Photo by Joanna O'Leary.

Look familiar?

​If your Girl Scout Cookie of choice is the Samoa, then you might be happy to know that these goodies are NOT only available through green-uniformed girl children and for $3-4 a pop.

Keebler offers a nearly identical version called "Coconut Dreams," which are available year-round and often on sale (two for $5!). I couldn't believe this was legal until I learned Girl Scout cookies are owned and produced by Keebler. (Guess it makes sense: elves and brownies are similar species. Har.) Anyway, the Coconut Dreams should be just as good, right? In this case, I think so.

But I'm not sure when it comes to other knock-offs. I wasn't sorry about the demise of Hydrox cookies, as these "poor man's Oreos" always tasted vaguely medicinal to me.

However, I have always liked the flavor of Coke's less popular twin, RC Cola, but perhaps that's because I'm partial to the underdog.

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I tried to give up sugar and almost got dumped.

​Growing up, I associated Lent with culinary abstention. I was socially conditioned, less by family and more by Sunday school peers, that this period before Easter should involve giving up certain foods. I remember my religion teacher declaring with more than a minimal degree of self-satisfaction that she was giving up pizza. What in holy name are you going to eat on Fridays? I thought to my six-year-old self, for pizza and fish sticks were the only acceptable supper I could imagine on days in which meat was forbidden.

But I followed convention and gave up ice cream, Snickers, and McDonald's alternate years. I didn't cheat on Sundays, but I certainly made such sacrifices easier on myself by imposing strict definitions of the foregone foods. "Ice cream," for example, was only "ice cream" if it was labeled as such on the carton, a requirement that paved the way for indulging in soft-serve yogurt, sorbet, frozen custard, and iced milk.

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Pedagogical Pasta?

​In the past few months, I've started to pay more attention to children's food. That is to say, food products designed for and targeted toward the younger set (and their caregivers). Maybe it's because my friends are having kids, maybe it's because I'm pushing 30, or maybe it's because I'm attracted to bright colors and simplistic slogans ("They're GRRREAT!!!").

What has really struck me during my recent strolls through the supermarket is the number of foods shaped like letters of the alphabet. Granted, SpongeBob and Woody from Toy Story are also trendy choices for formed food, but letter shapes seem to endure. My mom ate alphabet soup as a child, served it to me when I was elementary school, and I'll probably dish it out to my young'uns, should have I them.

But here's my question: What's the point?

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​We're not sure if we're ready to see how many calories or fat our fast food indulgences have. We know they're bad for us -- we're not dumb. But maybe it's not knowing how bad that keeps us making those late-night runs to Whataburger.

We may not be able to live in blissful ignorance much longer. The McDonald's in Texas Children's Hospital has recently added calorie, fat, and carbohydrate counts to its menu boards. Now when you order your super-cheap Big Mac, you won't be able to ignore the fact that you're consuming a 540-calorie burger. The hospital first suggested adding the nutritional facts to the menu boards back in 2006. Although McDonald's was not required to do this by law, it reached an agreement with the hospital to do so voluntarily. Thank goodness they have no plans to add nutritional information to the menu boards of their other stores.

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​One of the best parts of wandering the streets of cities like New York and San Francisco is the jaw-dropping diversity of street food, an industry which has virtually exploded over the past decade. In addition to the regulars, New York now has the popular Schnitzel Truck and Sammy's Halal, while San Francisco has recently added the Magic Curry Cart and a newly popular Crème Brulee Man. Austin, too, is dotted with parking lots of food vendors, one of which was recently featured on Bobby Flay's Throwdown. Hell, even Mario Batalli has a mobile gelato stand these days.

But Houston doesn't have the hot dog sellers, pretzel guys, or mobile pho carts. No falafel trucks, jerk chicken stands, or kebab units. No late-night Italian sausages, barbecue, or arepas. [Sigh.] Street food is fast, convenient, affordable, and usually delicious. So why aren't there more sellers in Houston? Yes, we have the occasional bar-roving tamale hawker and an Indian unit or two, but where are the rest? Why can't we get a plate of perfectly steamed Pad Thai handed to us through the window of a truck?

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​Last December, Eating Our Words shined a spotlight on school lunches, taking to task both funding for and quality of food in schools. While the intent of the post was to serve as a wake-up call to students, parents and schools alike, HISD took offense, citing its new food prep facility as evidence of its efforts to avert school-lunch stereotypes. In addition, last week we were notified that this morning, HISD's new Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier would lead big-wigs from the USDA's Special Nutrition Programs on a tour of the state-of-the-art food prep center. As Michelle Obama launches her official campaign against childhood obesity, might HISD serve as a model district for the nation?

We decided to take a second look.

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Photo by Katya Horner

​We know President Obama likes hamburgers. The national press made sure to tell us both times he went out to buy some.

But what about Annise Parker?

Our history-making new mayor is famous, too, darn it. She's been all over TV. But the media has been too distracted by piddly little things like "budget shortfalls" and "police reforms" to ask her what she likes to eat.

So we took it upon ourselves to visit her new office this week and ask.

Do you have a favorite restaurant?
Because I live in Montrose I happen to believe the best restaurants in the city are in Montrose. My favorites, it's mostly because they're in the 'hood. I eat breakfast at Harry's and The Breakfast Klub, both close to home. I love Niko Niko's, and Riva's is where I go for quiet comfort cooking from Michael over there. My very first victory party 12 years ago was at Riva's -- they had just opened and that's still one of my favorite places. I love Sorrento for the white-tablecloth experience. And I understand the old Café Montrose has morphed into Jeannine's Bistro -- the restaurant that taught me to love Brussels sprouts! (Laughs). Mexicana, another favorite breakfast spot. That's where my in-laws went for lunch after the inauguration. Going a little farther afield, I'm a huge Spanish Flower, Mexican food person.

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​Michelle Obama appeared on Iron Chef America last Sunday to promote healthy eating. Ever since she planted that organic garden last year, she has become a spokesperson for eating your vegetables and therefore a lightning rod for controversy. The White House communications office reached out to Iron Chef to get the First Lady and the White House chef on the show's premiere episode.

The White House garden reportedly produced about 80 pounds of vegetables, and some of the lettuce was used in salads at the state dinner honoring the president of India. The White House garden became a target of chemical-industry flacks and right-wing conspiracy theorists who uncovered more evidence of the Obama family's limousine liberalism every time Michelle dug up a turnip.

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Emily Oak

​We keep hearing this term when it comes to coffee - people want to know the route our brew took from the farm to our morning cup. It represents the emerging of a more conscientious consumer, one who demands to know who produced her food products, whether it is coffee, milk, fruits, veggies or meats.

Regarding coffee, understanding the methods and growing regions of the beans gives the consumer a better idea of how the coffee is going to taste, along with an arsenal of adjectives to describe the coffee experience. But regarding other food, traceability does more than that.

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​We just wrote about our weird and depressing meal at The Egg and I, and we felt the need to elaborate more on what is fundamentally wrong with this menu. We singled out the Egg and I, but we are really talking about any mass-produced concept period.

This place "proudly serves" factory-produced food and at the same time is attempting to offer its customers fresh plates of hot value. In our opinion, this creates confusion for the everyday citizen who is looking for an honest-to-God wholesome meal. Feedlots and overstuffed, inhumane chicken coops with unsanitary conditions are what is hidden behind these plates. We have clouded our minds with images of farms and happy-looking cows found on products from the supermarket, but the reality of the mass-produced market is not a sunny farm. Cows are stuffed next to each other in complete discomfort, and pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones to counteract the filth and pain of the animals we are consuming.

On the positive side, there are things we do can about this.

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