Come and Bake It: Cooks Talk About Banning the Sale of Homemade Food

This week's cover story, by our old pal Robb Walsh, is "Come and Bake It," a look at how national scares over food safety have led to an increasing crackdown on home cooks selling their wares at bake sales or other events.

Bake sales and homemade tamales are only two of a long list of beloved Texas food traditions that health authorities are stamping out. Your tax dollars are also helping eradicate the dewberry jam, mayhaw and muscadine jellies, and other preserves that were once sold at farm stands. To the disappointment of many budding local food entrepreneurs, homemade food products may not be sold at farmers' markets either.

Among the people Walsh spoke to were Al Marcus, seen in the first clip, who prepares cured pork products, and Janice Schindeler, in the second clip, whose pimento cheese is a favorite at Houston farmers' markets.