Food Fight

Our holiday table got quite tense. We are a mixed family ? Jewish, Christian, Republican, Democrat ?? but the tension wasn't from differences over religion or politics. It was about food. At one end of the table sat my husband's nephew, who runs a food bank. He's an earnest man who spends his days seeking nourishment for the hungry, and favors almost anything that increases food's availability or lowers its price. My husband and I occupied the other end. We operate a pasture-based ranch, and spend much of our time advocating for farming grounded in ecology and stewardship.

The nation's food stamp program is an essential part of the American safety net. Why? Because people can't be productive - in school, at work or looking for work - if they are hungry and fearful about not having enough food to feed their families. The program serves 46 million people, almost as many people as Medicare. And that's despite the fact that more than one-third of those eligible for the benefit are not receiving it. If all those who qualified for food stamps enrolled in the program, it would include 20% to 25% of Americans.

Another sign that we're entering a more rough-and-tumble period in the 2012 presidential race: Jon Huntsman, seeking a way to energize his campaign, is hitting Mitt Romney hard on his job-creation record while Romney was governor of Massachusetts. At a campaign event Monday evening in South Carolina, Huntsman, the former Utah governor, while not naming Romney directly, left no doubt whom he was talking about.  "When you look at the absolute increases in job creation, Utah led the way in the United States in terms of job creation," Huntsman said, according to CNN . "That, compared and contrasted with certain other states like Massachusetts, which I will just pull out randomly, not first, but 47th.

Streams of Silly String, flying tortillas and long lines at the ladies' rooms during past parades have inspired a unique set of laws that govern Monday's Rose Parade and other special events in Pasadena. City ordinances address everything from construction of grandstand seating and the sale of parade programs to acts of political protest. Under a 1992 ordinance, disrupting or impeding a parade can land a person a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail. FULL COVERAGE: 2012 Rose Parade "There were legitimate safety concerns.

On the farm Re "America's good food fight," Opinion, Jan. 9 It's unfortunate that Nicolette Hahn Niman believes people are being forced to make a choice between conventionally and organically grown food. She labels food according to farming practices (hers is the "good way") yet seems uninformed about conventional farming today. The fact is that small-, medium- and large-scale growers today provide conventional and organic food. They employ sustainable, food safety and traceability practices.

6Regarding S. Irene Virbila's article about Napa Valley restaurants ("Napa's Newest Appeals," April 11): The funniest line in any newspaper this year belongs to Virbila. While touting her choice for best restaurant in California [French Laundry], she writes: "It's not an experience for everyone, though. It demands a focus and concentration on food that not every potential diner is interested in giving." What editor let that line get into your newspaper? Who are you kidding? This is a dinner, a meal.

You might think people in the restaurant business would enjoy watching someone make sausage. But what's been going on at L.A. City Hall, where a food fight has broken out over the awarding of LAX restaurant concessions, has been sheer agony for some of the city's most famous chefs. "It seems like a simple thing to do," Nancy Silverton of Pizzeria Mozza said during a break in the brawl Monday. "Why can't they just get it done?" Just get it done? Oh, sweetheart. Welcome to City Hall, where council members couldn't make a pizza together without subcommittee hearings, visits from lobbyists, an environmental impact report, an ethics investigation and half a dozen lawsuits over the choice of toppings.

Each day around lunchtime, a caravan of food trucks converges on the Miracle Mile to help feed the neighborhood's white-collar workforce. Depending on who you are, the phenomenon is either mouth-watering or infuriating. For food truck lovers — and there are many in this city — Wilshire Boulevard near South Curson Avenue is a mecca, distinguished by the sheer number of upscale trucks it attracts. On Wednesday about 1 p.m., there were nearly a dozen. Across the street from the La Brea Tar Pits, the India Jones Chow Truck, Mrs. Beasley's Dessert Truck and Fishlips Sushi were all crowded into half a block.

For 25 years, the Lucky K.T. Noodle Factory in El Monte has been making fresh rice noodles for hundreds of Asian restaurants and supermarkets in Los Angeles and around the country. But a state law requiring manufacturers to refrigerate the pasta instead of allowing it to be stored at room temperature threatens to alter a long-held Asian tradition, said factory owner Tom Thong. "The health inspectors don't understand our culture," said Thong, 53. "We've been eating it this way for thousands of years and we've never had a problem.

Authorities have decided not to file charges against the former mayor of San Gabriel, who resigned after getting arrested in connection with an alleged altercation with a female companion. Officials from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said they passed on the case against Albert Huang in early December when Lu Chen, the woman involved in the argument, left the country and declined to cooperate. Huang had been facing possible charges of felony robbery, assault and battery related to the October incident.

Corn dogs and chicken nuggets are out. Butternut squash tortellini and quinoa salad are in. After years of advocacy by the Healthy School Food Coalition, California Food Policy Advocates and other groups, the Los Angeles Unified School District has revolutionized the menus in its school cafeterias. The emphasis is on more healthful and sustainable food, and the backlash, predictably, has already begun. The changes have come about slowly. For most of a decade, a loose coalition of groups concerned about children's health and about environmental issues has pushed the district to offer more healthful choices.

Another sign that we're entering a more rough-and-tumble period in the 2012 presidential race: Jon Huntsman, seeking a way to energize his campaign, is hitting Mitt Romney hard on his job-creation record while Romney was governor of Massachusetts. At a campaign event Monday evening in South Carolina, Huntsman, the former Utah governor, while not naming Romney directly, left no doubt whom he was talking about.  "When you look at the absolute increases in job creation, Utah led the way in the United States in terms of job creation," Huntsman said, according to CNN . "That, compared and contrasted with certain other states like Massachusetts, which I will just pull out randomly, not first, but 47th.

The intensity of new-wave food truck craze caught the city of Los Angeles off-guard. For the last two years there has been much, often heated, discussion over how the trucks should be regulated. Even among members of the city council there is debate over how to deal with issues that have arisen in conjunction with the trucks, including where the trucks can park, for how long and whether they should be allowed to use meters. The food trucks now have their own representation in the form of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Assn.

Let's call it what it is: a sin tax. A California lawmaker is targeting the obesity epidemic with a tax that would slap a penny-an-ounce levy on drinks sweetened with sugar or corn syrup. The food industry, not surprisingly, has squared off against the idea, arguing that the tax bill is a punitive assault on personal choice. "The government doesn't have the right to social engineer," said J. Justin Wilson, senior research analyst at the industry-backed Center for Consumer Freedom.

Taco Bell diners (or would-be diners) -- and Taco Bell itself -- take taco filling seriously. News that a California woman was filing suit over the beef content of tacos was reported Tuesday by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Readers responded with a mixture of disgust, irritation with the lawsuit itself and societal perspective. Wrote keithbcr on the paper’s website : "I don't go to Taco Bell for nutrition, I stop there because it's open at 3 a.m. and a burrito is fairly easy to shovel down while driving home.

On the farm Re "America's good food fight," Opinion, Jan. 9 It's unfortunate that Nicolette Hahn Niman believes people are being forced to make a choice between conventionally and organically grown food. She labels food according to farming practices (hers is the "good way") yet seems uninformed about conventional farming today. The fact is that small-, medium- and large-scale growers today provide conventional and organic food. They employ sustainable, food safety and traceability practices.

Authorities have decided not to file charges against the former mayor of San Gabriel, who resigned after getting arrested in connection with an alleged altercation with a female companion. Officials from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said they passed on the case against Albert Huang in early December when Lu Chen, the woman involved in the argument, left the country and declined to cooperate. Huang had been facing possible charges of felony robbery, assault and battery related to the October incident.