Candy Blog takes issue with the Belgian part of Trader Joe's new Belgian 100-calorie chocolate bars (0.63 ounce per bar): "Just because the country has a great history and a good reputation for producing good chocolate doesn’t mean that just because it’s Belgian that it’s better, or even good."... More

Photograph from Not Martha Now that Hydrox cookies are back on the shelves, the debate over how they stack up against their competitors has begun. Megan Reardon and Scott Andrew of Not Martha recently put them to a taste test against Oreos and Newman O's. For Overall I liked Oreos while Scott preferred the less sweet Hydrox. I preferred the extra crunch that the Oreos had and found that the flavors were the most balanced. The Newman O's had the crunchiest cookie and I found it had the most pronounced cocoa flavor, but I thought the cookies tasted slightly off, something which came through most when we compared the creme fillings. I haven't tried the Newman O's, though I am... More

Whole Foods is trying a store image makeover, according to the New York Times. In these lean times, with rising food prices and wholesale economic anxiety, the store sometimes known as "Whole Paycheck" is trying to recast itself as a value-driven store. More

Hint: It's edible. And it smells. Answer after the jump.... More

-->Their pita chips taste awfully familiar to the kind at Whole Foods. And that Goddess dressing—I swear that cosmic, flowy-haired woman was on another bottle. Is Joe trying to pass this stuff off as his own? He'd never... No. Would he? Sure enough, Chow reveals that 80% of Joe-San/Josef/Giotto's products are probably produced by a third party. So where does that leave the no-middleman promise? Yikes, his fingers might have been crossed when he said that.... More

My daughter Iris's preschool is, like so many these days, a nut-free zone. Often Iris will come home and, after a morning of nut deprivation, eat a big bowl of toasted pecans. Before she started preschool, her standard lunch was the same as every other non-nut-allergic kid's: peanut butter and jelly. I did my best to choose a good quality jam and bread (the Innkeeper's brand multigrain bread from Costco is delicious), but it was your basic PB&J. This wouldn't fly under preschool rules. So I've fumbled with various leftovers and other sandwiches, and fallen back on deli ham more often than I'd like to admit. (I've tasted "soynut butter," recommended in the preschool handbook, and could not in good... More

Jo Jo's photo of ridge-cut blue potato chips from Trader Joe's reminds me of the shimmering crystals of an amethyst geode. According to Jo Jo, the potato chips are thick, not too salty, and devoid of grease despite the gleaming quality. Beautiful and tasty? I'll take a bag...[claws at the screen]...... More