Food

A new boot camp concept is cropping up—it trades rope climbing and tire hopping for planting and irrigating. In other words, instead of preparing soldiers for war, it aims to help them transition to peace, as farmers.

Bright blue ascidians, known as sea squirts, are found thriving at 164 feet among corals, light green algae, and red, orange, and brown sponges. Photo: H. Ruiz

Early this year scientists reported that they’d found a previously unknown reef off the coast of Puerto Rico. From all reports, it’s a healthy reef, teeming with bright-turquoise sea squirts, colorful sponges, various fish, and a multitude of other marine life. The discovery gives researchers hope that this thriving ecosystem might help replenish the island’s depleted reefs.

Tonight in Boston, Legal Sea Foods and the Culinary Guild of New England are co-hosting a dinner “designed to provoke discussion” about sustainable seafood—for those who catch it, cook it, and eat it. As of January 13, the four-course menu included cod, hake, and black tiger shrimp (we’ve been unable to confirm a final menu), all seafood to avoid according to Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list. The sold-out event, with its guest list of chefs and fisherman, has provoked intense reactions from both sides of this ocean-spanning coin. We spoke with Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz about it.

Spore-producing fungi served in tony restaurants grow in a number of mediums—including coffee grounds. That tidbit of knowledge started two guys on a business venture that diverts 10,000 pounds of coffee grounds a week from the landfill so that it can be turned into soil for the ‘shrooms. And they’re just getting started.

Would you buy genetically modified chickens and eggs if those same birds couldn’t give other birds—or humans—avian flu? That’s a question you might have to ponder soon enough, according to a paper published last week in the journal Science.

[Image by Jim Bahn, Flickr Creative Commons]

American black bear at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: US FWS

Black bears are moving to town—and as a result becoming increasingly popular quarry for hunters.

Geography of the vote, from The New York Times. Click here for an interactive breakdown of how Senators voted.

Photo: Photo by Stephen Ausmus/ARS USDA

Tonight the Senate is scheduled to vote on S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. The legislation would give the FDA the authority to test widely for dangerous pathogens, recall contaminated food, and hold imported food to the same standard as domestic—powers the agency currently lacks.

Photo: Xuaxo, Wikimedia Commons

To get you in the waste-reduction mindset before the deluge, take our holiday quiz. For more astounding stats, look at Numbers Game in the November-December Audubon. (Scroll below “Black Tie Crooners.”) You may just be inspired to change your habits this holiday season.

Harvesting cranberries in a Wisconsin bog. Photo: State of Wisconsin.

Cranberries are a Thanksgiving staple, with many families passing along recipes from one generation to the next. Ted Williams takes a look at the history of these festive fruits.