From the group Improv Everywhere, filmed at the Trump Tower atrium for a segment on The Today Show.

 

 

From Serious Eats' Ed Levine: "Last week (Aug 8, 2008) we began talking about farmers and farmers' markets and the crucial role they play in the food culture (as far as we're concerned, they're heroes). Yesterday we met one of our favorite farmers, Rick Bishop of Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York, who grows strawberries and vegetables and sells them at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City."

Today, thanks to the good folks who work on behalf of Serious Eats advertiser Pure Kraft Salad Dressings, we are proud to bring you a video portrait of Bishop. It's beautifully shot and edited by our friends at Optic Nerve, and it chronicles both Bishop's story and the story of farmers' markets in general. So thank you, Kraft, thank you, Optic Nerve, and thanks in advance, serious eaters, for taking the time to watch.

 

 

Our favorite TV chef/traveler releases the first webisode of his animated self, "Robo Chef". You may know that Bourdain has not been very shy about criticizing the Food Network's media machine and their stable of chef celebs. In this first installment, he takes dead aim at the hand that feeds him.

 

 

From Eat Me Daily: Humans used to stack the pancakes by hand, but in a bid to reduce labor costs, HoneyTop Pancakes switched to a robot solution from ABB Robotics. In their machine, pancakes on a conveyor belt are fed into an enclosure where the insect-like Flexpicker robots grab and stack the pancakes at a truly astonishing speed, at over 400 per minute! Using high-resolution cameras, the robots can recognize overlapping pancakes, and their crazy AI programming includes a "buffer system" in which the robots can save some pancakes for later on a shelf to keep up with all of them whizzing by. Has to be seen to be believed.

Apparently, the Flexpicker is the world's fastest industrial robot, and it's not limited to pancakes — it's used to sort all kinds of foodstuffs like sausages, muffins, and croissants.

You've been warned! From Miami New Times...

 

 

From Robb Walsh of the Houston Press: In anticipation of Valentine's Day, we now repost this list of Top Ten Food & Sex Scenes in the Movies from our archives. Dinner and a movie at home can be very romantic - especially with the right food and the right flick. Here's a list of the Top Ten Food & Sex Scenes in the Movies to consider while planning your "quiet" evening at home. 1. 9 1/2 Weeks (1986). The scene with Kim Bassinger in front of the refrigerator will have you naked and feeding each other fresh fruit in no time. Food to have on hand:

 

 

From the St. Louis Riverfront Times's Ian Froeb: PETA produced a Super Bowl ad urging viewers to go veggie. It was deemed too hot to broadcast. Give 'em credit: PETA understands the football demographic.

 

 

From the St. Petersburg Times's Laura Reiley:  "Thanks to buddy Chad, I just read a Huffington Post article: In August, 2001, President-elect Barack Obama did a turn as amateur restaurant critic for a local Chicago television show called "Check, Please!". The premise of the show was that each week three amateur reviewers were invited to pick their favorite restaurant and review it, then they would review the picks of the other two critics. After taping an episode with a local firefighter and a retail buyer, Obama's segment was shelved...until now. The vintage clip will be aired on Jan. 16. According to the Chicago Tribune: Why the almost-eight-year delay? Both [executive producer David] Manilow and then-host Amanda Puck remember Obama's debut as a restaurant critic came at a time when the show was still being tweaked. And the president-elect was too good--too thoughtful, too articulate, not enough of an amateur. He ended up dominating the conversation. "It was unbalanced," Manilow said, "to put it charitably."