Making world's hottest chili peppers (video)

Obsessed, WIRED, Oct. 17, 2019; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A bigger better Aztec Mexican-American holiday than Cinco de Mayo is coming. This gives all Americans a chance to eat really hot chilis, salsas, and savory dishes. Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") is celebrated in Los Angeles from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. But who made these peppers?

How this guy made the world's hottest peppers

PuckerButt Pepper Company founder Ed Currie is on a mission to create the world's hottest chili peppers. Eddie is the American evil genius who brought the world the Carolina Reaper, one of the hottest hot peppers in existence, but he's not stopping there.

puckerbuttpeppercompany.com

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Vegan Street Fair, North Hollywood (Sunday)

VeganStreetFair.com; Kelly Yanni, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

The Vegan Street Fair (VSF) is an annual vegan -- super vegetarian -- food celebration where local vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants and vendors come together to serve bite-size portions of vegan eats all in one place.

The best part? Admission is FREE, all bite-size portions are $3.00, and some vendors even offer big plate specials.

VSF allows browsers and grazers to get their nosh on. Try as many local eats as your heart desires (and your belly can hold) at street fair prices.

Instead of buying a $10.00 plate of vegan "nachos" then sitting out the rest of the amazing food experiences, get bites from one vendor, move on to the next, and enjoy all of the city's BEST vegan eats without getting full for a fraction of the price of a regular meal.

VSF is the true vegan foodie dream come true. EAT ALL THE VEGAN THINGS. More

• Vegan Street Fair, Los Angeles (MAP)
• 11223 Chandler Blvd. (Lankershim Bl./Vineland Ave.
• Sunday, March 20, 2016, 11:00 am-7:00 pm
• North Hollywood, CA (rain or shine)

End of Organic Farming? (H.R. 875)

LINK or DOWNLOAD (iPod/PSP)

"The end of organic farming as we know it?"
The Accidental Yogist (April 10, 2009)

Recently there has been a flurry of messages about HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, and how it could criminalize organic farming. Here's one message:

Protect our organic foods!!!!
Let your voice be HEARD, SPREAD the word, and SPEAK UP NOW!

H.R. 875 Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, if passed, will criminalize organic farms, force ORGANIC farms to use pesticides and force us to use them in our own backyards. No surprise here as MONSANTO is one of the backers of this bill. Monsanto is the world's largest herbicide and pesticide company and the leading producer of genetically engineered seeds [GMOs] which are now causing unexpected diseases in humans and evil on many other levels. Watch the Future of Food.

• There is an enormous rush to get this into law within the next two weeks before people realize what's happening.
• This bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated to "make sure there is no danger to the public food supply."
• There are 40 co-sponsors to the bill and six of the 40 are from California.

Leavemyfoodalone.org talks about the consequences of the bill, which is currently under review:

In its current form, the bill could prevent small local organic farms and community gardeners from growing and selling you nutritious, truly fresh, organic produce. It would crush our small local food producers by imposing heavy government regulation that only large corporations could adhere to. Imagine:

• No more farmers markets.
• No more garden fresh, seasonal ingredients from the local farmer at your favorite restaurant.
• No more roadside stands with fresh picked sweet corn, juicy ripe tomatoes, or refreshing watermelons in the summer.
• Americans would essentially be forced to only eat corporately manufactured, chemically treated, hermetically sealed, irradiated fruits and vegetables.
• Stop this abomination now!

Always the skeptic, I've postponed signing any petitions until I've had a chance to learn more about the issue.

And on April 11th, on KCRW's Good Food, host Evan Kleiman talked with Tom Philpott of grist.org about the myths and facts of this bill. The interview is accessible from the archives and downloadable free for podcast from KCRW. More>>

• Would new food-safety legislation "criminalize organic farming"?

No? The Internets are abuzz with accounts of a House bill, allegedly sponsored by Monsanto and pushed through Congress by its lackeys, that would "criminalize organic farming" and even backyard gardening. "The bill is monstrous on level after level — the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms, and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hour GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights... There have been hysterical missives about H.R. 875. They are difficult to square with the text of the bill, which is admittedly vague. For example, the bill seeks to regulate any "food production facility" which it defines as "any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation."