Short:
Aspiring food entrepreneurs flock to an illegal market (The Washington Post)
Unhealthy military mess halls are hurting our armed forces (Slate)
When Everyone Has a Steak in It
Two naval architects engineer a new way to buy grass-fed, dry-aged, local beef: the meat draft (The Washington Post)
The Kombucha Cult, or How I Got Hooked on Making My Own
How I fell for a fermented tea that’s a little freaky, a lot addictive (The Washington Post)
Restaurateur’s Vision: A Hub for Sustainable Food
Michael Babin wants to scale up the regional food system — and not just for his own restaurants (The Washington Post)
Fermentation: A Wild Way to Make Food Come to Life
Bacteria — the good kind — has a foodie following (The Washington Post)
The Unofficial Dish of Washington: A Steaming Bowl of Mussels
D.C.’s obsession with the bivalve (The Washington Post)
Little House on the Affton Prairie
Justin Lescsz chucked the 9-to-5 for a backyard farm, and found himself in demand among chefs (Village Voice Media/Riverfront Times)
Long:
One state at a time, the Humane Society of the United States is penning animal-rights laws to change the way livestock is raised. Big Ag is finally raising their pitchforks (Village Voice Media/Riverfront Times)
Thanks to Russ Kremer, old-school hog farming makes a comeback in Missouri, and diners on both coasts want a piece (Village Voice Media/Riverfront Times)
Sixty-five years ago, the federal school lunch program was created to make American schoolchildren healthier. Today, it’s helping to make them fatter. Will a new law change the diets of millions of kids raised on French fries and chicken nuggets? (The Wilson Quarterly)