WFAEats

What’s the secret to longevity?

If my mother is the model, we need to eat more doughnuts and bananas. My mother Enid McElroy lived to be 93 averaging a banana a day, plenty of high-test coffee and pastries by the box. Her favorite: doughnuts, or “doughnies.” She would eat them religiously. She would buy them glazed, powdered or jelly-filled and feign dismay that the rest of us wouldn’t join her sweet-toothed binges.

“Aren’t you going to eat these? They’re going to waste.” Then she’d reach into the doughnie package for seconds.

As we approach Valentine’s Day, Charlotte Talks took a special look at an industry that sells $25 billion  worth of product each year, employing tens of thousands of people: the candy industry.  It’s a sector dominated by small, family owned businesses that have been able to foster relationships with their customers, one that impacts healthcare, the economy and – in this case – love lives!  

Your calendar might not show it, but World Nutella Day is this week, February 5.

Welcome to the worst part of winter. Everyone is coughing, sneezing, and wheezing. If you’ve tried every medication over the counter and under it, here’s an old school remedy that just might help.

Hot buttered rum.

Ordinarily, I’d tell you a bit about the history of the sugar and rum trades in the Americas, and explain the differences between the concoctions drunk here in Colonial times and the toddies that were popular in Europe.

But we don’t have time for that now. We need relief, and we need it fast.

Vani Hari started FoodBabe.com in April 2011 to spread information about what is really in the American food supply. She left her 13 year management consulting career to pursue this passion. A Charlotte native, Vani teaches people how to make the right purchasing decisions at the grocery store, how to live an organic lifestyle, and how to travel healthfully around the world. 

Baby, it’s cold outside, and there’s nothing better on a winter night than hunkering down and showing some love…to your pantry.

  Yes. If you’re like most people, your pantry contain herbs and spices that have been on its shelves entirely too long. Some probably date back to a year that began with “19__.”

It’s time to fix that right up. After all, who wants to let life get stale, when there are so many ways to make it fresh?

First, pull down all those little jars and tins and look at each one. Then ask: