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Lydia Shire Is a Total Badass; MObama Faces Off Against Wal-Mart

• Lydia Shire has been crowned the number-one “badass” chef in America, thanks to her “daring” skills with butter, cream, and offal, and her takeover of longtime guys’ club Locke-Ober. [Daily Meal]

• MObama is tackling “food deserts” head on, getting huge retailers like Wal-Mart and SuperValu to expand offerings of healthy food or open new stores in impoverished areas. [Your Life/USAT]

• Since we should all be eating insects for ecological reasons, how do they taste? Well, “a bit nutty,” according to Daniella Martin of the blog Girl Meets Bug. [HuffPo]

• Researchers at Tufts University discovered that restaurants frequently underreport calorie counts by around 100 calories a dish. That’s an extra pat of butter added by the chef last-minute. [NYDN]

• John Mosca, founder of the cult-favorite New Orleans restaurant Mosca’s, has passed away at 86 due to prostate cancer. [NYT]

• It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Utah has really, uh, quirky liquor laws, despite having relaxed regulations somewhat in 2009. [NYT]

• A group of Hindu diners who were served meat-filled samosas at an Edison, New Jersey, restaurant after requesting a vegetarian meal are suing for the cost of a “purifying” trip to India. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]

Lydia Shire Is a Total Badass; MObama Faces Off Against Wal-Mart