Hey guys!

Is it really any wonder that I spend so many of my waking hours thinking and writing about, taste-testing, and making food? Not only is it a passion, it’s also my job. I’m a regular food-ologist and, believe me, if they offered a degree in food anthropology, food-related lit, or the sociology of food, I’d already have my PhD. Tee-hee. Anywho — I’m simply greasing you up for the mother-load of food news to follow. And, without further ado…

Pre-Chewed News

• Long Beach Street Food Fest this Saturday. If you live in or near Long Beach, CA (woo-woo!), come check out the Food Festival (yes, it’s on the same day as the LA Food Fest I wrote about a couple days ago; see here). Unlike the LA Fest (which is SOLD OUT!), the LB Fest is only $6-8 AND it benefits the Adopt-A-Teacher Program! Suh-weet! I’ve Tweeted and Facebooked the LB Fest crew trying to gauge the availability of vegetarian- and vegan-friendly options, but no word back yet. Will keep ya posted. See site here for more info.
• The Veggie Grill has changed its menu! They’ve added new items to the menu, including the Thai Chickin’ Salad, Nachos, Mac-n-Cheese, and the VG-Cheeseburger (which can be ordered “El Dorado” style with jalapeños) and the “Wrap-style” option where you can order any of the sandwiches or burgers in a wrap. They also added the option to sub Daily Soup for a Sandwich/Burger side. They removed the Caesar Wrap — my boyfriend’s go-to item — from the menu because “it took longer to prepare than the other menu items and would slow down service times when things got busy.” [Info. found via Quarry Girl's Facebook convo with the restaurant]
• The Yard House restaurant expands meatless substitute option to additional locations.
  [Gardein official photo]
  I wrote about the YH offering meat substitutes on some of their popular dishes here, beginning at the Irvine, CA location. For all my local peeps, Long Beach, CA is now on board, too. Other CA locations include Brea, Los Angeles & Temecula. See full list of locations here.  If you’re vegan, though, you’ll STILL have to revise the menu choices since most (I think all, actually, except the brown rice bowl) have non-vegan sauces or cheeses.

• Perdue Farms Great Value Chicken Nuggets, sold at Wal Mart, are recalled due to bits of blue plastic found in ‘em. Yikes, so many dangers in shakin’ and bakin’. See here.
• A cheeseburger sold as a foot-long sandwich, with three burgers and three cheese slices, is being tested at 50 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Southern California and 50 Hardee’s units in Indiana. My arteries just clogged picturing it. [source]
• Hershey & the American Dietetic Association in a unique partnership which makes me question whether the ADA can ever be considered a reliable source in the people’s interest. A chocolate bar a day keeps the doctor away? [source]
• In an effort to stick-it to McDonald’s who is encroaching on their fruit shake territory, Jamba Juice has released a YouTube ad claiming (facetiously) that they’re now selling a cheeseburger shake. It’s meant to point to the irony of McD’s trying to go all healthy. I’m all for criticism all around (I am The Cranky One, after all), but especially support this since McD’s offered free smoothie samples and then revoked the offer once they gauged there was enough profit to be made without that particular marketing ploy. LAME.

Anyone planning on going to either the LB or LA Food Fest? Ever been to a food festival? Would you have bought Jamba’s cheeseburger shake if they really were offering it?

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: food festivals, Gardein, jamba juice, mcdonalds, recalls, the veggie grill, the yard house