• Residents of Central California’s farmland, “the second-largest agricultural producer in the U.S.,” are already suffering in poverty. The situation could get worse when the governor’s budget cuts take effect on Friday. [Time]
• Can borscht be cool again? Hard to say, but Gold brand soup is trying to make it so. [WSJ]
• OMG, stop everything: Justin Bieber has declared that he loves to barbecue! [HuffPo]
• Mendocino Farms in Marina del Rey won the people’s choice award in the American Institute of Architecture’s restaurant design awards. [LAist]
• Queen Park Learning Garden, Inglewood’s new community garden, is touching back to the city’s agricultural past. [NBC]
• Do you know about Totoraku, L.A.’s secret Japanese restaurant on Pico? If so, here’s four more secret restaurants in the U.S. If not, shhhhhh, don’t tell anybody we told you! [Bites Today]
• Meredith publishing company has acquired EatingWell magazine and launched a site called Recipe.com. [AdAge]
• The U.K.’s most popular food? Not fish and chips, but rather, chicken tikka masala. [Calcutta Tube]
• In a move that would not make Michael Pollan very happy, state senators have named corn New York’s official state vegetable. [BP]