Thought it might be interesting to share what one elite food writer reads.  Patrick Farrell who writes the Diner’s Journal for the NY Times offers his insight on how he keeps up with food, wine and restaurants:   The Atlantic Cities: A geographic-economic analysis of where the best restaurants in the world are. The urban theorist Richard [...]

Today’s Wall Street Journal discusses how the vitamin market is due for a fall based on results from recent large-scale human studies, including two reports published this month in leading medical journals.  The studies suggest that multivitamins and many other dietary supplements often don’t have health benefits and are a waste of money for those without a specific [...]

Ann Zimmerman of The Wall Street Journal writes a disturbing article that claims the economy is creating lasting damage for brands as consumers who trade down during the recession may never come back.  “Buffeted by high unemployment, heavy debt loads, falling home values and high food and gas prices, these shoppers have been whipped into a permanent state [...]

With the recession eating away at profits, restaurants’ appetite for space has shrunk dramatically, so reports Laura Kusisto in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.  New owners are trying to avoid the huge rents that brought down many of their predecessors.  In New York where rents are sky-high, a 1,500- to 2,500-square-foot space in the East Village [...]

An article in the NY Times yesterday raises questions about whether there is adequate science behind the health claims in much of the $37.3 billion  “functional food” industry.  These are processed foods that have been loaded with vitamins and nutrients or otherwise “healthified” and sold to the American public as promising short cuts to healthier [...]

Brand “personality” helps consumers identify with specific brands — Apple or Ford or Coke, come to mind — but does that identification actually sell products? New research from North Carolina State University lays out a system for measuring the appeal of a brand’s personality.  Author Dr. David Henard, associate professor of business management at NC [...]

The “Very Hungry Caterpillar” is the new face of the “Eating Healthy. Growing Strong.” campaign, a movement designed to combat childhood obesity.  AOL Health reports (along with everybody from the Los Angeles Times to TIME’s Healthland blog) that the legendary children’s book written by Eric Carle in 1969 will be sent for free to more [...]

In its quest to get corn syrup renamed corn sugar, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is battling it out with the National Consumer League, which says that  honey or brown sugar or white sugar stuffs us with more calories and no nutrition.  It’s estimated that we consume an estimated 22 teaspoons a day of sugar or 350 calories.    The CRA [...]

The number of Americans who get sick and die each year from food borne illnesses  is down, but scientists say it’s not because we’re producing safer food — we’re just getting better at estimating. According to a story in this morning’s NY Times, the Centers for Disease Control revised its estimates downward — from 76 [...]