Side Dish: More Food on the Web

By: Julia Simon

2010's Food Themes: Pies vs. cupcakes. GIY (grow it yourself) produce. Designer ice cubes. And yes, Sandra Lee as NYC's First Lady and the Cooking Channel. We didn't even pay the foodie folks at SeriousEats.com for those last nods, but they included them in their fun roundup of the top 10 themes and memes in food for 2010. See what else made their list and tell us what trends are on tap for 2011. [seriouseats.com]

Go Ahead, Waste Your Food: In the first move of its kind in the U.S., a Portland company has grand plans for your unwanted leftovers from local dining spots: They'll turn them into enough methane gas and then electricity to power 5,000 homes. And there are further environmental pros to the project, the company's president, John McKinney, told OregonLive.com. “We’re capturing the benefits of food waste that would otherwise be hauled long distances to a landfill." [ OregonLive.com via newyork.grubstreet.com]

Breakfast's Ultimate Happy Meal: Like Starbucks and Jamba Juice before it, McDonald's 14,000 nationwide chains are poised to start serving oatmeal by the end of this week. A cup of fruit and maple oats, with optional brown sugar, will set you back $1.99. [ chicagotribune.com]

Don't Eat Your Vegetables: Use them for art instead! That's what one visual MacGyver, China's Ju Duoqi, is doing with cabbage, potatoes, ginger and more. She's reproduced Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona List," Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Monroe," among others, using garden finds as her paint. [ good.is]

Here's our round-up of food news, trends and happenings across the web. Check back for more, and tell us what else you're loving in the comments.

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