Dried, crushed cochineal beetles add the red tint to Starbucks' strawberry and cream cappucino. The Food and Drug Administration says they're safe to consume, but vegetarians are awfully bugged out by the revelation.

Previously - Health department bugs out over grasshopper tacos and I scream, you scream, we all scream when there are cicadas in the ice cream

Editor's note: Each month, Inside the Middle East takes you behind the headlines to see a different side of this diverse region. Follow us on on Twitter: Presenter Rima Maktabi: @rimamaktabi, producer Jon Jensen: @jonjensen, digital producer Mairi Mackay @mairicnn and writer Cat Davies @catrionadavies

Yasser Jad has a dream to open a fine dining cookery school in Saudi Arabia.

He founded the Saudi Arabian Chefs Association three years ago to create a network among his country's best cooks and encourage them to improve their skills and now has 270 members.

But he believes there's more to do in developing fine dining.

Read the full story: "Saudi foodies ditch fast food for fine dining"

Too broke? Too busy? Too...nope. We're having none of that. This is the year you garden.

Watch Eatocracy on CNN Newsroom every Wednesday at 12:45 ET.

Everything is bigger in Texas and the Rangers' new Champion Dog is no exception. The two foot hot dog with one pound of meat is the latest addition to the Sportservice menu at Rangers Ballpark.

The whopping wiener is topped with chili, sautéed onions and shredded cheese. It may be a bit pricey at $26 but at two feet, you could feed the whole family. Heck you could feed an entire ball team.

The concessionaires are planning on the Champion Dog being a big hit with fans. So if you are planning to pick up a dog at the ball park, make sure to bring your wallet and maybe a fork...lift that is.

Previously - A magnum of Syrah for that massive frank? and Peanut-controlled seating a home run for allergy sufferers

Members of a Brooklyn food co-op voted down a controversial motion Tuesday night that would have paved the way for a referendum on the boycott of Israeli-made goods, effectively ending three years of heated internal debate at a community institution usually more concerned with sharing organic recipes than divisive geopolitical issues.

The vote at the 16,000-plus member-owned Park Slope Food Co-Op would have brought the co-op one step closer to participating in the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS.

BDS supporters aim to help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by boycotting Israeli products and companies that do business with Israel. Those opposing the boycott defeated its supporters in a 1,005 to 653 vote.

According to Joe Holtz, one of the organization’s founders, only a few Israeli products are sold at the co-op, including vegan marshmallows, pesto tapenade and Israeli couscous. Yet, the mere possibility of a boycott sparked extensive local media coverage and stoked tension amongst co-op members and New Yorkers on both sides of the issue.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Stretch your culinary repertoire with homemade mozzarella. - Food 52

• Learn how to mussel muscle through an eating tour without falling into a food comatose. - Serious Eats

• The headline speaks for itself: "I regret eating my placenta." - New York Times

• And now, a musical interlude begging food fanatics to "Eat it, don't Tweet it!" - Eater

• Play your carbs right and impress your dining companions. - Details

A recent New York Times review of North End Grill restaurant includes mentions of pumpkin-crab soup, hashed Brussels sprouts and lentils, halibut with pine nuts, green raisins and clams and a bacon-shrimp burger with spice-dusted fries - and that’s all before the mile-high lemon meringue pie with candied almonds.

But when former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni publicly announced his own gout diagnosis last week, he and his fellow professional eaters had a bitter truth to swallow about their career’s potential health implications.

Bruni is currently an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, but served as chief restaurant critic from June 2004 through August 2009. In his March 22 column titled “Red Meat Blues,” Bruni revealed he learned of his condition in November of last year.
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

Chocolate, cherries and whipped cream, oh, my! - March 28 is National Black Forest Cake Day!

Calling this traditional German dessert a Black Forest cake, which is a cherry torte on steroids, is a lot easier than the original moniker: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.

If you're still mystified and/or drooling over what this confection consists of, it's essentially layers of chocolate cake, whipped cream and cherries, with additional whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings liberally slathered on top. A tart cherry liqueur is also included in the mixture to amp up the sour cherry flavor.
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