Free Republic

Risks remain dangerously high, and health professionals say we shouldn’t confuse the government’s silence for safety.In late 2024 and into early 2025, headlines were everywhere—including many on FoodandWine.com—discussing the potential dangers of H5N1, otherwise known as avian influenza, or more simply, the bird flu. Hundreds of millions of birds, including millions of egg-laying hens, needed to be culled, resulting in a massive egg shortage that caused the price of a dozen eggs to skyrocket. One variant was later found in dairy cows, leading the U.S. government to implement a national milk testing strategy. Several humans (mostly dairy or farm workers)...

The much-beloved state drink is made with only two ingredients.Rhode Island sure is a unique place. It's the smallest state in the nation, covering just 1,214 square miles. It's home to the oldest carousel (The Flying Horse Carousel in Watch Hill) in the U.S. and the oldest tavern (The White Horse Tavern in Newport). As a native Rhode Islander, I can say those who've grown up here are proud of all our little state has done — including inventing coffee milk, a drink, I believe to be, far superior to its absolutely basic chocolate milk cousin. And if you've...

It's time to say non merci to cuisses de grenouille.The French love their frog legs. Apparently, a little too much. Eating frog legs has been a French pastime for hundreds of years, beginning with a few ingenious monks who had the Church classify them as fish rather than meat, bypassing religious rules of only eating meat on certain days. However, now, estimates state that French diners consume some 4,000 tons of frog legs a year, putting a few species of amphibians in peril. A group of more than 500 environmentalists, including participants from the French nonprofits Robin des Bois and...