Tuesday Megalinks

Happy Tuesday, everybody! Hope your weekends were lovely and full of perfectly grilled edibles. To welcome y’all back, we’ve got barbecue tips, soda taxes, and a piece on the uprightness of iceberg lettuce. Enjoy!

Casual Kitchen: How to Lie About the Soda Tax
Dan takes on lies, damned lies, and statistics perpetuated by the New York Times, of all sources. The manipulation of data is a scary thing, folks, and Dan’s conclusion might make you think twice about the proposed tariffs on Coke. (Please check this Epi-Log post for a bit of background on this.)

Chicago Tribune: 13 strategies for shopping a farmers market
Solid rundown of market tips for newbies. If I was Emeril, I’d end this article with a “BAM!” Then I’d shuffle off to eat some shrimp and count my money. (Thanks to Slashfood for the link.)

Chow: How to Grill (Almost) Everything - Recipes to keep you fired up all summer long
It’s the motherlode, people. Anything you ever needed to know about barbecue is right here for the taking. Grilled Lime Pound Cake with Raspberry Sorbet? Them’s the magic words.

Culinate: Spice Guy – Get the most from your spices
As a woman who can no longer tell her plastic baggied cumin from her plastic baggied cardamom (even after smelling and tasting them), this is right on time.

Gothamist: Groceries in Underserved Areas to Get Tax Breaks, Incentives
This is fantastic. Essentially, New York State will reward urban supermarkets in areas where there are few. Ideally, this will help get inexpensive, healthy food out to populations overwhelmed by cheap crap.

The Kitchn: Cheap Eats - 10 Ways to Use a Can of Tuna
10 great ideas, augmented by 57 largely spot-on comments, will revolutionize the way you feel about the cheapest of fish. Spelt Farotto with Tuna and Artichokes, anyone?

The Kitchn: Planning Dinner? Popular Recipes for Every Course
The Kitchn comps its most popular recipes, beginning with breakfast and ending with Peanut Butter Oatmeal Monster Cookies (which sound delicious, yet terrifying).

The Kitchn: Dinner Parties – 5 Great Tips for Newbies
a.k.a. Simple Tricks That Never Occur to You When You’re in the Thick of Things. Or:
1. Set the table the night before.
2. Distribute dishes between the oven and stovetop.
3. Do a main dish that doesn’t require much supervision.
4. Make dessert ahead of time.
5. Buy apps. Don’t DIY.

Los Angeles Times: Menu labeling bill introduced by U.S. lawmakers
The California/New York law may be going national. Expect orders of Caramel Frappucinos to plummet once people know how many calories (a million) are actually in the dang things.

The Mother Load: 7 Tips For Leading a Balanced Blogger Life
This has nothing to do with money or food, but everything to do with time and life quality. If you find yourself spending too much time online, read this immediately. (Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the link.)

MSNBC: Exercise not likely to rev up your metabolism
Studies are finding that exercising does NOT affect your ability to burn fat during the 24 hours AFTER you work out. Experts are, quote, “flabbergasted,” end quote.

National Geographic: The Global Food Crisis - The End of Plenty
Hey – remember that Global Food Crisis? It’s still happening. And as population growth outpaces agricultural production, it’s only going to become exceedingly dire. NG explores the global effects.

New York Times: Many Summer Internships Are Going Organic
Kids these days. Instead of smoking dope and sucking face behind the junior high school, they’re interning at organic farms for free. Next thing you know, they’ll be volunteering at a soup kitchen or building some kind of habitat for a member of humanity. What’s the world coming to?

New York Times: Slaughterhouses in the City
Part of being a New Yorker is wandering aimlessly around the streets of Queens in search of your brother’s new apartment, and passing two urban chicken coops on the journey. This super-interesting story delves into the stories behind those buildings, where immigrants, Muslims, and gourmets go to inspect, then buy freshly-killed animals.

NPR: Backyard Coops Make Chicks Chic
Apparently, city dwellers across the country are bypassing market meat and metropolitan slaughterhouses in favor of their own edible animals. Raising poultry on your patio: it’s so hot right now.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Health craze deprives poor Brazilians of acai berries
Tremendously popular in the U.S. thanks to Oprah and its recent designation as a “superfood,” Acai berries are becoming scarce in their native land of Brazil, where locals use it to feed the kids. A good example of how a ripple in America’s food chain affects other nations. (Thanks to Slashfood for the link.)

Saveur: The Ice Queen
The paean to iceberg lettuce is well-timed, well-researched, well-written, and well … it makes me want iceberg lettuce. Which I think is the point. With recipes! (Thanks to The Kitchn for the link.)

Wall Street Journal: Farms Start to Feel Credit Pinch
A few years ago, farmers were doing terribly. Then, things turned around, and life was grand. Now they’re slumping again, partly because ain’t no one lending anybody any cash.

Washington Post: Grate Finds - Tony Rosenfeld's recommendations for nine affordable cuts of beef that are made for summer grilling.
This interactive piece has been all over the place this last week, largely because it’s like an adult version of LeapFrog (meaning: fun, educational, pretty). Remember kids: grilled flank steak does a body good in moderation. (Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.)

(Photos courtesy of Elements4Health, HiCharles, and Oregon Live.)

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