Daily Mail: There’s an ice cream crisis! Expect price spikes this summer due to the current vanilla-pod shortage.

Serious Eats: Krispy Kreme goes festive with their Easter Egg Doughnuts. Iced and filled with frosting, they’re dangerously sweet.

CBS: Would you like bug juice with that frappuccino? In an effort to go all-natural, Starbucks created controversy with its use of cochineal extract, a dye made from the crushed Peruvian cochineal bug.

BuzzFeed: You can’t fool your kids. In Jimmy Kimmel’s latest (and hilarious) YouTube challenge, parents attempt to prank their children into eating pre-chewed food.

Eater: We know you love to read about food, so here’s a list of IACP’s 2012 Food Writing Award winners.

Adweek: Kids are foodies, too. Major brands, including Food Network Magazine, are spotlighting the culinary interests of children.

The Salt: Here’s a healthy discovery you’ll love: A daily dose of chocolate can help keep your figure slim.

Foodbeast: Introducing the Handpresso — an espresso maker for your car.

The Kitchn: Are you the savory type? Learn how to turn cheese into a delectable dessert.

The Miami Herald: There’s more to Mad Men than fashion and booze; the food is just as fun and will inspire you in the kitchen.

The Food Network social media team has a big announcement to share!

We’re always looking for ways to make our social media communities better for our fans. And for that reason, we’re very excited to announce that our Facebook brand page will be changing over to the Timeline format today.

We know that Timeline is new and can be a little intimidating at first, which is why we want to show you all the reasons we’re excited for it.

The biggest benefit of the new layout is how much easier it will be for our fans to find content and explore the rich history of Food Network. The dates you’ll find at the top right of the page are clickable so you can dig deeper into the milestones that built Food Network.

Read more »

Food Network recently asked fans on Facebook: “Which Food Network chef would you most like to take cooking lessons from, and why?” Many who responded didn’t want to choose just one, but those who did shared exact reasons why. Guy, Bobby, Anne and Alton were among the top picks. Here are some of the highlights:

• Randy Nez: Bobby Flay. His story is truly unique and inspiring, and one of his many influences is my homeland — the beautiful Southwest. I love his ability to throw down with just about any dish, and I love to grill.
• Sharon Grimes: Guy Fieri because he’s fun, he knows what he’s talking about, we use the same cooking style and he’s not as messy as some of the others. He loves his family, he’s always involving his kids and he’s not trying to make himself look bigger or better than anybody else.

Who do you want cooking lessons from?

Serious Eats: There’s a different type of bracket this March you should be paying attention to: Round One of Taco Madness is underway in Los Angeles.

Eater: Tired of Googling your kitchen questions? Chef Ferran Adrià speaks of plans for a culinary Wikipedia-style resource.

Food Republic: Why is an investment company selling coffee out of a truck?  They’re hoping to teach you something with a 28-cent cup of joe.

Mashable: App alert! Go beyond the obvious landmarks and tourist traps: Roamz lets you find a city’s hidden gems.

Huffington Post: Starbucks opens their first Evolution Fresh juice bar.  The chain may not reach your city for a while, but you can find the drinks at a variety of retailers.

The Daily Meal: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney prefers meatloaf cake for his birthday. Will meatloaf cupcakes be at your next celebration?

Eater NY: Who is Marilyn Hagerty? Following her Olive Garden restaurant review, the North Dakotan food critic is now a celebrity.

Food Beast: A New Zealand-based pizza chain dares diners to play a round of Pizza Roulette featuring the “hottest chili known to mankind.”

Saveur: Chimney cakes are tubular pastries from Eastern Europe. One glance at them will make you wonder why they aren’t more popular here.

CNN Tech: Introduced at SXSW, Tweet-A-Beer is a new app that lets you gift a pint to a friend over the Internet.

At the beginning of Worst Cooks in America’s third season, Erica Weidner caught our eye by using scissors to cut up a bell pepper. We then asked you: What other gadgets have you used to cook up a dish in the kitchen? More than a hundred people responded with their go-to double-duty gadget techniques. They were so unique, we couldn’t choose just one. Here are our top two favorites:

1. Julie Lonkey uses a wide-blade drywall knife to get a smoother finish with buttercream on cakes.

2. Krista Lucken listed a few double-duty items, but using cupcake liners to keep pepper from escaping the pepper mill in the cabinet is pretty spectacular. Plus, when she measures fresh ground pepper, it gets ground right into the cupcake liner and then poured into a measuring spoon with no mess.

Our favorite budget-friendly anonymous tip

It’s no surprise that social media and food trucks go together. We’ve known that for quite some time now. However, the reasons why the two are so dynamic are evolving as more social platforms become available and as the food truck movement continues to grow.

A recent SXSW Interactive panel brought together Food Network’s general manager of online brands, Bob Madden, and recent cast members from The Great Food Truck Race to speak on this topic. Daniel Shemtob from The Lime Truck, James DiSabatino from Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese and Stephanie Morgan from Seabirds sat down for an hour to discuss how they go beyond using Twitter and Facebook on a day-to-day basis.

So why is social media so important to the food truck industry? Each panelist shared their reasons:

1. To tell people where your truck is located.
2. To show the transparency of the business.
3. To gain the consumer’s trust.

Read more »

Food52: Urban gardening for the city slicker: Tips to grow fresh herbs and vegetables in your apartment.

Eater: A McNugget in the shape of George Washington’s face sells for $8,100.  Do you see the resemblance?

New York Times: How much sugar has your little one had today? Cavities are on the rise among preschoolers.

Complex: Stay in the know and follow these top 25 foodies on Twitter.

YumSugar: Expand your sushi expertise with these fascinating facts from Jiro Dreams of Sushi, premiering in theaters this Friday.

Think you’ve got what it takes to open a restaurant? Food Network’s own Bobby Flay is lending a helping hand to first-time restaurateurs. In an exciting new series, Bobby helps people with no previous culinary experience overcome the obstacles and inherent pitfalls in opening a successful eatery.

Are you a passionate self-starter who has dropped everything, traded careers or invested it all in the cutthroat restaurant industry? Do you want Bobby Flay to help make sure the doors don’t close before they even open?

Series shooting now until June 8.

Email FNDish@foodnetwork.com now with your story.