How annoying can one food trend be?

Quite, annoying, actually, but judging by the popularity of Bacon Today ("Daily Updates on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon") many people would disagree with that opinion. There's little doubt of the site's founders' enthusiasm for cured side pork, however, and plenty on the site to whet the appetite of all but the most zealous anti-porkists.

At a time when the Internet is awash in recipes for bacon chocolate chip cookies, candied bacon, and bacon Christmas ornaments, it can be reasonably argued that Bacon Today is filling a need.

Features currently include part two in a series about bacon cupcakes, why bacon shouldn't be worshiped, a recipe for bacon-wrapped Turducken, and something about wrapping iPhones in bacon. Oh, there was also an inspiring piece about the British firefighters who rescued two pigs from a burning pen, thereby saving them from becoming bacon.

Is serfdom making a comeback?

South Korean giant Daewoo Logistics Corp. has leased more than 3 million acres in poverty-stricken Madagascar to raise corn and palm trees as a source for palm oil. The lease, good for 99 years, applies to nearly half of that country's arable land. Most notably, according to Financial Times, it looks as if Daewoo will not actually have to pay for its use of the land.

Is Madagascar, a nation already ravaged by the effects of deforestation, now susceptible to the problems of mono-agriculture? About three-quarters of the leased land, largely on the island nation's west coast, will be used to grow corn for which South Korean industry has been struggling to find a steady supply. Over the past year, China which had largely filled the gap, has begun to place restrictions on the amount of corn which may be exported in order to meet supply needs at home.

South Korea banned imports of American corn after StarLink contaminated tortillas found their way into Korean markets. The Koreans only began allowing genetically modified corn back into the country legally in May of this year. Until the ban, the United States supplied South Korea with most of its corn, of which 80 percent is used as animal feed. Most of the remaining 20 percent or so goes into the production of corn starch which is used in a wide variety of food products.

In lieu of payment, evidently, Daewoo has pledged infrastructure development and jobs, although whether any of the food it grows in Madagascar will stay in that country is up for conjecture, said the Financial Times piece.

Daewoo's venture in Madagascar is part of a larger trend by industrialized Asian nations including various Arab Gulf states looking for reliable supplies of raw materials and, now, food in Africa. According to Financial Times, Daewoo is not the first Korean company to make inroads in Madagascar.