The Next Iron Chef

The New Season of "The Next Iron Chef" Premieres Sunday, October 4th at 9pm ET/PT
Kitchen Stadium once again opens its doors in search of a new Iron Chef in the series The Next Iron Chef. Hosted by Alton Brown (Good Eats, Iron Chef America), the reality competition will challenge ten top chefs from around the country in a series of demanding situations, testing their culinary skills and toughness.

The ten contestants include:

Nate Appleman (Chef/Butcher, New York, NY)

Dominique Crenn (Chef de Cuisine, Luce at InterContinental San Francisco San Francisco, CA)

Brad Farmerie (Executive Chef, Double Crown, Madam Geneva, PUBLIC and The Monday

Room, New York, NY)

Amanda Freitag (Executive Chef, The Harrison, New York, NY)

Jose Garces (Executive Chef & Owner

Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa, Philadelphia, PA)

Eric Greenspan (Executive Chef & Owner, The Foundry on Melrose, Los Angeles, CA)

Jehangir Mehta (Executive Chef & Owner, Graffiti, New York, NY)

Seamus Mullen (Executive Chef & Partner, Boqueria Flatiron and Boqueria Soho, New York, NY)

Holly Smith (Chef & Owner, Cafe Juanita and Poco Carretto Gelato, Kirkland, WA)

Roberto Trevio (Executive Chef & Owner, Budatai, San Juan, PR).

This season, the series will take the contestants from Los Angeles to Japan to New York to compete in the food fight of their professional lives.

They will be asked to create world culture dishes that represent a variety of cuisines. It could be working with exotic ingredients like jelly fish or creating their own international fast food the chefs must demonstrate their speed, artistry, innovation and leadership in each dish.

The contestants will be narrowed down until two remain to battle it out in Kitchen Stadium and earn the right to be called Iron Chef. The winner will join the ranks of Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto and Michael Symon and be launched into instant fame as a member of the Chairmans team on Iron Chef America.

And This time, Man Claims Rodent Found in Diet Pepsi

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – A Florida man claims after a few sips he discovered some kind of rodent inside the can. The Food and Drug Administration is testing the Pepsi can that Fred Denegri of Ormond Beach said contained rodent so big that it wouldn't come out of the can.
Pepsi officials said Wednesday they traced the can back to the manufacturing plant in Orlando and didn't find anything wrong with the company's quality controls and soda sampling. Spokesman Jeff Dahncke said it's unlikely that something like this could happen during production.
Denegri called poison control after the discovery, but he didn't become sick. The 55-year-old says he's a Pepsi fan and will keep drinking it.

Organic Food Not Healthier, Study Finds

LONDON - According to a major study just published, organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over conventionally produced food.

As expected organic food enthusiast were up in arms and challenged the conclusions.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers paid higher prices for organic food in part because they believed in the perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007.

A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.

"A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance," said Alan Dangour, one of the report's authors.

"Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority."

The results of research, which was commissioned by the British government's Food Standards Agency, were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The Meldown of Joseph on Hells Kitchen

A Fat Tax - Fat Chance or Easy to Swallow?

We have all heard a lot about the "fat tax".
A new non-partisan study done by the Urban Institute and the University of Virginia, claims that a "fat tax"—adding a tax to fattening, unhealthy foods—would not only curb obesity by discouraging people from buying and consuming these types of foods, but would also generate a good amount of revenue for the government. According to the study, implementing a 10% tax on fatty foods could raise $522 billion over the next 10 years, and a 20% tax could raise $937 billion.

The group points out the successful campaign against tobacco use, that over the past 40 years. . In addition to adding a tax, they propose "placing simple, graphic nutrition labels on the front of packages, requiring restaurant chains to put nutrition information next to each menu item, and banning the advertising and marketing of junk food."The theory is that a public stigma about junk food (as there is now about tobacco) would further inhibit consumption.

The idea of taxing unhealthy or sugary food and drink is gaining momentum.

But if this becomes a reality who decides which are "unhealthy" food items anyway?

The American Against Good Taxes, a newly-formed group that includes the National Restaurant Association, the American Beverage Association, and a slew of individual companies such as Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and Dominio’s Pizza, would like to know the answer to that question as well.

A newly-formed coalition is now waging a multi-million dollar media campaign in the Washington, D.C. area to combat any food or drink taxes, further lessening the chances of a tax of that nature ever being levied. Even New York Gov. David Paterson recently agreed to drop a proposal for an 18% tax on sugary drinks after dealing with a bunch of angry beverage-makers and New Yorkers.

As Congress mulls things over, eventually, we will find out whether or not a fat tax on those sweet, salty, greasy foods will be imposed.

Whole Foods Market's philosophy is, "Access to healthy food is a right, not a privilege."
Let's add good food as a basic consumer's right. You're ultimately the one who will decide what you like, for what price, and what you want to buy. So the movement is on even though it remains wildly unpopular with the American people. Essentially, the global public-health movement and other non-profit organizations would like to make buying anything thing they claim to be unhealthy as inconvenient and expensive as possible.

Buddy Valastro Takes The Cake

Buddy Valastro, the star of TLC's Cake Boss, often hears "That's the Cake Boss!"
32-year-old fourth-generation baker who not long ago was relatively unknown.

Cake Boss, currently airing in its first season, has become one of the hottest food shows on cable and TLC announced that is has ordered a second serving of the hit series. The series has averaged 2.3 million viewers since its premiere May 25.
Production has already begun on the 18-episode second season, which is scheduled to start airing this fall.

Cake Boss chronicles the escapades of Valastro and his colorful Italian family with lots of attitude. The show includes his four sisters, three brothers-in-law, his mother, an aunt, his wife and a few cousins making 50 to 60 wedding cakes, 300 to 600 birthday cakes, 2,000 cupcakes, thousands of pastries (cannoli, lobster tails, biscotti, éclairs) and several complex, intricately designed cakes.

Valastro says he thought this show would appeal to viewers. "I knew it was going to be funny because of the cast of characters. My family, my business is a fun place. Everybody knows a family like ours — a big Italian family. I'm goofy. I yell. I scream," he says.
"What's unique about our business is it's still an old-fashioned bakery that you used to go to with your mom. And at the end of the day, we make some amazing stuff."
Valastro gives credit for his success to his beloved father, who owned the bakery before him. Its name, Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, comes from the original owner, who sold it to Valastro's dad. "My father came from Sicily at 13 and didn't have shoes on. He died a success. I'm a picture of what America is based on."
TV industry observers say the show has a lot going for it. "The cakes all have personality, and they are larger than life because the family in this show is larger than life with personality to match," says Shari Anne Brill of media buyer Carat. "That's what makes it engaging. It's the dynamics of the people on staff — the drama, the comedy, the action and the accents."

The most rewarding part of the show is its appeal to families, Valastro says. "If I can bring families together for half an hour each week, that's golden. That's great."

Holiday Inn Express Commercial, chances are, you've never seen It.

Holiday Inn Express came up with a commercial about their breakfast bar that we find extremely funny, chances are, you've never seen it. But we have decided, it's one of our top 3 our funniest commercials.

Now you can order fast food without talking to anyone.

Do you love fast food, but would rather not talk to anyone?

You might want to try the new ordering kiosk at Jack In The Box, maybe coming to your neighborhood.

Now you can order fast food without having to talk to anyone.

This one purportedly talks to you and includes pictures with options and sides.

Stine Enterprises Inc., owner-operator of Jack in the Box restaurants, added state-of-the-art kiosk ordering in its restaurant located at limited locations.
"I decided to implement kiosks when I saw the level of guest enthusiasm and overall customer satisfaction in Jack in the Box restaurants where the kiosks were installed," Stine says. "Kiosks facilitate the ordering process, our guests like it, and it improves our ability to serve our guests during our busiest times. Once one of our cashiers is freed from standing at the register, she can focus on other tasks that improve service and the guest experience."
The interactive interface and convenient ordering attracts Stine's guests resulting in more than 100 kiosk orders each day.

The kiosk presents food options that are not easily displayed on the menu board and may not be suggested readily by the cashier.

Guests move quickly through the kiosk's colorful graphic-filled menu and order items by simply touching the screen.
In addition, an employee will act as kiosk host to assist first time users and facilitate order taking during the restaurant's busiest times.

We aren't sure how this is a whole lot different from their human service, but there seems to be a trend with self checkout and less human contact.

Let's wait and see.

I Can't Believe it's No Trans Fats

Unilever the big seller of soft margarine spread than anyone else, will reveal plans on Monday to remove all partially hydrogenated oils — artificial trans fats — from its soft-spread brands, including I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and Country Crock.

The battle over battle to renmove trans fats in foods has become increasingly demanded by shoppers.

But some smart marketing by Smart Balance, Unilever's closest rival in soft spreads, challenged Unilever to go lower. So for whatever the reason it will no longer mix in even tiny amounts, which added texture and shelf life.

The new label, for the first time, will read: No hydrogenated oils.

Greenpeace, always good for a laugh, this time at Trader Joe's

We are embarrassed for Greenpeace. With nothing better to do, dressed in their, little fish costumes, outside of San Francisco Trader Joe’s stores, calling attention to the supermarket chain’s seafood sales.

The protest is because Trader Joe's didn't do what a Greenpeace analysis of seafood policies wanted them to do.

During the demonstration, activists dressed in Hawaiian shirts similar to those worn by TJ’s employees.

Among them were two protesters costumed as orange roughy, an endangered species listed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

By all means the United Nations and Greenpeace have higher thoughts than all of us about such things.

Greenpeace people were in a booth outside of the stores asking customers to vote for sustainable seafood.

Officials then wrote the stores a mock citation. (really, we aren't making this stuff up)

This smells a lot like a page out of the PETA playbook—finger pointing, public shame, petitions, citations, singing clowns and fish. Here's a little more of their work: See For Yourself

It's the same old song and dance but the good news is,

it's always funny and the world needs a little laughter.

Iguanas on Flordia Menus?

Author George Cera and his new cookbook, says residents of Florida should begin eating iguanas to avoid a possible population explosion of the animals.
With the species breeding in the wild throughout Florida, George Cera wants iguanas on Florida residents' plates rather than loose in the wild.
"Listen,'' the author of "The Iguana Cookbook: Save Florida… Eat an Iguana" said. "In Central America, in South America, in Mexico, iguanas are considered a delicacy. We ought to be eating them.''

Iguana researcher Kenneth Krysko of the University of Florida said iguanas are becoming widespread in Florida.
"They are widespread,'' Krysko said. "And there are tens of thousands of them."
The state and federal laws for the pet trade are partially to blame for the growth of such reptile species in Florida. For Cera, the problem stems from iguana owners who simply released the creatures into the wild.
"They were brought here. They were let loose by idiots, now they are destroying Florida. We can't let that happen.''

In neighborhoods from Key Biscayne to Boca Raton, it is the night,and day, of the fearsome-looking iguana.
These large reptiles that can reach 6 feet in length and are multiplying rapidly.
A female, on average, lays 50 papery-skinned eggs at a time, and maybreed twice a year. With no natural predators to keep their numbers incheck, the big reptiles appear to be thriving.

What's Really Eating at Fish?

Imagine reaching for an apple on a tree and having your hand suddenly caught by a metal hook that drags you—the whole weight of your body pulling out of the air into an atmosphere in which you cannot breathe.

This is what fish experience when they are hooked for “sport.”

This is the argument against the joys of fishing. Okay fine, but equally disturbing, what about fish that eat other fish, what are we going to do about that?

We are told how ignorant we have been not realizing the terror and suffering that fish endure when they’re hooked and pulled out of the water.

Yes, and how about the terror and suffering fish endure when bigger fish with sharp teeth rip the smaller fish apart? Something must be done.

We are also guilty of rarely stopping to contemplate that fish are complex and intelligent individuals.

Right again, when the bigger individuals (fish) go on the hunt for smaller individuals (fish) all they can intellectually think about is tearing into the flesh of the smaller less complex fish.

In fact, if anglers treated cats, dogs, cows, or pigs the way they treat fish, they would be thrown in prison on charges of cruelty to animals. (going to prison for fishing? That will be next)

What about all the release and catch thing? Sorry, no can do.

Even when anglers put fish back in the water after torturing them, many of the fish die from their stress and injuries.

The same goes for bigger fish who may feel guilty and decide to spit out the smaller fish after torturing and almost swallowing them.

So what can fish lovers do?

We are told to go vegetarian by leaving fish off your plate, you’ll be doing your part to end their suffering. Once you close your tackle box and open your mind, you’ll be able to enjoy the beauty of our lakes, rivers, and oceans without contributing to animal suffering or environmental destruction. When you put down your fishing pole and pick up a fish-friendly hobby, everyone wins!

And for the bigger fish? Go Vegetarian, learn to eat plankton and algae.

But the real question remains, how are we going to stop fish from eating other fish?

When we do this everyone wins!

Then after we fix that, let's stop birds from catching fish.

Being Vegan, So Last Year

Gwyneth Paltrow loves to cook and in the video the former vegan debones chicken and the vegans squawk, "now Gwyneth has blood on her hands."

Gwyneth Paltrow offended the animal kingdom’s High Priests at PETA yet again.

There's this chicken video and then the Thanksgiviving thing, "Turkey will always be the main event of Thanksgiving (at least in my house) and a whole turkey is the way to go if you’re feeding at least 12. But if your party is smaller, the stuffed turkey breast turns out to be a great halfway point. Brining it overnight insures that you don’t need to baste it and it has a quick cooking time. Why should things be any less festive if dinner is just for two? I came up with these stuffed turkey burgers which were a giant hit in my house. They are the perfect solution for anyone who isn’t feeding a big group (or for a big group that wants to try something different!)."
Yes, the one-time vegan said in 2008 she hadn't eaten meat in 15 years, but now she is showing us how she prepares roasted chicken.
In this video Paltrow is cooking up roast chicken and potatoes, with a farmers' market salad on the side.
She's having fun in the kitchen, and she's passionate about cooking...chicken.
She even shares family kitchen secrets. "My grandmother taught me how to wash chickens, which is to take handfuls of kosher salt, wet the chicken with cold water, scrub inside and out, rinse and dry so it's all nice and ready."
Stuffing the bird with "lovely rosemary" and "gorgeous sage." Sounds good to us, what time's dinner?
Once on a strict macrobiotic regimen – eating mainly grains, veggies, and beans - Paltrow dumped the extreme diet after getting pregnant with her first child in 2003.
In the video she explains that her love of cooking started in college. "We started watching a lot of cooking channels," she says. "And over the years, it's just become a major passion."
While putting together the salad, Paltrow shows her passion for food as she describes the ingredients as "beautiful," "lovely" and "gorgeous."
"I feel inspired to cook all the time."

Not Again - Man brandishes Gun at Fast Food Restaurants

Police in Dallas said they are searching for a man, not a policeman this time, who brandished a gun and robbed three fast food restaurants from their drive-through windows.
Investigators said the robber, described as in his late 20s or early 30s, hit a McDonald's, a Whataburger and a Wendy's.

The man, who was driving a maroon Ford Expedition, placed orders at each of the restaurants then brandished a gun at the food pickup windows and demanded money, police said.
The man was described as about 5-foot-6 with a beard, mustache and tattoos on both arms.

Budget Wars - Trader Joes or Whole Foods

Private labels sometimes frighten people,
but if you are trying to save a little money and still insist on quality, watch this:

Move Over Burger King - North Korea has Minced Beef and Bread

Okay, okay, this isn't the exact burger (pictured here) that North Korea has available in Pyongyang. But there is the new "minced beef and bread" available for sale at the North Korean capital's fast-food restaurant.
So, it's beef, not dog, as far as we know.

(the actual picture wasn't available)

The Samtaesong restaurant opened in the isolated communist country last month in cooperation with a Singaporean company, according to the Tokyo-based Choson Sinbo. The Singaporean company, provided training to restaurant staff and supplied equipment.

The restaurant's interior looks like fast-food restaurants everywhere, but the menu is careful not to call "minced beef and bread" a hamburger — being ever so careful not to give the impression North Koreans have embraced an American holy icon.

The North Korea's authoritarian government is concerned that outside influences could undermine the regime and pose a threat to leader Kim Jong Il's tight grip on the nation of 24 million. It avoids using foreign words and chooses Korean words instead.

The restaurant is unlikely to be visited by ordinary, everyday people in North Korea, which is one of the world's poorest countries and experiences constant food shortages.

Let's do the math, the minced beef and bread costs only $1.70, but that's more than half of the average daily income for North Koreans. Last year's average income was at $1,065.

Even though the minced burger should be enough to please everyone, the restaurant also offers kimchi, as well as waffles and draft beer. It plans to add croissants and hot dogs to its menu in the coming months but with Korean names, and will open another branch in the capital soon.

Wow, sounds like a winner.

Toad in Your Cocktail?

We enjoyed Andy Dick's clown performance so much (protesting McDonald's) we wondered if some nonprofit group would want to send him to Asia for an encore?

There is a number of critter-based East Asian beverages that may be worth checking out.

In some cases, an animal-derived substance is incorporated into a drink’s recipe.

Japan’s Nihon Shokuten company markets a soft drink that has it's as its not-so-secret ingredient, swine placenta.

Or maybe you’d prefer eel essence. That’s what another Japanese firm fortifies one of its drinks with—and this one’s carbonated, for maximum refreshment!

How about some kind of beastly cocktail?

In China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, fresh snake bile is sometimes added to rice wine or harder drink, creating a mixture meant—like nearly all such drinks—as a general tonic.

Taipei’s Snake Alley has long been famous as a place to get your snake-bile fix.

The most common concoctions are made by steeping animal parts or whole animals in some kind of alcoholic liquid. But the really good news is that these are regarded as medicinal.

So, what might you find in one of these concocted bottles? How about lizard—gecko is a very popular additive in Vietnam.

Or whole snake, or scorpion. Seahorse can be nice, or toad, or perhaps bees.

Come on Andy, get your clown suit on and dance your way through Asia.

The Goonch: Vicious Human-Eating Catfish

The Great Kali is a river that flows along the India-Nepal border. Swimming in this river are mutant, vicious catfish that has been terrorizing natives who fear swimming in the same waters with the goonch which eats people.

This giant catfish, scientists fear, originally a bottom feeder scavenger, began eating humans after developing a taste for flesh from feeding on burnt corpses dumped into the river after funerals.
Investigated by English biologist, Jeremy Wade and slated for a television documentary, the goonch is considered an endangered species.
Reports of swimmers being dragged underneath the surface are documented and well-known.

Man V Food on the Travel Channel

Okay, we finally got around to watch the Travel Channel's
Man V Food, and while it's not a food show in the traditional sense, it's a lot of fun.

The show is hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman who is entertaining and engaging.
In each episode you'll find Richman exploring "big food" before facing off against an eating challenge at a local restaurant.

Below is a quick look - Man V Food

Maid Charged For Adding Menstrual Blood to Food

In a bizarre attempt to improve her relationship with her employer, an Indonesian maid has appeared in a Hong Kong court accused of adding menstrual blood to her employer’s food.
Indra Ningsih, aged 26 mixed menstrual blood into a pot of vegetables in order to improve relations between herself and her employer.
It makes a little more sense if one considers that in some southeastern Asian cultures, menstrual blood is thought to have special powers.
Regardless, she has been charged with one count of “administering poison destructive or noxious substances with intent to injure." She has not yet entered a plea.
Her actions were discovered completely by chance. Her female employer whose surname is Mok happened to enter the kitchen to her home and noticed the maid acting rather strangely. She caught her throwing something into the trash bin, which turned out to be a used sanitary napkin.
When she looked into the pot of vegetables, she noticed something “suspicious” floating around mixed with the vegetables and water.
Indra had no excuse except to say that things had been bad between her employer and herself, and she hoped to improve things.
Well, Indra, not likely.

Cat Cora - Another One Out of the Oven

Celebrity chef CAT CORA is a mom once after giving birth to a baby boy July 19,09The Iron Chef America chef named her son Nash, this was three months after her wife Jennifer gave birth to a son, called Thatcher.

The couple now has four kids between them

Denny's Sued Over Salty Food

The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is suing Denny's, because they say the restaurant has too much sodium in its food.

In a statement, Denny's calls the lawsuit "frivolous" and says its nutrition information is posted on its web site.

The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Middlesex County, seeks to make Denny's put on its menus the sodium content of its food and a warning about high sodium levels.

In a news conference, Michael Jacobson, the CSPI' s executive director, said that the CSPI had negotiated with Denny's starting in December 2007 and decided to file the lawsuit when those negotiations "fell through."
"They said they'll try to lower sodium but they want to do it at their own schedule, which, unfortunately, could be decades," Jacobson said.

In a news release, the CSPI states that Denny's made "small" sodium cuts in several items, but those change didn't go as far as CSPI wanted and didn't include menu disclosures.
Jacobson says that although Denny's has posted sodium and other nutritional information online, that information should go on the menu. "If you drop into a Denny's, you're not going to the web. It's a totally inadequate means of informing consumers," Jacobson said.

Denny's Response

Denny's released a statement about the lawsuit. Here is their statement:
"Denny's believes the lawsuit filed by CSPI is frivolous and without merit, and the company will fight it aggressively in court. With hundreds of items on the menu, Denny's offers a wide variety of choices for consumers with different lifestyles, understanding that many have special dietary needs. In June 2009, the company launched Better for You items, allowing guests to replace favorites with lower-sodium and fat alternatives. Additionally, earlier this month, Denny's launched a Better for You kids menu. All nutrition information is available online at www.dennys.com."

We can't help but notice how many of these nonprofit groups spend a lot of time telling others what to do.

KFC Secret Recipe May Be Revealed

Has Ron Douglas, an avid cook and Kentucky Fried Chicken fan, really cracked the ingrediants to one of the best-kept secrets in the world?

Ron says he may know the 11 herbs and spices in KFC’s recipe — and now he's sharing the secret with the world.
He started the Web site recipesecrets.net.

Douglas scored a deal with Simon & Schuster, which published his "America's Most Wanted Recipes" earlier this month. The book includes his recipe for KFC's 11 herbs and spices — which Douglas says he discovered after six attempts.

"The exact recipe has never been released," Douglas admitted, "but mine comes really, really close. I kept trying, and with the help of the online community, we figured out a recipe that's so good most people can't tell the difference."
But KFC says, not so fast: "Colonel Sanders' Secret Recipe of 11 herbs and spices is one of the most famous recipes in the world, and the precautions taken to safeguard the identity of the ingredients are second to none," said Rick Maynard, a KFC spokesman. "Plenty of people have tried to duplicate the recipe over the years, but there is still only one place to get authentic Original Recipe Chicken — at a KFC restaurant."

The one thing we know for sure (because we have tried it)

the chicken must be pressure-cooked.

Ron Douglas shares the ingredients for his version of KFC's 11 herbs and spices recipe
— 1 teaspoon ground oregano
— 1 teaspoon chili powder
— 1 teaspoon ground sage
— 1 teaspoon dried basil
— 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
— 1 teaspoon pepper
— 2 teaspoons salt
— 2 tablespoons paprika
— 1 teaspoon onion salt
— 1 teaspoon garlic powder
— 2 tablespoons Accent

TOP CHEFS Wins Voodoo Kitchen Poll

We asked, Your Favorite Food Show?
Total Votes 1,003

Top Chef (176)
18%

Hell's Kitchen (175)
17%

Iron Chef America (138)
14%

Kitchen Nightmares (108)
11%

No Reservations (79)
8%

Throwndown (76)
8%

Good Eats (73)
7%

Emeril Live (58)
6%

Food Nation (55)
5%

Ace of Cakes (27)
3%

Top Chef Masters (22)
2%

30 Minute Meals (6)
1%

Next Food Network Star (5)
0%
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (3)
0%
Paula's Home Cooking (2)
0%

ONION TORTURE

Dominican Republic police have been torturing people with onions to get information about crimes, a human rights group has alleged.
The National Commission on Human Rights has documented dozens of cases in which police forced the vegetables into victim's mouths, said Joselin Melo, the organisation's vice president.
The technique makes people feel as if they are asphyxiating - but some had onions stuffed into their rectums, she claimed.
They have specialised in this technique.
It appears that the onion has given them results.
It was the first time the commission had heard about onions being used as weapons, she said.

We looked around and didn't find any onion torture videos, but we found this:

Worm & Slug Infestation McDonald's Bridgeton

BRIDGETON -- A worm and slug infestation has plagued a McDonald's restaurant on Broad Street since 2006, according to a letter from the owners of the franchise to local officials.
The owners write that they "are in trouble and concerned for the public's safety, our employee's well-being and our business" due to what they say are "thousands of worms" living in the foundation of the Broad Street eatery.
The restaurant was closed on Wednesday and remains closed today.
The letter, also states that worms -- in addition to slugs -- have been "living and thriving in the restaurant."
They have allegedly been found in and around the store's soda systems and in the walk-in refrigerator.
Slugs, have been found in the walk-in refrigerator and around the dish washing sink.
"We found worms about two weeks after we bought the site on January 7, 2008 from McDonald's Corporation," the owners of the franchise write, adding that the county health department confirmed through employee interviews that the worm infestation has been on-going "at least since 2006."

As a result of the discovery, the store was closed the following day with notice given to the public that "plumbing work was being done on the store."
"We tried to share as much as we truthfully could without harming the store," the Persons wrote.
Worms and slugs are allegedly still being found in the store.
"There can be no compromise. We need and the citizens of Bridgeton deserve nothing less than a safe and healthful environment in this McDonald's restaurant," they added.
County health officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday, when news of the infestation first broke, or today

Man claims he found condom in French onion soup

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man has sued a Claim Jumper restaurant claiming he ordered French onion soup and bit into a condom instead of melted cheese. Zdenek Philip Hodousek filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court seeking unspecified damages over fears he may have contracted a disease.
Hodousek's attorney Eric Traut said his client wants to have restaurant employees' DNA tested to find a match to the condom.
A public relations firm representing Claim Jumper said no one can prove the so-called "foreign object" Hodousek took from the restaurant is the item that was submitted to a lab for testing.
The firm said an internal probe revealed no employee wrongdoing.

Police Officer Charged with Brandishing Gun at McDonald's

AURORA, Colo. – A Denver police officer has been charged with felony menacing for allegedly brandishing his gun at a McDonald's restaurant after getting tired of waiting for his food.

The officer in question, Derrick Curtis, 29, Saunders also face charges of prohibited use of a weapon, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.
An employee at the McDonald's restaurant told investigators that two Denver police officers were waiting for their food at the drive-through window when one grew impatient and pulled his gun.
No one was injured.
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said that Saunders had been suspended with pay and would be put on unpaid leave once the department is formally notified of the charges.

To the best of our knowledge the clown in the photo is not Andy Dick.

Lawsuit says Hot Dogs Need Warning Label

The lawsuit filed by a group that promotes a meat-free diet, seeks to require cancer-risk labels on processed meats.
The label goes something like this: "Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer."

That's the label that a vegan advocacy group wants a New Jersey court to order Oscar Mayer, (poor Oscar Mayer) Hebrew National along with other hot dog companies.

Nutrition experts say the science is far more complicated and that slapping warning labels on all these products. If one were to call for a 'black label' on frankfurters, where should the warning label end? If we were to evaluate each food for its naturally occurring toxins and eliminate that food, then our food plate would be empty.

We wonder how successful the tobacco warning labels have been over the years?

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• Hot Dog War: Ball Park Franks Sues Oscar Mayer Over Taste Test Claims [Lawsuits] (consumerist.com)

Hell's Kitchen - A look at Season 6

Chinese Man Auctions Girls’ Saliva as a Tonic

A Chinese auction site, something like eBay, has recently banned a potential online seller from profiting from the sale of the saliva of pretty teenage girls, yes, that's right, spit.

Why would anyone want to buy the saliva of pretty teenage girls? This is the question, isn't it?
The answer, at least according to the seller, is that the saliva is “a tonic” and a virtual steal at $4.00 for a small bottle.

Each bottle was offered for sale accompanied by a listing of the pictures of the 18-year-old girl the saliva was supposedly taken from.

The seller admits that so far he has not even sold one bottle of his… er, products.

“The drool was all collected from 18-year-old pretty girls when they were sleeping.

And buyers can pay later after they certified the authenticity of this product,” Zhou told the press.

Japanese Grape Cluster Sells For $2,250

Last year, a cluster of Ruby Roman Grapessold for $900 US dollars. If you think that was ridiculous, this year’s first bunch which were auctioned off for an astounding 210,000 yen or $2,250!
Fruit is an expensive commodity in Japan and is considered a gift of great luxury.
The wealthy consider it a sign of prestige to pay exorbitant prices for high-end fruits, especially the very first ones of the year.

Meatballs made from Human Fat

Using human fat isn't a new story, but there's something about all this that gets under our skin. First we heard about the Beverly Hills surgeon, Dr. Craig Alan Bittner, who used body fat taken from his patients during liposuction to fuel two SUVs. "The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel -- and I have more fat than I can use," Bittner wrote on his now closed web site.

Then a few years back we heard about Chilean-born artist Marco Evaristti who presented his friends with his creation, meatballs cooked with his own body fat, extracted by liposuction. On the plates in front of them was a serving of agnolotti pasta and in the middle, a meatball made with the fat that Evaristti had removed from his body.
He stages a dinner party with his meatball cans. Notably, the table was set for 13: as an allusion to the Last Supper.

The 48 meatballs cooked in his own body fat were available in cans of 10 meatballs, on sale for US$4000.

Two cans have already been sold to collectors for US$23,200 each.

He claimed that the meatballs were not only delicious, but contained less fat than supermarket meatballs.

Later he said, "The question of whether or not to eat human flesh is more important than the

result. You are not a cannibal if you eat art."

He says the work is about the sanctity of the body and an unhealthy modern obsession with food and weight loss.

"Firstly, I want to show people that meatballs made with my fat are no more disgusting than the meatballs you buy in the supermarket," he said.

"Secondly, it's a dialogue with a modern society that lives to eat, rather than eating to live as it should be.

"You eat, and when you're fat, you go to a clinic, have an operation, have your fat removed and you start to eat again."

When he displayed the piece in Chile, Evaristti invited 12 people to join him in eating the meatballs in a last supper.

How did they taste? "Even better than my grandmother's," he said.

If you hurry there may be a few cans left.

Say What? Chef Gordon Ramsay says he doesn't enjoy cursing

Gordon Ramsay, knows it’s not fun being on the receiving end of one of his outbursts.
But he swears he isn't trying to be to be mean, just to be mean.
"I don’t enjoy cursing at all," Ramsay says, believe it or not. "But sometimes I have to to get the message across."

They deserve it because, he believes, a vile meal, at best, ruins a dining experience and, at worst, could put someone in the hospital.

Ramsay, discussing the show, food and cooking in general, says the contestants on Hells Kitchen this year seem to be more confrontational than ever. Now they are cursing at Gordon Ramsay, what's that about?

"I suppose they’ve watched the show before and they think they want to come in with bravado. But I always say, at least initially, let me do the talking, and you’d be surprised how far you go in a short period of time. Sometimes, it’s like dealing with actual teenagers. It’s frustrating."

"I always say if you let your food do the talking, you'd be surprised how far you go in a short period of time... I encourage that level of confidence. That's great. But when you've got the arrogance, the confidence and you can't cook, then you look stupid."

Has anyone ever screamed at Gordon Ramsay?
"While working with the French chef Joël Robuchon in Paris, we had a duck, cooked in the oven, in a big 30-kilo copper pan. One of the chefs was shouting and screaming at me because I hadn’t browned the bird properly. I said I’ll do another one for him. Anyway, for some bizarre reason, they put the whole thing in the oven with no duck in there and it got sent to the dining room. I heard this big 'crash/bang’ when the chef came through and he went for me big time!"

Nestle Restarts Cookie Dough Production After E. coli Outbreak

Fresh on the heels of revelations that three different E. coli strains have been linked to the nationwide outbreak of E. coli in cookie dough, ABC news and the Wall Street Journal reports that Nestle is restarting production. The Danville, Virginia plant was closed on June 19, when E. coli illnesses across the country were tied to the raw cookie dough produced there.

The FDA investigation of the plant found E. coli in an unopened package of the cookie dough and E. coli was also found in in a package of Nestle refrigerated cookie dough in the home of a victim. Both of those strains are different from that found in the stool of the 72 people who were infected by eating the cookie dough, meaning that three strains have now been associated with the product.
Interestingly, Nestle continued processing other food products at the Danville factory while the cookie dough production was shut down.
Questions continue concerning the outbreak, as no source has yet been identified in the E. coli contamination of the Nestle Cookie Dough product. Now the multiple strains of E. coli connected to the outbreak just adds to the mystery, and yet, production resumes.

Was MasterChef Australia Rigged?

OUTRAGED fans have taken to the Internet to label MasterChef a fraud after cook Julie Goodwin won the crown in last night's finale.

A majority of Australia's culinary experts didn't back her either, but Goodwin took the title from Adelaide's Poh Ling Yeowin in a three-round challenge.

The MasterChef finale last night set a new record with 3.7 million Australians tuned in to see Julie defeat Poh in the grand final, which put it ahead of the record-setting Australian Idol finales of 2003 (3.3 million) and 2004 (3.35 million).

Overnight #masterchef became the top trending topic on social networking sight Twitter. But many users said they felt “deflated” and “ripped off” by the final episode of the hit show.

Stumbling and fumbling through the series Goodwin, who has admitted at times she came across as a "dithering idiot" on TV, which has left many scratching their heads.

PETA'S Unhappy Meals

PETA no longer needs to worry about the Michael Jackson butter statue, so now they are dressing up as chicken nuggets. Handing out “Unhappy Meals’’ outside McDonald’s to protest how the chain’s suppliers treat chickens.
“If kids knew how unhappy the chickens who are killed for Happy Meals really are, they’d lose their lunch,” said Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of PETA. “And if parents don’t want them to know, then the decent thing to do is to refuse to take them to eat there. McDonald’s is in danger of losing its next generation of customers if it doesn’t act to eliminate the worst abuses of chickens killed for its restaurants.”
PETA also spoofed the company’s happy meal with a press kit that included Ronald McDonald wielding a bloody knife, a ketchup packet filled with fake “blood,” a “dead’’ plastic chicken and a “McCruelty” T-shirt wrapped up like a chicken sandwich.

We can't help but think, if people knew how anything was made then they would not eat, drink, or wear anything.
Peta still hasn't explained the pain vegetables go through when they yank them out of the ground. What about those poor trees that are cut to the ground just so the PETA people have a roof over their heads?

In Andy Dick's best performance ever, yes, even greater than anything Tom Green has done and that's saying something, please watch and enjoy.

Catch of the Day

Anti-Israel Group Boycotts Trader Joe’s

Last month there was a call for a boycott of Israeli products sold at Trader Joe's.

Members of the boycott group were asked to hand out anti-Israel leaflets in front of Trader Joe's stores across the United States.
Kate Raphael, one of the organizers of the event, said she joined approximately 20 others as they marched into a Trader Joe’s store in Oakland, Calif., passing out hundreds of leaflets, which condemned Israel’s actions. Protesters removed Israeli products from the shelves in order to show customers which products they should not buy. They also met with the store managers and asked them to notify their headquarters that they no longer wanted to carry Israeli herbs, couscous and cheese. Similar actions were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; and Sacramento, California. The activists were inspired by campaigns to de-shelve Israeli products in Wales and France.
The Los Angeles Jewish Journal reported that the demonstrations failed to take place, and that Israel supporters visited the stores and insisted on buying Israeli products.

But more important than what actually happened is the attitude of management at Trader Joe's.
Alison Mochizuki, a spokesperson for Trader Joe’s more than 300 stores, reiterated the privately owned chain’s stance.

“Trader Joe’s will not be used as a political tool, and we will not remove any products under pressure from any group. We believe our customers are smart and capable enough to make their own choices,” she said.

Kitchen Nightmares Returns September 11th on Fox

Kitchen Nightmares new season is scheduled to debut September 11 on Fox.

Gordon Ramsay is excited for viewers to see the work he did with the a new line up of American eating establishments.
"This year, Kitchen Nightmares is almost on par with the U.K. version," Ramsay said.
"I think you'll see a different side this year. When the chefs confront [me], I'm going to get straight to the point. The minute when they start understanding why I'm there, let's not forget, they asked me in there, and I want to get on with the cooking and helping the business restructure itself. Arguing is not a thing of the past, but getting straight to the point is something I can never stop doing. So they get very insecure too quickly... But the truth hurts."