Who is Mr. Bell?  Simply put, the man most responsible for introducing Mexican food to most of the country with his semi-authentic Mexican restaurant chain – the one and only Taco Bell.

If you want to dig deeper into his story, check out Taco Titan: The Glen Bell Story for more on the man “whose idea in 1951 to sell crispy-shell tacos from the window of his hamburger stand became the foundation of Taco Bell”, the first of which opened in Torrance, Calif., in 1965.

And for an appreciation (sort of) by Gustavo Arellano (otherwise known as the author of ¡Ask A Mexican!), check out this opinion piece in today’s Los Angeles Times.

Interesting sentiment that “Taco Bell and its spawn became a gateway for Americans to accept Mexicans”.  Actually, it’s not really much of a stretch to make that claim. 

And even though Arellano characterizes the Taco Bell burrito as containing “bland pinto beans, cheese that tasted like chalk, all within a clammy flour tortilla”, he still acknowledges that Taco Bell revolutionized the Mexican food industry and notes its recent push into international markets as an American brand representing U.S. culture.

Personally, I’ve moved away from Taco Bell over the years to appreciate the more genuine article, but if not for the acumen of the “Taco Titan” all those years ago, who knows how many would have been deprived of the opportunity to explore Mexican cuisine – mongrelized or not. 

Glen W. Bell Jr, R.I.P.

Even if you are not so inclined for whatever reason to view the film or read the companion piece of the work that claims “you’ll never look at dinner the same way”, it really is well past time to consider just what exactly you are putting into your body.

Yahoo! is offering up a column from Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief of Prevention Magazine that gives you “the 7 foods experts won’t eat”. 

You will be amazed at the inherent dangers associated with some of these “everyday” foods.

Change your diet or not, but at least educate yourself on what is in the food (and the packaging) that you bring home from your local grocery store. 

Or be prepared to suffer the consequences later.

Courtesy of Susan Russo (a/k/a Food Blogga), NPR has some great ideas for ways to use bacon – along with four fantastic bacon dessert recipes – in its feature, “Bacon Gets Its Just Desserts”.

If you’re not interested in learning about the recent history of gastronomical experimentation (bacon-and-egg ice cream, anyone?), at least consider this notion from the piece:

Marrying bacon with sweets such as chocolate, caramel and ice cream is a logical flavor pairing. Combining sweet and salty flavors has always been delicious. Paired sweet and salty flavors is why we love kettle corn, chocolate-covered pretzels and Snickers bars. From that perspective, chocolate-covered bacon and bacon cupcakes suddenly seem, well, right.

Yeah, actually, it does seem right.  If you agree, be sure to check out a few tips from the Kitchen Window commentary on adding bacon to desserts:

• Buy lean pork bacon. (Turkey bacon cupcakes? That’s just weird).

• Try smoked bacon. Hickory, apple-wood and maple-smoked bacon lend themselves especially well to sweet desserts.

• Keep the flavors simple and create a pleasing contrast of both flavor and texture. The idea is to make the familiar more exciting.

• Make sure the bacon is crispy and dry. No matter how good the flavor, no one wants a gristly bit of bacon in his cake.

• Have fun and be imaginative. Stressing over them defeats the purpose of making (and eating) bacon desserts.

As for me , I am ready to take on a batch of those Chocolate Chip-Bacon-Pecan Cookies. 

Susan Russo for NPR

Bacon for dessert?  It all seems so logical. 

Why in the world did it take this long for foodies to figure it out?  No clue, but now is a great time to start playing catch-up.

Ah, but NPR has seemingly solved that dilemma with their list of “The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009″.

T. Susan Chang describes the choices thusly:

This year’s cookbook instructions are detailed and sure-handed, so you’ll feel confident even taking on those fiddly little jobs you usually leave to your good friend Joe, the Trader.  If you’re the kind of person who’s believed all along that a book can teach you to do anything, congratulations! You were right. With these books you can, if you want, make your own bread, your own pasta, even your own dumplings. If, on the other hand, you thought you were the kind of person who could never produce a picture-perfect mushroom tart, guess again. That competent soul is only a few well-described pages away.

Not sure that the “picture-perfect mushroom tart” is the hook here, but the general concept of providing instructions to allow the layperson the opportunity to experience new taste sensations in their own kitchen without going to cooking school definitely works.

And if the end results are half as good as the descriptions accompanying the ten cookbook selections, then your personal library just might need a little more space to accomodate these excellent new options.

CBS Sunday Morning paid homage to “the comfort meal of childhood memories” with a feature by correspondent Serena Altschul. 

She provides some history on the “American staple” – including its British inspiration, Thomas Jefferson’s role in its popularity, and the “revolutionary” idea of a Kraft sales rep to box the cheese with the macaroni.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

Great stuff then (America’s best-selling brand during the Great Depression) and now, there appears to be a cottage industry associated with the concoction – at least in New York City, with its “all things mac and cheese” Macbar and its exclusive Waverly Inn & Garden, featuring the $95 white truffle special.

That recipe - for Chef John DeLucie’s Mac & Cheese topped with white truffles - is available here, but be advised that those truffles sell for about $1,400-$1,900 a pound.

Me, I’ll take my classic box and add a can of tuna and all is right with the world.  It’s really the simple things in life that make the biggest impact.

Well, yes, of course all of us already knew and could appreciate this concept before today.  But did you ever really take the time to comprehend what it really means?

Well, how about this?  Soda makes you fat – and a new study released by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy confirms it.

For a look at all of the data released by the CHPR & CCPHA in conjunction with their study of California adults and adolescents, Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and Its Link to Obesity in California, click here.  

As for the highlights, consider this:

Research shows that over the last 30 years Americans consumed 278 more calories per day even as physical activity levels remained relatively unchanged. One of the biggest changes in diet during that period was the enormous increase in soda consumption, accounting for as much as 43 percent of all new calories.

Researchers found that adults who drink a soda or more per day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight than those who do not drink sodas, regardless of income or ethnicity. Among children, the study found that 40 percent of young children (2-11 years of age) are drinking at least one soda or sugar-sweetened beverage every day. Adolescents (12-17) represent the biggest consumers, with 62 percent(over 2 million youths) drinking one or more sodas every day.

And then there’s this:

13% of 12-to-17-year-olds drink three or more sodas on a daily basis.

And this:

62% of adults who drink soda daily are overweight or obese.

It is a stunning look at behaviors of normal consumers who have been pummeled with advertising and options (over 450 varieties of soda now available on the market) over the last 30 years.

One of the study’s authors, CCHPA Executive Director Dr. Harold Goldstein, concludes it succintly by noting: “The science is clear and conclusive: soda is fueling California’s $41 billion a year obesity epidemic. We drink soda like water. But unlike water, soda serves up a whopping 17 teaspoons of sugar in every 20-ounce serving.”

As noted by the report’s lead author, UCLA research scientist Susan Babey, as astounding as the statistics are, the results likely understate the calorie count of the average Californian’s beverage consumption as the survey did not include sugary sports drinks like Gatorade.

Predictably, the American Beverage Association has issued a statement decrying the results of the study and claiming that it “does not demonstrate cause and effect”.

Well, how’s this for cause and effect?  This study has caused me to seriously reconsider the necessity to drink soda at all and the effect is that my minimal consumption will continue trending downward.

If you have good reasons to keep consuming sodas and sweetened beverages, by all means, go for it.  But at least think about grabbing a bottle of water or a glass of low-fat milk the next time you’re thirsty.  Your waistline will most certainly thank you.

Football fans, be prepared to hear that phrase over and over and over again as ESPN announced yesterday (and AdAge is reporting) that Wendy’s will become the official sponsor of “Football Fridays”.

What, exactly, are “Football Fridays”, you ask?  Well, according to the article:

“Football Friday presented by Wendy’s” will include a full suite of football-related content that will run across ESPN and ESPN2, as well as ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile, ESPN360.com, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN audio. Wendy’s commercials will run during every show it sponsors as well.

The program will be supported by a co-branded 30-second spot, and Wendy’s Football Friday programming will include placement on shows including “SportsCenter,” “First Take,” “College Football Live,” “NFL Live,” and the TV and radio broadcasts of both “Mike & Mike in the Morning” and “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.”

Other Wendy’s placements will include video content on ESPN.com, full-page integrations in ESPN The Magazine throughout the season and events such as the 10-city Gridiron Tour, ESPN The Magazine’s annual on-campus celebration of football fandom. ESPN.com will also have a dedicated Football Friday section.

Now, I have nothing against Wendy’s – one of the tastier fast food (wait, waaaay better than fast food) options.  And, as this ”breaking news” is featured in AdAge, I can appreciate the work by all involved to create a campaign that has resonance for consumers and which helps increase exposure for the Wendy’s brand on a broad scale, something that they appear to have struggled with mightily in the years since their founder, Dave Thomas, passed away.

Wendy's - not only the Official Hamburger of NCAA® Football, but now the official sponsor of ESPN's "Football Fridays"

Unfortunately, though, it seems to me to be another nail in the coffin created years ago by ESPN (notably owned by Disney) to make the entire concept of sports nothing more than a vehicle to create revenue.  Where there was once amazement and awe at the performances of the teams and athletes that they covered, now ESPN aims to “own, leverage, and build” concepts that treat sports as nothing more than filler to marketers.

This is not a trend – it is now a fait accompli by ESPN.  Other networks engaged in the broadcasting of sports are complicit in this corporatization as they aim to keep up with what ESPN has created.

Consider this post to be nothing more than a cathartic acknowledgement of what ESPN hath wrought as “The Worldwide Leader In Sports”.  There is no going back for sports fans and no competitor that is going to match the depth and reach of ESPN for the foreseeable future.

So, with a sigh, I will quickly get used to “Football Friday presented by Wendy’s”, as will you.  Of course, if you find yourself with strange cravings for the Baconator® this fall, you’ll know why.

But now that he is in Buffalo, of all places, home to the Flutie Flakes phenomenon, the world need not wait any longer for a wholesome and nutritious breakfast food of Honey Nut Toasted Oats known as (what else) T.O.’s.

The Tonawanda News jumped on the story and spoke with Ty Ballou, the president of PLB Sports – the same firm that introduced Flutie Flakes to a different generation of Bills fans.  While Ballou couldn’t predict how popular T.O.’s will prove to be, he did note that “the buzz is building like it did 10 years ago”.

The collector’s box has already been introduced into Bills’ lore with yesterday’s strategic placement by fans at T.O.’s first practice asking for him to “sign my cereal.”

Wow – what a circus this T.O. experiment will be in upstate New York.  Bills fans just hope that when the season ends and the reviews are in that they will exceed the scathing reviews of his new reality show.

In the meantime , be sure to be pick up your 2-pack of T.O.’s at the official website of PLBSports.com for the low, low price of $5.

So it was decreed by then-President Ronald Reagan in an official proclamation recognizing the third Sunday in July as the day to celebrate the “nutritious and wholesome food” which “enjoys a reputation as the perfect dessert and snack food”.

If “appropriate ceremonies and activities” include shoving my face full of a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream, then consider it a successful day in this household.

The Chicago Tribune is on-board with the “holiday”, providing a list of the “10 things you might not know about ice cream”.

Having reviewed the list completely, let’s just say I have much more information about ice cream than I ever knew I needed.  And, no, I am not going to start scooping it onto my roast beef dinners. 

But feel free to indulge.  “Appropriate ceremonies and activities” is all relative anyway.  And you’ll be honoring Ol’ Dutch himself.

On the heels of their highly visible (and successful) Super Bowl commercial and free breakfast campaign this past February, Denny’s brings you the Allnighter.

Time Magazine covers all the angles (including a very enlightening accompanying 4 minute video) in their recent feature, “Rocking Out at Denny’s?”  Turns out that Denny’s has started playing alternative music in the wee hours at their joints to go along with their sponsorship of more than 30 bands which “get free meals on the road as long as they occasionally head to Denny’s for a postshow jam session.”

What do I know about some of these bands like Me Talk Pretty, The Maine, or La Secta Allstar?  Not much, but I do know that more and more “baby bands” will be taking the once-derided corporate route to increase their exposure.  The labels just don’t have the influence or the ability to break bands anymore.

And it’s pretty low-risk for Denny’s.  Not to be crass, but a good portion of Denny’s customers aren’t going to be around many more years to enjoy the Grand Slam Breakfast or the Moons Over My Hammy.  So why not update the menu with Kickin’ Flavor Wraps & Pancake Puppies?  Maybe the kids will find it and, if not, at least you made the effort.

I still don’t see myself eating there anytime soon – at least not unless Pearl Jam, Ben Harper, or the Foo Fighters decide to take the money and start popping up in Denny’s around the country for acoustic performances and some late night dining.  Stranger things have happened, I guess.

If this thing actually takes off, score one for the marketers.  If not, expect history to expel it to the barrel of bad ideas involving American restaurant chains – led off, of course, by this.