe eloquently, albeit verbosely, how they got the inspiration and found the ingredients for their extravagant meals.

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