Let's face it: dining out is a totally subjective experience, and I've often wished there were hard and fast rules in place for issues like splitting the bill or whether coat checks should be mandatory. The question du jour? Whether it's OK to bring a birthday cake to a restaurant.I've just turned 30, and I'm celebrating by having dinner with a dozen friends at a small, family-owned ethnic Read more

After a Missouri ice cream shop was banned from selling cicada ice cream to customers, San Francisco's health department has followed suit by telling one restaurant that it can no longer sell chapulines or grasshopper tacos, citing the fact that the purveyor isn't USDA approved. Although purportedly no one has gotten sick in the two-and-a-half years that the item's been offered on his menu, "the Read more

Remember Duncan Hines's controversial "Hip Hop Cupcakes" commercial? Well, it wasn't the first (and certainly isn't the last) supermarket food campaign that's wrought with racially charged undertones. The latest company to fall under attack is candy company Cadbury, which has come under fire for a new advertisement comparing supermodel Naomi Campbell to one of its latest products. The ad's Read more

Don't think that counterfeit bags and cosmetics are the only phony items on the market. Recent evidence suggests that the fake fish trade is rampant, too. Studies and survey documents from private national universities to state regulation agencies show escolar masking as white tuna, tilapia sold as red snapper, and emperor fillets marketed as grouper in staggering numbers, by both food Read more

For female chefs, the kitchen still feels like a man's world, but recently, a number of gender-centric events and accolades have been filling the food circuit, attempting to remedy the solution. San Pellegrino announced its short list for its first-ever Best Female Chef award, and much of Manhattan's top talent has signed on to participate in a female chef dinner series, designed to "showcase Read more

I wonder what Prince William and Kate Middleton would say about this zinger. Burger King's CEO, Bernardo Hees, is in deep water over calling English food "terrible" and British women "unattractive." Hees told a group of University of Chicago students: "The food is terrible, and the women are not very attractive (in England). Here in Chicago, the food is good, and you are known for good-looking Read more

I've had more thoughts in the past week about the sustainablity of seafood than I have about the Super Bowl. Chalk it up to lots of conflicting information. The one question in my head is this: should we be eating more fish in our diets or less? According to Parents, the USDA's new dietary guidelines mean we should be increasing our seafood intake in order to reduce consumption of other animal Read more