Poultry

The Altadena certified farmers market, which opened last Wednesday afternoon after weeks of anticipatory buzz, is innovative and deeply idealistic. It showcases more than half a dozen small urban farms, most of which are selling at a farmers market for the first time, and the quality of its more established farms is high enough to draw shoppers from across the region. Of the dozens of new farmers markets that open in Southern California each year, all but a few are cookie-cutter affairs, featuring vendors familiar from other markets; more often than not, the primary motive is to draw foot traffic to nearby businesses or to generate profits for the organizers.

Need a bottle of kosher wine for the holidays? Look no further than this second vintage of Red C Sauvignon Blanc from Covenant Wines. Made with fruit from the Dry Creek Valley's Allan Nelson Vineyard, this is a beautiful example of Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc. Jeff Morgan just let the natural yeasts do their thing, and the 2011 Red C is grassy with ripe golden fruit tempered by a bright thread of acidity and an appealing minerality. Price: About $22 Style: Crisp and nuanced What it goes with: Smoked fish, crudo, sushi, salads, poultry Where to find it: Ariel Glatt Kosher Market in Los Angeles, (323)

Like that revelatory moment when martinis start to taste good or summer turns with one chill breeze to fall, that's how chicken farming entered my synapses — synap, crackle, pop. Our friends Mitch and Teresa were taking the kids on vacation for a few weeks, leaving their pre-pubescent hens in the hands of several neighbors, who tag-teamed the task. One neighbor one week, another the next. I found our stint with the chickens just long enough to fall in love with the whole concept.

Buyers of poultry products from a Cargill processing plant in Arkansas may have gotten a little something extra with their turkey burgers: a strain of antibiotic-resistant salmonella that is implicated in the death of a Sacramento man and the illness of 79 others around the country. In response, Cargill recalled 36 million pounds of turkey products last week, among the largest food recalls ever. But just because that turkey is off the shelves doesn't mean it's safe to eat undercooked poultry — or any of a host of other foods potentially contaminated by antibiotic-resistant "superbugs.

Aburiya Toranoko Rating: two stars Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. . . : Outstanding on every level. . : Excellent. . : Very good. : Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory. Location: 243 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, (213) 621-9500, http://www.toranokola.com Price: Vegetables, $2 to $10; seafood dishes, $6 to $16; meats and poultry, $8 to $10; sumiyaki , $3 to $8 per stick; oden, $3 to $12; rice and noodles, $4 to $12; sushi and sushi rolls, $4 to $28. Details: Open daily 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m. (until midnight Friday and Saturday)

Dorman Grace stood among the ruins of his chicken farm — the buildings were a tangle of sheet metal, plastic insulation and chicken corpses. Each day has been a game of hide-and-seek with thousands of surviving chicks wandering around the disaster zone. The tornadoes that barreled through Alabama last week took a mean swipe at the state's abundant poultry farms, wiping out about 200 chicken houses and damaging 500 others. Nearly 2.5 million chickens were killed statewide, and about the same number were left without shelter.

Here are some other locations where you can purchase meat from sustainably raised animals: Lindner Bison This family-owned Valencia ranch raises grass-fed bison. They practice sustainable agriculture and humane animal husbandry. Lindner has a stall at the Santa Monica farmers market. Lindner Bison; klindner@lindnerbison.com ; (661) 254-0200; http://www.lindnerbison.com . Kendor Farm Kendor Farm, located in the San Fernando Valley, sells free-range, organic chickens and eggs.

Coming soon to a grocery store near you: nutrition labels, like the ones seen on soda pop and potato chips, slapped on packages of raw ground meat and chicken breasts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that a new federal rule will require 40 of the most commonly purchased cuts of poultry, pork, beef and lamb to carry labels that disclose a variety of information to consumers. Slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2012, the rule will require meat producers to disclose the total number of calories, the number of calories that come from fat, and the total grams of fat and saturated fat. The labels also must include details about protein, cholesterol, sodium and vitamins in the product, according to federal officials.

In what some claim is the result of a lethal mixture of poultry and politics, 400,000 baby chicks have been put to death this week at a central Russian farm, an additional 600,000 have died of malnutrition and the lives of 3 million more chickens remain imperiled. Farm owner Alexander Chetverikov, a Russian parliament member, says political foes have "targeted my company," forcing it into bankruptcy over a $190,000 tax debt. "We can't afford to feed the chickens any more, as we have no money, and we will continue to eliminate the remaining 3 million chickens if the unfair bankruptcy situation is not eased and the state doesn't come to our rescue," said Dmitry Noskov, spokesman for the Krasnaya Polyana poultry farm in the Kursk region.

Thanksgiving is not a day for counting calories. But for people who have dieted this year and are trying to maintain a healthful weight, turkey leftovers ? without the stuffing ? may be a smart strategy going forward, according to a new report. In the largest diet study in Europe to date, foods that were high in protein and low on the glycemic index ? such as poultry, eggs, fish and nuts ? did the best job of helping people maintain their weight loss for 26 weeks, researchers report in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.