Slate debunks the New York Times' "scaremongering" story about mercury-tainted sushi. [Slate] The Observer's Susan Smillie travels to the South and discovers that "things really differ state to state..." and is baffled by shrimp and grits for breakfast. [Observer Food Monthly] Mark Bittman, who is not a vegetarian, writes about the environmental impact of meat consumption: "beef generates 24 times more CO2 than vegetables and rice." [NYT] Question: Is there a difference between brown and white eggs? Answer: No, they're just more expensive. [Chow] On Friday, Serious Eats' Pizza Weblog Slice survived an Internet thrashing due to its exhaustive list of regional pizzas. Seems as though everyone has something to say about their local pies: read the many comments over... More

Gourmet runs an until-now unpublished essay by the late food writer Edna Lewis, What is Southern? [Gourmet] Two months after their own Frank Bruni goose-eggs Harry Cipriani's, the New York Times tries to explain its enduring popularity. [NYT] Amanda Hesser revisits a late 80s recipe for Potato, Shiitake and Brie Gratin. [NYTM] Eric Asimov has a hangover. [NYT] The Hydrox cookie has been killed off. Fun fact: the "name came from combining the words hydrogen and oxygen, which Sunshine executives thought evoked purity." [WSJ, via Coldmud] Chinese exporters are going kosher to offset the U.S. backlash over tainted food products. [Mercury News, via Consumerist] Maureen Dowd gets food poisoning and White House doctors come to the rescue. [Barfblog]... More

Anthony Bourdain didn't pull any punches when he was interviewed by my friend Robb Walsh on the subject of illegal immigrants working in restaurant kitchens. "People have differing opinions on what we should do about immigration in the future. How open or how closed our borders should be. Fine. But let's be honest, at least, about who is cooking in America NOW. Who we rely on--have relied on for decades. The bald fact is that the entire restaurant industry in America would close down overnight, would never recover, if current immigration laws were enforced quickly and thoroughly across the board. Everyone in the industry knows this. It is undeniable. Illegal labor is the backbone of the service and hospitality industry--Mexican,... More

A truly terrifying story on Chinese fish farms in toxic waters. We should be very scared. Michael Pollan frames the sustainability issue in a whole new way, and in doing so he makes us see how sustainability relates to the story above. Is Francis Ford Coppola aiming to become the George Foreman of the espresso set? It will set you back $699 to find out in April when Coppola's Illy Francis Francis X7 hits stores everywhere.... More