Super Secret 'Nduja Hits the Sausage Big Time; Food TV Is Prime Time's Darling

Tabla is among a number of restaurants using psychological principles to overhaul their menus, such as dropping the dollar sign from prices or naming a dish after the chef's mom.
[NY Times]

2009 was the year 'nduja, the spicy smoked meat with a cult following, became the "Lady Gaga of pork products." Chefs are hush-hush about where they get the Calabrian sausage, which combines nose-to-tail eating, pork, smoke, and chili heat.
[NY Times]

Food television shows have been a boon for networks in 2009. Fox has Gordon Ramsay's hit programs, Bravo's Top Chef and TLC's Cake Boss are each network's top series, and Food Network ratings have gone up 29 percent.
[USA Today]

Nestle has pulled out of Zimbabwe after withdrawing from a deal to buy milk from a farm run by President Mugabe's family. The company broke off the deal due to international criticism and says it has since suffered harrassment in Zimbabwe.
[NY Times]

The demand for unique and quality oysters from the nation's top chefs has sparked a renewed interest in oyster farming, which one oysterman calls "the Napa Valley of aquaculture." Watermen even refer to oyster habitat as "merroir," a play on "terroir."
[Wall Street Journal]