this week, the entire food world was fixated on news out of nyc that klee's daniel angerer was making cheese out of his wife's breast milk. it's something that the village voice reported on almost ten days ago, but this week the story really picked up steam, getting national attention & a warning-of-sorts from the board of health. while it's made in a fashion that's similar to most other cheeses, the critics who sampled it thought it was "softer" & "more slippery" than regular cheese. regardless of what the critics thought, there's something about it that gives me the willies. on a related note, klee will be unveiling their spring cheese menu next thursday. breast milk cheese will not be on the menu. for that matter, it never has been, but it sure has created a lot of buzz for klee. luckily, the rest of the week's news wasn't quite so nasty.

• late last week, the FDA announced a recall of a ton of products containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, a common flavor enhancer. this week, that list of products extended to include two meat-inspired pringles flavors--restaurant cravers cheeseburger & family faves taco night. while i've never tried the cheeseburger flavor, i polished off a tube of the taco night flavor a few weeks back & am happy to report that i didn't die as a result. i'm also happy to report that taco night pringles are strange but amazingly good. after all, they're inspired by tacos. (christian science monitor)


• on another taco-related note, austin's SXSW got under way this week & for attendees, they can rest easy knowing that when they wake up with the worst indie rock & tequila-inspired hangover known to man, they can nurse it with an austin delicacy--the breakfast taco. the ny times notes that "when it comes to breakfast tacos...austin trumps all other american cities." the breakfast taco, which is "inspired by mexico, but not mexican," is basically a tortilla filled with standard breakfast fare such as scrambled eggs, bacon & sausage. some places like torchy's tacos get creative & serve items like "migas tacos, made with a scramble of eggs and strips of fried corn tortillas, pocked with green chilies, capped with avocado slices, enveloped by flour tortillas." the best part? they're not just for breakfast. (ny times)


• with st patrick's day only five days away, it's time to start getting wasted & downing copious amounts of corned beef & cabbage, right? well, not entirely. you should still get wasted but it turns out that corned beef & cabbage, which has become shorthand for "irish food," isn't really an irish dish. in fact, most of the "irish food" you find in america, stuff like irish nachos & reuben egg rolls, has nothing to do with traditional irish fare. the reality is that a lot of traditional irish cuisine is rather bland & the stuff you typically find in irish pubs here in the u.s.--"burgers, chicken wings and pizza"--is often similar to what you'll find in pubs in ireland. there really is no "irish cuisine" to speak of. it's cool with me though. corned beef & cabbage sucks. (chicago sun-times)


• in a week where the producers of the academy award winning documentary the cove busted a restaurant in l.a. for serving endangered whale sushi, serious eats took a look at a more legal (& likely tasty) form of sushi--the sushi pizza. as they reported, a japanese tv show that profiles "wacky 'japanese' food" served at japanese restaurants in america" visited hyde park's edo sushi to try out their sushi pizza. to their surprise, they actually enjoyed the dish, which is made up of "a lightly toasted rice patty" topped with spicy mayo, chopped maguro, green onion & tobiko. sure it's not technically pizza, but it still sounds awesome. (serious eats)


• over the past year or so, nyc's become known for their vibrant food truck scene, but in the midst of all the food truck hype, not enough attention has been paid to another portable food trend that's on the rise--the pop-up restaurant. they're locales where chefs set up shop for a day or evening & hock their creations. since they're hip & trendy & only temporary, there are four lessons that the la times thinks are key to the pop-up experience: don't expect to stumble on a pop-up, expect to wait, stay current on twitter & go at opening time. if you keep those four things in mind, you'll be just fine. if not, they'll be gone before you know it. (la times)

on tuesday, health affairs released a study that tracked children's snacking habits from 1977 to 2006, a study that found that children snack three times a day and take in an average of 600 snack calories per day, a 168-calorie increase over children in the late seventies. since everybody's got their panties in a bunch about snacking these days, as if the dietary habits of children is the biggest thing we have to worry about, every news outlet on the planet decided to report on the study. children are snacking too much! they're turning into tiny michelin men! won't somebody please think of the children! blah blah blah. get over it people.

• reason #1 that constant snacking & eating isn't a bad thing: olympians do it. on tuesday, the national post took a look at the dietary habits of olympic athletes to see if we could learn anything from them. it turns out that we can. the article notes that "if there is one good behaviour that unites many top athletes, it's their habit of eating frequent meals and snacks throughout the day." "eating a balanced snack every few hours can help regulate blood sugar, maintain energy throughout a busy day and reduce cravings and overeating at mealtimes." as long as you're not sitting on your ass all day snacking on doritos & cookie dough, constant snacking is just fine. suck on that, snack haters! (national post)


• it's girl scout cookie season & last sunday in southern cali, six chefs gathered together for the "smart cookie chefs' challenge fundraiser," an event where each chef created a dish using girl scout cookies. while two of the chefs went the obvious route & made tasty desserts, the other four created "savory recipes that included crab, pork, chicken and lamb." we're talking dishes like "carrot, apple and daisy-go-round stuffed pork tenderloin on creamy polenta with a pinot noir reduction" & "chicken breast stuffed with peanut butter patties, prosciutto and coachella valley dates." those both sound amazing, but ultimately, the people's choice award went to geoff bogorad, who used lemonade cookies to create lemon-crusted crab cakes. (the desert sun)


• today was the final day of snaxpo 2010, the annual snacking convention that this year was held down in dallas/fort-worth, home to such snack kings as frito lay. snaxpo, which is now in its 73rd year, was attended by over 2,000 "snack food professionals." with all the attention being given to unhealthy snacks these days, it's a crucial time for the convention, as more & more, snack manufacturers have had to come up with ways to appeal to concerned consumers while still producing tasty snacks. the most important takeaway from the event: snaxpo is "the world's biggest trade show," once again proving that snacks rule. (nbc dallas/fort-worth)


• in new zealand this week, weight watchers announced that they were teaming up with mcdonald's to offer three "weight watchers approved meals." it makes TOTAL sense, because when i think of dieting, the first thing i think of is fast food. the three meals--the filet-o-fish meal (with a side salad & drink), the six pack chicken mcnuggets (with a side salad & drink) and the sweet chilli seared chicken wrap (with a drink but no salad)--are each worth 6.5 points, about a quarter of the 28 daily points allowed as part of a weight watchers' diet. unfortunately, all three meals have enough sodium to choke an elephant. (seattle post-intelligencer)


• popcorn's pretty much our national snack, an air-popped treat that folks often rely on to make the cinematic crap that comes out of hollywood tolerable. not everyone loves popcorn though & on wednesday, just in time for this sunday's oscars, slate's rosecrans baldwin decided to pen "an admittedly irrational screed against popcorn." why? four reasons: he can't stand popcorn. he hates the smell. he thinks it "looks like sheep shit." as studies have pointed out, a tub of movie-theatre popcorn is entirely unhealthy. if americans stopped eating so much of it, we could divert those kernels to ethanol production & reduce our dependence on foreign oil. while he admits that his hatred of popcorn may be irrational, at least he's passionate about it & in his mind, that's all that matters. (slate)