ConAgra pulls a dirty frozen-meal trick on food bloggers

Hey, remember those ads where they used to secretly replace people's actual made-from-beans coffee with freeze-dried Flavor Crystals? Those were a laugh riot, right? So obviously the most genius possible marketing plan for frozen dinners -- basically the food equivalent of instant coffee -- would be to make people think they're eating real made-from-food food, and then alert them that they've been baited and switched. It can't fail! You know, unless the people involved are food bloggers who care about eating organic, fresh, and healthy ingredients rather than mass-fabricated sodium-enhanced spun and capped protein strands. Then they might get pissed.

But ConAgra, makers of such food-adjacent items as Chef Boyardee and Reddi-Wip, didn't see that one coming when they set up a supposed luxury dinner with a group of food bloggers and their guests. The host, chef George Duran, served -- and implied he had cooked -- a main course of lasagna and a dessert of, um, "razzleberry pie." Once the bloggers had gotten it down their necks, Duran told them the food was actually frozen Marie Callender dinners. Smile, you're on ConAgra Camera!

Surprise! Americans are drinking A LOT of soda

On average, Americans now get nearly 10 percent of their calories from soda and other sugary beverages.

Field of broken dreams

New labor laws could protect children as young as 12 from working, and even dying, in dangerous jobs on industrial farms. But do they go far enough?

Farmers who don't believe in climate change adapting to it anyway

In our nation's breadbasket, adaptation to climate change is very much already in progress -- the attitudes of those who represent farmers in our nation's capital notwithstanding. Higher minimum temperatures are reducing yields for corn, which likes hot days but cool nights. So whatever their political leanings, farmers have to adapt or face disaster.

New Agtivist: Lisa Gross is covering the city with trees

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North by Northwest [VIDEO]

This Pacific Northwest is home to sea beans, clams called geoducks, and other silly seaside creatures -- all delicious with a dash of homemade salt.

Ask Umbra at the tar-sands protests and on the radio

Ask Umbra joins the tar-sands protests and gets interviewed by a radio program called Mrs. Green's World.

Raising chickens is totally rock and roll

Jenifer Jourdanne has expensive tastes, expensive shoes, and "designer chickens." In an essay in xoJane, she talks about how her long-standing backyard coop didn't dent her rocker cred:

I will have you know I was a maverick. I was the girl in the early 90s at Viper Room where people would say things like “Slash, come over here, no really, this chick has pet chickens!" I mean I am sure they probably thought I used them in an adult act but sorry to bore you, they just walk around my herb gardens looking for snails.

Peebottle Farms: Cooped up in the city

As soon as it got warm enough, Tei and I started bickering about the chicken coop. The plan was that "we" would build it, but we both knew that meant Tei would grumble about it first, and then reluctantly figure out how and do the heavy lifting.

Irene's damage not 'overrated' for farmers

From apple orchards in New York to sweet corn fields in Massachusetts, we take a look at how farmers are faring after the storm.