In a recent Reader's Digest poll that asked 1000 readers who were the "most trustworthy," Rachael Ray ranked #31 and Michael Pollan ranked #83 - less trustworthy than Steve Harvey (#72), Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson(#54), andTim Tebow(#40).

While we certainly applaud Ray's efforts to encourage home cooking, given that Pollan has really motivated the healthy food movement, this is a litttle surprising. The Braiser, which reported the results, has some amusing theories on why the ranking difference. These include:

• Ray's inventions of the garbage bowl is more impressive than Pollan's five NY Times best-selling books
• Sex appeal
• Rachael is often photographed with her dog - the true sign of trustworthiness
• He doesn't use friendly, pithy abbreviations like Rachael's "EVOO" or "sammies" - somehow, Pollan's most famous quote "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" doesn't really work as an abbreviation (EFNTMMP).

We think it might have something to do with hair (or lack thereof).

In case you've been doing something productive, you may not have heard of Paula Deen's new butter spreads. Despite her advocacy of eating a lower fat diet , due to her diabetes, she apparently couldn't resist once again championing butter. She is justifying her advocacy by noting that the butters aren't meant to be used by the pound but are rather "finishing butters," meant to add butter taste to dishes by adding it at the end of cooking. 

The reason we're mentioning this is because it gives us a chance to quote Andrew Zimmern on the subject, as quoted in a much more extensive and quite interesting interview on Huffington Post  - and we think it's a worthwhile comment: 

"We don't need more butter and cookies. No matter who's coming out with them. I think we have enough butter and cookies. The dairy people have done a very nice job. God: you did a great job with butter. Brilliant invention."

Not that we're opposed to "finishing butter" - but it's hardly a new concept, having been around for a long time as easily homemade  herb or seasoned butter. And we can't imagine a store-bought food could top fresh butter combined with fresh herbs or other seasonings. Indeed, if you'd like some inspiration, here are some books from the EYB library to check out.

However, we do understand Paula Deen's need for more funding and it's only fair to give her the last word. There's going to be a Paula Deen museum (read about it here) started by her ex-husband - as she says, "I would want something like this to be a symbol of hope for people looking to make their lives better."

The Telegraph recently sat down with Joël Robuchon, "the chef with more Michelin stars than any other and a temper that terrified even Gordon Ramsay" (at whom he once threw a plate). In an in-depth intervew Robuchon discussed his background and the challenges of being a high-end chef who isn't afraid to take on the establishment. 

Among the highlights we found especially interesting were:

• "One of the things that has kept him at the top for nigh-on 40 years is his legendary attention to detail...Whenever he descends on one of his periodic tours of inspection, ripples of fear pass down the corridors."
• He received his inspiration to cook while studying in a seminary - which he entered at the age of 12: "But once there, Robuchon found he was more interested in sitting in the kitchen watching nuns cut up vegetables than he was in his Bible studies. "I'd help them top and tail beans. The nuns were always very nice to me. They were the only women I saw, and there was something very maternal about it. I think I grew up with the idea that there was something comforting about preparing food."
• He's won numerous awards and accolades, including being named chef of the century and having one of his restaurants rated as the best in the world - but his signature dish is mashed potatoes, which has just four ingredients: potatoes, butter, salt, and milk.
• He chucked it all at 50 (he'd never been out of kitchen long enough to see snow), but then came out of retirement to rail against traditional gastronomic restaurants, where flavor isn't the most important criteria, and start a new chain of L'Ateliers.
• He insists that London, not Paris, is the gastronomic capital of the world.

We're not sure we'd want to work for him, but Robuchon makes definitely for a fascinating interview - it's definitely worth reading.

Photo: Rebecca Marshall

Atlantic Magazine recently reported on an interesting discussion among Mario Batali (no introduction needed), Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen blog), and one of their editors about the digital side of the culinary world. The entire article, How a Restaurant Menu is Like a Website, is well worth reading as the two chefs make several interesting points. Here are three that struck us as especially insightful:

First was Batali's comment that websites and restaurants ultimately succeed due to the same factor - loyalty of returning customers. "You have to stay on it," Batali said. "It's not like, 'Oh, there I am. I'm done. Now I can just cruise and let the restaurant go.'" On the contrary, he said, in the restaurant world, "what would be intuitive shortcuts are obviously the bad ideas. And a lot of people have squandered that opportunity by just going for fast money." Perelman agreed, saying in effect, "You're not sure exactly why people are coming to you, but you want to give them good stuff, and show them a good time, once they're there."

Second, was the huge importance of branding - which defines the relationship. They point out that Julia Child was the consummate example of a food brand - her material always took food seriously but would never, ever be intimidating.

And third was Batali's comparison of a blog or website to a restaurant menu: "You want a menu to explain what you're about, but also to intrigue people and delight them. You want it to be familiar ... but also a little bit mysterious. Grounded, but flirty."

Delia Smith certainly needs no introduction in the U.K.  and probably not to most of our U.S. members. But for those who may not know her, she is the U.K.'s  best-selling cookbook author and one of their best-known television personalities. So we thought it was provocative that, in a recent interview in the Express, she has turned quite negative on British home cooking. 

"She feels she is bowing out of TV work at the right time, with the nation in semi-crisis over even the most basic cookery skills. 'We've lost our grip on home cooking.  I can see that by the way kitchen equipment shops are in decline. There are a lot of shortcuts - but the main problem is that people are afraid to cook." Programmes such as Masterchef do not help, according to Delia, as they "intimidate rather than inspire".  She added: "I would never be a judge on that show. They used to ask me but I could never criticise people. My job is to make them feel they can do it." 

But while she has ruled out a return to television, she is still is planning to use media to teach people how to cook - in her case, via online cooking classes.  She is quite a good teacher (think Martha Stewart without the lifestyle and affectations). To demonstrate, we'd encourage you to view several of her videos from her cookery school that we have online at EYB in association with her cookbook, Delia's Cakes.

Here's a small sample; just click on the little TV icon below the recipe photo on any of these recipes to check them out:

• Classic Sponge Cake
• Swiss Roll
• Marmalade Cake
• Chocolate 'Surprise' Cupcakes (mashed potatoes are the suprise)

And keep an eye out for more videos across the site. On the actual recipe page the little TV icon will be below the photo of the recipe, on the book page (where recipes are listed) the little icon will be right after the "Recipe Online" link.

Recently Mark Bittman published a new cookbook, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health...for Good. Many people focused on the "Vegan" part of the title and not the "Before 6:00." Essentially Bittman is publishing an eating plan where he eats Vegan for all his meals but one - dinner. So the obvious question is: Why not go all the way and eat Vegan full time? isn't this just like being a little bit pregnant?

In a recent column titled " Why I Am Not a Vegan" in The New York Times, Bittman gives a detailed explanation. You should read his full column for the entire explanation, but very condensed, his answer  is "Part-time veganism (which you might also call flexitarianism) is a strategy for integrating the reigning wisdom - eat more plants, less hyperprocessed stuff, fewer animal products - into lives that have, until now, been composed of too few of the first and too many of the second and third."

He does explain what would justify universal vegetarianism: "I can see three scenarios that might lead to universal, full-time veganism: An indisputable series of research results proving that consuming animal products is unquestionably "bad" for us; the emerging dominance of a morality that asserts that we have no right to "exploit" our fellow animals for our own benefit; or an environmental catastrophe that makes agriculture as we know it untenable. All seem unlikely."

Given the wonderful recipes Bittman has given us over the years, we're pleased that he's not going to be limiting himself in the future. But we have to confess that his new diet is reaping benefits - check out these great chickpea recipes he just published.

Photograph by:Ward Perrin , Vancouver Sun

It's Cinco de Mayo, which is actually almost more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. It technically celebrates a battle than occurred in the Mexican province of Puebla, but became a holiday that Mexican-Americans encouraged to signify pride in their heritage. And just as with Cinco de Mayo, the concept of what is "authentic" Mexican food, vs. Mexican-American food, is also a bit hazy. Ironically, that haziness is proving to be the cause for another battle between Rick Bayless - an American chefs who is most famous for creating "authentic" Mexican food - and the state of California.

In the first of two incidents,  Bayless purportedly "introduced Southern Californians to Mexican food. As ABC news sums it up, there was " a comment Bayless made (or didn't make, as Bayless himself maintains) about introducing Southern California diners to "authentic" Mexican cuisine. Long story short: In 2010, Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold, addressing attendees as a fund-raiser for an association of Latino journalists,criticized Bayless for his role in Red O, a restaurant that, as he characterized it, positioned itself as introducing authentic Mexican food to Los Angeles -- a city long-influenced by Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and their respective, often overlapping food traditions. Bayless responded to Gold's comments online,  tweeting directly to Gold that he "[t]hought a Pulitzer meant you checked facts. Sneering at me for something I never said is either mean or sloppy. I'm offended." 

More recently, however, in San Francisco, in an interview with Zagat, Bayless is quoted as saying, "San Francisco doesn't really have much of a Mexican food tradition aside from the taquerias in the Mission, which is a fairly limited thing." This did not go over well in San Franicsco. In a blog written by Gustavo Arellano (author of Taco USA), titled Rick Bayless Insults Yet Another California City's Mexican Food Traditions, Arellano writes, "Um, excuse me? No tradition? Idiot obviously didn't read my  Taco USA, let alone ask the Mexicans who've lived in the Mission even before Bayless was some Okie manning a barbecue pit whether their traditions are nonexistent. Idiot didn't even visit San Francisco's vibrant Yucatecan food scene, beneficiaries of the largest Yucateco community in the United States. And to call the Mission burrito a "fairly limited thing" is akin to calling the 1974 Cadillac Eldorado a fairly short car."

We love Mexican food in all forms - and think it's probably a good thing that there really can't be a fine line between "athentic" and "non-authentic" Mexican food. After all, culture changes (especially those involving food) that are inclusive rather than exclusionary should be welcomed. While this controversy doesn't change our over-all opinion of Bayless and the wonderful cookbooks he's written, it does make us wish that he would be a little more thoughtful in his interviews.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

It's well-known that touring artists often have very specific requirements for food, etc. in their touring contracts. And it's kind of fun to read them, if for nothing more than realizing what a fantasy world must be like. So when the Daily Meal published Beyonce's touring contract requirements, we paused to look them over.

Essentially, as far as food goes, the requirements weren't outlandish - nothing like Van Halen's famous requirement for M&Ms with all the brown ones carefully removed. But one of Beyonce's requirements  - for a titanium straw - did pique our curiousity. According to the report,  "the singer 'forked out $900 for titanium straws, which will be used to drink a special alkaline water that's served at exactly 21 degrees.' She also requires a hand-carved ice ball to suck on after every performance to cool her throat (which makes perfect sense to us), while asking for glass platters of almonds, oatcakes, and green-only crudites. As for junk food? It's apparently all been banned."

So what is a titanium straw and why require one? According to ThinkGeek,

"We have three or more reasons why you need a Titanium Straw. First, titanium is tasteless and odorless, which means it won't affect your beverage's taste. Also, it has very low thermal conductivity, which means your Titanium Straw will resist getting too cold or too hot (depending on your beverage of choice). Titanium is also super strong and light weight, which means you can stab it right into the fruit (or person, if you're a vampire) you wish to drink. We tried it with oranges and grapefruits and it worked well, however we don't recommend trying watermelons or rocks. Finally, you need a Titanium Straw because it is awesome. And you are awesome, too - the perfect match!"

One peculiarity, however, is that, although it's out of stock, ThinkGeek is selling their titanium straws for under $20. So what makes for a $900 titanium straw? Maybe because it must have been hand made - in fact, we couldn't find one for sale and in stock anywhere online. So if you strive to be as "awesome" as Beyonce, and have a little excess titanium lying around, here's a way to do it.

Apparently Jerry Seinfeld loves the Morning Edition show on National Public Radio, and just decided to call in one morning to discuss coffee. He is a relatively recent convert to coffee, having only started to drink it five years ago, but - being Seinfeld - has developed many coffee convictions. NPR obviously followed up and has just posted their conversation with Jerry about coffee. You can listen to it in its entirety at So Jerry Seinfeld Called Us to Talk About Coffee; here are a few of the points he made that we especially liked:

On coffee as a morning toy:
"I don't know what the top does. I don't know what the plastic stick does. I don't even really know what the sleeve does. But I want that little kit because this is my morning toy. And then - and this is gonna sound very naive, I really am very naive in a lot of areas - I didn't realize that caffeine has quite an effect on you. And that got to be another toy. So it's this big fun toy."

On caffeine:
"It's legal. It's not expensive. And they have a whole world for you with all their little words. It's just something to do. My theory is 98 percent of all human endeavor is killing time. This is a great way to do it."

On coffee rituals
"I do a little thing about the way people shake the sweetener packet. You know, like they're all excited. I want to get all the granules down to one end. I love all these rituals."

 Of course, coffee should not be sneezed at as an ingredient to be cooked with; in fact, we found several cookbooks on cooking with coffee on the EYB library. Happy drinking!

In his recent New York Times column, Mark Bittman chatted with Michael Pollan about Pollan's newest book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. This isn't a cookbook - in fact, it only has four recipes - Bolognese, pork shoulder, sauerkraut, and bread - that Pollan uses to explore fundamental principles of cooking.

As anyone familiar with both men would expect, the conversation went a little deeper than a standard author interview. We especially liked Pollan's comment: 

"Cooking is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your diet. What matters most is not any particular nutrient, or even any particular food: it's the act of cooking itself. People who cook eat a healthier diet without giving it a thought. It's the collapse of home cooking that led directly to the obesity epidemic."

Bittman's conclusion was also right on:

"With an increasingly progressive population we have the potential to create a gender-agnostic cooking culture. There's no longer a stigma attached to males cooking, and cooking is not only a democratic pleasure, it is also daily creativity, it's economic, it's healthy, and it's a link to the natural world. And though it may take time, cooking can be about patience and letting things happen. Good things, on many levels."

Check out the article, Pollan Cooks! for the full interview.