• Why wait until September 5 when you can start International Bacon Day shopping now? Bacon-flavoured lip gloss and bacon-scented soap make excellent stocking stuffers, and bacon cupcakes from Yummy Stuff (topped with bacon ice cream, of course) make the perfect holiday dessert. The Globe’s Sarah Boesveld highlights these and other perks of the bacon craze, just in time for the pig day. [Globe and Mail]

• Restaurant traffic in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the U.K. fell significantly in the first quarter. Canada was the only country in the NPD Group study to see a rise in the number of meals consumed. It was only a 0.1 per cent rise, and the fastest growing sector is the “evening snack.” Good show, Taco Bell; good luck, everyone else. [NDP Group]

• The true diet of the food critic is questions, writes Frank Bruni in his last Times column—and for his final meal, he’s answered a few. Which sushi restaurant does he prefer? The $400-a-plate Masa. Which appetizers should we avoid? The ones that appear on every menu. Where can a hungry New Yorker find the best value? The prix fixe menus of the priciest rooms should do the trick. Thanks, Frank. Now let’s hope his successor, Sam Sifton, will tell us something we don’t already know. [New York Times]

• Irate parents in the U.S. are fighting the “predatory practices” of ice cream truck vendors. Children’s health advocates have been lobbying New York principals to ban the ice cream man from school grounds; a ward in Chicago has already nixed mobile soft-serve. And who is leading the charge against the goop and slush that are making kids fat? Vicki Sell, the owner of a fish and chips shop. [Gothamist]

• Following the lead of Wolfgang Puck, Masayoshi Takayama and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Michelin three-star chef Pierre Gagnaire is gambling on Sin City’s new $8.5-billion CityCenter. His new restaurant Twist will be located at the Mandarin Oriental, and it will feature the same gastro-scientific delights that made the Parisian famous. His Saint-Jacques “farady” is an emulsion of scallops, orange oil, smoked tea and gelatin. Sounds more daring (and palatable) than Cirque du Soleil’s new show. [L.A. Times]

| Further reading: bacon, Frank Bruni, ice cream, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Masayoshi Takayama, Pierre Gagnaire, Sam Sifton, Sarah Boesveld, Taco Bell, Wolfgang Puck, Yummy Stuff

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