Son of cronut?
Remember the cronut — a New York City bakery's creation melding a croissant and a doughnut? It was a big deal for a time, with people standing in line to snag one. Now, Food & Wine magazine notes a new baked-good hybrid, and it's savory. For the month of November, New York City's Black Seed Bagel and Nom Wah Kuai teamed up to offer what they call the Baogel, which brings together a Chinese bao bun and Jewish bagel. The classic bao filling is sweet pork belly that, from the magazine photo, seems combined with sautéed onions. But instead of being inside a soft, steamed bao bun, it's baked within a chewy sesame bagel dough. A Baogel, which costs $8.50, will be off the menu as of December. Unless it becomes a big deal.
St. Paul co-op hosts fair
Mississippi Market Natural Foods Co-op hosts its third annual Holiday Sampler: Tasting and Gift Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 9 at its store at 1500 W. 7th St. in St. Paul. There'll be live piano music, samples of mocktails and eggnog, special holiday meat samples and a gift with purchases of more than $50, while supplies last. Attendees also may enter for a chance to win one of three sustainably raised local meats: a rib-eye roast from Thousand Hills Cattle Co.; a ham from Pastures A Plenty or a turkey from Ferndale Market. (Alternative vegan and vegetarian prizes will be available.)
Menu calorie info affects orders
A recent study by data researchers in the U.S. and Singapore suggests that calorie postings on menus influence diners to choose healthier restaurants. In 2008, New York City introduced a rule mandating calorie postings for chain restaurants; it was intended to induce healthier choices. Researchers from the University of Southern California, the National University of Singapore and Cornell University analyzed more than 760,000 restaurant reviews across 9,805 restaurants on an online restaurant review website in New York City from 2004 to 2012. They found that health mentions about the foods increased significantly in online reviews after the calorie posting regulation, suggesting that such information cannot only shift consumers toward healthier alternatives when inside a restaurant, but can also have spillovers on other customers reading the reviews by potentially redirecting them toward healthier restaurants and food items.
KIM ODE
