Weekend reads

Food news and items of interest from around the Web for your weekend reading.

Fri, Feb 12 2010 at 11:18 AM EST

It’s Friday afternoon, and that means it’s time for me to give you a little weekend reading from around the web. Here are a few food related items that I thought might interest you.

I’ve made it no secret on this blog that the native critters drive me crazy during gardening season, and my quest to keep them out of my veggies using natural, humane methods has driven me a bit batty at times.

There’s an excellent post over on Ecosystem Gardening about learning to respect wildlife when it encroaches on your private property and how to get a conversation started with those in your neighborhood who would like to get rid of critters at almost any cost.

I received an email from my friend, Lisa Gustavson at Get in the Garden, which, while sad, gives us an opportunity to to come together to brainstorm solutions. The email said:

Thank you for letting me bend your ear! I’m growing a bit frustrated and thought you may be able to share a bit of wisdom. Spring hasn’t even arrived and the neighbors (we are friends as well) are plotting to remove the “wild animals” from the area. Mind you the “wildest” animal that has appeared is a small fox and I was THRILLED! We have possums, woodchucks, deer and a slew of snakes and other small critters. It’s quite the little habitat.

Click here to read the full post.

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Marion Nestle in her Food Politics blog gives us a good reason to make sure that we carefully wash bagged salad mix.

Consumers Union tested a couple of hundred samples of bagged salads, organic and not. The results? Nearly 40% contained levels of coliform bacteria higher than safety standards. Coliforms indicate fecal contamination. This is disgusting to think about but does not make anyone sick.

Click here to read the full post.

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Serious Eats has some advice for pairing chocolate with beer this Valentine’s Day. Yep. Beer and chocolate. If you’re trying to impress a beer lover this Valentine’s Day, I’m sure this will do the trick.

Chocolate and beer? Together? It may sound like a conspiracy on the part of beer-loving-guys to take back Valentine's Day, but take it from this former skeptic: Chocolate and beer can be incredible together.

Click here for the full story.

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We’ve got a Q&A here on MNN this week about environmentally friendly milk. Is there really such a thing and how do you go about finding it?

Q: Is there such a thing as environmentally friendly milk?

A: A simple question with a not-so-simple answer. The short answer is that yes, there is such a thing. But not everyone agrees on which milk is the most eco-friendly.

Click here for the full answer.

Enjoy your weekend!

Image: Matt Callow