Quick Tips

Competitive eater Matt Stonie crafted a cookie dough bowl so enormous, you could fit your head inside of it.

To make the chocolate chip monstrosity, Stonie combined many, many tubs of Pillsbury and Toll House cookie dough into one large mixing bowl. …

At less than one buck per package, instant ramen noodles are anything but upscale. For the intelligent unpretentious, this fact matters not. The cheap eats are a great addition to hearty soups, stir fries and recipes that call for an al dente crunch. …

By Sarah-Jane Bedwell, SELF

Known as the “fruit of the gods,” figs are in season now, but they’re nothing new. In season from from June to early Fall, the sweet fruit were used by the Greeks as signs of prosperity and for early Olympic training. For…

BRADY McCOMBS, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An industrial cleaning solution that ended up in tea that a woman drank at a Utah restaurant was unintentionally mixed into a bag of sugar a month earlier, authorities said Friday.

South Jordan Cpl. Sam Winkler said a former employee told authorities the mixing of the cleaning product into the sugar bag happened July 5.

On Sunday, a worker took large quantities of the substance thought to be sugar and poured it into the iced-tea dispenser, he said.

A 67-year-old customer, Jan Harding, drank the tea that day at Dickey’s Barbecue in South Jordan, severely burning her esophagus and mouth. She remained hospitalized Friday in critical condition.

The cleaning product is meant for degreasing deep fryers and contains the odorless chemical lye, the active ingredient in drain cleaners.

Winkler said police are waiting to see what happens with Harding’s condition before moving forward with any arrests or charges.

KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City first reported what led to the mix-up.

Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. said in a statement late Friday that it was an isolated incident and nothing like it had happened in the 73 years the Dallas-based chain has operated.

“There is nothing more important to us than the trust and safety of our guests,” the statement said, adding that the franchise owner, John Thomson, was deeply saddened and is cooperating with authorities.

His restaurant is one of 400 Dickey’s around the country. South Jordan is a suburb of 60,000 about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Doctors have determined Harding has deep, ulcerated burns in her upper esophagus, family attorney Paxton Guymon said. They found the internal damage Thursday while doing an endoscopy, which involves inserting a tube with a light and camera into the digestive tract.

“The news was very disappointing and disheartening for the family,” Guymon said in a statement. “The burns were deeper and more extensive than we had hoped.”

Harding and her husband had just arrived at the restaurant for lunch with friends when she filled her cup with sweet tea from a self-serve beverage station. She took one sip before spitting it out and exclaiming to her husband: “I think I just drank acid.”

Police have determined Harding is the only victim, Winkler said. It appears she was the first to drink the tea that day, and Dickey’s employees disposed of it after she was burned, he said.

The establishment remains open after county health officials inspected it and found all chemicals properly labeled and separated from food items.

Would you be more likely to eat your food if a fly landed on it, or if a cockroach crawled over it?

According to a new survey from Orkin, nearly two-thirds of people would still dig in if a fly landed on their meal, while only 3 percent of people would still eat their food if a roach crawled over it. The survey, which was conducted by Russell Research for Orkin, included 1,015 people.

Sure, these results probably aren’t that surprising. But what is concerning is that flies do carry disease, yet people report still being willing to eat the food.

“Many restaurant patrons may not be aware that house flies are twice as filthy as cockroaches,” Ron Harrison, Ph.D., an entomologist and technical services director at Orkin, said in a statement announcing the survey results. “It’s important that everyone understands the magnitude of the health threats flies pose so that they can help prevent the transmission of dangerous diseases and bacteria.”

In fact, the World Health Organization has an entire report on houseflies (or Musca domestica) and how they can spread disease and infection. The common housefly, in particular, eats food and waste, where it can pick up a disease agent and then spread it to other places.

“Flies can spread diseases because they feed freely on human food and filthy matter alike,” according to the WHO report. “The fly picks up disease-causing organisms while crawling and feeding. Those that stick to the outside surfaces of the fly may survive for only a few hours, but those that are ingested with the food may survive in the fly’s crop or gut for several days.”

The WHO reports that flies can spread a whole range of diseases, including eye infections, skin infections and enteric infections (such as diarrhea). Orkin also points out that house flies can also “transmit the eggs of parasite worms” (yuck).

If you’re weighing whether to splurge on a restaurant meal tonight or hit up the dollar menu at the nearby fast food joint, why don’t you consider staying home and cooking instead?

There’s a number of reasons to hit the kitchen instead of the drive-thru, many of which your body will thank you for. Need some convincing? Check out these six reasons to stay in for dinner tonight:

You’d consume more than you would have if you didn’t eat out.
Eating out seems to have an effect on your daily calorie intake, whether you’re dining at a full-service restaurant or a fast food joint. People who reported eating out consumed about 200 calories more a day, as well as more saturated fat, sugar and sodium, according to a Public Health Nutrition study conducted by researchers from the American Cancer Society and the University of Illinois at Chicago. When you consider that the estimated calorie needs per day range from 2,200 to 3,200 calories for adult men and 1,800 to 2,400 for adult women, depending on activity level, that extra 200 calories can really matter.

You probably wouldn’t pick the “healthy” menu item, anyway.
Only one in four people say they actually eat healthy foods when they go out to eat, according to a 2013 study by the market research firm The NPD Group.

Cooking at home could help you live longer.
Yes, really. A 2012 study in Public Health Nutrition showed that cooking as many as five times a week was associated with a 47 percent higher likelihood of still being alive a decade later. The study, conducted by Taiwanese and Australian researchers, was based on data from a group of 1,888 people over the age of 65. Among those people, 31 percent said they cooked five or more times a week, while 43 percent said they never cooked (the rest cooked with a frequency somewhere in between).

Eating out is contributing to the obesity trend.
While it’s impossible to prove cause-and-effect, there have been multiple associations found between increased weight and eating out. For example, a Lancet study in 2004 showed young adults who frequently eat out at fast food restaurants are more likely to weigh more and have increased insulin resistance when they hit early middle age. An FDA-funded panel also reviewed evidence to find that eating food not cooked at home is associated with higher body fat and body mass index, and increased obesity.

You’ll eat healthier foods if you cook ’em yourself.
Forbes points out that the pure fact that your home likely does not have a deep fryer is already a boon for eating more healthfully. Plus, there are studies that show that people who cook at home eat healthier than people who eat food prepared by someplace else, Forbes notes.

You’re teaching your kids to appreciate healthy foods.
Cooking at home for dinner is also an opportunity to get your kids to join you in the kitchen — which research shows could actually help to grow their appreciation for healthy eating. A 2012 study in the journal Public Health Nutrition shows that kids who helped more with meal prep and cooking were more likely to prefer both fruits and vegetables.

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