Mediavore

Smashburger Comes to Town; Harold’s Chicken Shack Expands

• Smashburger, a Denver-based burger chain, just opened its first Chicago-area restaurant in the western suburb of Batavia. [The Stew]

• Harold’s Chicken Shack recently expanded to Madison, Wisconsin. [The Capital Times]

• Turns out we Yanks aren’t the only fatties: a report shows that half of all Europeans are now overweight. [BBC]

• Hut, two, no Coke for you. The Army is cleaning up the diet of soldiers in Fort Huachuca, in Arizona, eliminating access to sodas and sugary cereals, as well as fatty meats. [CNBC]

Sesame Street, too, is trying to encourage healthy eating habits; the show has introduced broccoli, banana, low-fat-cheese, and whole-wheat-bun muppets. Okay, Mr. Broccoli is cute, but really, guys, a whole-wheat bun? [NorthJersey.com

• Gee, this is uplifting: Scientists at the climate change talks in Cancun warned that if leaders don’t better negotiate food-security policies, the earth may run out of food by 2050. [NewsFeed/Time]

• Restaurant gift cards are predicted to outsell other gift cards with online holiday shoppers. Unfortunately, we’re guessing it’s all crappy places like Chili’s and not anywhere we’d actually want to eat. [NRN]

Smashburger Comes to Town; Harold’s Chicken Shack Expands