Free Republic

A Winter Haven man is apparently very serious about his food. So serious, in fact, that he called 911 Sunday night after a manager at the Checkers at 940 Havendale Blvd. allegedly got his food order wrong and closed the drive-thru window on him, said Jamie Brown of the Winter Haven Police Department. About 9 p.m. John May, 53, of 3455 Ave. F NW called 911 to complain about the incorrect order and the "insubordination" of the manager. When officers arrived to see what the problem was, they noted half of May's food was already consumed. He told the officers...

Colombia is the finest nation on Earth when it comes to eating fruit. The country boasts mountains, jungles, deserts, and coasts, providing an environment conducive to growing any fruit you can imagine and plenty more you can’t, from sweet to sour to savory, and everything in between. Adventurous travelers quickly find their diets full of diverse flavors and their stool full of fiber in this gastronomic and gastrointestinal paradise. Of course, the tropical standards like mango, papaya, banana, avocado, and pineapple are available in multitudes, for a fraction of the price that they cost imported. That alone would be enough...

So far, almost one million people have watched a video of a man in a Tricorne hat demonstrating how colonists made fried chicken in the 18th century. The recipe, first published in Nathan Bailey's 1736 cookbook, "Dictionarium Domesticum," utilizes quartered chicken, malt vinegar and green onions as a three-hour marinade, flour and white wine as a frying batter, and — if you really want to go authentic — lard or clarified butter as frying oil. "The tartness of the marinade contrasted to the sweetness of the batter really sets this dish off," costumed video host Jonathan Townsend says in the...

One of my favorite television chefs is Nick Stellino. He has a wonderful, warm presence and engaging presentation - the sort of person who, when you watch him on television, makes you feel as if you've known him forever; and he manages to pack a LOT of information into a very short video without becoming boring or didactic. This recipe is from what I believe was his first book 'Cucina Amore', in which each recipe is accompanied by family memories of his youth in Sicily. I wanted to try the recipe this week and didn't have time; but I will...

An Italian senator presented a “pizza makers’ bill” Tuesday, which aims to create a professional registry of all Italian pizza chefs. If successful, the bill will establish a nationally regulated pizza-making qualification, which will be recognized in all European countries. The proposals would force aspiring pizzaioli to complete a 120-hour course made up of 20 hours of food science, 20 hours of pizza-making workshops, 30 hours of food hygiene and 40 hours of foreign languages. […] According to the Forza Italia senator who presented the bill, Bartolomeo Amidei, the registry will protect the country’s culinary traditions and stop consumers from...

A new report has urged the French government to up taxes on fizzy drinks or soda as well as chocolate bars. A can of coke and a Mars bar could soon become a much pricier snack in France. The shock report was presented to the French parliament on Monday and it includes a proposal was made to significantly increase the tax on sugary drinks. The current tax stands at €7.53 per hectoliter, or 2.51 centimes for each can of soda. These amounts would rise to €21.47 per hectoliter or 4.6 centimes per 33-centiliter can of soda if the proposal were...

Replacing modern wheat with ancient grain khorasan can benefit consumers with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

Clemson University scientist Brian Ward and his team harvested about 145 pounds of Purple Straw seed, which was grown from less than half a pound. Credit: Scott Miller / Clemson University ================================================================================================= The first step of an ongoing-process designed to bring a valuable heirloom wheat back from the brink of extinction has been completed with flying colors. Last month, Clemson University scientist Brian Ward and his team harvested about 145 pounds of Purple Straw seed, which was grown from less than half a pound. Purple Straw is the only heirloom wheat to have been cultivated continually in the South from...

Northeast dairy farmers who have been strapped for months by low milk prices say a voluntary insurance program that was supposed to be a safety net isn’t helping. The margin protection program provides financial assistance to enrolled farmers when the gap between the price of milk and national average feed costs falls below the coverage levels picked by individual farmers. […] Farmers say the margin protection program is not based on Northeast farmers’ feed costs but on the national average feed cost, which is less. The chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation testified in Washington last month that the...

So, about a week or so ago, Patrick Quinn felt trapped. He was sitting on the couch, afraid to move -- lest he woke up Maxton, his 3-week-old son who was sound asleep on his lap. Then he spotted a bowl of Cheerios by the couch. His older son had left it there because he never puts anything away. Hmm, thought Quinn, let's see if I can get one to balance on Maxton's nose. It worked. Hmm, let me see if I can get two.

Police are looking for two suspects who stiffed a waitress on Tuesday evening. That same waitress followed them out of the restaurant and jumped on their vehicle in an attempt to stop them from leaving. However, she was thrown off of the car and injured. Police say they are still searching for the suspects who were driving a gray vehicle. The waitress was transported to the hospital and was treated and released.

For six weeks, the editors of New York Magazine and Grub Street are publishing a series of definitive lists that declare the absolute best versions of 101 things to eat, drink, and do. Pizza: It’s what New Yorkers are made of. Now, we’re not talking Neapolitan or neo-Neapolitan, deep dish or Detroit-style — not even whole pies. It’s all about the slice, the economical, accessible, on-the-go meal in its many styles: the classic round slice; square in the Sicilian or grandma style; vodka-sauced; with or without toppings, from the minimal (sausage) to the maximal “gourmet” (Buffalo chicken); and so on....

Michikazu Ikeuchi, 51, admitted that he stabbed his 80-year-old father in the throat with a 30cm-long wooden cooking chopstick on Wednesday night after a quarrel at their home in Osaka, western Japan, according to police. ... "He said in his anger he waved the chopstick in front of his father but before he knew it, it got stuck in him," the officer said.

Many of us often wind up with bits and pieces or 'ends' of leftover cheeses in the refrigerator. But there's an app for that! and I first learned this from one of Jacques Pepin's television cooking shows: 'Fromage Fort', or 'Strong Cheese', is a recipe that makes a spread out of the various bits of cheese you may have languishing in the fridge. There are lots of recipes for it, but here is a basic one; I usually have Cheddar, Swiss, Blue, and Jack hanging around; and I haven't found a combination that turns out badly, though you may want...

The Food and Drug Administration approved a new and unusual weight loss device Tuesday: an external pump that dumps part of the stomach contents into the toilet. Some critics have called it "assisted bulimia" but the device, approved for use in very obese patients, helps them lose on average more than 12 percent of body weight — far more than pills or most diets. The device is considered minimally invasive and includes a tube that goes from the inside of the stomach to a port on the outside of the abdomen. The pump can be attached to the outside port...

The 2,000 year-old bog butter found in Emlagh Bog, County Meath on June 1 (Cavan County Museum/Copper Tree Photography). ============================================================================================ Would you eat ancient butter? A 2,000-year-old 20-pound chunk of butter has been unearthed from a peat bog in Ireland, which is said to still be edible. The large lump of butter was discovered by farmer Jack Conway while cutting turf for fuel in Emlagh Bog, County Meath on June 1. The strange rugby-ball shaped object was buried about 16 feet down in the bog. Conway quickly realized that he had found what is known as ‘bog butter’ and contacted...

McDonald’s is moving back to Chicago and into the old home of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” The world’s biggest hamburger chain said Monday that it signed a lease to move its corporate headquarters in 2018 from the leafy suburbs of Oak Brook, Illinois, to downtown Chicago. McDonald’s was previously based in the city from 1955 to 1971. McDonald’s is taking over the space that once housed Harpo Studios, where filming of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” took place until 2011. Harpo Studios sold the site to developers in 2014 for more than $30 million. …

A Collier County man called 911 on Monday night because his girlfriend wouldn't buy him vodka. He told dispatch his neighbors were fighting and yelling. When deputies showed up, there was no yelling, and there was no scene. - Using our app? CLICK HERE to watch video Deputies said it was a prank, and neighbors said it wasn't funny. Each time a deputy is sent to a non-emergency call, that's the taxpayer's dollars spent and the officers' time wasted. We got ahold of the 911 call. Operator: "Collier County 911. What is the status of your emergency?" Jack Means: "Uh...

Like the other 4 million or so visitors expected to wander around Yellowstone National Park this summer, we had come to see the bison. And we found them. Hulking, shaggy, majestic, nose-down nibbling on fresh spring grass, their tails swishing. At our safe and respectful distance, my family stood quietly in awe. And then, being the good, nature-loving Americans that we are — we were suddenly starving. Finding America's newly minted national mammal on menus in and around Yellowstone and its national park neighbor, the Grand Tetons, is an exercise in easy. We knew there'd be a mountain of buffalo...

Katie Couric’s 2014 documentary Fed Up includes instances of deceptive editing similar to 2016’s Under the Gun, according to several people familiar with the making of the film. Fed Up, which focuses on obesity and the food industry, was directed by Stephanie Soechtig and produced by Couric. The film includes two interviews with figures who hold viewpoints counter to the narrative of the film, and sources say both interviews include at least one misleading or deceptive edit intended to embarrass the interviewee. Dr. David Allison, an interview subject in the film and the director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center,...