• Justin Bieber, who is all of a sudden pretty cool, tells Matt Laurer his mom used to rely on food banks to keep her family fed. Now Biebs is giving back to the cause. [Global Toronto]
• L.A.’s small batch craft distilleries are changing the way we drink. [LAT]
• Low-fat foods and molecular gastronomy have more in common than you’d think: the less fat in a product, the more likely it relies on methylcellulose and xanthum gum for texture. [Salt/NPR]
• Tom Colicchio is here to show you how to make gnocchi using a recipe from a real Italian nonna. [LAT]
• Who needs a dining companion when we all have smartphones these days? [WP]
• If you’re not Noma- and Rene Redzepi-ed out, here’s a long piece about the chef from Mark Bittman. [NYTM]
• Temecula’s wine country is impressing master chefs and sommeliers who doubted Southern California’s terroir. [Inland SoCal]
• This dude from New Zealand surprisingly knows his way around L.A.’s cheap eats scene pretty well. [NZ Herald]