PETA shows a sense of humor, we think

When I first heard about this, I had to double-check just to make sure today wasn’t April Fools, but sure enough, there it was on the PETA website. The group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has suggested to San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee that the city rename its famously seedy Tenderloin District to the Tempeh District.

Though the organization has rarely been accused of having a sense of humor, the timing of the letter from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman still makes me suspicious. But who can tell what is parody these days? Judge for yourself from this excerpt:

“By discarding an outdated moniker that evokes the horrors of the meat trade, you'll be sending a strong message to progressive businesses and health-conscious residents that this neighborhood is ready for a fresh start.

“Tempeh, a protein-packed food made from soybeans, is a healthy, cruelty-free meat substitute. In contrast, tenderloin comes from real suffering. In today's intensive meat production industry, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers and breeding sows are confined for life to metal crates so small they can't even turn around or take two steps. Cattle are burned with hot irons, their horns are cut or burned off, and males are castrated — all without painkillers.

“It's true that the Tenderloin echoes vice and corruption and that slaughterhouses are constantly found to be in violation of the law and more. But now's the perfect time to put the city's past in the deep freeze. San Francisco is now renowned for some of the best vegan cuisine in the world, and the city deserves a neighborhood named after a delicious cruelty-free food instead of the flesh of an abused animal. If Tempeh doesn't excite you, how about Granola Flats or Seitan's Lair? You could even run a contest to choose a veggie moniker.”

Now, tell me, what do you think?

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: The Tenderloin District. Credit: Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times

Delicious Deals: 20 cheaps eats for less than $20 in San Francisco

 
Cheap eats? In San Francisco? That's gotta be a joke, right? Actually, our colleagues in Travel have scoped out just such a thing: 20 cheap eats for less than $20 in San Francisco.

Among them: Hit the Ferry Building Marketplace and mix-and-match the offerings at the boutiques and food stalls there for a meal that fits your budgets. We found (above) heirloom tomatoes and grapes ($7) at The Farm, sourdough round and olive rolls ($3.30) at Acme Bread shop, the cheese platter ($12) at Cowboy Creamery and a bottle of La Closerie des Lys ($9) at the Wine Merchant. Eat your picnic lunch outside, with views of Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge for a postcard perfect moment.

If you happen to know of some Cheap Eats that we missed, let us know about it.

-- Rene Lynch
Twitter.com / renelynch

Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times 

Temptation never looked so good

 
On this day of 10-10-10, our Travel section goes all out with the top 10 lists, including top 10 travel temptations, chief among them:  Recchiuti Confections in San Francisco:

You'll leave your heart in the Ferry Building Marketplace once you've savored Michael Recchiuti's masterworks, which include crisp slices of pear kissed with key lime and coated in dark chocolate. And his whoopee pies will brighten even the foggiest day. Info: (415) 826-2868, Recchiuti.com.

Check out more top 10 favorites in Sunday's Travel section.

Photo: Recchiuti Confections

BlogHer co-founder forecasts the future

The next two weekends are going to be a blizzard of hashtags.

This coming weekend, there's BlogHer Food. Held over two days in San Francisco, the sold-out conference features some of the most influential names in the food world, including Dorie Greenspan and Michael Ruhlman. A week later, the food focus widens and swings to Las Vegas, for BlogWorld. (I'll be at both events, and I'll be a panelist at BlogWorld, so please stop and say hi!)

The two food-focused events come at a provocative time: Blogging now shares the stage with micro-blogging, old media's aggressive gambit to make up for lost time, and the Rise of Aggregation a la Eatocracy and HuffPost Food. More important, what does this all mean for food blogging (because, let's face it, all we really care about is food blogging)?

We asked BlogHer co-founder Elisa Camahort Page to tell us what the landscape looks like from her vantage point. She forecast these six trends, and what follows are the highlights of our conversation. Long story short: Far from being "over," blogging is just getting started, she said, adding that food bloggers have more opportunities than every before to find a way to turn clicks into bucks.

Today's headlines: A journo tries cooking school, how to glow like Jen, S.F. vs. S.D. and more

Headlines from today's L.A. Times:

-- Inspired by "Julie & Julia," our Phil Zimmerman headed to cooking school -- at Philo Apple Farm Cooking School, 120 miles northwest of San Francisco in the bucolic Anderson Valley wine country.

-- So many wineries, so little time. The Golden State is home to nearly 3,000 wineries. So how to choose? Here's your guide to California wineries.

-- Every year, millions of people find themselves craving a vacation from Greater Los Angeles. Many of these people don't want to cross state lines or climb mountains or contend with deserts, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, redwoods, Gold Country or Mickey Mouse. Which leaves them facing this question: San Francisco or San Diego? Let the debate begin.

-- Want to have a red-carpet glow à la Jennifer Aniston? Eat your veggies.

-- At McSorley's Old Ale House in New York's East Village, established in 1854, Geoffrey Bartholomew plays both poet and bartender.

Photos: At left, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge at dawn. Credit: Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times. At right, sunset over Coronado Bridge in San Diego. Credit: Micha Pawlitzki / Getty Images

Sampler Platter: Make a bacon lamp, meet the White House Crustmaster, testing Campbell's Soup's noodles claim

The Crustmaster uses pies to lure Michelle Obama to the dark side. The original recipe for Worcestershire sauce is discovered (we assume it's the British equivalent of the original top-secret formula for Coca-Cola, but without cocaine). And the most practical how-to ever: making your own bacon lamp.

--Meet White House pastry chef Bill Yosses, a.k.a. the Crustmaster. CBS4 Denver
--Restaurant groups unhappy about health-care bill. Nation's Restaurant News
--"Emeril Live" may return to TV -- but not on the Food Network. ABC Action News
--The 10 most beloved and unhealthy gaming snacks. Topless Robot
--100 things restaurant staffers should never do: Part 1 and Part 2. New York Times
--Campbell's claims every can of chicken noodle soup has 32 feet of noodles. KING5
--Who would Jacques Pepin most like to cook naked with? Nigella Lawson. Gastrobuzz
--Original Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce recipe found. Daily Mail
--How to make a bacon lamp. Oddity Central
--Diners plan to spend 20% less on restaurant meals. Bloomberg

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Jacques Pepin's dream date, Nigella Lawson. Credit: Tina Fineberg / For The Times