The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute is one of the country's leading preservers of the organic flame--a think tank and advocacy group that benefits the small, family owned farms that were once in the vanguard of the organic movement. Of course, big agribusiness has long since infiltrated (some might say taken over) the movement, so you're never sure of the purity of products labeled "organic" or whether the animals used in dairy products or meats were actually humanely raised. Cornucopia's latest snipes are aimed at the USDA.

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I'd ridden past it many times on my bike, a pizza parlor just off Bowery called Pizza Junkie. What an odd name, I thought. But really an appropriate one in this tiny neighborhood just off what used to be the city's skid row, limited on the east by the wide expanse of Chrystie Street and Sara Roosevelt Park, which was a place you could always find a used work if you sifted around in the dirt under the bushes for long. Pre-Pulino's, this little strip was one of the most hardscrabble in the city.

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Diderot's dreams

Is it getting hard to keep track of bad news from the American meat industry? A brief guide from Pro Publica explains the subtle differences between pink slime, white slime, and good old-fashioned mechanical meat recovery. It also explains where to find (avoid?) the meats and how they'll be labeled.

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Wikimedia Commons

Raynor Ganan collects historical accounts of people eating elephant meat, from Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto (who enjoyed it both roasted and boiled) to the Parisians who once raided their zoo for meat, under duress.

Via The Awl

Follow me @tejalrao or send me an email at trao@villagevoice.com. To keep up with all our food coverage follow @ForkintheRoadvv.

There are many ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Drinking excessive amounts of whiskey, jumping into a green river, and dressing up as a leprechaun are just a few things that come to mind. Burger King has yet another idea: delighting in free fries and green ketchup like a five-year-old.

This weekend, you can go into any Burger King location and get a free pot-o-fries accompanied by a vibrant green dipping sauce from Heinz. Is this a bid for the drunk-munchies crowd or the under-10 set? We'll never know.

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The roster of organ meats available at Minzhongle is indeed impressive.

In my capacity as scout for the Organ Meat Society, I've stumbled on a broad range of offal and other variety meats. It's easy enough to find liver, tongue, chitterlings, stomach tripe, sweetbreads, and even kidney, but there's an entire world of organs out there much more difficult to find in area restaurants. Brains and lungs are somewhat difficult, but the hardest of all is penis.

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McNugs on the left, McBites on the right

Did it seem strange to you that McDonald's, with McNuggets looking over its shoulder, decided to sire another chicken offspring? Maybe it was hoping for a baby like the full-piece fried chicken sold at Roy Rogers or KFC. But no, the baby turned out strange, tiny, and very chewy, in an extreme multiple birth.

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Pizza Hut/obviouswinner.com

Fork in the Road really can't think of a less auspicious way to propose marriage, and any real foodie, woman or man, would probably first gag, and then sputter out a resounding "No!": Pizza Hut is offering a Valentine's Day deal that includes a box of their awful pizza and bready breadsticks (plus two dipping sauces! woo-hoo!) and the following extraneous items, to be sent by you to a loved one as a packaged marriage proposal:

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Some sturdy specimens photographed at a Chinese restaurant in San Mateo, California

Have you ever seen a creature -- seagoing or not -- with a longer schlong? Of course not. And even more so when you consider the size in relation to its puny body. Man, can you imagine the geoduck (pronounced "gooey-duck" -- as to why, we leave it to your imagination) in a Playgirl spread?

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Jeff Tidwell/Flickr

She may be pretty funny, but her cheeseball recipe is not.

​So it seems that this extended holiday weekend has, finally, wound down. And between all of those holiday meals, you must be exhausted from cooking. So don't worry. These are some recipes that won't make you want to bum-rush the stove.

Every television cook, and their mother, spends their December airtime extolling the virtues of turkey brining and doling out cookie variations. Some look amazing. And some, well, just don't. So, with memories of Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa cake dancing in our heads, we bring you five holiday recipes ... that you won't want to try at home.

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