Examining breakfast trends and high-priced foods

Cold cereal and eggs are the most popular breakfast foods, according to a recent study by Datassential.

Over the past few years, restaurants have been working hard to lure customers away from their kitchens for breakfast by expanding into the breakfast day part and adding innovative breakfast items. Today, nearly two-thirds of all restaurants offer breakfast, according to the report, which can be downloaded here.

Birke Baehr was examining the label of his soda when a strange ingredient caught his eye: high fructose corn syrup. The 11-year-old soon discovered that high fructose corn syrup is a sweetener used to cheaply flavor sodas and snacks, and that it is responsible for multiple adverse health effects. He was so moved that he appeared at TEDx Next Generation in Asheville, NC, to share a presentation called, “What’s Wrong with our Food System?”

Baehr is one of 20 young entrepreneurs identified by Food Tank who are shaking up the global food system. Youth around the world are creating inspiring projects and products that are changing how we grow, prepare and eat food, the food think tank says.

OpenTable has launched a service that allows diners to settle their bills through the reservation website.

To pay with OpenTable, diners who book at participating restaurants add a credit card in the OpenTable iPhone app before they dine and can then view and pay their check with a few taps. The service is available today in New York City and OpenTable plans to expand it to an additional 20 U.S. cities before year end.

Disgraced politician Anthony Weiner will be part of a new restaurant that will provide training, on-the-job apprenticeship and placement for unemployed New Yorkers, according to a report in The Rockaway Times.

On Idealist.org, a website with job listings for nonprofits, the Rockaway Restoration Kitchen is advertising for an executive director for the project, with goals of nutrition, education and restoration.

Have you tried the Wagyu Rib-eye at Craftsteak ($2,800) or the Frozen Haute Chocolate Ice Cream at Serendipity 3 ($25,000), both in New York? If so, you’ve officially reached baller status.

Finances Online recently published an infographic highlighting the most expensive food in the world. Some of the dishes were created for fundraising programs, some are sprinkled with jewels and others feature ingredients that are either rare or take a lot of time and effort to source. Saffron, for example, requires 75,000 filaments to make a pound.

So next time you’re dining on Wagyu, pay some homage to the cow that was massaged and fed with beer every day of its short life.