• Chowhounds don’t know from hound chow, according to a new study in which only three out of 18 volunteers were able to tell the difference between dog food and pâté in a blind taste test. We want to know where they found 18 people willing to eat dog food. [LA Times]

• Stopping in Toronto on the Canadian leg of her book tour, Gourmet magazine editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl talks about her new book, Not Becoming My Mother, with Globe and Mail restaurant critic Joanne Kates. We’ll be there. [Globe and Mail]

• This is your brain on grub: weak-willed gourmands reaching for that third slice of cake can take comfort in new findings that suggest that giving in to temptation is caused by hard-wiring in the brain. [CBC]

• Michelle Obama and Britney Spears aren’t the only ones tilling the soil. Due to the recession, green-thumbing rates are soaring across North America. Container gardening is up 50 per cent, and sales of veggie seeds have risen 20 per cent. [Canada.com]

• Scientists from the U.S., Canada and Spain have put their heads together and come up with a genetic trick that allows plants to thrive on less water. It’s the lazy gardener’s dream come true. [Sign on San Diego]