Free Republic

Plant-based and additional meatless products are accused of misleading buyers under a bill the Texas House approved Monday. “Texas is the latest state to debate measures that would prohibit foods that don’t contain animal products from using words like ‘meat’ or ‘beef’ in their name,” the Dallas Morning News reported. The bill was approved following a debate but needs one additional vote in the House to move on to the Texas Senate. According to Rep. Brad Buckley, his bill would help protect consumers, including vegetarians and vegans, from purchasing a product by mistake. “This is for those who choose to...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. 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...

I have always told you to do so… Prep for water and grow your own food! After one of the warmest, driest springs on record water is drying up around the world. In a few months, FOOD and WATER will become the most precious commodities around… And the dangerous sharks at WallStreet are already making big bucks with water trades. California expands drought emergency to 41 of 58 counties California has expanded a drought emergency declaration to a large swath of the nation’s most populated state amid “acute water supply shortages” in northern and central parts of California. The declaration,...

U.S. restaurants and stores are rapidly raising pay in an urgent effort to attract more applicants and keep up with a flood of customers as the pandemic eases. McDonald’s, Sheetz and Chipotle are just some of the latest companies to follow Amazon, Walmart and Costco in boosting wages, in some cases to $15 an hour or higher. The pay gains are, of course, a boon to these employees. Restaurants, bars, hotels and stores remain the lowest-paying industries, and many of their workers ran the risk of contracting COVID-19 on the job over the past year while white-collar employees were able...

There’s a good chance that you’re still working from home. And, if that’s the case, there’s a good chance that you’ve run out of new lunches. Making cheese on toast for yourself might have seemed exotic and new last March, but now you’re sick of the stuff. And omelettes. And you would rather die than ever see another Super Noodle. But all is not lost. With a little extra care and attention, a hot sandwich can become all the comfort food you need. But what to make? Here are 20 top chefs with their favourites. Crab crumpet open sandwich Tommy...

The engineered mass famine in America is now under way, with the deep state sabotage of the Colonial Pipeline already causing trucking to suffer fuel shortages across Southeast states, impairing some food deliveries. If this pipeline is not fully restored in the next 72 hours or so, food shelves in some areas will go empty and panic will take hold across the populations there. Already, over a thousand gas stations have run out of gas, and people are so desperate to stock up on gasoline that the federal government had to issue a warning that tells people it’s unsafe to...

A healthy diet promotes a healthy gut, which communicates with the brain through what is known as the gut-brain axis. Microbes in the gut produce neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which regulate our mood and emotions, and the gut microbiome has been implicated in mental health outcomes. The first major trial to shed light on the food-mood connection was published in 2017. A team of researchers wanted to know whether dietary changes would help alleviate depression, so they recruited 67 people who were clinically depressed and split them into groups. One group went to meetings with a dietitian who taught...

Food has felt more important than ever this past year – particularly meals that offer solace. From rösti to Coco Pops, here are the dishes that got us through Crumpets For me, lockdown has meant an absolutely manic schedule, working from home with back-to-back Zoom calls and long hours. Crumpets have been my saviour. Yes, factory made, perfectly consistent and versatile: top with yoghurt and frozen berries at 8am, blue cheese and leeks at 1pm, followed by eggs and spinach at 7pm, and you have a full day’s menu. For a bit more lockdown spirit, I tried the sourdough version...

As the drought outlook for the Western U.S. becomes increasingly bleak, attention is turning once again to groundwater – literally, water stored in the ground. It is Earth’s most widespread and reliable source of fresh water, but it’s not limitless. Wells that people drill to access groundwater supply nearly half the water used for irrigated agriculture in the U.S. and provide over 100 million Americans with drinking water. Unfortunately, pervasive pumping is causing groundwater levels to decline in some areas, including much of California’s San Joaquin Valley and Kansas’ High Plains. In a recent study, scientists mapped the locations and...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. 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...

Is your mum a foodie who loves herself a sinful plate of char siew rice? Then this unique gift idea from homegrown brand Char Seal will be right up her alley. Just for Mother's Day, the home-based business has created a one-of-a-kind and tasty necklace that will definitely make heads turn. Savour these beautifully caramelised char siew chunks – individually wrapped in pieces of plastic and strung onto a silver chain. Yes, it is edible. While it undoubtedly isn't an accessory that your mum can store for long in her jewellery box, it's still an eye-catching piece that she can...

If you think the periodic table is confusing, take a look at the egg carton labels of your local grocery store. So many words! So many symbols! And why are some cartons $2 a dozen and others $8? If you’re seeking the best choice in terms of hen welfare and environmental sustainability, look for eggs that are pasture-raised or free-range, humane, and organic. These eggs will cost you more, but they’re better for the farmers, the animals, and the planet. At the store, we reach for Handsome Brook Farms, Vital Farms, Carol’s, and Pete and Gerry’s. Or take a trip...

Whatever happened to good ol’ weed? The Devil’s Lettuce? That sweet Mary Jane? Everyone seems to have forgotten about the glories of grass, as evidenced by some netizens who are eating rotten meat to get high. I wish I didn’t have to say this, but please do not try that at home. IFL Science reports that some folks are consuming meat that’s been decomposing for months or even years. I’m talking visible bacteria colonies, funky colors, slimy texture. Decidedly putrid meat. Practitioners call it “high meat” because eating it apparently, well, gets you high. Like this gentleman, for example. (Watch...

A resident of a Florida retirement community angry over the thickness of a tomato was charged with a felony after she hurled racial slurs and a sandwich at a Black fast food-chain employee. According to records from the Wildwood Florida Police Department seen by the Villages News, Judith Ann Black, 77, was dining at a Burger King in the nearby Trailwinds Village last Friday when she confronted an employee about her unsatisfactory sandwich. According to the News, Black was angry over the thickness of the tomato slice on her Whopper, and the Burger King employee who was unnamed in the...

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — A program from the past is coming back to northeast Ohio. The state's Department of Agriculture (OHDOA) is growing its "Victory Gardens" program during the pandemic, and some of those gardens are going in plots at the Canterbury Community Garden. The garden, started in the 1940s, is in the corner of the parking lot at Canterbury Elementary School in Cleveland Heights. "When World War II came about, there was even more of a push for people to grow their own vegetables," said Deb Franke, the garden's co-leader. "And this was created in about 1943 as a...

Chicken-lovers are going to have to wing it through the Great Poultry Crisis of 2021.America’s biggest fast-food companies reported earnings this week, and executives from KFC to Wingstop stressed a dire situation — there’s simply not enough chicken to go around. A meat-processing slowdown caused by pandemic safety measures along with a surge in demand for recently rolled out fried chicken sandwiches are largely behind the shortage, executives said this week.

“No one has everything they need right now,” says Tom Lyons, vice president of supply chain at Nufarm. “This past year underscores the importance of flexibility and contingency planning. We’ve been on plan A, plan B, and plan C.” Suppliers and retailers have shared that multiple crop protection products are in short supplies this year. “The reality is this is a perfect storm,” Lyons says. “The planting conditions are favorable. And product inventories are relatively low. But there are delivery challenges on top of that—and it’s extremely tight.” Gregg Doud, Aimpoint Research Vice President of Global Situational Awareness & Chief...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. 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...

If meat is left out on the counter for too long, we all know we need to throw it out. But what about rice or pasta? Although that carby goodness might seem harmless after sitting on the bench for a bit, you'll probably think twice once you hear about the bacterium Bacillus cereus. It's not a particularly rare germ. B. cereus will happily live wherever it can – soil, food, or in the gut. "The known natural habitats of B. cereus are wide-ranging, including soil, animals, insects, dust and plants," Anukriti Mathur, a biotechnology researcher at the Australian National University,...

For any person — or publication — wanting to envision a more sustainable way to cook, cutting out beef is a worthwhile first step. Almost 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally come from livestock (and everything involved in raising it); 61 percent of those emissions can be traced back to beef. Cows are 20 times less efficient to raise than beans and roughly three times less efficient than poultry and pork. It might not feel like much, but cutting out just a single ingredient — beef — can have an outsize impact on making a person's cooking more environmentally...