French prosecutors are investigating how horse meat was sold as beef, the country's consumer affairs minister said Thursday.

The announcement comes as UK inspectors said that horse carcasses contaminated with an equine painkiller harmful to humans may have entered the food chain in France.

A number of meat plants that handled the horse meat as it made its way through the food chain are facing questions about what they knew and whether fraud was involved.
FULL POST

Nutritional experts have long lauded breakfast as the most important meal of the day, but reports that 17 military bases stopped serving hot breakfast have one congressman up in arms.

On January 17, Congressman Bruce Braley wrote to Secretary of the Army John McHugh to express his concern. According to Jeff Giertz, Communications Director for the United States Congressman's office, he was prompted to do so after being contacted by the mother of one of his Iowa constituents who is serving abroad in Afghanistan.

"I am troubled that the Army would deny any deployed troops three meals per day, regardless of force size," Braley wrote in the release.

“These men and women put their lives on the line every day to protect the very freedoms we cherish. The exhaustive mental and physical labor that is required by soldiers to fight in harsh and unforgiving conditions is tremendous. We shouldn’t deny our troops something as fundamental as a proper meal."

As of publication time, Braley had not heard back from the Army Secretary.

While Braley and the mother were concerned that the troops weren't getting adequate nutrition, Army officials note that is simply not the case.
FULL POST

Editor's note: All summer long, the Southern Foodways Alliance will be delving deep in the history, tradition, heroes and plain old deliciousness of barbecue across the United States. Dig in.

Back in February 2011, when Charlotte, North Carolina, was selected to host this year's Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama found herself on the hot seat when she praised the city for its charm, hospitality, and "of course, great barbecue." The declaration drew a chorus of jeers from Carolina barbecue fans, who are passionate about their smoked pork but not so hot on offerings in the Queen City.
FULL POST

Editor's note: All summer long, the Southern Foodways Alliance will be delving deep in the history, tradition, heroes and plain old deliciousness of barbecue across the United States. Dig in.

It’s political convention season, and the so-called Tea Party has been stirring up passions on both sides of the political fence. The group’s name, of course, is taken from the occasion in 1773 when a bunch of irate Bostonians donned Mohawk warrior garb and dumped three shiploads of tea into their harbor to protest British taxation.

A similar but less remembered event took place seven years earlier in North Carolina. At the time, tensions were high over the recently enacted Stamp Act, which levied taxes on legal documents, newspapers, and magazines. Carolinians weren’t particularly receptive to the measure, and in 1766, the militia companies from several counties expressed their discontent by marching to the town of Brunswick and refusing to let a cargo of stamped paper be brought ashore.
FULL POST

After some pressure from the online home brewing community that included a petition on the White House website and a Freedom of Information Act request, the Obama administration gave in Saturday and released its homemade beer recipe.

In a post on the White House Blog, head chef Sam Kass posted the recipes for two beers brewed on the grounds of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House Honey Ale and Honey Porter. Both beers are made using honey harvested from the White House bee hive.

Read - White House releases much-anticipated beer recipe on CNN Political Ticker and see Sam Kass' full post on the White House blog

Previously - Inside the White House garden: a conversation with White House chef Sam Kass

Editor's note: All summer long, the Southern Foodways Alliance will be delving deep in the history, tradition, heroes and plain old deliciousness of barbecue across the United States. Dig in.

There's been some big food and drink news on the campaign trail of late, from Paul Ryan's catfish-noodling hobby to President Obama's home-brewed "White House Honey Ale." They got me wondering if barbecue had ever taken center stage in a presidential campaign. (Well, since this one.)
FULL POST

The row over same-sex marriage could see thousands of Christians flocking to Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, while same-sex couples will turn up at the fast-food chain Friday for public displays of affection.

Both events are intended as mass shows of support by people on both sides of the marriage issue and mark the latest round in a long-standing beef that gay and lesbian rights groups have with Chick-fil-A's leadership, which has openly espoused biblical values, not only in its operating principles, but in its conservative definition of family as well.

The controversy came to a boil after an interview with the fast food restaurant chain's president and COO Dan Cathy appeared in The Baptist Press on July 16, in which he weighed in with his views on family.

Read the full story - Eat Mor Chikin: Chick-fil-A's stance on same-sex marriage faces test

If there's a presidential race afoot, there's bound to be some chowing-down around town. President Obama stopped by Atlanta's classic hot dog drive-in The Varsity, entourage in tow, and ordered five chili dogs, four regular dogs, and one hamburger - which he toted back to the parking lot in a paper bag.
FULL POST

The national political scene is part of my daily life here at CNN. We monitor the top contenders’ moves hourly and some poor sod has to put together a list of where they’ll be when. I couldn’t help but notice that for today, March 30, there’s a common thread - food.

Eating on the campaign trail can be strategic, with candidates often using local food stops to gain favor with crowds. This is how the top three GOP candidates will be spending their Friday nights:
FULL POST

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.

It’s the Republican Presidential primaries, and the pancakes are flying (they always do during primary season). Mitt Romney has been a pancake-making machine, most recently serving them while fielding questions in Atlanta. In an interview Rick Santorum’s wife, Karen, revealed that he makes pancakes with his kids. Ron Paul has been immortalized in pancake art that’s available on eBay.

Newt Gingrich hasn’t spent a lot of time flipping pancakes but some reporters observed that he looked like he’d been eating too many of them. I wish that all the Republican candidates would do a Top Chef-style pancake elimination challenge; perhaps that would help clear the field. While I wait for that to happen, I’m looking at some of the country’s coolest pancake places.
FULL POST