For the past few days, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has been meeting in Rome to figure out what to do about the world hunger crisis. The Toronto Star is reporting both on the debate over biofuel, and that the UN is drawing up a plan to deal with the crisis. Oddly though, both the Reuters piece that ran in the Star and this piece in the Globe and Mail are reporting on what members at the conferences have been eating, although Siri Agrell of the Globe at least puts it into context by pointing out that while delegates were served dishes like fois gras, lobster and goose a few years ago, this time they’re dining on more humble fare such as zucchini tart and Parmesan risotto, just because it would be unseemly to feast on expensive delicacies when you’re talking about people dying from starvation.

Also in the Globe, Josh Wingrove has a piece on KFC bowing to the pressure of PETA and not only changing the way their chickens are reared and slaughtered, but adding vegetarian or vegan “unchicken” products to their menus. And while I try to abstain from fast food chains, as a former vegetarian who actually likes faux meat, the lure of soy products coated in the sooper-seekrit 11 herbs and spices batter will be sorely tempting.

Never to be confused with a vegetarian, Chef Massimo Capra grills up some fluffy bunny; Sue Reidl squeaks by with some Monforte Halloumi; Leslie Beck shows how those little 100-calorie-sized snack foods really don’t curb over-eating; and Carly Weeks reports on a proposed US ban on food dyes linked to behavioural problems.

Beppi Crosariol suggests some “aromatic whites“; the Sunday Dinner guest is Mark Cullen; and out west, Alexandra Gill reviews West.

At the Toronto Sun, Rita DeMontis advises that keeping well-stocked with pantry basics can be a money-saver, and reports on National Hunger Awareness Day, which is tomorrow. She also has info about the Old Toronto Beer Tours, just in time for Father’s Day. Elizabeth Baird reviews Anita Stewart’s Canada.

Did you know that you can be classified by the way you buy and eat fruit? At the National Post, Adam Leith Gollner looks at the book The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession and how Big Fruit devises marketing schemes. Matt Dunnigan is still in the backyard at the Q, while Amy Rosen goes to the country with restaurateur Eugene Barone. The Appetizer blog has an interview with Michael Bonnacini.

And back at the Star, Corey Mintz has a piece on Cross Town Kitchens Ltd., a collaborative effort by some Toronto chefs in aid of Green Barn, a project of The Stop Community Food Centre. Judy Gerstl interviews The Cooking Ladies, a pair of gals who are the antithesis of food snobbery, and who write cooking columns for the RV set. Meanwhile Josh Rubin shares our enthusiasm for the Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier. And Tamsyn Burgmann review Allusion.