Batch of links

- A great article in Flavor magazine discusses how foodies should respond when they are accused of elitism for buying more expensive food, especially at a time when some people have trouble putting any food on the table. Here’s the main conclusion (though the article is worth reading): “To suggest that advocating for such a change makes me an elitist is to disparage positive decision making and behavior. Indeed, if that’s elitism, I want it. The victim mentality our culture encourages actually induces guilt among people making progress. That’s crazy. We should applaud positive behavior and encourage others to follow suit, not demonize and discourage it. Would it be better to applaud people who buy amalgamated, reconstituted, fumigated, irradiated, genetically modified industrial garbage?”

- Another great article, about Angry Birds, FarmVille and other hyperaddictive “stupid games” (my current guilty pleasure is Draw Something).

- It’s Passover, and some of you may be making matzo ball soup. Here’s a Metafilter link with tips to make your matzo balls light and fluffy (and not leaden bricks) – the tip that is given most often is to use seltzer instead of water.

- A wonderful article by J. Kenji López-Alt on Serious Eats about making the perfect McDonald’s-type French fry. It’s incredibly well-researched, and you’ll enjoy the read. I’m finally posting it because I’ve finally accepted that as cool as it is to have detailed instructions like these, I’m not actually going to make those fries.

- An explanation of the term “sushi”, which isn’t actually synonymous with “raw fish”, and a more complete guide.

- Vegan Bodega, finally open, is apparently the first vegan grocery store in New York City. It was about time! We do have pretty good choices at Whole Foods here, and there’s always Viva Vegan in Montreal (more of a boutique than a grocery store, but still).

- How to get rid of fruit flies and drain flies (I’ve never actually seen the latter, thankfully). And while we’re at it, how to prevent and get rid of weevils. We’re lucky here in that we haven’t really had any bugs inside the house, but I’d sure like to eradicate those fire ants from the yard…

- WTF – What’s this food, a really fun and educational website.