From the blog Neurophilosophy :

Eating foie gras may increase risk of Alzheimer’s (click for complete article)

The popular delicacy foie gras (which is French for “fat liver”) is produced in a way that animal rights activists insist is barbaric. Ducks and geese are force-fed corn mash twice a day, through a tube that is inserted into the oesophagus. The birds are slaughtered 2-3 weeks later, and their engorged livers are then removed, to be sold whole or for use in making pâté, mousse or parfait.

But it seems that the slaughtered birds may be the ones who have the last laugh - researchers from the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, in collaboration with a group from Uppsala University in Sweden, have found a potential link between foie gras consumption and the development of a number of amyloidogenic diseases. The findings are published online this week, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The amyloidogenic diseases include Alzheimer’s Disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), tuberculosis, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. ...

I found myself sitting at the computer looking at this post on `onokinegrinz with my mouth wide open... I guess my tongue couldn't believe my eyes. Check out Reid's post on The Fat Duck - Bray, Berkshire, UK.

If you want a full-body experience, skip breakfast and lunch, then look at his photos. Your whole being will cry out for some snail porridge, Joselito ham, shaved fennel, or the salmon poached with licorice, artichokes, vanilla mayonnaise and "Manni" olive oil, or maybe the carrot and orange tuile. What exactly is a carrot and orange tuile, you ask? Just go to the article, it's the last photo.

If you've enjoyed the spicy spreads at the Taro Delights tent at the Saturday KCC Farmers' Market, you need to try the Taronator, just introduced this week and a real hot seller.

It fights back, but it's irresistable. One taste and we were hooked. You can sample the different spreads, and believe me, the hardest thing will be to decide which ones you're not going to buy.

We also bought two salmon and taro lau lau for dinner. For lunch, we take home a single portion to divide, and it's plenty. Nanette steams them in the microwave. Quick and easy. The taro and the salmon complement each other. It's a winning combination.