Dine & Cook | Alternative food journalism

Good Week for:

• Gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian cuisine.  Chelsea Clinton's wedding menu reportedly caters to numerous dietary restrictions.
• Yogurt.  Menchie's Yogurt, Inc. was the fastest-growing growing franchise in the food industry in 2009.
• High ABV beers.  A Dutch brewer creates a 120 proof beer called "End of the World," smashing the old record of 110 proof.

Bad week for:

• Your local pizzeria. Take and bake pizza company, Papa Murphy's International, saw the greatest growth in U.S. system-wide sales within the pizza category in 2009.
• Creative home cooks.  A poll released by Harris Interactive finds more than 80 percent of home cooks mostly cook what they are familiar with.
• Waistlines in Ohio.  This year's biggest hit at the Ohio State fair, muddy pigs: chocolate covered bacon on a stick, topped with a candy cherry.  600 plus calories.