Top Ten Links of the Week: 10/8/10 - 10/14/10

It’s been good times for cheap and community-based edibles these last seven days, folks. Not only did New York Times Magazine publish its annual food issue, but Lifehacker dubbed it “Food Week.” So, happy Food Week to you all! And to all a good Food Week!

1) Lifehacker: Food Week
From favorite quick meals to understanding the food pyramid to a solid kitchen tutorial from Minimalist Mark Bittman, Food Week is your guide to simplifying and bettering your time spent galley-bound. Excelsior!

2) Mental Floss: The Origins of 10 Food Phrases
Neat! Want to know where “Egg someone on,” “selling like hotcakes,” and “bring home the bacon” come from? (Hint: it’s not Facebook.) This research-happy rundown will edumacate you in the tastiest possible way.

3) New York Times Magazine: Food Issue
Where to start? With the warm-n-fuzzy piece on communal eating in America? With Michael Pollan’s epic group meal? With Amanda Hesser’s compilation of the best NYT recipes, ever? Ooo – I know. With badass scar stories from famous chefs, where accidental amputations abound.

4) Seattle Times: School lunch has so many issues to chew on, it's tough to change
We can all agree that school cafeteria meals need to healthy up, but fast. (Well, except you, Laura Ingraham.) So, what’s the holdup? Well, lunch ladies are fighting budget shortages, kids’ preferences, and parental noncompliance among other things. Perspective: This article has it.

5) The Food Waste Trilogy
Epi-Log: 5 Clever Ways Not to Waste Food
The Kitchn: How to Stop Wasting Food
Salon: Seven Tasty Ways to Stop Wasting Food
A recent study revealed Americans chuck a quarter of our food, or almost 350 MILLION barrels a year. Oops. If you’d like to lower that number, these three guides can help you on your way.

6) NBC LA: Top 5 Ways to Find Honest Vendors at Farmers Markets
What? My beloved beet salesman may be a bunco artist? My mussel merchant, a mountebank? My poultry purveyor, a pettifogger? How can I foil these felonious frauds?

7) Casual Kitchen: The Do-Nothing Brand
I bet you didn’t know: “The generic product and the branded product that you see sitting next to each other on the store shelf are often made at the very same factory by the very same manufacturer.” Okay, maybe you knew. But the economics of it are pretty interesting, still.

Alain-Ducasse.com

8) Time: Alain Ducasse's Weapon Against Poverty - Cooking Classes
Really neat story about the French chef’s 15 Femmes en Avenir (15 Women with a Future) project, inspired by his own cataclysmic plane crash in the ‘80s. Can a lobster save a life? Maybe so.

9) Culinate: GMO Primer
Who here knows next-to-nothing about genetically modified foods? Yeah, me neither. Fortunately, this quick, informative summary of a much larger book is a solid introduction to the subject.

10) Rodale: Eating Healthy Foods Can Save You Money
See? SEE? The subheading nearly says it all: “A new study shows that shifting your food dollars to beans and grains gives you the healthiest bang for your hard-earned bucks.” Tips to follow.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

For the Love of Food: A Dinner for Friends
Veggie stick ranch cups! Convenient and totes cute.

Gizmodo: Watch Six Months of a Happy Meal’s Eternal Life
There’s an old saying that after the apocalypse, the only things left will be cockroaches and Cher. After this, I think we can add Mickey D’s to that list.

HuffPo: Why Fall Fruits and Vegetables Are So Dang Good for You
Good nutrient rundown of autumn produce. Here’s a preview: Vitamin C is all around you.

The Kitchn: From Alabama To Wyoming - Farm Stands In All 50 States
Get them squashes, kids!

Melissa Clark: Whole Wheat Pasta – The Taste Test
Winner: Bionaturae. (Who?) Loser: Barilla. Unexpected!

Money Saving Mom: How We Save $20 in 15 Minutes
Make your office lunch, but do it at night, suckas!

New York Times: Reader Photos – What Kids Want to Eat
First, iCarly brought us spaghetti tacos. Now, from kids all across America come culinary wonders like Goldfish Tomato Sauce Sandwiches and Farina with Sprinkles. Behold their creations!

Philly.com: A Portrait of Hunger
Reality, 2010 Edition.

Wise Bread: 5 Best Money-Saving, Healthy, Homemade Salad Dressings
Top your salad the right way.

AND ALSO

Hyperbole and a Half: The God of Cake
Dying laughing. What a great start to the weekend.

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