Robin Wheeler

The Arancini from Mangia Mobile.

​As reported this morning in the St. Louis Business Journal (and Tweeted by you), Mangia Mobile must change its name. A hearing today will determine exactly how and when the family-owned food truck must go about doing so.

This decision comes following a lawsuit Mangia Italiano (3145 South Grand Boulevard; 314-664-8585) filed this summer claiming that Mangia Mobile chose a "deceptively similar" name and sells "food products of a significantly lower quality and variety" than the south-city staple. Considering the confused comments on our blog post and on Twitter ("wait - so they AREN'T the same restaurant?"), the stationary restaurant may have a point.

Furthermore, this case proves that a defense built on nonchalance and confidence isn't a very solid one.

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The new milk campaign claims that batshit menstrual women can be cured with artificial hormone-packed cow's milk. Or something like that.

​Is the normal, healthy functioning of your woman's body inconveniencing you?

Probably not. Most of the men I know are able to take such minor issues as PMS in stride. Some of them have been able to cope with a partner who has medical "female troubles" that surpass PMS.

Oh my God! Can you imagine? Something worse than PMS, that might make your gal not just crampy, but leave her in excruciating pain (endometreosis). Not just irritable, but suffering with depression and anxiety (premenstrual dyphoric disorder). Not just a little bloody for a few days, but shackled with bleeding that goes for weeks or doesn't happen at all (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Not just lethargic, but dead (uterine, cervical and ovarian cancers).

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Wikimedia Commons

Oh no! He's chubby! Take him away!

​American children are fat hogs who are all going to develop type II diabetes, and parents are too incompetent to raise the little chubbos of their making!

Or so an advocacy piece by Harvard researchers Lindsey Murtagh and David Ludwig in the Journal of the American Medical Association is being interpreted by media groups. The original post suggests that morbid obesity be a considering factor in cases where child neglect is being investigated, not dumping America's 2 million chubby kids into the foster-care system.

Not that this has stopped media outlets from going a little nuts. ABC revisited the story of a 3-year-old taken from her family years ago for being too fat, only to find out her obesity was caused by a genetic disorder.

The Daily Mail quotes University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor Arthur Caplan, "Our laws give enormous authority to parents, and rightly so. The only basis for compelling medical treatment against a parent's wishes are if a child is at imminent risk of death - meaning days or hours - and a proven cure exists for what threatens to kill them. Obesity does not pass these requirements."

Also on Wednesday, nineteen American restaurant chains announced their participation in the National Restaurant Association's Kids LiveWell program. The 15,000 participating restaurants must offer at least one full children's meal under 600 calories, at least two servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, low-fat dairy and reduced sodium and fat. They must have a side dish under 200 calories available, and they need to promote these items and make nutritional information readily available.

But does it matter? We asked some St. Louis kids a simplified version of this plan: do you want fries or fruit when you go to a restaurant?

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TV Acres

Get ready for the Fryolator, Kool-Aid Man!

​Ooooooooh yeah!!!

It's summer, and you know what that means: Fair vendors are hard at work, finding new and unhealthy foods to fry in an effort to kill their customer base, which consists entirely of people who eat ridiculous fried foods.

"Chicken" Charlie Boghosian figured out a way to fry Kool-Aid for the San Diego County Fair. And we're all going to die! Zap2It reckons it's a belated sign of the apocalypse.

Simmer down! It's really not much different than a funnel cake.

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Nabisco

Triple Double Oreos hit the shelves this summer.

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Oh my God! Oreo's introducing a giant, double-decker cookie that sort of looks like a chocolate Big Mac!

News that Nabisco's introducing the Triple Double Oreo leaked last week. ABC calls it outrageous; Nabisco had the audacity to take a normal Oreo and top it with chocolate creme and another Oreo cookie wafer!

We're all going to die of the fat. The Consumerist likens the cookie to KFC's Double Down and Denny's Baconalia.

To which we say, simmer down! It's just a damn cookie.

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Image via

Eat him before he eats you.

​After weeks of fish fries, Lenten sacrifices and sneaking candy, Easter's finally upon us.

Caught up in the holiday spirit, Gut Check went on a mission to track down the ultimate seasonal delicacy: rabbit.

It was more difficult to corner the little critters than we'd expected. In fact, our inquiring phone calls nearly always elicited a recoil in horror, or laughter followed by a patronizing goodbye (it wasn't clear whether they thought we were joking, crazy or both.)

Maybe it was just the timing. One thing is clear, however: A whole passel of St. Louisans aren't terribly interested in eating rabbits.

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Wikimedia Commons

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This week, we've zeroed in on the cause of all the ills in America's children - it's chocolate milk served in school cafeterias!

Chocolate milk! ABC News reported yesterday that dentists are joining some nutritionists in decrying the horrors of chocolate milk. Even the U.K.'s talking about the controversy over a Washington, D.C.-area school lifting their ban on chocolate milk. To which we say, simmer down!

If you want to freak out, look beyond the milk at the food being served with that chocolate milk.

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Wikimedia Commons

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The truly horrible catastrophe in Japan keeps threatening people nearly two weeks after the initial earthquakes and tsunami. The nuclear power plants are damaged and there's radiation in the water, spinach and milk! Quick! Stop all exports of these products to the U.S.!

Because we get so much milk from Japan.

Make no mistake: Radiation might well prove to be yet another nightmare for Japan. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, thyroid cancer rates skyrocketed, mainly in children who consumed milk and leafy greens that had been exposed to high doses of radiation.

The latest news about Japan is hopeful: The Associated Press reports this morning that the radiation risk is low for Japanese citizens. The government has been quick to ban the sales of foods testing high in radiation.

On Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that there's no risk to the U.S. food supply (but they're monitoring imports).

So put down the Geiger counter, Poindexter.

Unless you want to freak yourself out with the amount of radiation you're already eating in your food.

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Sure, we all love food. But are we willing to fight for it? Go to jail for it?

Or, perhaps, die for it?

Judging from recent headlines, the End Times have arrived, signaled by that famine horseman who's prompting people to ape shit on one another over snack foods. Or maybe it's just time to offer some etiquette tips to a few jacked-up folks who are taking their food way too seriously.

Yes, we know these foods are tasty, but please, don't inflict bodily harm. There's enough for everyone. Do not follow these examples.

Wikimedia Commons

So good you'll slap your sister.

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It all started on New Year's Day when Chicago-area siblings got into a fight over a Polish sausage, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. No, the siblings weren't minors, which might excuse the behavior. The brother, who slapped his sister, is well into his 20s. He's also got a record that includes carjacking. No word on if that crime was related to tube steak.

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gizmodo.com

Let the label speak for itself.

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Holy crap, Taco Bell! Your beef is alleged to be only 36 percent beef! How could Yum! Brands have lied to Americans for all these years?

The big to-do started on Tuesday, when Montgomery, Alabama, law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles filed a class-action suit on behalf of California resident Amanda Obney against Taco Bell, claiming the fast-food chain's taco filling ain't beefy enough. The firm hired a lab to analyze the substance with which Taco Bell stuffs its tacos and found it contains only 36 percent beef. (The other 64 percent of the brew consists of water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltrodrextrin, modified corn starch and an anti-dusting agent.) Beasley, Allen, et al., demand that Taco Bell be upfront about what they're hawking inside those tortilla shells of theirs.

An altruistic act for the benefit of Taco Bell patrons nationwide, n'est çe pas?

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