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...Although bread is one of the easiest, most reliable items for which to dumpster dive — it’s thrown away all the time, it’s dry, non-perishable, and relatively non-pathogenic — I also scavenge produce, chocolate, and flowers from the garbage. Sometimes it can be pretty icky; various slimes attend the decay of vegetables and fruit, and dumpsters are occasionally coated in unidentifiable goo.... Although I’m not by any means rich (after earning an expensive college degree, I am, like many of my generation, right back to where I started: in the service industry... But, you might protest, (as have many of...

Great surprise and saddened shock rocked San Diego’s Ocean Beach on the afternoon of Thursday Feb. 5. Beloved owner of Hodad’s and the man credited with “best burger in America,” Mike Hardin, died of a heart attack in a hotel in Chowchilla, Calif. He was making a trip to visit his daughter in Oregon. Hardin took over the family business in 1967 from his parents. After a while, he moved it to it’s current location on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. Hardin influenced many lives, he took the time and went out of his way to help community members solve...

It's time for you FReepers to get the real deal. Here is a recipe that will always be a winner.

San Francisco is always known as being one of the leaders in culinary trends in this country. One that has recently popped up is savory cocktails with a rather unique twist – they have some variation of meat in them. “Cocktail culture has never seen more creativity than right now. No ingredients are off the table as long as they bring flavor and balance to a drink,” said Jon Gasparini, who along with Greg Lindgren, of Rye on the Road, has designed the new cocktail menu at Belcampo Meat Co. in San Francisco. In that vein, Gasparini and Lindgren have...

We're getting more creative with what we do with our waste. The end of 2014 gave us the "poo bus" - a bus run on sewage and food waste - and Bill Gates is currently drinking feces made by a machine that turns human waste into drinking water and electricity.

The wines named in the lawsuit are primarily inexpensive white or blush varietals including moscato, pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc.Many popular, inexpensive brands of wine made and distributed in California, including Trader Joe's famed "Two Buck Chuck," contain illegal and dangerously high levels of poisonous inorganic arsenic, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles. Plaintiffs Doris Charles, Alvin Jones, Jason Peltier and Jennifer Peltier allege in their complaint that dozens of wineries are violating state law by knowingly producing, marketing and selling arsenic contaminated wine and failing to warn consumers about the potential danger. The suit, filed in...

One of the world’s most popular weed killers—and the most widely used kind in the U.S.—has been labeled a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The decision was made by IARC, the France-based cancer research arm of the World Health Organization, which considered the status of five insect and weed killers including glyphosate, which is used globally in industrial farming. […] The new classification is aimed mainly at industrial use of glyphosate. Its use by home gardeners is not considered a risk. Glyphosate is in the same category of risk as things like anabolic steroids and...

Back in 1997, when Bill Clinton's EPA was pushing stricter air pollution rules, then-EPA administrator Carol Browner scoffed at complaints that the new rules would be so strict as to eventually ban backyard barbecues.

This week, we have Savory, with Fruit! (Heads-up, pugmama!) I've never been a very fancy cook, though I do enjoy making food pretty and presentable and will go to some lengths for that. Otherwise, I'm into 'comfort' foods. But I greatly enjoy having something very different and unusual from time to time; and some of my favorites have been dishes that are savory, but include a sweet element, usually fruit. I once vacationed with friends who came from a restaurant background, and eating with them was always a great experience - always something unexpected and never before encountered. About 25...

LANSING -- The Michigan Senate passed a bill allowing up to three fundraising bake sales in public schools per week, providing a way around federal health standards that banned them. brownies. State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton Township, introduced Senate Bill 109, which passed 36-1, with one senator excused from voting. Colbeck said Boy Scouts in his district asked him why the state banned bake sales in schools. After looking into it further, he realized Michigan had not approved exemptions from the federal Smart Snacks in School standards that disqualify most bake sale items. "(This bill is a) common sense change...

A lawsuit is expected to be filed in California today over the amount of arsenic in some of the best-selling wines in the country. CBS News reports laboratory testing by Denver's BeverageGrades found some wines have as much as time times the maximum level of arsenic the Environmental Protection Agency allows for drinking water. The EPA doesn't regulate wine as it does water, and there are no federal labeling requirements to disclose what's in wine.

The meat industry is seeing red. Meat companies have tried to rehabilitate an image tarnished in recent years by health and environmental concerns. Now the industry is swiftly and aggressively working to discredit a proposal for new dietary guidelines that recommends people eat less red and processed meat. The proposal last month by a government advisory committee also relegates the health benefits of lean meat to a footnote to the main recommendations. “We’ve been put in a position over the years to almost be apologizing for our product; we’re not going to do that anymore,” said Barry Carpenter, the president...

A much-hailed law that restricted the opening of new stand-alone fast-food restaurants in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles did not curb obesity or improve diets, a new study found. City lawmakers passed the zoning ordinance in 2008 that limited the opening or expansion of fast-food outlets in a 32-square-mile area south of Interstate 10 that struggles with high obesity rates and other health problems. The law, believed to be the first effort of its kind by a major city to improve public health, did not ban new eateries in strip malls. The research by the Rand Corp....

SNIP German software maker SAP is hoping to draw a walk-in crowd of techies — and perhaps raise its own Silicon Valley profile — by selling high-end coffee with a side of free Wi-Fi and programming advice. It’s opening a cafe this week inside a former cinema in downtown Palo Alto. SNIP SAP’s Sanjay Shirole says he wants to foster a creative environment where anyone can sip coffee, swap ideas or pound their computer keyboards alongside others “who share a passion for technology.” SAP is working with gourmet coffee retailer Blue Bottle to sell refreshments. Shirole describes the operation as...

Not that many people equate the former Soviet Union with freshness and abundance, but that might soon change once people get used to Post Soviet, a pop-up at farm:table that's now happening most Monday mornings and early afternoons. ("Post" cleverly refers to the period after the USSR, but also to Post Street.)The tiniest café in San Francisco is no stranger to long lines (and farm:table's own staff will be pulling espresso shots), but it's not usually for a Yuzhny sandwich (savory rosemary puff stuffed with chicken and egg salad, served with Uzbek-Korean carrot salad). While queuing, you might learn about...

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER 1816, IN MAINE By Lee-Lee Schlegel MONTHS THAT SHOULD BE SUMMER’S PRIME SLEET AND SNOW AND FROST AND RIME AIR SO COLD YOU SEE YOUR BREATH EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FROZE TO DEATH (An old rhyme) -------------------------------------------------------------1771 REUBEN WHITTEN 1847 SON OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER, A PIONEER OF THIS TOWN, COLD SEASON OF 1816 RAISED 40 BUSHELS OF WHEAT ON THIS LAND WHITCH KEPT HIS FAMILY AND NEIGHBOURS FROM STARVATION ( Tombstone in an Ashland, N.H. cemetery) Imagine! It’s June. Or July. Or perhaps August in Down East Maine. In Milbridge. That’s easy enough to do,...

Newfoundlander on the hunt for game-laden luggage that went AWOL in Toronto Losing luggage during a flight is always an inconvenience, but a man flying from Newfoundland to Ontario didn't just lose personal belongings when his suitcase disappeared. Liam English hasn't seen his suitcase full of moose meat in over three days, after it was lost during a flight from Newfoundland to Ontario on Sunday. (Liam English) Liam English lost some moose meat, and quite a bit of it. English, who was home in St. John's last week for a family funeral, decided to stock up on about 11 kilograms...

The debate over whether a savory doughnut is indeed a doughnut has been settled, clearing the way for more innovations in the hottest trend in the baking industry. Behold, the Taconut: a spicy beef-filled cake, with covered in queso frosting, sour cream icing, guacamole, cilantro, and hot sauce. The creators used a 3-D printer to develop a “cookie cutter” to create a doughnut shape out of raw biscuit dough. The dough was stuffed with taco meat and deep fried before being garnished with a aforementioned toppings. Here is a look inside the Taconut, courtesy of Barry Abrams, via Imgur. Right...

f you find it difficult to create a perfectly cooked egg, the Yowk may be the answer to your kitchen struggles. New Egg Company is about to release its newest product—an egg that has been pre-cooked before it hits shelves and promises diners a “perfect soft boiled” experience. Just add boiling water to the special container and voilà—a perfectly runny egg in just five minutes. By our estimate, that’s the same amount of time it takes to make a soft boiled egg the labor-intensive, old fashioned way in a pot.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign Let’s Move is out with new advice for Americans: skip the buffet and stick to unsweetened tea. The tips were introduced as part of Mrs. Obama’s “#GimmeFive challenge,” which is encouraging people to come up with five ways to be healthier for the fifth anniversary of Let’s Move. President Barack Obama’s five ways to be healthy are jogging on stage to give a campaign speech, shooting a basketball, playing tennis, climbing the stairs to Air Force One, and lifting a baby, according to a video announcing the challenge.