UPDATE: As promised in this week's food pages, here is the Valley's ultimate guide for the lazy Thanksgiving dinner. These supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and delis allow you to dine out -- or take out the entire meal.

Check out the story for the full list, then browse through the menus below. (I'll add more of them as they become available.) And if you have more places to add, drop them in the comments.

Supermarkets

• Whole Foods Market, Fig Garden Village


• Vons


• Save Mart


• The Market, Herndon and West avenues

Next week, the Food Network will release its new video game, "Cook or Be Cooked." And I can't help but chuckle.

Moving a Wii remote to simulate flipping pancakes seems absurd. Why not just make real pancakes and bacon? The house would smell great -- and you get to eat at the end.

The game reminds me of Michael Pollan, who compared the decline of home cooking with the rise of food television in The New York Times Magazine. He wrote:

"Today the average American spends a mere 27 minutes a day on food preparation (another four minutes cleaning up); that's less than half the time ... it takes to watch a single episode of "Top Chef" or "Chopped" or "The Next Food Network Star." What this suggests is that a great many Americans are spending considerably more time watching images of cooking on television than they are cooking themselves -- an increasingly archaic activity they will tell you they no longer have the time for."

What do you think? Will "Cook or Be Cooked" be one more reason for us to stay on the couch? Or will it prompt us to get back in the kitchen?

Hungry yet? Wine, Mexican dishes and food inspired by Dr. Seuss are just some of this week's offerings. Read on:

Chiles and Sauces: The Color of our Cuisine -- Thursday
The Consulate of Mexico in Fresno is organizing a free Mexican food tasting 6-8 p.m. at Arte Americas. Featured restaurants include Oaxaca Restaurant, Mezcal Bar & Grill, Toledo´s, and Taco Grande.

Sierra Nut House's 40th anniversary party -- Friday
Sierra's flagship store at the Villaggio shopping center will host a party 5-9 p.m. with free samples of its wares. Earlier this week, owner JoAnn Sorrenti talked of serving wines, espresso, pumpkin barley salad, brandied cranberry pecan dressing, chocolate truffles and more.

Green Eggs and the Met! -- Friday
Will the Met serve green eggs and ham and schlopp with a cherry on top? Find out at this Dr. Seuss-themed evening.

The Ahwahnee's 2009 Vintners' Holidays -- Sunday to Dec. 3
Now in its 28th year, this annual event always features lots of wine to drink and plenty of winemakers to meet. Here's the full schedule.

Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel tasting at Old Doc's -- Wednesday
Old Doc's at Cedar and Nees avenues will pour 8-10 Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel wines. The $20 tasting starts at 7 p.m. and includes light food. Call (559) 224-3627 for more information.

In today's column, I've already told you about the Fall Wine Cornucopia, Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church's annual food bazaar, and a menudo cook-off at the Kings County Fairgrounds this weekend.

Here are three other food events you may want to check out:

It's almost time for the 2010 Bocuse D'Or, known as the Olympics of the culinary world. And the United States hopes to win it.

Since the contest's 1987 launch, no U.S. chef has ever scored gold, silver or bronze. So last year, celebrated restaurateurs such as Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Jerome Bocuse (son of Bocuse D'Or founder Paul Bocuse) launched the Bocuse D'Or USA to select and train the next U.S. competitor.

Chefs with Valley ties were involved in last year's USA competition. Firebaugh native Traci Des Jardins of Jardinière, Acme Chop House and Mijita in San Francisco and Manzanita in Lake Tahoe, was a judge at the semifinals. (She's also on the Bocuse D'Or culinary advisory board.)

Percy Whatley, of The Ahwahnee in Yosemite National Park, was a semifinalist. His meat platter had a Texas ranch theme, while his fish platter was like a deconstructed New England chowder. (The photo above is Whatley's scallop in a "shell.")

The winner was Timothy Hollingsworth of The French Laundry in Yountville; he scored sixth place in the 2009 Bocuse D'Or.

Who will the U.S. rep be for the 2010 event? If you know any chefs interested in applying, here's the application; the deadline is Nov. 30.

[photo source: restaurant widow]

UPDATE: And the debate over donor influence at universities rages on. More than 1,300 people showed up at yesterday's panel discussion with Michael Pollan, where he called the actions of Harris Ranch chairman David Wood a "threat to academic freedom."

The Bee's story takes a deeper look at this issue. The L.A. Times calls Cal Poly's choice of a panel discussion "a shameful breach of academic freedom," while the San Luis Obispo Tribune defends Pollan's "right to present his views."

Thoughts?

ORIGINAL POST: A clash between Harris Ranch and conventional agriculture critic Michael Pollan played out today at Cal Poly.

Here's a quick version of the story: Pollan originally was slated to give a talk at Cal Poly today, but Harris Ranch chairman David E. Wood objected in a letter to the university. He disagreed with Pollan's views and threatened to pull funding for Cal Poly's new meat-processing facility.

In response, the university changed the event into a panel discussion, seating Pollan with Gary Smith, a Colorado State University professor who supports conventional farming, as well as Myra Goodman, co-founder of Earthbound Farm, the nation's biggest organic farm.

The beef between Pollan and Harris Ranch isn't just a fight between conventional and sustainable agriculture. It also brings up questions about education at universities, especially during a time of budget crunches.

Since the publication of this New York Times story about E. coli in processed ground beef, I've been fielding questions about food safety.

The problem: Commercial burgers aren't made from single cuts of meat. Instead, the meat in burgers comes from several sources, including slaughterhouse trimmings and scraps.

"Those low-grade ingredients are cut from areas of the cow that are more likely to have had contact with feces, which carries E. coli," New York Times reporter Michael Moss writes.

Testing for E. coli in the manufacturing process is limited. It doesn't prevent 0157:H7, a virulent E. coli strain, from entering the food supply. Moss points out that ground beef sickened 8,000 folks in 16 E. coli outbreaks during the past three years.

And as seen in this video, simply following the handling and cooking directions on packages of ground beef won't prevent the spread of E. coli in your kitchen:

So, what's the best way to handle ground beef? Tips come after the jump.

The return of the Big Fresno Fair means new dishes from Chicken Charlie. Here's a sneak peek at the zucchini weenie:

No, we're not going to talk about eating placentas, or making teddy bears with them.

My WTF moments yesterday were different from Heather's. There was the shocking announcement that Gourmet magazine would close after almost 70 years in print. The other startling news is McDonald's opening in the Louvre.

The Telegraph's story includes this tidbit from a Louvre statement: "McDonald's would represent the 'American' segment of a new 'food court', and would be situated 'among (other) world cuisines and coffee shops.' "

As Gourmet falls, McDonald's is elevated to a world cuisine. That just blows my mind.

In case you missed it earlier this week, The Daily Show had its take on Sean Hannity's visit near Huron.

The Hannity portion of the video starts at about 1:16. Your thoughts?