It’s a short week at Restaurant SmartBrief, but there’s been no shortage of odd, offbeat and downright quirky food stories to share, starting with the annual look at unusual fair fare, which seems to get a bit wackier each year. Also on tap: a U.K. café that built a mini-museum with scraps left from celebrity meals, as well as research into whether pot smokers’ munchies can teach us anything about treating obesity.
- Summer means the county fair and all of the food that goes with it. This week, The Huffington Post shared Food & Wine magazine’s picks for America’s Wacky Fair Foods, starting with Kool-Aid-soaked pickles.
- Only in San Francisco? California law doesn’t require jails to accommodate vegan prisoners, but in veg-friendly San Francisco, they do it anyway. SF Weekly reported on the role of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protesters in changing the menu.
- The Old Boatstore in Cornwall, England, is selling off pieces from its Museum of Celebrity Leftovers, an odd exhibit of crumbs and crusts left by famous guests who have frequented the eatery over the years, BBC reported.
- Researchers found that smoking marijuana has the same effect on the stomach as eating that first bite of fatty food: Both create a craving for more. But drugs that block certain receptors and kill the craving might be the key to cutting overeating, according to TIME magazine.
- More than 95% of North Dakota’s land is used for livestock and food production, yet one in 11 residents goes hungry, according to statistics of a program that encourages residents to give what they grow to nonprofits that feed the hungry. BBC reported on The Hunger Free North Dakota Garden Project.
- American Public Media’s “Marketplace” created a map to show how much the average patron tips in each state. The piece includes comments from residents nationwide offering insight into the reason they tip the way they do.