F O O D E D

Photo by Anna Rocbinson

THE MENU

2 ABOUT US meet the staff!

3 THE DISH what you didn’t know about what goes into your mouth

4 BEING JOLTED stamina in a can.

6 CHINESE IMPORTS is “made in china” slowly killing you?

7 A LIFE WITHOUT MILK living dairy and gluten free: one person’s view

10 DIET OR EXERCISE don’t worry, eat happy

12 HOME SLICE PIZZA an interview with the home slice

14 BUTTERS BROWNIES the ultimate brownie handbook

15 COOKIE RECIPE you’ll love them to death.

16 HEY MOM! SHOULD I BUY ORGANIC? the battle for and against

18 SALVATION PIZZA a slice of heaven

20 HEALTHY FOOD IS HEALTHY? enough said.

22 BREAKFAST TACOS austin’s favorite way to start the day

24 ETHNIC GROCERY STORES austin’s diversity in the form of food

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Photos by:Florriebassingbournhomard.netyuan2003Jocelyn McAuleycobalt123Alicia

ABOUT USANNA R.KATIE P.LIAM R. DILLON E.

Anna R. enjoys eating food, especially whipped cream and chocolate. She is the master cookie and cake maker, and man-ages to get flower every-where. She plays the sax-aphone and clarinet. She enjoys acting the fool, walking on the beach and building things with candy Legos.

Katie P. was born to a pair of food-loving Aus-tinites, thus leading to a childhood full of de-licious meals. She cur-rently enjoys pretend-ing she can successfully cook. She wants to travel the world, but now, one of her favorite things to do is spend Sunday afternoons at Central Market, and especially enjoys Mexican and Ital-ian food.

2 FOODED

Liam R. was born in the ‘90s and is 14 years old. He has always enjoyed quality food, but not al-ways making food; some of his favorites include egg rolls, watermelon, and tacos. He also loves fast food joints like P. Terry’s and Jack in the Box.

Dillon E. is a freshman at LASA that enjoys eat-ing food, but not always making it. His favorite type of food is Italian, and his favorite dessert is sponge cake. Dillon enjoys playing tennis and ultimate frisbee, as well as video games and surfing the internet. His biggest pet-peeve is the sound of people smack-ing their lips while eat-ing.Photo by Tony Case

Photo by Bunshee

Photo by Dino Abatzidis

Photo by Benson Kua

Ure peris teatum nius, sillabus atenimis reis huidium tertionc viveris? Virmis ine con vilis ausum dit etilicatus rei iam ia nent. Valiissimus meniciae in ta, sed patus, que in tur quam et que nori te proratus inatifensu que nerebat. An issenihiliae esili-cae aciemodii perdi, fatam isquons tebatilis conem, nostiemusque et? Paliam iam mo condiordio esilici entruri perio, stiae, Cuperes consuliis? Nicae quonsum signons ulesenam molin tellatum ductabem pri patumur nisular evideris, consiliqua L. Liciisquam int. mente que inum, signos bont L. Tebuncl abutum tem ubliu que quonsinvoc viveren atilintiam es fin sidet cris. Ferum auciena tquerum in verit verudem uridet ac iam horum ego et, diem tera perit.Ac tereis. macerum tesse issentiemo ad nos con niritiente, ut grarit; nonem es? quam rebus. Nihicas damquam, nos es nulis cae manumur uractus, es efactorudere etordic aessentrum me con iliu es vocris halabes ciam aci cit. Niciesul tervide nicaurn ir-itemurors nostiam iaed confit pubis. Impli, converum esupiora nihicae simpra? Ilicul tuam. Abem deresciemed C. Fir horibem in tem det gra inte ad int pratoditiam inatabem, P. Habitamdiem, ommoverfex me tam omacestres signatium temus virissendeat prora, confex sulus iam popublinprae ignonst raessulii publisqui supion nosus Maris comnerena res aur priae aresigil ur potelic iericatquos horaed nostem facie ade atra re comnit.Utero, ut ium int. estifecid cie iam in vist effre, criocaperem sendachuit.Halicae publiam et publintemus loc mussimo ena, quid norivast? quis. Sensuntrorei condam rem habus oc, dit omnonstisquo hae pon deatoremus, spionsu ltortam tem fit; horunte fat ilis ingulatis efaces lin veres! Sereo, que nemum ernihiliis Catum us horte nemo ut condii sero, que iam resterum ponsultume prata, que patus bondiendam nost? Ucerecre etiquis. Avoccienam se imis culiestro tes et cae te co inum ad res, duconsul vignossendi teris pectodi usupicae conscii pulin hebeffre consula re patus re nones simus intrit in tem atimur. Otiliquod inum idiena, uterfec rissis. Tum pris consultur, ublicute hor ina, uscerorariam horis, verei por laricatum obuscita confirit; nemei puludam vis.Udemus? Tiu med menatia inate in hillegit.Ximer quonsig nostrissa L. Catu st ommovid pultudam ad modi popost? Eluteatissa coerfen tus vatiorum publi porum hostia iae crivit; hebemo mante furidef frescente hum fauc obse, nocremus, publicae aucon vis oc rehemoltus nonsuss entus, Catam hos consust udeperfero essul hactales! Dientra inem, ertelum, cons Ad patiusque nes omnihilicum pesimpl icioritanum ium Patiline antiaci intem, noximiline tis poneme de omnit, C. Decupio in te, quem est grae hiliis acchuis fatis, essulerum quam eteriam et forum inte cules bonfes vessitis consul con senaricume dius, nemurbis? Omperra esseniurnit? An Ita vem, nos eo, C. Dum ficae, vitator ibessignos confectam vivist? Adducta nductore is mantrum quam diis tu ium ta, non horis aute comnihilin terioncles coneridis. Cem manum, obuntes ips, patusatus nonverissid is aucturs hocutem hebatquiter horum hosta potem pli ca rem avo, quidius? in audam Romnest ertuas bonsilistius coraetorum liam entilius etorem nequod inceps, centerei cribus? Nam horesses duc re pres M. Eviliconsum villege retius, nitissensi in te intia res hostrenam quit in vis rem te ocatusquos feculibusce etiliis.Lus virtua dum isquemum temus Ahace terese vissuam ne facest publibunum abus, intifecemed seniquons host ves! Sp. Mar-ius. O ternihilica; hoste clus, pat, veris aciam temperf eriberv ilnescis; husatilic virmanum caperma ximors simprid epermis. Vivivid essimis; C. Ihilis, quitis prae dit, qui faciis movestrei inem, cul hosula inc re cae ne eo, Catortuus, quon des iptea ceri, orest estri, mo caedienequam re ari implist viveriu renihil icipio, optil virimorae cae es lostist astemquered acta, ut virit.Idicute modiend uctati, noximurari in tem aucit.Cut publi peres orum derum dient. Catraequam me inveritum firtemus? Ximilic aedium atis egiliis timusserdii poti, cus, quod re prox nostori sulturae cons ius senatum opos, sid mori iaciptius clum maionsultum fuidit Catque ca nostis auctorum nonsus-senic iam tam pratiliisse fir que pripio, es ca Scis cludactebat, tiamplica rensimponit. Ignoneq uidem, sa publibu laris? Ego consili natiusulego maio, fuium esil tuam publiem pre, nem, fore consua nonfecompris confex num Romnesta verviginte qui publien atiacie natius es Cupios, mo vidiis; nicae, C. Ectum ina pulesim oracid crum ad pulicav eriptium teropul icibuli nvolict orena, conscia? Ciero, peria niusquem Pato inatien tiurit ad adducta nos teste intemquiu quod nos in Itatissente omnicaperi firtemei pes, ut con vesilis horent. Ad ponum tui iae comnem con adhuitium dum te, clerion cerrica edienatem sed rebatquerei ina, con sultum hossulis. C. Simil vis cone et atque tem ia mo veme pecenatquam hortus, senti inc tantestortem nihiciam, scere, avocae, omnost firi, nortimus hocupior ubitari cotem, nossis sultum imus, converei cut verdiem ia num tilis sulocum cones nu conloc, nimoris fex nos conequi deatum, Catiu ermacci tam tantis. Ducta, qua novehensus M. Fuitatim in sente-musquem suliquos re, posu iussulin tu consum, cut pere modit videlatum contra egilis pulemedis vit.Qua re ta no. Opicae re mei in sedo, movericie peceris. Quostat uidelusque confecrum es verma, non public tem mo virtessa consultus confero cordint, temulturoxim faceper fectum, concusquem iam acto prit poponscrecon verendam, sed remum ni patusa med co et? It, pernihilis in derdii crio estri cienate, uro Catussicus et? inatrum moratasto vidii parbis, ublibus etia re ia? O ta iaesimu scrius, que iaes accibem nos, quam quam adellaris, opublia per alatius cae ad poent. Natrum, quit, unum morbit, ducondium non virtala int. Publinpro vendumu rbissenam tem effre, et, ommo idetiorum et? Opotilibus condam ta res id imis, sedo, conces horitabefaci sediti, sulesso lissed me audente ribust publis consum octa actum o vilis iam. Movehebus peraedius mant, dem aucta, unum hostus, nonsist raedium. Etratil horem mercemod auc vicis me in Itam non te quam sercescendii caet ductus, caperis iampopubliis o iam inaris bonsula renatum is sedi puliam in des oc facte omnes hoctatilnemo hores lartest fort-erobutus moritam iae fue et istem senatilium facesuam ses erbissula menari perum. Legilne rceribu ssenit octorum nicatimod

THE DISH

The flavor of BUBBLE GUM comes from a mix of VANILLA, WINTERGREEN, and CINNAMON.

Every DAY, Americans eat over 300 ACRES of pizza.

During a LIFETIME, the average person eats about 35 TONS of food.

A portion of the WATER you drink has already been drunk by SOMEONE ELSE, maybe SEVERAL times over.

PEANUTS are used to make DYNAMITE.

100 cups of coffee over 4 hours can KILL the average human.

By Dillon E.

FOODED 3

Photo by iirraaPhoto by Young Toymaker

Photo by ginnerobotPhoto by Wenday

Photo by Darwin BellPhoto by stevendepolo

Photo by ohadwad

BEING JOLTED By Liam R.

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If you’re like me, you don’t get enough sleep. Even though the national average is about seven to eight hours of sleep, which is normal, it doesn’t seem like enough to get you through the day. Americans also

don’t take time for siestas or breaks as is done in other countries. This is why I and an ever-increasing number of Americans like energy drinks. I don’t like Red Bull and I don’t know why it’s like the Coke of energy drinks. (I mean that literally: there was actually a little bit of cocaine found in some of their products. I’m serious, look it up. But I digress.) These drinks aren’t meant to taste great, they’re meant to blast you with energy. An energy drink is really helpful when you need it. You can use it for a long, boring night-shift (assuming you have a job and you’re not a bum) to stay awake. Maybe you use it after a long night when you need to stay awake for the next day, or whatever. You could even give it to your dad for his long nightshift (assuming your dad works and is not a bum). There are ups and downs to using an energy drink, but they can be useful. It really helps when you need to stay awake during the day because there might be a class that you need to listen to or something that you really need to hear in order to pass a class. There are times when I feel exhausted and can’t stay awake during a period, and I know that I am not the only one. There are also other times when I have procrastinated to the point where I wake up and I realize that I have a couple of more hours of homework to go. When it is 1:00 in the morning, I need an energy drink. Finally, I think that it would keep a driver awake for a long road trip. I have been on long car trips and I fall asleep most of the time, and I don’t even drive. It’s exciting to drive, but if you have to drive for 8 hours or if you have had a long day, it’s time to reach for that Red Bull. Having an energy drink can keep you from falling

asleep at the wheel and crashing into something, break-ing a couple bones, paying fines and having to fix your car.

The classic drink is Red Bull, but this year there were a lot of new energy drinks that popped up trying to make some money. I haven’t tried all of them, but Rockstar would still be my personal favorite. If you want to see which ones are decent, check out www.energydrinkreviews.com. This site is by a couple of guys in Austin who have noth-

ing better to do than to try dif-ferent energy drinks all day. There are a lot of peo-ple who say that since energy drinks have gone mainstream, more and more people (rang-ing from ages 16 to 28) are becoming addicted to caffeine. They say that the drinks con-tain extremely high amounts of caffeine, which should be avoided by people with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and some anxiety dis-

orders. Yeah, it’s true that having too many energy drinks is bad, and that they can cause serious problems like get-ting addicted to caffeine or getting diabetes. However, it’s also bad to drink too much water and eat too much food. I do think that energy drinks are good, but I didn’t say that it’s a good idea to drink eight cans of Rockstar to stay awake during your nightshift. Drink them in mod-eration; you don’t need more than one or two. Just don’t try to get high off of it, which I know we have all tried before. Bottom line, don’t stop drinking energy drinks. Just use them when you need to, and don’t abuse them.

“There are times when I have procrastinated to the point where I wake

up and realize that I have a couple more hours of homework to go. When

it’s 1:00 in the morning, I need an energy drink.”

BEING JOLTED By Liam R.

FOODED 5photo by homard.net

Photos by: Anna Robinson

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A LIFE

By Anna R.

FOODED 7

WITHOUT MILK

photo by Anna R.

1 cup creamy peanut butter1 cup white sugar1 teaspoon baking powder1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350°. Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl- hand mix. Add the egg. Mix until it is all well combined. Roll some dough into a ball the size of your preferable cookie. Roll the ball in white sugar. Line a baking sheet, covered in parchment paper, with sugary balls of dough. Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. You will know the cookies are done when they feel stiff enough to hold themselves together, but still a little soft. Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest for at least five min-utes. Afterwards, carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. After ten minutes or so, they will have hardened and be glistening with sugar. You can add chocolate chips to the dough if you want. The smaller you make them the better they stay together.(From the Gluten Free Girl and the Chef Blog)

You’ve heard of people who can’t eat gluten and people who can’t eat dairy, but a fam-ily that can’t eat gluten or dairy isn’t common. See how many foods you can name that don’t have dairy or gluten in them. There are vegetables and fruits, but these foods alone don’t make a good diet, and growing up eating that would be extremely difficult. Yet somehow, LASA freshman Rachel B. and her family have been able to create plenty of their own recipes, which make consuming food much easier for them.About 3% of people in the world are allergic to dairy, and between 3% and 15% are al-

lergic or sensitive to gluten. That is a .09% chance that a couple of people can’t eat dairy or gluten. Such small chances to have two people meet who can’t eat both, but somehow, Rachel and her family devel-oped sensitivities to both and have been eating a dairy-free diet since she was born and a gluten-free diet for 3 years. Her dad is allergic to dairy, her mom is allergic to gluten and Rachel and her sister are allergic to both.

“It’s not very difficult [to keep our diet] because I am used to being able to eat certain things, but it is hard when you are eating somewhere and something sounds really good, but has either gluten or dairy in it.” But eating out as a family makes it easier because they don’t have to watch someone eat a large dessert and just sit there while they finish. Despite the fact that many desserts bought from restaurants or stores have dairy or gluten in them, the family has collected a large variety of dessert recipes that the whole fam-ily can eat. Some of Rachel’s favorites are Chocolate Orbit Cake, and Peanut Butter Cookies. “It’s easiest to eat out at Indian and Mexican restaurants since they don’t put very much dairy in their food,” Rachel said. “But when we do eat out, we can’t eat the bread or desserts.” Bread from most res-taurants have gluten in it, and most desserts contain dairy. To keep their lunches and dinners interest-ing, Rachel’s mom, Vivian, is part of a cooking group with three other families (seventeen people total) that have similar dietary restrictions; they make gluten free and vegan food. Once a week, three moms and one dad get together and make a separate dish for all seventeen people. For example, one mom might make spaghetti with sauce for all seventeen people, and the dad might make a casserole. When they are done, they split each dish into four family-sized por-tions and give it to each family so they can eat it throughout the week. At Rachel’s little sister’s elementary school, so many kids had food sensitivities that the cafete-ria started offering a dairy-free/ vegan option dur-ing lunch. This helps her parents so that they don’t have to worry about making her a lunch everyday, and allows the kids to have a school lunch experience without having to worry about the ingredients that everything contains.

“We follow this general rule: if one of us can’t eat it, then it is not something we all eat.” Having the same diet keeps the family from being jealous of one an-other, which helps the family stay close and happy.

Peanut Butter Cookies

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Chocolate Orbit Cake

9¾ oz 62% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate 7 oz (two sticks minus 1 tablespoon) butter 5 eggs 1 cup sugar

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x2-inch round cake pan, and line the inside with a circle of parchment paper. Set a large bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double boiler. Cut the butter and chocolate into small pieces and put them in the bowl to melt, whisking occasionally. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in another bowl. Thoroughly whisk in the melted chocolate. Pour the chocolate batter into the cake pan and cover tightly with foil. Place the covered cake pan in a larger baking pan and pour in warm water halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the cake appears to have set and when you touch the center, your finger comes away clean Remove the cake from the water bath and cool completely before serving, plain or with gently whipped cream. This cake can be re-frigerated for several days. Serves 12 -14.(from Scharffenberger)

FOODED 9photos by Anna R.

10 FOODED

If you are one of those super-vegan health gurus, you might want to stop reading now. If you’re like two-thirds of America and are very unhealthy or obese, then keep read-

ing. No one actually enjoys changing their daily routine and habits for food, but it is necessary if you want to prevent things like obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, or cancer. I’m fairly certain nobody would enjoy those either, so we must come to a compromise. There are two possibilities for a compromise: changing your eating habits, or exercising (or both, but that’s a little too much for our society). A majority of Americans choose eating differently. This is where I have to interject.

If you would like fast, effective results, then I say you should stick to exercising. Changing how much food you eat does not burn calories. Exercising burns many calories if you do it daily. Both involve commitment, but you get the most out of exercise. I would say that I am in good condition, and I don’t exactly worry about my diet. I only exercise 3-4 times a week. With either option, you should still do some of the other. If you eat very healthy, you should also get outside sometimes. If you exercise mostly, you should eat more than just junk food.

People that have horrible eating habits are usually not willing to change their diet much, so they resort to the littlest change possible. Imagine this: a commercial fulfills people’s needs by advertising diets where you don’t have to change much, and you can eat all the comfort food you want and still lose weight. The commercials proceed to show you pictures of others that were once overweight, and their results are so dramatic that they send you off your couch and to your phone! Well, Eager-McBeaver, stop for a moment and consider these advertisers’ motives. I have come to the conclusion that almost all, if not all, are just trying to make a pretty penny. In fact, over $100,000,000 is spent a year on dieting products. Wouldn’t you like to make that much money? A boring and truthful commercial about how you should just eat what is necessary and eat vegetables and fruits would not make any money. If you really want diet help, consult a nutritionist; not a television.

DieBy Dillon E.

t or Exercise

FOODED 11

An important part of losing weight is commitment. If you’re not committed, you do not lose weight. It’s as simple as that. A major-ity of the time, if you are on a diet, you are not scarfing down every last bit because it tastes so good. It is usually pretty difficult to eat very healthy food if you are young. This is another reason why I think exercising is better. It is much easier to just move your body a little, rather than force-feed yourself.

I understand how one might think exercising would not be the best option because not ev-eryone has a loose schedule. It does take time to exercise daily. I am in high school, and I have a very busy schedule. I do, however, manage to finish my pounds of homework daily, and still exercise. 30 minutes a day, or even 3-4 times a week can maintain a healthy body. If you are overweight, or close to it, you should probably do this daily if you want to lose a significant amount of weight.

If teens were to focus more on exercising, rather than dieting, we would have much healthier lifestyles. If you can do both, well good for you. I do not think that’s what most teens are doing though. Next time you have a food dilemma, consider my points. If you haven’t considered this before, I hope I have helped you make a better choice.

“ If you really want diet help, consult a nutritionist; not a television.”

Photos from freeclipart.com

It’s Saturday afternoon and Home Slice is packed. The line of people trying to cram themselves inside extends out onto the sidewalk and wraps around the block, a tentacle of anxious, hungry pizza-eaters. The dimly lit restaurant is loud and buzzing, and the wait staff

is swamped, but that doesn’t stop them from laughing and yelling over the pizza counter at their returning customers. Cooks transfer pizzas in and out of the various ovens behind the counter, customers devour the rapidly decreasing sup-ply of Margherita pizza and guzzle Cokes, waiters and wait-resses balance trays stacked with pizza while squeezing past the masses of people entering and exiting the restaurant. Terri Hannifin confidently strides through the crowd, a wide smile on her face as she shouts hello to the employees and the regu-lars. This is her everyday routine—she owns the place. Terri Hannifin became part of the Home Slice team in 2004, when her college roommate from NYU, Jen Strickland, and her husband, Joseph Strickland, invited her to move to Austin to help open a local restaurant. Sure enough, on November 16, 2005, Home Slice Pizza, a New-York style pizzeria, opened for business on South Congress in Austin. “We were wanting to make a pizzeria to serve other people, and we wanted to keep it as simple, fresh and delicious as possible. We put so much love into our pizza, and we don’t do anything casually. We’re just really particu-lar about every single ingredient that goes into our pizza.” Hannifin says. Hannifin entered the restaurant business at fifteen, in her hometown of Denver, Colorado, where she worked the french fry position at Big D’s Burger Joint. There, she met an old grill cook who really inspired her. “He kept the cleanest grill and made the best ham-burgers—people lined up down the street for those burgers, they were so good. He told me how proud he was of it all, how he wasn’t going to serve somebody a burger that wasn’t perfect. Before then, I had never really thought about it. But everything was made with love, and it made such a differ-ence. It just turned a light bulb on in me. From then on, I was hooked.” Hannifin and her partners believe that putting on too many ingredients or ingredients that don’t go well together can ruin a pizza far too easily. “It is heartbreaking when somebody orders a bunch of ingredients that don’t go very well together. Or sometimes, when people order too many ingredients, it can ruin a pizza, because one of our ingredients is so fresh, and has its own won-derful flavor that you don’t need a whole bunch of different things to make a pizza taste good. The simpler the better.”

In order to prevent these mishaps, Hannifin and the Stricklands created Home Slice’s “Tried and Trues”, sug-gested combinations of ingredients that the three consider foolproof. Some of the combinations are classic, like the #5 pepperoni-mushroom or the #1 Margherita, some of them are just pizzas that the group decided that they liked, like the #4 vegetarian pizza, and some of them are unusual pies that the staff encourages customers to try, like the #7 white clam pizza. “We want our customers to be happy when they leave, so we put the Tried and Trues together to make that easier.” Hannifin says. “A lot of people out west don’t know about how delicious a white clam pie is—it’s really delicious, so we put it on the menu to encourage people to give it a try.”

But what really makes a pizza tried and true are the quality of the ingredi-ents used in a pie. “We had tasted at least thirty different types of mozzarella before we chose ours. And we grate our own mozzarella—a lot of pizza places buy pre-grated cheeses because it’s easier, but grated cheese has to have that cel-lulose on it that keeps it from sticking. When we make our dough, it’s a seri-ous thing that we do. The same people make the dough everyday; they pay at-

tention to the humidity in the air and the temperature in the room.” Hannifin says. In order to earn your customers’ trust, she says, you have to hire the right people, and then train them to really understand the culture of the pizza business. One of the ways Home Slice accomplishes this is by taking their employees to New York yearly. “Once you have a great crew of hard-working, posi-tive people, you want to take care of them.” she says. “You want to make sure they’re educated and that they’re excited. So the trip is a reward for people who stay with us for a long time and also a way to inspire them. We go to several restau-rants a day, and send our employees on research trips to the different New York neighborhoods, and it’s just amazing.” And that’s just one part of the year. According to Hannifin, coming back every day is the best part of the job. “The only downside is that it’s such a great job that it’s hard to leave sometimes.” Hannifin says. “But this is a re-ally hard business—it doesn’t look like it, it looks like a lot of fun, but in order to make it that way, we work really, really hard. Pizza’s one of those things that doesn’t have a certain economic group associated with it. Everyone likes pizza—it doesn’t matter if you’re really wealthy or poor, it doesn’t mat-ter, so I feel like we’re lucky. This job is a blast. An absolute blast.”

HOME SLICE PIZZABy Katie P.

“We put so much love into our pizza- we don’t do anything

casually.”--Terri Hannifin, Homeslice owner

12 FOODED

HOME SLICE PIZZA

FOODED 5Photos by Katie P.

14 FOODED

BUTTERS BROWNIESJaneThis is the brownie for those people who like things simple, just walnuts in this one.

MarilynComplete with toasted pecans. This blondie is suggested for people who like them light.

ZenWith calming candied ginger anybody can enjoy this chocolatey sweet with a little bit of spice.

Aztec GodThe gods will take out their wrath on you with this chipotle filled brownie. Completed with wal-nuts and dark chocolate.

AphroditeThe goddess of love filled this delightful brownie with chocolate and roses. Enjoy it and hope you fall in love.

Hot LipsThis one will be sure to spice up your mouth with habanero chili, and adding to that flavor there are walnuts to complete it.

MadelineNo dairy, or eggs, that’s right: this one is vegan. Sweetened with coconut and agave nectar.

Kona BuzzAll the way from Hawaii, the Kona coffee bean will keep you awake all day, it will taste just like your favorite chocolate coffee with hazelnut.

Mighty MickYou will grow up to be strong when you eat this brownie, with dried blueberries and dark choco-late.

Mental JulepA fresh minty flavor that will make you refreshed anyday.

By Anna R.

Photo by:Pietro Izzo

Photo by: Judy Baxter

Photo by: The Delicious Life

Photo by: Gertrud K.

Photo by: Joerocketflickr

Photo by: Mauroguanandi

Photo by: Alyona Burchette

Photo by: Martin LaBar

Photo by: Darya Pino

Photo by: Bunshee

FOODED 15

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened3/4 cup granulated sugar3/4 cup packed brown sugar1 teaspoon vanilla extract2 large eggs2 cups chocolate chips1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each ad-dition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded tablespoon or onto baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 36 cookies

Taken from Toll House websitePhoto by Andrea Abel

Hey Mom! Should I Buy Organic?

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As I’m walking through the produce aisle of the local Central Market with

my mom, she asks me to go pick out some of those peaches for her cobbler. There are

two bins of the fruit sitting on display—they look the same, but the one on my left is labeled

$4.99 and the one on my right is labeled $5.99. Why? Well, the one on my right is probably organic, while the

one on my left is more likely to be conventionally grown. Uhhh…Mom? Which one should I choose?

By Katie P.

Photo by: Katie Pastor

Well, there’s actually no real clear-cut answer. Organic food both is and is not worth the extra expense, depending on the product

that you’re buying. Especially with today’s economy, a lot of people can’t afford a completely organic diet, but if they choose which foods are most important to spend more money on, they not only can help to save the environment, but also their health. If you’re going to spend the extra money on organically-grown foods, it’s important to do the research beforehand so you know what you’re really eating.

Round #1— When it comes to your health, the real question is: What does organic even mean? In or-der to have the word “organic” printed on a label, a United States Department of Agriculture certifier has to approve the product first. Organic means that no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers were used, no genetic engineering or irradation took place, and the animal was fed with organic feed and was not given antibiot-ics or growth hormones. Many studies, including ones conducted by the University of Texas, the University of California and the Rodale Institute showed that protein, calcium, phosphorus and iron levels dropped when grown non-organically. And although some farmers may have their own standards that allow the use of chemicals or antibiotics to control an illness or an outbreak, that completely prevents them from ob-taining the organic seal, so you don’t have to worry about whether or not it’s really organic. And the winner is….organic.

Round #2— So you want to help out the en-vironment. Growing foods organically eliminates the widespread use of chemicals, pesticides, growth hor-mones and fertilizers that your normal, conventional farm uses, thus reducing the effect of farming on soil, air and water. However, non-organic food grown 100 miles away, for example, may be better than organic

food grown across the country, since transporting food farther entails more pollution from the trucks and trail-ers that have to get the food from Point A to Point B. A study conducted by the Department of Rural Economy at the University of Alberta shows that when produce is transported from great distances, the greenhouse gases emitted to get it there outweighs the benefits of growing the produce organically. Winner? Surprisingly, I think non-organic wins here.

Round #3— Assuming you’re not basking in disposable cash—and I most certainly am not—it’s not exactly easy to pay for a completely organic diet. The way to do it is to pick and choose. Decide on which foods you’re worried about eating non-organically and go from there. A full list of the fruits and vegetables that were the worst (i.e. had the highest pesticide load) and the best was published by the Environment Work-ing Group in 2007. Among the foods a smart person would buy organic were peaches, apples, bell peppers, strawberries, celery, lettuce and grapes. Among the better conventionally grown were onions, avocados, corn, pineapple, mangoes and asparagus. According to the Daily Green’s “Dirty Dozen List”, an organic guide for consumers, the best things to buy organic are produce, meat, milk and coffee. Also think about what you tend to eat a lot, and if it’s high up on the “Dirty Dozen” list. So the standing winner is organic, if it’s some-thing you’re willing to spend on.

So, even though there are a few environmental disadvantages and the cost of organic food is higher, more and more consumers everyday (including me) think that it’s worth the extra expense to choose the foods to spend a little more on. So go ahead and buy those expensive peaches, Mom. We’ll thank ourselves later.

THE DIRTY DOZEN: the 12 things you should buy organic

Peaches Kale Strawberries Pears

Bell Peppers Grapes LettuceNectarines

Apples Cherries

CeleryPotatoes

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Salvation Pizza By Liam R

18 FOODED Photo by Liam R.

When you enter Salvation Pizza, the last thing you would consider is a frantic restaurant. As you pass the old-fashioned fence and look toward the lit-up patio, you notice

that most people are outside rather than inside. The patio looks casually appealing, with a cover to pro-tect customers from the heat and from the rain. Once you enter through the front door, you feel a rush of cool air and the smell of cooking crust from the oven. Inside, there are two small dining areas with tables that seat around 2 to 4 people, enough to seat couples, families and groups of friends. “I used to hang out with my friends at local pizza joints. I really miss that, and wish more kids would come and hang out here,” says Michael Dins-more, one of the three owners of the restaurant. His employees continue to work in the somewhat small kitchen, with the feel of a busy but not hectic place. Mike’s goal of creating a hangout place appears to be working. The customers relax as they hang out with their family and eat their pizza. Eric Lambert, one of the owners of Salvation Pizza, adds “You can teach anybody the tasks, but what’s important here is that we all get along well together.” This philosophy seems to be working out for them. All the employees report how they enjoy working at Salvation Pizza. Eric noted that the em-ployees were all friends, or friends of friends. “Everyone is a lot more relaxed here,” adds Chris, one of the cooks at Salvation Pizza. The own-ers of Salvation Pizza have other morale-boosting policies. According to the employees, they like how the hours are pretty flexible and the wages are fair. It also helps that this place has been busy during this recession, and everyday at work is considered a ca-sual Friday. That doesn’t mean that work is always easy. Eric notes that there is a huge difference be-tween owning a shop and working in it. “When you are working for someone else, it’s easy to just call in the repairman to fix things. Now, every decision has a consequence, and I have to think of the best pos-sible alternatives before making a decision. It is

very different running your own business then work-ing in one,” Eric says. The first two years of Salvation Pizza were “the biggest challenge,” Michael Dinsmore, another owner of Salvation Pizza, says, in fact, “It is one of

the most difficult things I have ever done.” When Eric, Mike and his wife, Elizabeth Din-smore, started their business in 2006, they had to worry about things like time management, money flow, and paying loans. In addition, Mike and his wife had to raise a family. It helped that all three owners have had a lot of experience working in the restaurant business. Mike has even worked with Eric at Flemings Prime Steak Bar before he came to Salvation. With all their combined experience, they drew up a business plan, borrowed money from some other friends who also owned a restaurant, and found a place to set up shop. Dinsmore has some other goals he would like to pursue. For example, he would like to open Salva-tion Pizza north and south, he would like to make more money, and, his personal goal, and to go back to college and get a master’s degree in mathemat-ics. Mike said that he had wanted to create a place so more kids would hang out there. Although not many kids eat there currently, plenty of adults do. It is Dinsmore’s hope that as Salvation Pizza grows older, more people will come, parents will bring their kids, and they will bring their friends. Mike may get what he wanted after all.

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“I used to hang out with my friends at local pizza joints. I really miss that, and wish more kids would come and hang out here,” - Michael Dinsmore

Healthy FoodIs Healthy? By Dillon E.

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For every three people in America, one of them is not just overweight, but obese. This means that an in-dividual that is obese would have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, whereas a healthy individ-ual would have a BMI of about 18, according to the The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Being overweight is not always a choice, so it is only fair that there are methods for escaping it or keeping from it. One of those op-tions is eating healthy. As long as one is committed, this is a way to stay healthy or become healthier. It’s one of the many options, so it may not be the best for you.

One individual, Elizabeth Em-berson, has chosen to eat health-ier in order to maintain a healthy weight. Elizabeth is in college and works two jobs. She works at her father’s business selling fixtures for stores, and is a cheerleader for the Texas Stars. Her reason for eat-ing healthy,

“Being overweight is not always a choice, so it is only fair that there are methods for escaping it or keeping from it.”

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She says that after she eats a healthy meal, she is more productive and feels better throughout the day, science backs this up. According to an article regarding affects of eating healthy, eating healthy can improve energy, as well as self-es-teem and physical appearance.If you are not very keen on eating

healthy, there is a new study that shows people are more prone to eating healthy food if they are served it as an appetizer before a meal. Of course, this may not be true for everyone. Elizabeth thinks she might be a rare case because she actu-ally likes the taste of all the food

she eats. However, she does not wish to discourage anybody. Her advice, if you’re not sure to eat healthily, is simply, “Do it.”

Photos by adria.richards

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BREAKFAST TACOS By Liam Rae

Else’s Tacos:

Tamale House:

Taco Xpress:

Just a reminder: this is a restaurant, not a taco stand, so the wait is going to be a bit longer and the prices a bit higher. That said I was pleasantly surprised. It was only $1.25 for a 2 ingredient taco ($0.99 on Mon-Fri), which is much cheaper than I expected. The waiting time was about 15 minutes, but my mom ordered a tamale, so that definitely upped the waiting time. The tacos themselves tasted good and were substantial, but what I really liked was the sauce. It was pleasantly spicy, and I was informed that there is a new one every day. Overall, they had a great taco, and they had a good deal (for a restaurant.)

Even for a breakfast taco, these were really cheap. These were cheaper than any other place that I have ever been to. But do they taste bet-ter? Yes, as a matter of fact. The ingredients were tasted good, nothing special, but good. They were chewy and were very substantial. The only gripe I had with this place was the sauce, it seemed like it wasn’t there. I even tried their hottest sauce, but it seemed kind of subtle to me. Their service was fairly speedy, but that is because it’s a fast food res-taurant. Overall, pretty fast service and good food.

This place has a weird atmosphere, and looks…I really don’t know how to describe it, go see it for your-self. I paid $1.50 for each taco that I ordered. It was a good price, but what I really liked was how the place was so busy when I got there, and I still got my tacos in about two minutes. That was really impressive and good when you want a quick breakfast. I liked my tacos there, they were especially good with the sauce (there were three oth-ers that I didn’t try, but I presume that they would also be delicious.) They weren’t too filling, but filling enough. Overall, they had good service and good tacos.

Photo by Kitchen Wench

Photo by Liam R.

Photo by Liam R.

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Tacodeli:

Torchy’s Tacos:

This place had an interesting atmosphere, by that I mean that it looked curiously like your local Starbucks, may-be not as pristine, but it seemed weird to me. Now before I say anything about the taco itself, I have to say that I was amazed at how fast the taco came out. Seriously, it was under 15 seconds. However, when I had my first bite, it wasn’t that good. The taco seemed too bland for me. Even with adding all the sauce into my taco, it didn’t make much difference. I tried the habanero sauce, and its spicy, but not nearly as spicy as I wanted it to be. Overall, this place had really fast service, but sub-par tacos and salsa.

Ken’s Tacos: This place may have one of the best deals for breakfast tacos ever. That might me an overstatement, but once you consider having four toppings, custom-ized in anyway you like in a gargantuan taco for around $1.70, you can see why I made such a hyperbole. The time it takes for you to get your breakfast taco on a busy day, like the day I was there, is under a minute. Again, like in tamale house, I would like to see more salsa va-riety, they only have one, and it is subtle at best, but that is a small gripe. The tacos themselves taste pretty good, overall, and fill you up quickly. Overall, very fast service and good, filling food.

I did not like this place (that isn’t to say that you won’t enjoy it.) Even though this place was strictly a taco stand, it took 10 minutes to get my order out, and after go-ing to places like Ken’s and the Tamale House, I was used to getting my order quickly. I would also like it if their tacos were more filling and substantial. However, I did like how the tacos were spicy even without their salsa, but some-thing about the way they made their tacos didn’t appeal to me. It just seemed that maybe the potatoes in my potato-bacon taco could have been bigger. I didn’t like them that much. The price for tacos was $2.00 for one taco, that’s it. Overall, this taco stand had decent service, decent food.

Photo by Liam R.

Photo by Liam R.

Photo by Liam R.

ETHNIC GROCERY STORES

At this bustling authentic Italian café, a collection of various Italian imports are avaliable, as well as a superb selection of dishes on the restaurant menu. A counter filled with endless flavors of classic gelato lines the wall, ready for you to dig in after you finish the pasta or pizza.

Italian

Mandola’s Italian Market

What It Is

Gnocchi (Frozen and avaliable in

the cafe)

At the Triangle:

4700 West Guadalupe (512) 419-9700

www.mandolasmarket.com

Type of Food

Try This! Contact

You might hear rapid Japanese being spo-ken between customers and employees, but the staff at this Asian grocery and gift shop speaks English as well. You can check out the various handmade Japanese dishware, the imported groceries, and there’s even a wall full of Japanese mov-ies in the back.

Japanese

Various Japanese

Confections

6105 Burnet Road(512) 453-1850

Asahi Imports

This simple Mediterranean grocery serves all sorts of different foods, including va-rieties of Greek, Lebanese, French and Italian imports. Check out the delicious stuffed grape leaves and various pita breads.

Mediter-ranean

Dolmas Stuffed Grape Leaves

2912 S. Lamar Blvd: (512) 447-4444;

4701A Burnet Rd: (512) 323-6770;

www.phoneciabakery.com

Phonecia Bakery &

Deli

It’s a small and basic shop, but at this Bra-zilian goods and grocery store, the service is not lacking. Welcoming employees in-vite you into the store with samples of traditional Brazilian passionfruit tea, and personally greet each of their customers, answering any and all questions you may have about the food.

Brazilian

Goiababa Guava Paste (tradition-ally eaten

with white cheese)

7817 Rockwood Lane, Suite 101; (512) 697-9863;

www.anabrasil.com

Ana Brasil

In this small store right next door to Ana Brasil, a spicy aroma is evident the mo-ment you walk in the door. Ornate dis-plays are abundant and the employees are helpful, offering delicious Russian jams, juices and crackers as samples.

RussianSushki

Malyutk Vanila

Crackers

7817 Rockwood Lane, Suite 101; (512) 459-1449

Sasha’s Russian Market

24 FOODED

By Katie P.

ETHNIC GROCERY STORES

Photos by Katie P.