Recently in Food Category

The recall of peanut products because of possible salmonella contamination has mushroomed into one of the largest.

The outbreak -- blamed on a company that produces only about 1 percent of the nation's peanut products -- has sickened at least 575 people in 43 states. At least eight have died. More than 1,300 foods that used ingredients from Peanut Corp. of America's peanut processing plant in Blakely, Ga., have been recalled. While the outbreak appears to be slowing down, new illnesses are still being reported.

You can check to see if you have any of the recalled peanut products on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site, where you can search by brand name, UPC code or product description.

Depending on how recalls are measured, few others come close. If counted by the number of products, more than 1,313 had been recalled as of Thursday.

The closest is the 1,177 pet food products recalled in 2007 after melamine was discovered in some ingredients.

If measured in pounds, the February 2008 recall of beef from a California packaging plant would top the list, with 143 million pounds affected.

Here's a breakdown of recent national food contaminations that triggered recalls and warnings to consumers:

January 2009: Peanuts, peanut paste, peanut butter. 1,313 products recalled for salmonella contamination. More than 575 illnesses and eight deaths reported.

June 2008: Tomatoes and raw jalapeno peppers. More than $100 million in crops affected because of salmonella contamination. More than 1,200 illnesses reported and no deaths.

February 2008: Beef. More than 143 million pounds affected after unfit, weak and sick cattle were slaughtered for human consumption. No illnesses or deaths reported.

March 2007: Pet food. 1,177 products recalled because of melamine contamination. No human illnesses or deaths reported, but more than 14,000 pet illnesses and 16 deaths.

September 2006: Spinach. More than $86 million in crops affected because of E. coli contamination. More than 200 illnesses and three deaths reported.

The first signs of the recent salmonella outbreak were detected in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But disease detectives initially were puzzled because some people who had gotten sick reported eating chicken, a common source of salmonella infections.

On Jan. 7 and 8, after discussions between federal and Minnesota authorities, the focus on peanut butter got stronger. On Jan. 8, the FDA visited an Ohio distributor for Peanut Corp. of America.

The next day federal inspectors were at the company's Blakely, Ga. facility, which ultimately was identified as the source of the food poisoning. That same day, Jan. 9, Minnesota health officials found salmonella in an open container of peanut butter made at the plant. On Jan. 10, Minnesota made a positive match to the salmonella strain that caused the outbreak.

Noah Galuten spent the past three months eating his way around the world -- all within a day's drive of his Santa Monica apartment.

The Associated Press reports:

The 25-year-old playwright was broke and unemployed when he decided to eat cuisine from a different country every day and write about it on his "Man Bites World" Web site.

Galuten figured he could stomach 60 traditional dishes from a different country on consecutive days until he ran out of options and was sated. But the project took him further than he ever imagined, stamping his culinary passport with food from 102 cultures by his final bite of Slovakian poppy seed cake more than three months later.

That he could cross so many borders so close to home is both a testament to Los Angeles' cultural melting pot and the help he got from strangers who invited him into their homes to share traditional meals. "If there's anywhere you should be more inclusive, it's eating," he said.

The final feast -- plum brandy, roasted chestnuts, sheep milk feta with paprika and caraway, homemade gnocchi, and a traditional Christmas soup -- was home-cooked by Peter Simon, a Slovakian immigrant who offered his homeland's best.

The end tasted bitter and sweet: The adventure was over, but he was relieved because it was exhausting -- and expensive.

The international noshing left Galuten with $4,000 in credit card debt, which he hopes to erase by writing a book about his experiences. His girlfriend, Jackie Honikman, 25, a Web designer who covered his rent and other costs, gained about 15 pounds.

When the experiment came to a close this month after he failed to find Somalian food, he returned to his own roots, where he was comforted by a childhood treat -- turkey Bolognese cooked by his mom.

Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

As if the privilege of participating in a democratic government wasn't reward enough, some of your favorite sweets dealers are giving folks incentives to vote today.

Show off your "I Voted" sticker at a Krispy Kreme shop Tuesday and you'll get a free star-shaped doughnut -- with red, white and blue sprinkles! The South Bay's doughnut hole is at 1199 W. Artesia Blvd. in Gardena.

Ben & Jerry's shops will hand out a free ice cream scoop to customers Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. The South Bay's cremery is at 350 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in Manhattan Beach. And to cash in on that sweet deal, you don't even have to vote. Just show up! But if you're out getting ice cream anyway, why not stop by the polls while you're at it?

And if you need a little caffeine to get you a long night of watching the returns, head over to Starbucks, which is giving away free 12 oz. cups of brewed coffee.

California's Elections Code has rules against rewarding people for voting or not voting, but a Starbucks spokesperson said that the coffee giveaway is being framed "more in the tradition of democracy and celebrating it." She said the firm was not violating the law because "we are using the honor system and not asking for any proof that anyone voted."

The kids probably have their Halloween costumes picked out and visions of that giant haul of trick-or-treat candy, but do you as a parent have a strategy to keep your little ghouls from going on a frightening gorge fest? You might want to think about it - according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the average jack-o-lantern bucket can hold enough of those small candies to equal 9,000 calories (that's the recommended calorie total for an adult for 4.5 days), plus 200 grams of fat and 1,500 grams of sugar.

With Halloween being a fairly affordable event that promotes family bonding, experts expect no shortage of candy even if things are a bit blood-curdling in the economy this year. Candy sales are expected to rise to $2.26 billion from $2.20 billion a year ago.

"The trick is to plan ahead, making sure that children do not overindulge in sweets," said Kara Freeman a registered dietitian and president of the California Dietetic Association. "While we do not want to take the fun of candy out of the festivities, parents also need to be aware that Halloween kicks off the holiday season, which is usually filled with sweets and other indulgences. Parents and kids alike need to keep treats in moderation."

To help guide parents, the California Dietetic Association has teamed up with the California Milk Processors Board on a top-10 list of candy-controlling strategies.

Here's a sampling of the ideas:
-- Make sure the kids get a nutritious dinner before they go out. Dieticians say that will reduce children's appetites for candy that night.
--Consider handing out nonfood treats, such as school supplies like pencils and erasers or small toys.
-- Set a good example by keeping your own candy consumption under control.

With obesity and type 2 diabetes soaring among children, getting into good habits now can help save them from a truly scary future

In the great credit crunch that is now our reality, many are finding ways to save money just about any way they can. Love food hate waste is great resource to find ways to get the most from your refridgerator or pantry. They explain expiration dates, give food storage tips and even have "rescue recipes" searchable by what food needs to get used up quick. The Website states that each year 7 million slices of bread are thrown away. Garlic and bread soup anyone? For more stats on food waste, visit WRAP, a British organization working to reduce food waste, encourage recycling and tackle climate change.

The markets are down, but traffic is up at HeatEatReview.com, a site that includes reviews covering every shelf of the frozen-food aisle.

The recent 10 percent increase in site traffic, reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, could be the result of tightening dietary purse strings. And while the three-year-old site is older than the current economic downturn, the possibility lines up with what motivated founder Abi Jones. She tired of $7 takeout and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for her office lunches.

And with the site's help, you don't have to put up with those, either. Dozens of regular contributors across the U.S. have written reviews of more than 500 products from 100 brands. You can search by food type, rating or -- if you find that your tastes run consistently parallel to one particular critic -- by author.

Yesterday marked the beginning of Slow Food Nation 2008, a weekend-long celebration in San Francisco dedicated to introducing an environmentally friendly lifestyle of buying organic, locally grown eats instead of less-than-healthy fast food. But just because the festivities are nearly 400 miles away doesn't mean you can't be a part of the Slow Food movement. Read the posts at http://slowfoodnation.org/blog, where you can get information on all things food science and history and smart agriculture. You'll even find recipes for scrumptious, easy-to-make foods, such as goat cheese-stuffed squash blossoms and wild blackberry sorbet with mint and lavender.

If you find yourself inspired, you might want to visit Slow Food LA at www.slowfoodla.com. This chapter of Slow Food USA - the guys who put on this weekend's festival - organizes and keeps tabs on all the food activism happenings in L.A. Up next? The Hollywood Farmers' Market Peak of Summer Tomato Festival on Sept. 7. Information is available at the Slow Food LA Web site or at www.farmernet.com. Get your hands on free samples of more than 30 tomato varieties and learn how to sun-dry your own 'maters. Now that's a sweet way to end the summer.

What's for lunch? It's often hard for us at the Daily Breeze to come up with an answer to that question that satisfies everyone, and things are likely no different at your workplace.

If you can't reach a consensus with your co-workers, want to try to something new or just want to leave it all up to chance, visit the Wheel of Lunch.

Enter your ZIP code and a query (lunch, by default) and spin away. The Wheel links to Yahoo Local and displays the address and phone number of each restaurant listed. Clicking on that information will take to you a page with a map and restaurant reviews from Yahoo users.

Once you've had your fill of the default search, you'll certainly want to spice things up. Queries for a specific type of food (Mexican, Thai, pizza) will best serve you, but you can also find limited results for restaurants offer delivery or take-out options.

Bon appetit! Unless, of course, the wheel lands on the space telling you to skip lunch.

My first-born starts kindergarten in a few weeks. So I turned to the Web to research the latest in packing school lunches. I want her to eat healthy stuff, be eco-friendly and feel loved.

I found bento.

Here's a lovely description from one site I found:

'O-bento' is what the Japanese call a packed meal, usually lunch. Bento boxes have internal dividers, and sometimes several stacked layers, so different kinds of food sit in their own little compartments... and the goal is to make the whole package as attractive as possible - from considering the colour combinations of the food and presenting and garnishing it as neatly and artfully as you can...

The most informative and down-to-earth site I found for the novice bento-er was Lunch in a Box. Blogger Biggie, who won a 2007 Food Blog Award for Best Kids/Family Blog, focuses primarily on speed and nutrition in packing lunches for her preschooler. She also lived in Japan for nine years and speaks Japanese, so some of her tips and recipes are culled from Japanese cookbooks for you purists.

Her site is where you'll find a tips page that covers everything from the science of choosing the right size bento box and how to care for bento gear to smart packing strategies to keep a meal looking like you designed it to look.

If her site inspires you as much as it did me, you need to start shopping for some bento gear before school starts. Fortunately, the South Bay has quite a few Japanese markets that stock cheap and cute bento stuff. In Torrance, you can find things like cutters that turn a simple hot dog into a tulip to an egg shaper that turns a hard-boiled egg into a car. Find the goods with Biggie's Bento Store Locator.

Find more info on bento at:
Cooking Cute's links and resources
Adventures in Bento Making
Dallas Morning News' tips for bentoesque school lunches

I liked the idea that with a bento box, you can avoid disposable food containers like plastic sandwich bags. The bento supply aisles are full of cute little re-usable containers in fun shapes and colors that kids will love using. You can also avoid plastics and go with stainless steel containers if you're worried about the plastic factor.

Tips for packing a no-waste lunch box

I also liked that bento is supposed to be creative. I'll likely include comic strips and photos clipped from the Breeze, or some of my husband's doodles. Here are some more ideas I found that I might incorporate in my daughter's boxes:
Clever strategies for packing fun lunches
Lunch box love letter ideas from Tiffintin.net
Dumb jokes to include in the notes