You'd think that with the nation's focus on turkey, cranberry sauce and the subsequent holiday season, November food festivals would be few and far from interesting. Not so -- from warm-ups to warm climes, check out our roundup of remarkable November fȇtes.

Chocolate Show New York, New York, Oct. 30-Nov. 1: A brief event straddling two months, these three decadent days include book signings, cooking demos and tastings, from chocolate experts such as Jacques Torres' -- he's pairing Puerto Rican rum and chocolate -- as well as party ideas.

Chocolate Festival of Texas and Texas Wines, Houston, Tex., Nov. 6-7: Not to be out-gunned by the Yanks, the Lone Star State is holding its own celebration for chocoholics, and this one includes oenophiles, who get a souvenir wine glass.

Port Barre Cracklin Festival, Port Barre, La., Nov. 12-15: You read right -- fat back is on offer! The perfect way to pad up for winter hibernation. There will be a fair pageant, rides, live entertainment and the obligatory cook-off.

How does Georgia barbeque differ from Kansas barbeque? Quiz yourself on barbeque recipes from all different regions of the country.

As a matter of fact, yes. That is pizza in a cone. Thanks for asking. Photo: Kat Kinsman

"Pleasant and acceptable taste and smell"

If that's the best your copywriters can cook up for a brochure blurb, take that as a sign that your microwavable pizza cones might not be a standout at the Fancy Food Show. At least not in the way you'd hoped.

Luckily for our increasingly overtaxed palates, there were more than a few swoon-inducing nibbles amongst the 250,000 edible products available for sampling at the Javits Center from June 28-30.

After the jump, learn about some of our favorites from Sunday's stroll through the aisles. Mondays's favorites can be found here.

There's something about pork that makes it the perfect wrapping and stuffing. Sizzling bacon often encircles the likes of scallops, beef, turkey and even French toast, while porcine goodness can occasionally be found in that classic junk food, pigs in a blanket.

Chef Albert Di Meglio of New York City restaurant Olana has taken it one tantalizing step further. In the above video, Di Meglio makes Sausage-Wrapped Pork -- a whole new world for the dedicated pig fan. He grabs a pork tenderloin, wraps it in a sausage filling and finally encases it with caul (a type of fat). He pops the whole thing in the oven and then slices and serves it.

Those who just can't wait till the end of the video to broaden their porcine horizons can click here for the recipe.

Love it, loathe it or live for it, meat's been on a lot of minds these days.

A recent study found that red meat consumption increases the overall risk of mortality. And even though swine flu is not transmissible through pork products (duh), it wasn't exactly a publicity boon for the other white meat, either. Even the beloved bacon has been taking a beating. One writer went so far as to declare an end to Baconmania, proclaiming that "Our Long Coronary Nightmare Is Almost Over."

Meat, needless to say, isn't going down without a fight. Aside from the expected army of industry lobbyists covering its (fat)back, it's got plenty of product tie-in love. There's these plush toys from Sweet Meats, so cute they could bring a smile to even a vegetarian's face. There's Meatcards, the beef jerky business cards that recently took the Internet by storm.

And, standing boldly in the face of the bacon backlash, there's Heather Lauer's "Bacon: A Love Story." Subtitled "A Salty Survey of Everyone's Favorite Meat," it includes profiles of bacon-loving chefs across the country, recipes for such delicacies as bacon-jalapeno pizza and bacon Bloody Marys, and tips for creating your own cure. Clearly, Lauer isn't writing bacon's obituary. And if anything can help meat get its groove back, its a 100 percent recycled fleece T-bone.

It's so easy fall for a huge slab of pork at the store only to spend the next week trying to eat through the remains. Fortunately, the pig is designed for all-out deliciousness: Its fat can amp up a delicious borscht, its skin can be tucked into Sicilian Rollups or the meat can be transformed into one heck of a split-pea soup.

Split peas, the anti-heartburn pantry staple, have a very long history that extends well beyond Linda Blair's scary pea-soup spray in "The Exorcist." They're also one of the simplest meals out there to throw together. After the jump is a recipe for a super-easy, super-delicious split-pea soup recipe that just might inspire you to pick up a nice roast ham from the butcher more often. This technique delivers a creamy, rich broth and -- topped here with toasted pine nuts -- is a lime-green harbinger of spring.

• The Glob (as some locals affectionately call it) hits Paris and uncovers a Hidden Kitchen around the bend from the Louvre.
• Classic Goldfish crackers have gone graham. Imagine trying a s'more with those!
• The ins and outs of Dogfish Head Brewery, where beer is amped up with everything from vanilla beans to chicory.
• Two posts of food tips for travelers on the road, including the perks of ordering hot water at an eatery.
• An interview with Arthur Ntasios, owner of the Aegean Restaurant.
• The background of the appley Italian Torta di Mele and a recipe to boot.
• A local pork-off showcases some pretty interesting porcine cookery, including Buttermilk and Lard Sorbet.
• C. E. Restaurant's old-fashioned treats and golden chicken are reviewed, as is the Beacon Hill Bistro.
• A look into cornish pastry at Pie Bakery and Cafe and a schedule of Craft Brewers Conference events.
• Recipes: Pancetta-Wrapped Pork Loin, Roast Turkey Breast, Orzo Salad, Onion Jam and Goat Cheese Toasts, Tacos con Carnitas, Toasted Peanut and Chick Pea Soup
  

This photo makes us want to skip on down to Johnny Rocket's, pop the Shirelles on the stereo and sip milkshakes two-straws-to-a-glass -- all before 10am.

But of course what looks to be a simple burger and mac combo platter with a sweet side of Moxie is actually a duck-pork patty slathered with seven-pickle relish accompanied by a gorgonzola and cheddar mac 'n cheese. We're pretty sure that's not what the Fonz was noshing on back in the day. Gotta love that fresh strawberry shake served up in a laboratory glass, too. Click over to the snapshot to learn what those lunchboxes have printed on 'em, part of the cutesy theme at Seattle's Lunchbox Laboratory.

If you're not in our Flickr pool yet it's time to jump in, start tagging photos "slashfood" and show off your skills already. And tell us if this pic makes you get a burger for lunch.

Eating pork buns (cha siu baau) is an excellent way to get a taste of New York's Chinatown. These warm buns -- either steamed or baked -- are full of savory barbecue meats, sometimes with scallions.

Last weekend, a friend and I decided we would eat our way through Chinatown by trying pork buns at various bakeries. And, what started out as a "pork bun journey" turned into an exploration of both savory and sweet buns, ranging from pork to red bean.

Fay Da Bakery, at 83 Mott St., has a variety of buns that you can select yourself with tongs when you enter the shop. While being underwhelmed by their pork buns, we were blown away with their sweet topping red-bean bun. The outside of the red-bean bun is coated in a flaky layer of sugar that balances marvelously with the doughy bun and the creamy red-bean paste.

Head directly to the Golden Fung Wong Bakery, at 41 Mott St., to try some of the best pork buns in Manhattan's Chinatown. Chunks of pork are flavored with a delicious mix of soy and oyster sauce. This bakery also sells an assortment of rice cakes and melon cakes that are worth trying.

When a friend of mine recently asked me to help throw her a baby shower, I had many questionable suggestions-- like making it race-car rather than baby themed (accepted) to making a baby-shaped red-velvet cake with gooey red filling, except the diaper part, which would have brown icing filling (rejected).

But one of the things she was most excited about was my suggestion that I make a meatcake. That is, a cake made of meat, an idea I had found (like so many nutty ideas) on the interwebs. I took the concept, but created my own recipes--two, since a non-red-meat eater needed turkey. It may sound peculiar but the result was delicious and even rather spectacular. If you want to try it yourself....

It would seem that providence has brought me a country ham. Upon reading a Facebook posting of mine last night, crowing about (okay, showing off), my haul of whole hog BBQ from Ed Mitchell's The Pit in Raleigh, a dear pal inquired as to the possibility of my acquiring a ham for him while I was still in North Carolina. My husband Douglas and I were planning hitting the road at an unholy hour this morning, so I gave a Chapel Hill Harris Teeter the ol' Tarheel try 'round about midnight. Plenty of Harris' She Crab soup, Duke's mayo, Cheerwine and Peanut Butter Moon Pies to be had, but not so much with the artisanal pig products. Well shoot! I'd tried.

Scanned from Be Milwaukee's Guest, Recipes Collected and Tested by the Junior League of Milwaukee - 1959

I could scarcely be crankier at myself for muffing the opportunity to present this comb-bound recipe gem on a particularly Wisconsin-centric holiday, such as the recently passed St. Nick's Day, but hey -- any day is a great day for pork cake!

I'm a big fan of the melding of meat and sweet (mmm...bacon candy...), and surely have been known to savor a sumptuously larded crust, but I can't swear that I've ever seen a baked good quite so aggressively piggy as this. Pinwheel rolls studded with flecks of seasoned ground beef, yes, but those were generally presented as a savory, hand-wielded Wellington sort of course rather than spiced, as this seems to be, in the manner of a dessert or breakfast sweet. I'm pleading woeful ignorance about the pastries of the Badger State here, so might someone be so kind as to enlighten me -- is this a traditional Wisconsin breakfast or dessert treat, or a relic of the cookbook's era? If the former, I'm booking a trip on Midwest Airlines posthaste. If the latter -- who's up for a bake-along this weekend?

Turn off your spam-blockers and get ready for an avalanche of salty, eraser-colored porktastic goodness. The other day, I wrote about how Spam is ramping up production to meet recession-fueled demand. Some of you passionately defended the oft-ridiculed meat product; others requested Spam recipes. So I rounded up a few of the best Spam-cooking sites, just for you.

First, check out the aptly named spamrecipes.net, which gives Spam a vaguely International makeover with recipes like Spam frittata, Spam carbonara and Cantonese Spam. Spam's own website has recipes from its test kitchen as well as contributions from fans like Spam salad cones and Maui Spam muffins. Just Recipes has 359 Spam recipes, from A Good Hot (Spam) Sandwich to Zippy Spam and Pesto Biscuits.

As for me, I still favor the classic Southern Spam sandwich: A thick slab of skillet-fried Spam between two slices of Duke's mayonnaise-slathered Wonder Bread with a sliced summer tomato.

Spam, that most mocked of foods, is apparently experiencing an upswing thanks to the recession. People may not be able to afford steak, but they can always dig up some change for a $1.99 can of putty-pink goodness. So the industrious workers at the Hormel factory in Austin, Minnesota are cranking out the Spam 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, according to the New York Times. That equals about 150,000 cans of Spam daily.

Spam is just one of the many cheap, filling foodstuffs flying off the shelf across America. Others include pancake mixes, instant mashed potatoes, and Jello-O. While I'm not opposed to the occasional fried Spam sandwich on white bread with mayo and tomatoes, when it comes to budget food I'll stick to lentils and tuna, thanks.

• Be still my tastebuds! It's a pork-tasting showdown, to determine the best porcine rump.
  
• Recipes: Shellfish with Lemon Grass, Chili-Lime Crab Salad, and Smoky Pork Pappardelle.
• Ever wonder what exotic Japanese goods were worth your money? Check out this list.
• Many strong-tasting beers come with a big alcohol content. Not Brakspear Bitter.
• Yams make super-fast lightning bolts.
• South American wines worth mentioning: Chile's Terra noble Vineyard Selection 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Carolina Barrica Selections 2006 Petit Verdot, and Terra Andina Altos 2005 Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon, plus Argentina's Finca Flichman Expresiones Reserve 2006 Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon and Trapiche Broquel 2006 Malbec.
• Dig deeper and move beyond Vietnamese Pho.