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Alaska man feeds black bear barbecue meat, gets mauled for dessert The drunken man could be charged with illegally feeding wildlife after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says he 'pretty much goaded' the beast into the attack. Beer, barbecue and black bears are never a good mix. An Alaska man learned that the hard way this weekend when he threw a hungry bear a piece of barbecued meat — only to be mauled by the same bear. "He'd been drinking," Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen told the Anchorage Daily News of the man. The unidentified man was...

Lampreys from Great Lakes destined for queen's pie DETROIT — A few unwanted, invasive sea lampreys from the Great Lakes have been shipped to England for use in a traditional pie for Queen Elizabeth II. The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/IdmZkP) the City of Gloucester, which has given the pie as a gift to the monarch since the Middle Ages, requested the eel-like creatures from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission because they're a protected species in England. The pie is for June's Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary of the queen's ascent to the throne. Commission spokesman Marc Gaden shipped 2...

Eat the Old: Could Mass Cannibalism Solve a Future Food Shortage? The global human population is set to hit 7 billion on Oct. 31, and by century's end it will stand at 10 billion, according to the United Nations. That's a lot more mouths to feed. There's a very good chance that generating food from traditional farming and livestock practices will not be able to keep pace with this boom. What if a worldwide food shortage were to become so terribly dire that people resorted to eating . . . people? In such a dreadful event, the most-sensible first choice...

We had to know: What sort of muffin could we bake if we spent $16 a pop? How good is a $16 muffin? Find out for yourself Last week's news that the government supposedly paid $16 apiece for breakfast muffins at a Justice Department conference set off critics of government spending. Hilton Worldwide, the hotel company that hosted the 2009 confab in Washington, disputes the accuracy of the claim in a report by the Justice Department's inspector general. The hotel called it an accounting thing, explaining that the price included various drinks and gratuity charges, in addition to the muffins....

A fast-food outlet became the first in Britain to sell pizzas with an extra special topping — zebra, it emerged Sunday. Yummy Yummy Italia in Burnley, northern England, launched the controversial pizza after owner Arash Fard, 33, visited London and saw frogs’ legs pizzas on the menu, local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph reported. The unusual meat toppings are bought from "alternative meats" supplier Kezie, which says the ingredients are ethically sourced from responsible farms. Fard's zebra creation is not his first time experimenting with ingredients. He told the Lancashire Telegraph that his range of buffalo, venison, kangaroo and crocodile pizzas...

Pancake winner dies in all-you-can-eat contest By Etan Smallman, Mirror.co.uk 5/03/2009 The winner of a pancake-eating contest dropped dead after gorging himself on 43 of the cream and banana stuffed desserts. Boris Isayev, 48, from west Russia, collapsed to his knees and died on stage after stuffing himself with pancakes in a competition to mark the end of the region’s ‘Pancake Week’. "He had really enjoyed the pancakes but then he started foaming at the mouth and went down like a sack of stones," one witness said. "We have seen people fainting [during such contests] before," she added. Onlookers tried...

Giant rabbits to return to Spanish menus Spaniards will soon be enjoying a diet of giant rabbit under plans to reintroduce the rare breed for human consumption. By Fiona Govan in Madrid The Valencia Agricultural Research Institute has launched a breeding programme of the rare Valenciano rabbit and predicts that it could be on supermarket shelves within three years. It is hoped that the animals, which can grow as big as a lamb and produce 7kgs (15lbs) of meat, will prove popular as a healthy and cheap alternative to red meat. The Valenciano breed was established in 1912 when farmers...

NEW YORK -- Dinner shared by a group of friends at a well-appointed Greenwich Village apartment featured eggplant Parmesan with a salad of mixed greens and avocado dressing. The guests already had snacked on hors d'oeuvres of smoked mozzarella and crackers. Not bad considering the diners find their food by digging through garbage. They call themselves "freegans," a play on the words "vegan"-- vegetarians who avoid all animal products, including dairy -- and "free." In an ideological rejection of consumer waste, they only eat food that's been discarded.