LA Times: China's fight against disposable chopsticks. China's government is promising stricter regulation over the production of disposable chopsticks. "Companies making disposable chopsticks will face local government restrictions aimed at decreasing the use of the throwaway utensil.... Production, circulation and recycling of disposable chopsticks should be more strictly supervised."

The number of disposable chopsticks consumed in China is mind-boggling. Greenpeace China estimates that 100 acres of trees, mostly birch and poplar, are felled every 24 hours for chopsticks. That's 45 billion pairs annually, and an additional 18 billion pairs created for export.

Entertainment Weekly: Next Food Network Star' season finale recap: And the winner is... The winner of The Next Food Network Star was revealed during the season finale on Sunday night. Los Angeles food blogger Aarti Sequeira was crowned The Next Food Network Star after an impressive performance during the final competition: the filming of a three-minute pilot for each contestant's potential new show. Sequeira wowed the judges with her naan pizza and humorous anecdotes.

Sequeira's new show, called "Aarti Party," will debut Sunday at noon on the Food Network. Runner-up Tom Pizzica is set to host a prime-time series called "Outrageous Food," debuting in November.

The Atlantic: 13 Ways to Overeat (and Defeat) the Asian Carp As the apparent inevitability of Asian carp in the Great Lakes approaches, people are scrambling to come up with ways to keep the invasive species' population controlled. Eating it seems like a sensible suggestion, but the very bony fish is unappetizing and difficult to prepare. Cooks and agriculture departments are brainstorming ways to make the fish more palatable to consumers.

"The government is trying too. There's now a federal anti-carp initiative that includes $3 million in funding for 'commercial market enhancements'—efforts to get people to buy and eat Asian carp, with the hope that a market for the fish will help limit its population."

Atlantic writer Stephanie Pierson has some suggestions, including renaming the fish with "something with 'Emperor' or 'Dynasty' or 'Pacific Rim' or 'Tila Tequila' in it." Other suggestions include giving the fish its own Food Network show, convincing Michelle Obama to serve it at the White House, and make it a diet "like, 'The Low Fat, High Carp Diet.' "

Food in the News appears weekly in the Food & Drink section. Have a story link you'd like to share? E-mail jessicawebster@annarbor.com.