​Florida Sen. Ronda Storms is causing an uproar all the way to L.A. -- as seen in today's Los Angeles Times -- with her proposal to forbid Florida food stamp recipients from using the program money to buy junk food.

Storms' bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elderly Affairs, a result of concern over the health of poor children in particular, she claims. That, and it's just not fair: "If we're going to be cutting services across the board," she said, "then people can live without potato chips, without store-bought cookies, without their sodas."

And yet. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, almost 1 million individuals who are eligible for SNAP in Florida have not applied for assistance, which translates to $417.3 million in funding for food assistance that goes unused.

When a fellow legislator pointed out that if passed, Storms' legislation would prohibit a mother from buying her kid a birthday cake with food stamps, she said, "They can have cake. You can buy flour, eggs, and sugar, and that makes a cake. I make my kids their own cakes."

The L.A. Times rails against this "socialistic" legislation in today's editorial.
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Are one of these the culprit?

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Last week, I bought one bad clam, along with approximately a hundred of its siblings, from a perfectly respectable (and totally blameless) fish monger. The clam sojourned briefly in my refrigerator and then spent an hour or so atop my stove, in the company of tomatoes, coconut milk, chiles, and cilantro. The clam and its siblings were then laid across a bed of thin rice noodles and gobbled up by me, my partner, and two dinner guests.

I'd never cooked clams before, and hadn't intended to. Last Saturday, one of my dinner guests said he and his partner rather liked seafood, and I set about planning a dinner of maki rolls and unagi-don. Then, on Monday, the day before our date, this guest mentioned: "Oh, by the way -- we love seafood, but not sushi."

So much for maki. As we ate our clams Tuesday evening, I asked my guest why he and his partner didn't like sushi, and his response struck me as incredibly retrograde. "Well, it's raw," he said, giving me a look that suggested the wrongness of rawness ought to be self-evident.

"And?" I inquired, around a mouthful of poison.

"That's just not safe!" he said. I didn't argue with him then. But now, as I venture gingerly
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weheartit.com

Does your favorite food want you to die?

​You see them on TV, you drive past them on the way home -- chain restaurants that offer food, fun, and convenience.

We know it's difficult to ignore their siren songs of cheap food and menus that weigh more than a toddler.

To make your food more appealing and tasty, many chain restaurants pump your food with high levels of sodium and fat. Most meals at these restaurants contain the daily limits of an adult's intake of sodium and fat, and some meals contain several days' allowance. The result is that many adults are eating their way to obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

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Mike Licht (NotionsCapital.com) via Creative Commons

Nothing is safe, nothing is sacred.

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MagicMadzik via Creative Commons

By all means, tuck into a helping of fries after your fingers have been nestled in a sweaty old ball.

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Photo Courtesy of Google Images

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You may have already got caught up in the Extreme Couponing craze, but if not, let me fill you in - it's TLC's new show following different people who go to extreme lengths to strategically plan a shopping trip and can bring a bill up to $1,000 or more down to less than $50 (and sometimes even less than $10!) through the combination of coupons and in-store sales.

When I was watching those women walking out of the store with cart-fulls of groceries and paying less than I do on one of those oh-I-only-need-a-few-things trips I got really motivated to do it myself. Now, there's a reason why this show is called extreme - one couple bought over 70 bottles of mustard, just because it was free. I wasn't looking to create a glorious stockpile for a rainy day (or zombie apocalypse); I just wanted to save some money.

On the show, one of the biggest complaints heard by the couponers is that people don't have "enough time" to plan their shopping trip. So this past weekend, Sunday paper in hand, I decided to see how much money a "normal" person could expect to save. More >>

Wendy's Fries - they look natural enough..

​Wendy's natural-cut fries with sea salt sound almost like granola in their commercials. The fast-food chain touts that the fries are natural-cut russet potatoes, sprinkled with sea salt for a fry that's better (and better for you).

Shocker of a lifetime -- Wendy's may not be exactly telling the whole truth. According to Yahoo Finance, it's true that Wendy's fries have a bit of skin left on them (making them look all golden and natural). But then they're sprayed with sodium acid pyrophosphate and dusted with dextrose, a corn-based sugar.

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everydayhealth.com

​Gotta love a good ol' fashioned placebo effect.

Although many problematic poo-ers across the country swear that probiotic yogurts improve their digestion, the lack of scientific evidence has landed a few yogurt producers in hot toilet water (sorry).

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​I don't like grocery shopping.

While I will be the first to admit I love food, I will also admit I don't like buying it.

I've caught myself standing in the pasta aisle, comparing the deals between store brands and name brands, wondering if my coupon for Kraft macaroni and cheese makes it less than the Publix alternative. This has gone on multiple times, even in the same visit. I normally take a nap afterwards. Grocery shopping is exhausting.

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Bonsaichop via Wikimedia Commons

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Coca-Cola

​In this week's head scratching celebrity/corporate moment of "synergy" Rolling Stone (via Hype Beast) is reporting that French duo Daft Punk is hooking up with Coca-Cola to launch a special edition release of Daft Punk-inspired Coke bottles. The product will be dubbed Daft Punk x Coca-Cola Club Coke.

The limited edition product is set to hit shelves in March. Thus far, there's no official company release, nor does Daft Punk's or Coke's website make mention of the relationship. Seeing as Daft Punk is no stranger to the occasional Internet hoax, we'll take this with a grain of salt 'til the product hits the shelves. Spoka, the European PR agency presumably in charge of promoting the Daft Punk/Coca-Cola marriage (their site's in French, a class that I unfortunately snoozed through), has said the bottles are a Coke product inspired by the French duo and any "promo" materials floating around the Web right now are fan-created, not from Daft Punk. 

In the event that this Daft Punk/Coca-Cola thing doesn't pan out, here's 5 equally odd or oddly appropriate musician/product pairings we wouldn't mind seeing:  
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