Sometimes the news hits home, literally. Minnesota pork-processing workers are getting a strange nerve disease, especially the ones that work at the "head table" where they quite literally blow the brains out of pigs. Immigrant workers, making 11 to 12 bucks an hour in a dangerous, dirty industry should have the right to work in a safe environment, and this plant seems to not be so safe, does it?

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I like food that isn’t ordinary, but this trend is mundane, weird, and obsessive—no wonder Vince Gill is the evil leader of this bizarre cult. Chewable ice is apparently the big thing down South. Perhaps this would be a good way for us Minnesotans to make it through a long winter?

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Mark Bittman's new blog, Bitten, on the NY Times website is great. Say what you want, but in the grandest tradition of Pierre Franey, Bittman is one of the most reliable recipe mavens in the country—and he’s a great writer. 

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Alan Richman left Bloomberg or was fired, depending on whom you believe. I think his writing is superb, and his point of view on restaurants is generally spot-on. Just read his books and recent collection of essays, and you’ll see why. Recently, he has taken a pounding about his negative take on the rebuilding restaurant scene in NOLA and his slam job on Jean Georges’s empire in GQ several years ago. Some say he wanted out and left, others say he got canned because of his growing curmudgeondom. But one thing is for sure: There is now a great job opening at B-berg.

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The Vietnamese are eating more rats, according to the WSJ. I can personally confirm this is true having spent a few weeks there during the summer. Rats, snake, dogs, and cats are all a part of the local diet, always have been. I did not eat rat because of the health concerns and provenance of the rodents I was offered. I ate snake and dog and passed on the cat for the same reasons I declined the rat. Know your food source! Now the WSJ piece offers recipes; that’s right. So if you have some rodents in the freezer, it’s time to defrost them. 

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There's word that Hearst will be publishing a Food Network magazine in partnership with Scripps, which owns FNT. Here’s the catch: The networks personalities might not be on board.

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Having spent a lot of time throughout the last two years in the third world, I can tell you that disease is rampant, and children, as always, are the most innocent victims. Nutraceuticals are not normally something I get excited about, but if this works, then I am all for it. I have seen children die from parasitic infestation in Africa and Southeast Asia. Kraft is working on a de-wormer that would be added to foods sold in Latin America and Asia. 

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The South Koreans are ingenious food packagers, and the Col-Pop is a stroke of brilliance. Popcorn chicken stays hot while resting on your cold soda. 

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The Deep South is home to a lot of strange food trends (see ice eating above), but the Pickle Sickle is ridiculous; although, it would probably do well at the State Fair.