The non-official Starbucks Gossip Blog posted a letter Wednesday that one disgruntled New York employee fired off to the company’s top brass. The barista wrote not to protest Starbucks’s aggressive ubiquity, their resistance to fair trade coffee, or their union busting tactics. No sir, she’s up in arms about the new company policy instructing employees to refer to drinks made with sugar-free syrup, non-fat milk, and no whipped cream as “Skinny.” more ›

On tap for this year’s 33rd Annual Atlantic Antic festival, taking this Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM (rain or shine, buddy) is the usual bonanza of pony rides, live music, and balloon animals. This year’s Antic has an added emphasis on food, which should hopefully make it a remedy to all the street fair food fatigue that’s been going around recently. more ›

Picnick, the new Will Goldfarb double kiosk project at the Battery, is starting to shape up for its projected Labor Day weekend opening. Director of operations will be Kevin Pomplun, most recently chef at the Hotel on Rivington restaurant Thor. more ›

How much thought do you give to the origins of your daily dose of java? Not the origin of the purchase (mega-chain vs. local joint), but the origin of the beans themselves. And not just country of origin, but the labor and trade practices of the growers and workers who got those beans to you, no matter where they end up. Many of us don't think about this, but the owners of Vox Pop, a coffeeshop in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, proudly trumpet the fair trade origins or their coffee varieties, and the customers are rolling in. more ›

Gothamist is here at Joyce Bakeshop in Prospect Heights, where we’ve secretly replaced Scott Lindenbaum’s 12 oz. Fair Trade Gorilla Coffee with a cup of freshly brewed David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee Organic House Roast. For good measure, we’ve also selected one of each flavor cupcake from the Joyce Bakeshop glass case display, and a toasted hazelnut mini financier to accompany the hot beverage. What we found may surprise you. more ›

We have to admit, we were a bit skeptical when we were offered a sample of Sweetriot cacao. Cacao? We thought to ourselves? That doesn't sound particularly appealing. Frankly, the word "cacao" didn't bring up much in our mental database -- sure, we knew it was the main element in chocolate, but unprocessed, all we could think of was bitterness. In the sake of full disclosure, we might also have been projecting some of our reactions to the word "carob," the nasty health-food chocolate-like substitute, as Sweetriot's promotional materials were rife with feel-good, hippie-ish language. Sure, we'll try it. But when we got the package in the mail, opened up the smartly packaged tins, and had a taste, everything changed -- we were hooked. more ›

We've read "Fast Food Nation." We've seen "Super Size Me." And, we've been queasy about fast food monoliths like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell ever since. But, does fast food always have to mean bad food? (Not that Mickey D's fries aren't tasty - It's just that a large portion contains 520 calories, with 220 of those calories coming from fat.) more ›