Editor's note: Ron Finley is an artist, designer and co-founder of lagreengrounds.org. He spoke at the TED2013 conference in February. TED is a nonprofit dedicated to "Ideas worth spreading," which it makes available through talks posted on its website.

As a lifelong resident of South Central Los Angeles, I refuse to be part of the social system that breeds problems rather than solutions. South Central is a "food desert" where the lack of healthy food alternatives leads to obesity and preventable disease.

I have raised my sons in South L.A., and it is heartbreaking to see so many young kids on a trajectory to nowhere, potential high school dropouts prey to gangs, drugs, violence and incarceration.

So where do we start to create positive change?
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One of a bagel’s greatest virtues is that it's a single serving of fresh-from-the-oven bread, baked just for you.

Even better: if you do the baking yourself, there's usually at least 11 more just like it cooling nearby, creating a perfect excuse for a weekend get-together.

Bagel lovers, especially New Yorkers and people of Eastern European descent, have strong opinions about what makes a bagel great - or not so great.

For the owners of Surfside Bagels in Far Rockaway, New York, the hand-rolled boiled and baked bread should be dense and chewy. Its exterior, shiny; its interior, yeasty but not too sweet. Fortunately, they’re willing to spread their knowledge.

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The average person might associate the word "pig" with bacon, pork chops, ham, crown roasts or even Miss Piggy. To me, it's all about the lechón, which is a Spanish term for roasted suckling pig.

Cue blaring salsa music, the intoxicating smell of roasted pork and a salivating crowd ready to pounce on smoky, salty, juicy meat. In my Cuban-American family and culture, a lechón means it’s time to party. Every Cuban family has their own lechón recipe. The Italians have their marinara sauce, we have our dry rub.

I recently survived Goya Foods' Swine and Wine, a South Beach Wine and Food Festival event, where I experienced hog heaven.
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Hungry for healthier meals but don't know where to start? Hundreds of nutritious, delicious recipes - from kid-friendly mains and comforting casseroles to grilled entrees and smarter (but still delicious) desserts - are just a click away.

First lady and Partnership for a Healthier America's honorary chair Michelle Obama announced today that the nonprofit group has paired with social networking site Pinterest to make to make it easier to find healthier recipes online. Media partners from Condé Nast Magazines, Hearst Magazines, Meredith, Food Network and Time Inc. will flag their recipe sites' online recipes that align with the dietary guidelines of the USDA's MyPlate initiative.
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It was a devil of a cold. A tickle gave way to a rasp, which was swallowed up by a tide of winter ick that proved impervious to pharmaceutical intervention. After two weeks of hacking, wheezing and Googling "cough with a squeak at the end," it was time for an exorcism.

It was time for soup.
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

On Valentine’s Day, the question isn’t whether you’re going to eat any chocolate; the question is how much? If you need something to strive for, the record for the world’s largest chocolate heart is waiting to be broken: It was set back in 2004 in Madrid, by the seven metric ton heart from Match.com.

But there are infinite kinds of chocolate to indulge in on this great holiday; you don’t need to confine yourself to hearts. The following is a gift guide for all kinds of chocolate lovers, from the pizza fanatics to the sports junkies to the very, very rich.
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Talk about your Fat Tuesday!

We've sunk our teeth pretty deeply into Mardi Gras already, but New Orleans isn't the only float in the food parade.

Across the U.K., royals and hoi polloi alike flip pancakes in celebration of Shrove Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Dutch fry up fastnachts (a raised doughnut). Folks of Polish descent (and apparently, residents of Michigan) polish off plenty of pączki (extra-rich jelly or cream-filled doughnuts) with great, greasy abandon.
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

Don’t worry if you haven’t booked your romantic Valentine’s Day dinner reservation yet. There are a gazillion restaurants doing lovely things for V-Day candlelit corner tables, red drinks galore, primal meat cuts for two, endless amounts of sexy foods.
 
If, however, you’re at the other end of spectrum, if you’re looking for a good place to say some variation of, “It’s not you, it’s me,” then the following list might come in handy. And remember, there’s always someone better out there.
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ESPN "SportsCenter" host Hannah Storm suffered severe burns as the result of a propane grill accident at her Connecticut home on December 11. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke with her recently. Here is an edited version of that interview.

CNN: Is it hard for you to just be by that grill where this all happened, psychologically?
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Eggcellent story, but would you devil it, poach it or scramble it?