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Some Restaurants In Israel Declare A Kosher Rebellion

Israelis eat at a kosher McDonald's restaurant in Tel Aviv. David Silverman/Getty Images hide caption

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David Silverman/Getty Images

The Salt

Some Restaurants In Israel Declare A Kosher Rebellion

The country's ultra-Orthodox Jews control kosher certification, but some restaurants are raising objections and forming their own rival certification association. The dispute is part of a wider debate over how Israel should manage the relationship between church and state.

Booches' Famous Burgers Seek New Buns After Hostess Plant Closes

A softly-lit Booches' burger, back in the days of the Hostess bun. Genevieve Howard/Flickr.com hide caption

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Genevieve Howard/Flickr.com

The Salt

Booches' Famous Burgers Seek New Buns After Hostess Plant Closes

KBIA

It's not just Twinkie hoarders and Ding Dong lovers that feel the pain of the Hostess factory closings. For the first time in about 40 years, Booches Billiard Hall in Columbia, Mo. has to go elsewhere to source the buns for its famous burgers. Regulars say they are adapting to the change.

Mark Rice-Ko: Where Food and Rothko Meet In Delicious Harmony

After coloring, styling and photographing the rice, chef and food stylist Caitlin Levin made coconut rice. "It taste the same," she says. Henry Hargreaves hide caption

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Henry Hargreaves

The Salt

Mark Rice-Ko: Where Food and Rothko Meet In Delicious Harmony

Troubled artist Mark Rothko famously hated the rich and glamorous. These were the same people who were expected to see his art in New York's Four Seasons restaurant in a project commissioned back in the 1950s; he never completed the work. Recently, two modern artists decided to interpret these Rothko works in colored rice for the rest of us.

Tastier Winter Tomatoes, Thanks To A Boom In Greenhouse Growing

The taste of Mock's tomatoes starts with the seed. He uses only organic varieties, including cherry and several heirloom varieties. Allison Aubrey/NPR hide caption

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Allison Aubrey/NPR

The Salt

Tastier Winter Tomatoes, Thanks To A Boom In Greenhouse Growing

Just because it's cold doesn't mean we should have to give up delicious tomatoes. The "buy-local" movement has spurred a boom in greenhouse grown winter tomatoes in cold climates from Jackson Hole, Wyo., to Madison, Maine. And it uses less water and less land than conventional methods.

Quinoa Craze Inspires North America To Start Growing Its Own

The seeds of this goosefoot plant are known as quinoa, a superfood now in high demand and grown almost exclusively in South America. But some growers think they have the formula to grow it up north. Janet Matanguihan/courtesy Kevin Murphy hide caption

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Janet Matanguihan/courtesy Kevin Murphy

The Salt

Quinoa Craze Inspires North America To Start Growing Its Own

A North American quinoa boom may be just over the horizon, plant breeders say, as the Rocky Mountains, much of Canada, and the Pacific Northwest all have potential as production regions. Right now, almost all of the world's supply of the ancient superfood comes from a few suitable growing places in South America.

Key To E. Coli-Free Spinach May Be An Ultrasonic Spa Treatment

Spinach has lots of opportunities to pick up E. coli and other bugs during harvest and growing. Here, a Mexican migrant worker cuts organic spinach during the fall harvest at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Co. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption

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John Moore/Getty Images

The Salt

Key To E. Coli-Free Spinach May Be An Ultrasonic Spa Treatment

A new way to clean spinach combines an old technique and a new one to get the disease-causing bacteria. But there aren't any commercial orders for the ultrasonic spinach spa just yet.

No Simple Recipe For Weighing Food Waste At Mario Batali's Lupa

Glen Osterberg (right) and another line cook at Lupa learn how to use the LeanPath waste tracking software. Eliza Barclay/NPR hide caption

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Eliza Barclay/NPR

The Salt

No Simple Recipe For Weighing Food Waste At Mario Batali's Lupa

Despite good intentions, tracking food waste with a high-tech software system just didn't work for one of Mario Batali's exclusive restaurants. Restaurants waste about 10 percent of the food they buy, but getting that to change will require winning hearts and minds.

Milk: Symbol Of Purity, Symbol Of Conflict

European dairy farmers spray police officers with milk during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP hide caption

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Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

The Salt

Milk: Symbol Of Purity, Symbol Of Conflict

Our complicated relationship with milk may make images of this week's EU dairy farmers' protest more powerful than, say, if they sprayed police with water. For much of human history, says historian Deborah Valenze, we've wavered between reverence and revulsion for the stuff.

Guerrilla Cartographers Put Global Food Stats On The Map

A detail of a map from Food: An Atlas that shows sources of food found at farmer's markets in Berkeley, California. Cameron Reed/Food: An Atlas hide caption

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Cameron Reed/Food: An Atlas

The Salt

Guerrilla Cartographers Put Global Food Stats On The Map

The mapmakers have amassed some 80 maps for Food: An Atlas, ranging from surplus in Northeast Italy to meat production in Maryland. The goal is to spread information about various food systems so they can be adapted locally.

Rare Meat Allergy Caused By Tick Bites May Be On The Rise

The Lone Star tick, common to the southeastern U.S., is responsible for inducing meat allergies in some people, scientists say. CDC Public Health Image Library hide caption

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CDC Public Health Image Library

The Salt

Rare Meat Allergy Caused By Tick Bites May Be On The Rise

The rare condition is starting to be seen outside of the Lone Star tick's known territory in the southeastern U.S. Scientists say this could be due to an expansion of tick territory or simply that people are being diagnosed after they leave the area.