Food Day: It's a New Year Edition

Happy New Year and happy food day folks. Here's what's topping food headlines in the new year:

2008: Year of the Jose - As if a food empire isn't enough, Jose Andres is ready to take on the television world too. His new cooking show, "Jose Made in Spain", will debut later this month on WETA public television according to an article in the WaPo, and is slated for a 26 episode first season.

Jose had a big 2007, and with a new project in LA and his new show, is slated to have an even bigger 2008.

I sure picked a good time to stop drinking - Getting crunk won't be as cheap as it used to be according to an article in the WaPo today, as poor harvests, less acreage, and an increase in world-wide demand has sent malt prices up 100% and hops prices up as much as 400% in some cases.

It seems from the article that this will primarily effect specialty brews over lets say my beer of choice (Miller Lite), but still, if you want to drink a quality beer, it looks like you'll be paying a little more in the new year.

Small Town Market, Big City Scale: Local and seasonal meat and produce are all the rage these days, and NYC is making headway in creating a permanent market for restaurateurs and other folks to join in on the action. Right now there's no set plan according to a NYT article, but hopefully with a new year, progress can be made to even further improve America's top food city.