Free Republic

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. will officially launch its food delivery service Oct. 29 in the Houston market. The Houston Business Journal first reported that Uber was considering launching UberEats this fall, following a job posting on the company's website. UberEats has already launched in Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles and several other cities around the world. Uber is launching the service in partnership with Houston's Coltivare restaurant, home to executive chef Ryan Pera, who was nominated as one of the southwest's best chefs in Food and Wine magazine. Other partner restaurants include Triniti, Tout Suite, Eight Row...

It's official: Ham, sausage and other processed meats can lead to colon, stomach and other cancers -- and red meat is probably cancer-causing, too.

Think you’re making the healthy choice by picking a vegetarian hot dog? Check the brand you’re buying: A new report found that 10 percent of the vegetarian hot dogs tested contained meat, including chicken in a vegetarian breakfast sausage and pork in a vegetarian hot dog. But that’s not all. Clear Food, a company that genetically tests food products, looked at 345 hot dog samples from 75 brands, including meat-based and meat-free franks. Of those 345 hot dogs, 14.4 percent had some sort of issue, be it a labeling inaccuracy or hygiene problem. Some dogs were labeled pork-free — important...

For years you've been telling your friends, family, co-workers and anyone who will listen that you're addicted to cheese. It's a part of every meal or snack, and you think about it constantly. According to a new study from the University of Michigan, cheese crack is a real thing. And so is your addiction. The study, published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, examines why certain foods are more addictive than others. Researchers identified addictive foods from about 500 students who completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale, designed to measure if someone has a food addiction. Pizza, unsurprisingly, came...

MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) — “Famous Dave” Anderson has rejoined the struggling barbecue restaurant chain that bears his name. Minnetonka-based Famous Dave’s of America Inc. says Anderson has returned to the company after a reorganization of the board of directors and executive management team. Interim CEO Adam Wright says Anderson will help rebuild the company’s culture and improve the guest experience. Anderson opened his first restaurant in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1994. He resigned as chairman in 2004 to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs under President George W. Bush, and later returned to the company as a spokesman. He resigned last...

For years you've been telling your friends, family, co-workers and anyone who will listen that you're addicted to cheese. It's a part of every meal or snack, and you think about it constantly. According to a new study from the University of Michigan, cheese crack is a real thing. And so is your addiction. The study, published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, examines why certain foods are more addictive than others. Researchers identified addictive foods from about 500 students who completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale, designed to measure if someone has a food addiction. Pizza, unsurprisingly, came...

McDonald's franchisees believe the brand is in a "deep depression" and could be facing its "final days," according to a new survey. "We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing," one franchisee wrote in response to the survey by Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski. "Probably 30% of operators are insolvent."

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

Thought this would be a nice thread for the weekend. Wanted to share a couple of things I am grateful for and also what puts a smile on my face. Please share your thoughts.

Montana’s Bozeman High School is proving schools can serve students nutritious meals they’ll love without Michelle Obama’s guiding hand. Last year, Bozeman school board members voted 5-3 to pull the high school out of the National School Lunch Program because federal regulations on calories, fat, sugar, sodium, whole grains and other nutritional elements championed by the first lady were driving students off campus for lunch, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.

The Kremlin has launched an incredible volte-face in economic policy and turned to traditional industries like farming in the face of tumbling oil prices ___ Russia has abandoned hopes for a lasting recovery in oil prices, bracing for a new era of abundant crude as US shale production transforms the global energy market. The Kremlin has launched a radical shift in strategy, rationing funds for the once-sacrosanct oil and gas industry and relying instead on a revival of manufacturing and farming, driven by a much more competitive rouble. "We have to have prudent forecasts. Our budget is based very conservative...

Earlier this year, New York Times food critic Pete Wells was moved to write 841 words about breakfast sandwiches. It was a love letter of sorts, an ooey gooey ode to the most basic form of one of the most basic morning foods. But it was also a complaint: A new restaurant called BEC — short for Bacon Egg and Cheese — was about to open in Manhattan, and he was less than pleased. Breakfast sandwiches, Wells explained, are nothing if not practical, prepared quickly and eaten on the go, stuffed with modest ingredients and sold at a reasonable price....

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

This week, the Obama administration did something uncharacteristically sensible: It declined to urge Americans to eat less meat. Despite the recommendation of a top nutrition advisory panel to use federal agencies to set new dietary guidelines involving fewer cheeseburgers, barbecued ribs and filet mignon -- all in an effort to merely save the planet -- administration officials quietly announced that such new guidelines are not "the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability." Liberal supporters of kudzu climate change legislation were furious that the president wouldn't take the advice of Scientists-with-a-capital-S -- who are to the left the...

Cajun Chef's death announced

Kitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”. New guidelines proposed by interfaith group CoExist House say that employers should consider worker’s religions before allowing ham sandwiches placed in the fridge alongside other products. The group also suggests that alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths.

Soylent, which produces liquid food for techies who hate chewing, has stopped shipping its gloop after some of it was contaminated with mold. The firm started flogging version 2.0 of its formula in August, and has produced 400,000 bottles of the strange substance. It has since learned that 11 of the bottles had mold inside or on the outside by the time they reached customers. That's a tiny proportion, however on Friday the biz confirmed it's halting operations. "During our record review process we did discover that the conveyor guardrail settings were not optimized, causing some bottles to move erratically...

Ten of the world’s largest food production companies sent a letter to the U.S. Congress on Thursday, encouraging them to take action on climate change. The letter was signed by the chief executive officers from Unilever, Mars, Kellogg, General Mills, Nestle, New Belgium Brewing, Ben & Jerry’s, Clif Bar, Stonyfield Farm, and Dannon. “The challenge presented by climate change will require all of us – government, civil society and business – to do more with less. For companies like ours, that means producing more food on less land using fewer natural resources. If we don’t take action now, we risk...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...