Grocery stores are adding coffee bars, mouthwatering boulangeries, even sushi bars in hopes of wooing increasingly discerning consumers who want high-quality food without hours of preparation.

Consider the poor meat pie. Historically speaking, it hasn’t always had the best associations attached to it.

Just in time for Earth Day observance, a study published in last week’s Environmental Research Letters warns that animal manure and fertilizers used in growing animal feed emit large amounts of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. An op-ed piece in this week’s New York Times warns that the devastating environmental impacts of a meat-based diet are actually magnified when raising animals on the range, because this involves much more land and more greenhouse gas emissions.

More than 30 years after former nightclub bouncer Marvin Lee Aday — better known as Meat Loaf — released his hit album “Bat Out Of Hell,” the beefy rocker is back with a new record.

Mary Manross was in a more focused, determined mode as she gave the State of the City address Thursday, a contrast to last year’s edition, which too much resembled a Scottsdale promotional brochure.

Move over, marinades and barbecue sauces: Dry rubs are taking over grills everywhere. The herb and spice coatings — once the secret realm of grillmeisters — are losing their mystique.

"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime."

LONDON - Grammy-winning singer Meat Loaf, who collapsed on stage during a concert, is being treated for exhaustion brought on by a virus, hospital officials said Tuesday.

The new link between meat consumption and heart disease, discovered by Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, is just the latest evidence linking meat consumption to killer diseases that cripple, then kill, 1.3 million Americans annually. Hazen’s study showed that carnitine, an amino acid contained in all meat products, is a major factor in heart failure.

Looking for something new to throw on the grill this Fourth of July? How about a sizzling Denver cut or a couple juicy slices of teres major?

Why is it that some people want to end the consumption of meat and dairy? Who would eat and drink these products if we don’t? Someone has to. As for those cows, well, they HAVE to be milked. There is no one else who can do it (you think they are smart enough to milk themselves, yes? No?).