Diet and Nutrition

Learn How To Make Homemade Baby Food at Onesto

If you've ever eaten baby food, first of all, we sincerely hope you've had a baby, and second, you know it usually doesn't taste very good. Chef Brian Miller of Onesto Pizza & Trattoria (5401 Finkman Street; 314-802-8883) wants to change that perception by teaching people how to make their own bab ... More >>

Dave Bailey Announces New Vegetarian Restaurant, Small Batch

Prolific St. Louis restaurateur Dave Bailey (Baileys' Chocolate Bar, Rooster, Bridge Tap House & Wine Bar and Baileys' Range) announced via email last night that he will open yet another restaurant, Small Batch, in the former Ford Motor Building at 3001 Locust Street in Midtown. The new restaurant w ... More >>

Vegetarian Toasted Ravioli and More Meat-Free Meals at Sandrina's

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

Truffle Frites and Other Vegetarian Delights at Maplewood's The Crow's Nest

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

Chef's Choice: Natasha Kwan of Frida's Deli

This is part one of Gut Check's Chef's Choice profile of Natasha Kwan of Frida's Deli. Part two, a Q & A with Kwan, will be published Wednesday, and part three, a recipe from Kwan, will be available on Thursday. "I was an unhealthy vegan," confesses Natasha Kwan, owner of the vegetarian, vegan and ... More >>

Boogaloo's Caribbean Cuisine Offers Vegetarians a Chance to Swing

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

Find Home-Style Vegetarian Comfort at Home Wine Kitchen

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

The Secret to Fighting the Flu This Season? Eat Yer Fruits and Veggies! (Gut Check Tells You Where)

Lately, it seems like everyone Gut Check knows either has a cold, is recovering from a cold or is awaiting the arrival of a cold. Now, Gut Check's general recommendation for fighting off a cold is to dose a bowl of pho with twice as much Sriracha as you can stand and then chase it with half a bottle ... More >>

The Veggielante Snacks At The Shack Pubgrub

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

MOBot Scientists Discover Tasty (That Is, Non-Fishy) New Source of Omega-3's

Omega-3 fatty acids, for some of us, are a mixed blessing. On one hand, they have insanely good health benefits: they reduce the risk of heart disease, they ease inflammation from arthritis and asthma and they may even help with depression, ADHD and Alzheimer's. On the other hand, for the longest ti ... More >>

Askinosie Chocolate Expands Lunch Program

No, not to you. The award-winning Springfield, Missouri-based chocolate company will be using proceeds from two of its products to fund school lunch programs in villages in Tanzania and the Philippines. The PTA's at Mwaya Secondary School in the Kyela region of Tanzania and Malagos Elementary Scho ... More >>

St. Louis: The 23rd Drunkest City In America

We didn't make the top five, ten, fifteen or even twenty, but hey, we weren't left out altogether. According to the Daily Beast, St. Louis ranks 23 in its study and list compiling the 25 "drunkest cities" in America in 2012. Maybe we're a skosh too sensitive, but we're sort of offended by our ranki ... More >>

Wash. U. Docs Provide Another Excuse to Keep Drinking Red Wine

Red wine has been firmly established as the wonder drug of our time. It prevents blindness, skin cancer, diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay! It fights radiation and food poisoning! It makes you thin and young and lovely and French! Whoops, not French, sorry, we got a little carried away there. ... More >>

Guerrilla Vegans Misrepresent Rapper Nelly in Wee-Hours Banner Drop

Disclaimer: While Gut Check's modus vivendi might be summed up succinctly as "live and let live (or die)," some of our best friends are vegans. Oh, and no animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post. As morning commuters might have noticed, early yesterday vegan activists staged a "banner ... More >>

First Look: Frida's Deli

Frida's Deli (622 North and South Road, University City; 314-727-6500) opened its doors on Thursday, July 12, offering fresh, vegetarian sandwiches, soups, salads and smoothies. Owner Natasha Kwan has been a vegetarian for 29 years, at times adopting a vegan diet, at others a raw foods diet, and has ... More >>

Nutella & Go! Snack Spotted at St. Louis Wal-Mart, Be Still Our Beating Heart

During a recent jaunt to the Wal-Mart (3270 Telegraph Road) on Telegraph Road, Gut Check made a semi-life-altering discovery: Nutella & Go!, an individually packaged, snack-size portion of Nutella and bread sticks. Produced by Ferrero, the people behind everyone's favorite hazelnut spread, the to-go ... More >>

The Veggielante Meets MoKaBe's Coffeehouse

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

The Ten Best Vegetarian Restaurants in St. Louis

Selecting Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis 2011 was no picnic. Choosing the winner meant several worthy candidates would go unmentioned -- until now. In this Gut Check series, we are chewing our way through notable runners up in a number of categories. To see hundreds more winners and finalists a ... More >>

New Initiative Promotes Produce, not Chips, at Corner Stores

Step away from the brown banana. Don't touch the bruised apple. And forget about that slimy hard-boiled egg you grabbed from the cooler. When was the last time you stopped at a convenience store for a snack and didn't see "healthy" fare that looked more congealed than what's in the back of your frid ... More >>

Scientists Figure Out How Red Wine Keeps You Young

The glory days of Mad Men, when doctors prescribed regular cigarette smoking and judiciously-administered (daily) glasses of alcohol, are, sadly, long gone -- except for red wine, that miracle drink that keeps us young and healthy while also getting us drunk. Good Lord how we love it! For a long ti ... More >>

Flintstone's Chewable Heroin?

​An 11-year-old Madison County girl found some mysterious capsules on a dresser in her home and asked her mother, Nicole L. Edwards, what they were. Mom told her they were vitamins and left it at that -- she also left the capsules with her kid. The girl, who was smart enough to recognize that most ... More >>

The Veggielante Visits Atomic Cowboy

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize ab ... More >>

The Veggielante Puts Three Kings Public House to the Test

​The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to prosely ... More >>

1,050-Calorie "Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo"? Michelle Obama Says Yes, We Can!

​Gut Check ain't exactly nostalgic for the good ol' days of the George W. Bush administration. Still, a phrase that Dubya once used has stuck with us over the years: "the soft bigotry of low expectations." He was talking about education, but you can apply it to all sorts of things.Like, say, the h ... More >>

Elie Harir of The Mediterranean Grill: Recipe for Tabbouleh

This is part three of Emily Wasserman's Chef's Choice profile of chef Elie Harir of the Mediterranean Grill. Part one can be found here. Part two, a Q&A with Harir, is published here. Kelly HoganAn assortment of Mediterranean salads and dips, including Harir's tabbouleh​Elie Harir knows good ... More >>

Vitamin D Can Ease Pain of Breast Cancer Treatment, Wash U Finds

​Vitamin D is enjoying a serious moment in the sun lately, if you'll pardon the pun. The vitamin, which we produce naturally when we're exposed to sunshine, has been shown to be crucial in maintaining bone health and immune function. It may help keep hair and eyes healthy. And mushrooms that have ... More >>

Calorie Consumption Rises When Counts Are Posted? Makes Sense to Us

A Big Mac? Yes, thank you. And can you please super-size me?​So this week, we get the news that the policy of forcing fast-food restaurants to prominently post calorie counts for menu items has been a giant bust. A study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and New York City shows that cus ... More >>

Take Me to Your Feeder: Welcome to the world's largest candy convention. Be advised: Resistance is futile.

The Veggielante Puts The Royale to the Test

​The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to prosely ... More >>

St. Louis Girl is the "Cutest Vegetarian," says PETA

Madeleine Smith, the cutest vegetarian in all the land, according to peta2.​Peta2, the young adult version of the often-controversial animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, announced Monday the two cutest vegetarians in the country. And the cutest vegetarian girl in all t ... More >>

The Veggielante Puts Barrister's to the Test

​The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to prosely ... More >>

Eat Less, Live Longer

image via​Some people will do just about anything to live longer -- eat less meat, eat more chocolate, give up alcohol, drink a glass of red wine every day -- but that's all based on anecdotal evidence. A group of researchers at Washington University, though, may have made a breakthrough in th ... More >>

Chocolate Milk is Served in Schools - Everyone Panic!

Wikimedia Commons​ This week, we've zeroed in on the cause of all the ills in America's children - it's chocolate milk served in school cafeterias! Chocolate milk! ABC News reported yesterday that dentists are joining some nutritionists in decrying the horrors of chocolate milk. Even the U.K ... More >>

ADHD and Food Dyes: Seven Videos That Make the Connection

There's been a lot of back-and-forth recently about the connection between artificial food dyes and attention deficit disorder. Some studies link food dye to ADHD; they're making the children unhinged little maniacs! Others, like one done by the Food and Drug Administration, suggest that parents ne ... More >>

Step Away From the Pork Chop: Great American Meatout Saturday

For friending, not eating.​Quit eatin' meat, wouldya? It's no good for you or the planet. That's the message the St. Louis Vegetarian Society would love for you to get on Saturday. That's the date of the annual Great American Meatout, a day vegetarians across the planet -- in all 50 states and two ... More >>

Uber-Vegan Author Will Tuttle Speaks Tomorrow

​Author Will Tuttle makes the case in his book The World Peace Diet that society's ills share a common root cause: maligning animals for food. Hear him hold forth on veganism saving the world tomorrow at the Christ Church Cathedral courtesy of the St. Louis Vegetarian Society.Tuttle's 2005 tome lo ... More >>

Where's the Beef?: Has Allison Burgess created faux food, fad food — or a groundbreaking meat substitute?

Get Herbal at Herbie's

Fat No More: Unreal talks weight loss and Spanks with a top local loser

Panera Ranked Healthiest Fast Food by Health Magazine

St. Louis' own Panera -- a.k.a. St. Louis Bread Co. -- has been dubbed the healthiest fast-food chain in the country by Health Magazine. How did the magazine determine Panera's standing?Using criteria that was created with the help of our expert panel, we scored the chains on such factors as the us ... More >>

Thanksgiving Comes Early!

Sipahh Milk Flavoring Straws Cookies and Cream artificial flavor

$2.00
Schnucks
6600 Clayton Road
Richmond Heights

Hardee's Offers Something to Tide You Over Until Your Lunchtime Thickburger

Promise Activ Peach SuperShots

$4.65
Straub's
302 North Kingshighway Blvd.

Enviga

$1.39 (estimated)
Arrived via media kit

McRibbing

A man eats fast food for a month -- guess what happens

Michelob Ultra vs. Guinness Draught in a Bottle

Racanelli's Pizza, 12 S. Euclid Avenue, 314-367-7866

Best Takeout Counter (Grocery Division)

Whole Foods Market

Best Health-Food Store

Natural Way

Fat Chance

A new low-fat cookbook lands itself on the "enemies of gastronomy" list