Restaurant diners across the nation have a new guide to chew on when deciding where to eat out. However the ratings have nothing to do with food and focus more on the labor practices of some of the nation’s 150 top earning eateries. The Takeaway speaks with Saru Jayaraman,  co-founder and director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centre United, a non-profit that helps restaurant workers organize for better working conditions within the industry and Dave Rutigliano owner of the Southport Brewing Company.

It's the day before Thanksgiving and many of us will be spending the day preparing for our holiday feast. But for millions of Americans the tables may be more bare this year. With the economy still weak, and federal and state budgets for charity services cut, many local food banks and food pantries are seeing an increase in demand. But they don't have enough food on their shelves to keep up.

Holidays are defined by traditions — those we keep and those we break. And nothing could be more traditional than a roast turkey on Thanksgiving. This year, nearly 250 million turkeys will be raised to satisfy American demand. But how traditional is the turkey? The fact is, we don't know. The first Thanksgiving included venison, the Wampanoag people brought plenty. And the colonists shot some wild fowl, but there probably weren't any sweet potatoes, and definitely no cranberry sauce. Thanksgiving didn't become a national holiday until Abraham Lincoln's time, what was traditional when the tradition was new?

Perhaps the most common trade-off for working parents is the inability to give their kids home-cooked meals—even if they work in food service. John Besh, a working dad and James Beard award-winning chef who runs eight acclaimed restaurants, has written a book about his experiences trying to fix the gap between the food he prepares in his home and at work.

What's not to love about brisket? Author Stephanie "Stevie" Pierson is convinced that a good brisket will not only satiate your appetite but improve your life. Pierson wrote "The Brisket Book" after realizing that while the delicious dish is in many cookbooks it doesn't have one of its own. They're not hard to find either, as you can pick up a brisket at your local supermarket.

Author Barry Estabrook decided to write about tomatoes because they almost killed him. He was driving in Naples, Fla. when a few tomatoes bounced off the cargo truck in front of him, narrowly missing his windshield. At the next stoplight, he was amazed to see that the tomatoes littering the street were unscathed after falling off a truck that was traveling at 60 miles per hour. How did the tomato— once summer’s tastiest treat — become the bland specimens available in most grocery stores now? And how can we fix it?

Since the first rumblings of revolution in Tunisia last year, we’ve been covering the Arab awakenings often. We’ve asked for analysis from political reporters and foreign correspondents, and reported the latest news as it came in. Today, we're examining a different angle to the uprisings: commerce, particularly the growing number of Middle Eastern wine businesses. 

Volatile food prices are making the survival of the small farmer in developing countries nearly impossible. As the developed world weathers the storms of rising food prices through sophisticated commodities markets, smaller operations in Latin America, Asia and Africa are left to the mercy of massive price fluctuations.

More than 2,000 people are sick and 20 dead in Germany from an E. coli outbreak that German officials still don't know the source of. The scare has spread to the U.S., where many are worried about a similar outbreak happening here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported Tuesday that most food-borne illnesses were down, except for salmonella and a group of rare E. coli bacteria related to the German one. Is hysteria warranted?

Hot dogs are a barbecue staple. But the way you make them — and the toppings you put on them — depends on where you live. In honor of Memorial Day, one of the biggest barbecue days of the year, we decided to take a look at how different cities across the country make their hot dogs. Joining us is Tom Raccioppi, owner of Jimmy Buff’s Italian Hot Dogs in New Jersey. Also with us is Mark Flynt, the owner of JS Pulliam Barbeque in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Stuart Rubin, manager of Mustard's Last Stand, the oldest hot dog stand in Denver. He's from Chicago and serves real Chicago dogs at is stand.

It's no secret that with a growing population and a shrinking place to put us all, many are anticipating a global food crisis in the near future — one that brings the scarcity of sustenance already present in poverty-stricken nations to all nations. And a hot commodity is also a high-priced one. Lester Brown, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, has a new story detailing what may prove the coming food crisis in the 21st century.

Street vendors are the eyes and ears of urban society in many cities around the world. In Tunisia, it was a food vendor selling his wares on the street that ignited revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. And here, in America, it was a couple vendors in New York that alerted police to the Times Square bomb – just waiting to explode in an abandoned SUV. Every year, Vendy Awards are handed out to the best vendors in New York. And this year, "best" doesn't just refer to food. Sean Basinski, Director of the Street Vendor Project, which hosts the annual Vendy Awards, explains why they've added a hero category to their roster. We also hear from other vendors. 

Each year in New York City, the Vendy Awards go to food vendors, usually for the quality of their cuisine. Now the Venydy's have a new category: The hero award. It was announced this week to honor the food vendor in Tunisia who sparked the revolution there when he set himself on fire. And it was street vendors who first told the authorities about the attempted Times Square bombing last year.

We'll talk about this on the air soon, but we're asking you now, what other professions should get a hero category?

Is sugar toxic? A 90 minute YouTube video of pediatrics professor Robert Lustig trying to answer the question has counted 800,000 hits. The New York Times has an interesting piece in the magazine section that explains why sugar is on the minds of so many Americans. Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at New York University and the author of "What to Eat" and Barry Popkin is the distinguished professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina school of public health. Together they explain why sugar is a major public health risk, and what we should do to control it.

We often look at war in terms of numbers of soldiers deployed, numbers of lost lives, and of dollars spent on battles and reconstruction. But war is about much more; it’s about sounds and sights, and about shared experiences, and though we rarely talk about it, war is also about food. Annia Ciezadlo explores this particular aspect of war in her new book: “Day of Honey: a Memoir of Food, Love, and War.”

With the United States engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and facing diplomatic standoffs with nations like Cuba and Venezuela, Americans can tend to feel culturally isolated from some countries. A new business in Pittsburgh is trying to change that - through food. The Conflict Kitchen serves meals from countries that America finds diplomatically tricky, and by doing so, hopes to bring further awareness about cultures that might otherwise seem foreign. The BBC shares the story.

New data this week from the analysis group Hedgeye shows that some of our favorite breakfast items like orange juice and coffee are rising in cost so much that they could be considered “luxury items.” Some are blaming U.S. monetary policy for this inflation, but our guest Louise Story from our partner The New York Times says it’s more complicated than that. This story, she says, is a little bit global warming, a little bit economic recovery, a little bit politics.

For cultures that follow the lunar calendar, today is New Year’s Day. Here in the U.S., many of us simply refer to it as Chinese New Year. But the truth is that communities in and from Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, and elsewhere have their own traditions and foods built around the day. Kelly Choi is the host of "Top Chef Masters" and is a Korean-American. She is personally acquainted with the Korean New Year, or “Seolnal,” as it’s often called. She shares her recipes for the celebration.

Recipes after the jump.

The U.S. slave trade took many things from the Africans who were forced into it: family, name, homeland, and, of course, freedom. But within that system of brutality, there were certain things that couldn’t be stolen from the slaves, including their taste memories, cooking techniques and agricultural practices. It’s through these food memories and techniques that Africans transformed the way Americans eat. Food historian Jessica Harris explores this part of the American story, and the people involved in it, in her new book “High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America.”

New data out by the United Nations shows that world food prices rose by 32 percent in the second half of 2010. Food prices for staples haven’t been this high in two years. The last time they reached these levels, food shortages sparked riots in poor nations. Is another food crisis on the horizon for struggling nations? And what does this mean for Americans?