In Chicago, the rent isn't as expensive and the chefs are very laid back. There is one restaurant that I will not give a name to, but it is in the selection and every time the door to the kitchen opens, the smell is…interesting. You don't know if they are actually smoking [a fat bong or blunt] or not.

- The Michelin Guide's Jean-Luc Naret on NYC v. Chicago and the Drama Behind the Stars

“People right now want to know where their food comes from, and here it is,” Mr. Rude said.

Mr. Ball said just about the same thing in Schoharie, as he drove Mr. Benno past row after row of sweet potatoes, French shallots, eight-ball squash, garlic scapes and 38 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Mr. Benno sighed. “Even the weeds are beautiful,” he said.

- Now, Chefs Court Farmers for the Best Ingredients

“I don’t even go to Stumptown,” said Paul Sykes, who makes bike fenders and bottle holders out of wood. “I go to a more local place.”

Not that Mr. Sykes opposes growth. Most of his business comes from the Internet.

“I sell these things all over the world,” he said of his products. “That’s the only way I can make any money.”

- The Pride and Prejudice of Local

Ms. Lillien has been criticized for advocating a path to weight loss that is slippery with Cool Whip Lite, onion soup mix and other foods of debatable nutritional value. She says that the recipes reflect the reality of what American women eat, sometimes despite their best intentions. “I live in the middle of the supermarket,” she said: the aisles that are stocked with packaged processed foods, many of which are loathed by locavores and nutritionists alike.

- Hungry Girl Offers a Real Take on Diet Foods

Few issues of wine etiquette seem to cause as much consternation as the increasingly common practice of a sommelier taking a small sip of wine, usually unbidden, to test for soundness. Diners often are surprised to learn that their bottle has in effect been shared with the restaurant, even if it’s just the smallest amount.

- When the First Sip Is the Sommelier’s, Not Yours

The physical risks of this lifestyle are obvious. Three years ago in Slate, Jason Fagone, the author of Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream, recounted strokes, jaw injuries, choking deaths, fatal water intoxications, and other eating-contest tragedies. "Thanks to increasing prize money and media exposure, there's incentive now for competitive eaters to challenge the physical limits of the body," Fagone observed. They're "stretching their stomachs with huge volumes of chugged liquid," inducing digestive paralysis and risking "gastric rupture." A study published that year cautioned that "professional speed eaters eventually may develop morbid obesity, profound gastroparesis, intractable nausea and vomiting." Even MLE warns prospective contestants of the sport's "inherent dangers and risks."

 - Deep Throat: The depravity of Major League Eating.

North Pond in Chicago, singled out by Epicurious.com as one of the Top 10 "farm-to-table" restaurants in America, prides itself on serving only domestic craft beers, but aside from a couple of ice wines from Michigan set aside for after-dinner sipping, its lengthy wine list is a fairly predictable document, studded as it is with familiar European and California varietals.

Why is it that the lust for local stops short when it comes to local and regional wines?

-  The Locavore Wine Hypocrisy

But the work. Oh, the work! Not spending money is an incredible amount of work. I had considered -- sometimes seriously -- canning produce as a way to keep costs down. Canning is a common theme in Hayes' book. Just thinking about putting up a winter's worth of green beans and apricot jam, though, made me want to take a nap. Even baking all of my own bread sounded dreadful. For me, kneading dough was the physical manifestation of pushing and pressing all of life's ambitions into one yeasty ball of carbs.

- I am a Radical Homemaker failure: A new movement of canning, baking moms find inspiration in frugality. Me? I just hate it

The Food and Drug Administration urged farmers on Monday to stop giving antibiotics to cattle, poultry, hogs and other animals to spur their growth, citing concern that drug overuse is helping to create dangerous bacteria that do not respond to medical treatment and endanger human lives.

- FDA seeks less use of antibiotics in animals to keep them effective for humans

For wonky nutrition folks, there seems to be some seriously good news brewing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture: The first revamp of the nation's Dietary Guidelines in the Obama era may really care about good nutrition! And not just good nutrition, but good nutrition for everyone, even poor people.

- Is the USDA adding justice to the basic food groups?