"lunch" news and stories

State Fair Food Vendors Lure Workers on Their Lunch Hours

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Oct 14th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Acknowledging that even motivated eaters are struggling to complete their fried food checklists during a single visit to the fair, an increasing number of state fairs are now offering free lunch passes to stimulate more sampling.

Arkansas this week joined Missouri and Memphis's Mid-South Fair in pushing a program that re-imagines the midway as a vast office cafeteria, with chocolate-dipped fried bacon and hot beef sundaes standing in for grilled cheese sandwiches and Jello salad. Arkansas State Fair spokesman Ralph Eubanks said "Lunch at the Fair," featuring free parking and admission on weekdays from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m, was created in response to clamorous customer demand.

"We've had several requests and we decided to try it," Eubanks says. "We're making it logistically possible to provide workers with a quick corn dog."

Eubanks concedes most folks who punch out for a quick trip to the fair are unlikely to stick to what he calls "the old standbys": There are 30 new items available at the fair this year, including a taco in a bag and chicken parmesan on a stick. "We just kind of hit the jackpot," Eubanks marvels.

Filed under:

Wheel of Lunch Picks Your Meal for You

COMMENTS 2

by Emily Farris, Posted Aug 27th 2009 @ 1:00PM

Wheel of Lunch. Photo: wheelof.com/lunch

Too tired or hungry to decide what to eat for lunch today? Soup sound boring? Already ate sushi yesterday?

Ponder no longer! Let the Wheel of Lunch make your mind up for you. Simply punch in your ZIP code and give the wheel a spin by clicking your mouse. The mighty wheel will pick a place near you, give you a link to its Yahoo review site, and send you out the door. Don't like the choice? Spin again -- especially if the wheel tells you to skip lunch (who does that?!).

[Wheel of Lunch]

Filed under: On the Blogs

Montel's Daughter Advocates for Vegetarian School Lunches

COMMENTS 6

by Emily Farris, Posted Aug 25th 2009 @ 5:00PM

Following in the footsteps of her famous father, talk show host Montel Williams, 14-year-old Wyntergrace Williams has taken to the airwaves to solve other people's problems. But instead of counseling couples or advising addicts like Montel has done, the younger Williams is advocating for vegetarian meal options in public schools.

Williams' promo spot debuted last night during ABC Family's show "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." The 30-second PSA is part of a campaign to urge Congress to amend the Child Nutrition Act to include more vegetarian and vegan options in public school lunches. The CNA is up for reauthorization this year.

According to healthyschoollunches.org (the site that Williams is working with), though some schools are able to offer innovative school lunches that include numerous vegan and vegetarian options, some of which are even environmentally sustainable, many schools only meet the bare minimum nutrition requirements set forth by the CNA.

Filed under: Vegetarian/Vegan, Ingredients, Celebrities

Are Austin Tacos the Nation's Best?

COMMENTS 16

by Jose Ralat Maldonado, Posted Jul 23rd 2009 @ 5:00PM

Chorizo tacos at Austin's Arandas #3. Photo: Jessica S. Ralat

A whopping 69 percent of poll respondents told this recent Brooklyn-to-Austin transplant that the Lone Star State's tacos were the best in the nation and relayed some excellent suggestions. We were able to sample some 40 tacos around Austin, setting them against the closest Sunset Park, Brooklyn, counterparts we could find. Here's one taster's subjective opinion. (Austin is growing on him.)

6. Austin's Arandinas (suggested by Slashfoodies Lacey and LP) pork taco vs. Brooklyn's Matamoros cabeza taco:
Arandinas' juicy, eminently scarfable pork taco went head-to-head with Matamoros', uh, cow head -- and triumphed.
Winner: Arandinas, Austin.

5. Austin's Mi Madre's Restaurant (suggested by Jodi and others) Pork Adobado vs. Brooklyn's Matamoros Enchilada taco:
Anticipating a chili steam engine from this red-sauced breakfast taco, we instead found spiceless goop in a flour shell ill-matched to its flurry of onions and avocado slices. The slightly spicy red enchilada taco at Matamoros is still the one we hold dear.
Winner: Matamoros, Brooklyn

Four more, including the winner, after the jump.

Filed under: Food Politics, Ingredients, Tastings

'Brunch!' - Cookbook Spotlight

COMMENTS 0

by Rebecca Flint Marx, Posted Jul 13th 2009 @ 2:00PM

'Brunch!: 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend's Best Meal'
Recipes by Gale Gand with Christie Matheson
Photographs by Ben Fink
Clarkson Potter -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Ah, brunch, that most indecisive and superfluous of meals: it's certainly not necessary, and probably wouldn't even exist if people weren't inclined to sleep in on the weekends.

But where French toast and eggs Benedict are concerned, necessity has never been the point. So it follows that of course brunch should have its own cookbook: any meal that can gouge so much time and effort out of an otherwise unremarkable weekend naturally requires a repertoire of recipes.

Gale Gand, a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef and the owner of Chicago's renowned Tru, has stepped up to the plate, and then some, with 'Brunch!' If the title's exclamation point tells you all you need to know about Gand's enthusiasm for the subejct, then her recipes -- from beverages like White Hot Chocolate and Gale's 3-Alarm Bloody Mary, to caloric delights like Corn and Parmesan Fritters and Chocolate Waffles -- should give you a generous hint of her serious dedication to the cause. Whether you prefer to drink your brunch or be put into a sugar coma by it, there's pretty much something for everyone here.

See what we tested and whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Filed under: Cookbook Spotlight