Must be a slow news day. The National Post is running a piece based on a “study” published yesterday (note the use of quotation marks) indicating that what pregnant women eat around the time of conception can affect the sex of the baby. Did you know it can actually hurt to roll your eyes way far back in their sockets like that? Despite all that silly ol’ science stuff that has pretty much concluded that the Y chromosome in the male’s sperm determines sex, this “study” apparently shows that munching on bananas and cereal will score expectant mothers a son. And if bananas don’t work, you can find out what you’re having by peeing in some Drano. Ow, my rolling eyes!!

In real food news at the Post, Amy Rosen has a recipe for flourless chocolate cake, Ben Kaplan writes on the social significance of Harold and Kumar, and their love of White Castle (hey - next time you down one of those fancy mini hamburgers at some chichi resto, remember, White Castle did it first). The Appetizer blog has herbs, butter and knives.

At the Toronto Star, Kim Honey has a feature on the latest book by Anita Stewart, “the philosopher queen of our national cuisine”. Looking at native ingredients and recipes from foreign lands that now make up the fabric of our culture, Anita Stewart’s Canada: The Food, The Recipes, The Stories, is a little bit food, a little bit history and a little bit cultural theory. Also at the Star, Michelle Henry previews the Festival of Chefs, and Josh Rubin enjoys some Fuller’s.

At the Toronto Sun, they’re also previewing the Festival of Chefs at the Cheese Boutique in May, along with a preview of this weekends’ Good Food Festival, while Rita DeMontis has a piece on cream. Mmmm… cream. Also in the Sun, Elizabeth Baird has… fiddleheads???? So early??? OMG! OMG! OMG! (Yeah, I like the fiddleheads, okay?)

Beppi Crosariol of the Globe and Mail fuels Canada’s eastside/westside war, this time in the realm of food, reporting that Vancouver is bypassing Toronto when it comes to hot new restaurants and attracting top-league chefs. Maybe it’s because we’re all obsessed with staying home and using the crock-pot.

Television executive Deborah Lewis has noticed Crock-Pot creep in her downtown Toronto crowd, one more accustomed to dining out, taking out or ordering in.

“Everyone I know is Crock-Potting it up,” Ms. Lewis says.

Sorry, I know it’s the hot new trend, but I hate crock-pots with a passion. They make everything taste the same. And weird. Plus they remind me of the last real office job I had where we had to attend a mandatory pot-luck lunch once a month and people always brought really nasty looking chili - in a crockpot. It was traumatizing, really.

Also at the Globe, in the non-scary food section, Sue Reidl heads down east to try the cheddar from COWS on Prince Edward Island. I hope she visited the gouda lady while she was on the Island too. We love the gouda lady. And Chef Normand LaPrise reminds us all that lobster season is just a week away (woooohooo!!!!) with a fancy-schmancy lobster roll. Back on the foodier-coast (nyah!) Alexandra Gill checks out some schnitzel - I bet they think they do THAT better too. The Sunday Dinner interview is Karen Kain, and Beppi Crosariol looks at Frankenwines.

And saving the potentially most important article for last (as in, why the heck isn’t this on the front page above the fold?), Leslie Beck reports on a review of 67 randomized studies (yes, studies again) that concludes we don’t need all those antioxidants. The review mostly applies to vitamin supplements, but some experts are also applying it to foods, making all those health claims that various companies have been using on everything from bread to cherries completely bogus.