Pulitzers, Hexane-Laced Veggie Burgers, and Whining About Free Beers at Lunch

Published on Friday, April 16, 2010, by Lessley Anderson and Roxanne Webber / Edit Post

Sam Adams' Fauxtisanal Campaign: Sam Adams tries to make itself seem puny in new advertisements, because it’s cool now to be a craft brewery. Then some stats came out showing it’s in the top five breweries behind D.G. Yuengling and Pabst. Whoops. via Slate's The Big Money

Draft Wine Goes Big: A number of San Francisco and LA restaurants, and at least one (DBGB) in New York, are offering wine on tap, as a greener alternative to bottles. via Ethicurean

McD's Opts for Sad Chickens: The board of directors over at the golden arches has recommended shareholders vote no on a proposal to get a meager 5 percent of its eggs from cage-free chickens. via Fork in the Road

But Drinking On the Job is Fun: Workers at Carlsberg brewery in Denmark went on strike after the company decided to limit their drinking on the job to lunch breaks only. Uh, what are they complaining about again? via Reuters/National Post

Starbucks to Make Twitter Profitable?: Starbucks will be one of the first outfits involved with Twitter's "Promoted Tweets," the social media company's method for monetizing itself. via Nation's Restaurant News

A Good Read: An investigative feature on a young woman paralyzed after eating a hamburger tainted with E. coli won New York Times writer Michael Moss the Pulitzer this week.

Thread of the Week: Eater's stalking...err..."stakeout" of New York Times food critic Sam Sifton to photograph him eating the KFC Double Down sandwich stirs up controversy after Eater posts half a dozen photos of him. "This is taking nerdy, creepy food blogging to new levels, congrats," says one anonymous poster.

Most Annoying Thing: Food media’s cringy breathless musings over David Chang’s new restaurant, Má Pêche, with its Royal Tenenbaums art and cocktails named after Sonic Youth songs.

Deaths, Firings, Recalls, and Other Endings:

  • The Cornucopia Institute finds that several lines of packaged, frozen veggie burgers contain a toxic solvent called hexane that can cause skin and nervous system disorders.
  • The last sardine canning factory in U.S. closes.

    • Debuts, Openings, and Other Beginnings:

  • The Huffington Post debuts its new food site, and CNN announces its forth coming food site Eatocracy.
  • Mr. Softee is expanding in China.
    • ALLCrib Sheet
    POST A COMMENT |3 Comments

    COMMENT

    • @peanuttree - why use something listed by the EPA as a pollutant when alternatives exist. Amy's brand is switching to a non hexane based method.

    • The Sam Addams thing.... comparitively they are very small. Yeah, they're the fifth biggest, but.... the size of the top three is absurd. People inexplicably love their Buds and Millers... and other cheap, awful beers.

    • the hexane thing is nonsense. All the hexane is boiled off during processing. Worrying about hexane in your food is like worrying about your iron intake because you use stainless steel pans and saying your food was "made with" iron. The hexane is a tool, not an ingredient.