• Life ain’t the same back on the Texas ranch, where an ongoing, severe drought is rendering cattle country somewhat like the Dust Bowl. [USAT]
• Many black and dark-colored foods are packed with nutrients. Guess this means Guinness really is good for you! [KABC]
• New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton is leaving his post to become the paper’s national editor. [Grub Street NY]
• The latest food-safety scandal in China involves “gutter oil,” cooking oil that is literally scooped from sewers and sold illegally. This makes exploding watermelons sound fun by comparison. [Global Spin/Time]
• Chef Ed “Eddie Glasses” Schoenfeld is an unlikely expert n the world of Chinese cooking. [Time]
• Before mega food-stardom, Giada De Laurentiis had a job at Spago. [Screen Junkies]
• Be not afraid to try modernist cooking at home; olive oil powder is particularly fun and easy to use. [SE]
• Though the U.S. is decades behind Japan in vending-machine coolness, a display tomorrow in New York of twenty high-tech machines — which can accept credit cards, spit out full meals, and more — might help us down the road toward amending that. [Crain’s]
