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EpicureanTravelRadio features interviews on food, wine, travel, health, nutrition and the latest lifestyle news from the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world with host, Gina Snow. 

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Eggland's Best (EB) is the No. 1 branded egg in the U.S. The distinctive “EB” stamp on the shell assures consumers that Eggland's Best eggs meet the highest standards of quality, taste, and nutrition. Barbara Seelig-Brown, Eggland's Best spokeswoman, chef, radio personality and TV host of “Stress Free Cooking," talks about why Eggland’s Best eggs are a great way to ensure you have less saturated fat and  cholesterol, and more Omega 3s and better taste than with ordinary eggs in your recipes. She provides tips on the best ways to select and store eggs to keep them fresh and how to avoid salmonella cross contamination when cooking.

Sunset Magazine's Associate Garden Editor, Julie Chai, talks about The Sunset  Western Garden Book of Edibles: The complete guide to growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruit.  Growing edibles is one of today’s most popular home gardening activities and more consumers are embracing edible gardening for numerous reasons, not the least of which is a desire to enjoy a healthy and affordable backyard food source.

In this comprehensive encyclopedia of edibles, Sunset’s editors have created an essential all-in-one guide to growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs to turn your backyard into a personal “Garden of Eating.” This resource contains not only practical information including a Climate-zone locator map that shows you exactly which zone your garden is in and their peak growing seasons, also a big helping of inspiration for the novice or expert gardener alike.  For more information, visit www.sunset.com. 

In his newest book, Todd Wilbur (QVC's top-selling cookbook author), reveals the secrets to cloning some of the most famous brand-name fast foods from Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and more, using common ingredients found in local supermarkets. Todd unlocks the secret recipes that make these fast foods favorites taste so good by analyzing key ingredients including spices in his Las Vegas laboratory.

Todd's recipe sleuthing career began in the late 80's after cloning a Mrs. Field's cookie recipe at the height of her popularity. Now with nine books released, he's sold over 4.3 million cookbooks.

Top Secret Recipes Unlocked features over 100 recipes including: KFC's Chicken Pot Pies, Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato, Taco Bell's Chicken Quesadilla and Baja Sauce, Hidden Valley's Original Ranch Dressing, Kraft Miracle Whip and Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts.

During the interview, Todd recounts his personal quest to the International Soup Kitchen in New York City to learn the secrets of The Soup Nazi's Indian Mulligatawny featured in a 1995 Seinfeld episode. For more information, go to www.topsecretrecipes.com. 

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Editor, Jonathan Bonne, talks about what it takes to judge over 4,000 wines submitted to the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest competition of American wines in the world. The public tasting of over 1,000 of the wine entries and winners was held on February 20, 2010 in the Festival Pavilion at Ft. Mason in San Francisco. For more information and a list of winners, go to www.winejudging.com.

It is estimated that three million Americans have Celiac Disease which is an autoimmune disorder that causes damage to the small intestine leading to malabsorption of nutrients. There is no "magic pill" for celiac sufferers and following a gluten-free diet is necessary. 

After Elana Amsterdam and her three year old son were both diagnosed with Celiac Disease, she was inspired to develop gluten-free recipes using almond flour for everyday meals. Her favorite recipes have resulted in The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. The flavorful and easy-to-make recipes can also benefit those with diabetes, high cholesterol, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and enjoyed by everyone with or without dietary restrictions.

For more information, visit www.elanaspantry.com/frequently-asked-questions.

Lesley Anderson, editor at CHOW.com (a national website dedicated to food in all of its glory), takes a look at how food trends have changed over the past decade from 1999 to 2009.  Food trends provide a look into a culture and reflect the mood of a society. Over the past decade the trend has been a need for comfort food (post 9/11) to the growing popularity of mobile gourmet food trucks for lunch (as the recession hits everyone's wallets). Chow has come up a list of food trends spanning from 1999 dot.com era sushi parties to ordering only sustainable seafood in restaurants today.

In the 1850's, Mariposa County (Home of Yosemite) was 1/5th the size of the entire state of California -- larger than entire European countries such as Belgium. Today, Mariposa's residents proudly safeguard their place in history and retain the pioneer spirit and character of those who mined for gold and settled the Wild West.

For more information, visit: www.homeofyosemite.com.

Sunset Magazine Publishes “Smart Seafood Guide” in September Issue Devoted to the Pacific Coast

Margo True, Food Editor of Sunset Magazine, talks about the September issue of Sunset magazine (www.sunset.com), the premier guide to life in the West that explores everything there is to love about the farthest Western reaches of America. Dedicated to the California Coast featuring a Sustainable Seafood Guide, this special coastal issue is timed to coincide with California Coastal Cleanup Day, which Sunset is proud to sponsor, on September 19, 2009.

With overfishing threatening the Pacific Coast’s wildlife, Sunset published the definitive guide to making the best choices at the seafood counter. Sunset’s Smart Seafood Guide (example on p.78) takes the guesswork out of enjoying the freshest, healthiest, and most sustainably harvested fish and shellfish. The September issue provides tips on how to:

Learn how to find, select, and prepare the most sustainable and healthiest fish.

• Use the “Best Time to Buy” calendar (p. 82) to identify the freshest—and often cheapest—fish in season.
• Prepare Sunset food editors’ favorite fresh fish recipes: Marinated Grilled Calamari, Pan-roasted Sablefish with Mushrooms and Sour Cream, and Sardine BLTs with Herbs and Lemon. And find terrific wines to go your favorite seafood dishes in “Drink with the Fishes” (p. 96).
• Learn when it’s okay to buy frozen or canned fish.
• Decipher the “Salmon Dilemma” (p. 82) and answer the wild vs. farmed question.

Investigative mythologist, William Henry, offers something to fulfill everyone's inner "Indiana Jones." Like a real-life "Robert Langdon" (Dan Brown's fictional professor of religous iconology and symbology introduced in The Da Vinci Code), he will whet your appetite for travel to Washington, D.C. after which you will never look at it the same way again.   In his new book, "Freedom's Gate," William identifies and explains the meaning of the lost symbols of the U.S. Capitol and how it was intended to be a "Temple of the People" by our founding fathers. He connects the dots between the "All-Seeing Eye" of The Great Seal, a cornerstone document in the foundation of America, created in 1782 between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (as seen on the back of the U.S. one dollar bill) and ancient Egyptian mysticism. Visit www.williamhenry.net.

Moi means King in Hawaiian, Hello in Finish, Beautiful in Dutch, Me in French and Delicious at RumFire, Oahu’s hippest place to see and be seen! RumFire's Master Chef, Colin Hazama, shares his secrets of preparing Moi, a delicate fish once reserved only for Kings, now sustainably "farmed" in Hawaii. Learn more at http://www.rumfirewaikiki.com.

Then, Candice Kraughto, Director of Public Relations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts of Hawaii, talks about how you can benefit charity by staying at one of Starwood Hawaii's eleven historic hotels and resorts. Book any Endless Summer Escape package from the start of summer on June 15 through September 22, 2009 (with travel completed by December 31, 2009) and Starwood will donate 3% of the daily room rate to the United Way’s Road to Recovery campaign and Hawai‘i’s Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children. For more information, go to www.endlesssummerescape.com. 

In his new book, TOXIC FAT:  When Good Fat Turns Bad,  Dr.  Barry Sears, Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, The Zone, and creator of The Zone Diet, introduces new concepts about obesity. For more than a decade, Dr. Sears has promoted the concept that food must be thought of as a powerful drug. One of the world's foremost authorities on the hormonal effects of food, he explains why the government's agribusiness policies have caused the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in America. He says that virtually everything we have heard about obesity may be wrong and that obesity is a form of cancer.

Dr. Alejandro Junger’s talks about his new book, CLEAN: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself, and explains how the principles of the three R's -- REMOVE, RESTORE, REJUVENATE -- can help you to achieve maximum health through detoxificaton of your body. Learn more at www.cleanprogram.com.

Stephanie Stober, a fifth generation flax farmer and  co-owner of  FlaxUSA, Inc., has been educating consumers about flax seed and its many health benefits since 1999.  Grown as a crop for over 6,000 years, flax was named as one of the top 8 Super Foods in 2008.  (Learn more.)

Kate Hanni, Founder and Spokesperson of FlyersRights.Org, talks about her ordeal of being held captive in an American Airlines jet and stranded on the tarmac for over 9 hours at the Austin International Airport on December 29, 2006.  During that period passengers were denied food, water and access to working toilette facilities. Was this a terrorist hostage scenario?  No, it was an airline policy decision. Since then, Kate has lobbied on Capitol Hill for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. In January 2009, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights in the Senate.  Learn what you can do to help get this legislation passed into law. Sign online petition at www.FlyersRights.Org.

In addition to the inconvenience and trauma caused by long flight delays, life-threatening conditions can also occur that are caused by lack of proper ventilation, hydration and nutrition, such as diabetic shock. Another major medical condition is Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) (aka Economy Class Syndrome).  These life-threatening blood clots can be caused by sitting immobilized on long airplane flights or delays. Although the condition is well-known to airlines and the World Health Organization (WHO), too often pilots and flight attendants take measures to keep passengers in their seats rather than let them walk about the cabin to stretch their legs every hour, as in recommended.

Call FlyersRights.Org Hotline at (877) Flyers6 or (877) 359-3776 for more information.

Ray Johnson, Author of The Good Life Guide to Enjoying Wine and Assistant Director of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, talks about the growth of the competition over the past 27 years since 1983.  He also talked about some of the great wines and winners from the 4,736 entries not only from the West Coast but from 26 states across the United States including New York, New Mexico, and Missouri.  More information and a list of winners are available at www.winejudging.com.  (February 28, 2009)