Slashfood

While no one knows who will be duking it out in Super Bowl XLV next February in Dallas, the Taste of the NFL celebrity food fest held before the big game is on track to be the largest in history, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Event organizers say they expect to sell more than 3,000 tickets for meals made by at least 45 celebrity chefs, making it a record-breaker over 6 months before the first course is served on Feb. 5, 2011, the paper reported.

"This will likely be our biggest event from a ticket sales standpoint," spokeswoman Linda Bendt told the paper. "Anything over 3,000 would exceed previous events."

It is the twentieth Taste of the NFL event to be held on Super Bowl Eve to raise money to fight hunger.

Organizers say they're trying to limit ticket sales to make sure the chefs aren't biting off more than they can chew.

Just because you're on the road doesn't mean you can't enjoy the bounty of local farmers' markets, even if you can't exactly pick up a few grass-fed steaks to throw on the grill.

But where are the best farmers' markets in America for travelers? CNN asked food writers and chefs to pick their favorite farmers' markets for experiencing local food culture while on the road.

"You can still get a wonderful sense of what's grown in that community, and what you can find in restaurants when you dine there," Janet Fletcher, author of Fresh From the Farmers' Market, told CNN.

Move over Asian carp, you're not the only pesky species to be eyed by the seafood industry as a potential food source. Officials in Virginia have set their sights on the homely cownose ray, whose population has exploded, in part because of a sharp decline in their natural predator, the inland coastal shark. The population boom is bad news for valuable Chesapeake oysters, clams and scallops. Hungry rays have been known to wipe out entire shellfish beds with their powerful crushing jaws.

Mike Hutt, executive director for the Virginia Marine Products Board has been working to develop a market for the red-fleshed cownose ray (renamed a more appealing Chesapeake Ray), but don't expect it to taste like its white-fleshed cousin, skate.

"It's not flaky, and it has a texture and tastes closer to veal or beef," says Hutt.

While we'll all be cozying up to our TV's on Sunday night to watch the Mad Men premiere, sipping on either scotch, some Heinekens or a few dirty martinis (what? we like to have options), some dedicated fans might want to spend their weekend enjoying a more authentic "Mad Men" experience.

Eater has rounded up the bars and restaurants the [now former] Sterling Cooper employees visited in seasons 1 through 3. Though many of the establishments are long-gone ghosts of NYC past, there are still several existing bars, markets and restaurants die-hards can visit in anticipation of the expansion of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. (This would all culminate, naturally, in the official Mad Men premiere party in Times Square.) Happy drinking...er...watching!

• A delicious, summery fruit pie is as easy as, well, you know.
• Hybrid politics: When two species of fruit intermarry, what do you call the kids?
• The setting for the Inn of the Seventh Ray has always been fantastic. The food is finally catching up.
• Feeling hot and tired? The wine of the week will cool you off.

"I Am Love" may be the best food movie in years. But it's not the food porn you might expect.

"I Am Love," Italian director Luca Guadagnino's strange, beautiful film is set in modern-day Milan but, from the first strains of composer John Adams' tense score and 1950s-style credits, it evokes the melodramas of an earlier era, nodding to masters like Hitchcock and Sirk. Tilda Swinton, who co-produced the film, also stars as Emma Recchi, the Russian wife of a wealthy Italian textile maker. She falls in love with a young chef, Antonio, who happens to be the friend and business partner of her son. This being melodrama, the romance comes at a heavy price.

So what does all of this have to do with food? Nothing – and everything. A crimson arabesque of prawns sets the affair in motion, and later a delicate fish broth will lead to the plot's unraveling. These dishes are exquisitely created by Milanese chef Carlo Cracco and photographed by Yorick Le Saux but they make only brief appearances. Their true force comes from the direction and virtuoso performances.

Blood-red on the inside, dusty white on the outside, the Elephant Heart plum is a variety you may want to get to know. With a flavor like berries and a meaty texture, this is a plum that begs you to eat it unadulterated but, as blogger dessertfirst did in this recipe (adapted from Emily Luchetti's A Passion for Ice Cream), layering it beneath a fluffy, sweet cornmeal cake gives it panache. Top that cake with a ruby-red plum sorbet, and those Elephant Hearts become unforgettable.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

A weekly look at the draft selections in beer-friendly bars across the country.

A good local pub is something special -- a place where you can hang out with friends and meet neighbors by socializing the old-fashioned way... in person. Blogs and social networks and webcams are great, but one of the most traditional ways people have connected isn't with a computer, it's with a pint.

My neighborhood has a number of spots I love, but when it comes to that classic pub setting -- with a fantastic beer selection to boot -- my favorite watering hole is Brooklyn's Washington Commons.

When people think friendly bar, the show Cheers often comes to mind: a place where "everyone knows your name." This point isn't lost on Kirk Struble, one of Washington Commons' owners. When asked what makes a bar a great local hangout, he immediately points to the staff.