By Melissa Short
As I bit into my first juicy, satisfying  meat-free soy burger I knew that this vegan experiment was going to be ok. As an omnivore I have always been fascinated by vegans and the things they go without-like macaroni and cheese.

I spent a few weeks eating nothing containing meat or animal products to find out what vegans eat, the creative ways they make meals, and what health benefits they might enjoy. I ate delicious meals, mediocre meals, and a whole lot of bread.

This blog is about a college student trying to eat vegan in a town known for burgers and Call Hall ice cream. There are recipe ideas, local restaurant guides, and honest opinions about each dish. Follow my journey from dairy-free cookies to veggie sandwiches and so much more.

Link to Melissa Short’s Blog:

http://wheatstatevegan.wordpress.com/

By Brady Brewer

In the 1960s bodybuilding went mainstream with guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbo, and Lou Ferrigno. Mass monsters, as they were, took the stage and amazed onlookers with their gargantuan superhuman physiques.

Today, competitors are still gargantuan but bodybuilding appeals less to the general public and more to a specialized underground sub-culture.

Gym rats and meatheads everywhere have familiarized themselves with the sport, and some have taken their physique to stage. However, not all can, or are willing to compete against the possible steroid usage in non drug-tested organizations.

In the 1980s the North American Natural Bodybuilding Association was formed and opened the doors to drug-tested competition. In 1994 the NANBA was re-vamped and became the North American Natural Bodybuilding Federation. This marked the beginning of a drug-free movement in the world of bodybuilding.  With the help of the NANBF’s promoters the word is out on natural bodybuilding, and the sport is growing with each passing year.

Fred Rowlett is the president of the North American Natural Bodybuilding Federation, the top Kansas promoter, and a fixture in health and fitness for the passed two decades.

Parrillo trained since 1997.  He works with people of all shapes and sizes, but holds a special place in his heart for competitive bodybuilders, according to ParilloPerformance.

The diet is bodybuilding. The cardio is bodybuilding. No matter who you are, or what your goals are, be prepared to take your body to the max, and beyond.

Link to Brady Brewer’s Blog:

http://allnaturalboom.wordpress.com/

By Ely Behrhorst

Philly cheese steak, Maine lobster and the original Buffalo wings, just to name a few.

Dining on dogs at Nathans

“Far from Oz” compiles food stories of my spring break road trip turned travel blog of a New England eats tour in March of 2010 for the Kansas Food Journal. For one week my girlfriend and I traveled from the Mid-Atlantic north to New England and back to Kansas, tasting America where America began.

From New York City to the Green Mountains of Vermont, I certainly wasn’t in Kansas any more.

Follow my journey as I venture off the yellow brick road.

Link to Ely Behrhorst’s Blog:

http://sojournerfood.wordpress.com/

By Dustin Nelson

Like a caterpillar going through metamorphosis, food can grow, shrink, change colors and become an eye-catching, desired item.  To understand the magic behind the scientific principles of foods, I went on an investigation around the Department of Food Science, Department of Human Nutrition, and a kitchen store to uncover reasons why and how food changes.

To give the evidence of how the culinary transformation process works, I created the blog mixingmolecules. The name alone gives context clues about what is contained inside. It features a handful of questions about how food works when it is prepared and cooked and then answers are shared by knowledgeable people.

From a student working on his doctorate in Human Nutrition to a homemaker with more than three decades of cooking in her repertoire that runs a kitchen store, the information given by these credible sources solves some mysteries of food.

After a scientific explanation of how food works there are selected recipes following each posting that highlights some of the principles discussed.  These recipes have been tested to ensure that they are truly delicious for the sake of those that with to venture into the scientific side of food. Go ahead and see how food and science can be fun and tasty, respectively!

Link to Dustin Nelson’s Blog:

http://mixingmolecules.wordpress.com/

By Collin Hayes

Beer Conquest focuses on small, local breweries from the Midwest, specifically (but not exclusively) in Kansas. My goal with this blog is to create more awareness of local, craft brewers while hopefully gathering more supporters for each of the breweries.

With each post you should expect either a review of a specific beer(s) and/or a complete feature on a specific brewery. Also I’m going to interview some of the owner’s of the breweries to get an inside look at their operation and the craft brewing industry as a whole.

Use the blog as a reference tool for creating beer road trips with friends. I hope to create a list of the best breweries I’ve visited, along with some nearby breweries that are worth visiting at the same time. Beer road trips (or MANcations as my friends coined during our last outing) are best with friends and are always something I look forward to.

Link to Collin Hayes’s blog:

http://beerconquest.wordpress.com/

By Claire Armstrong

The identical cookie-cutter shapes of bite-sized meats, fruit juices that contain little or no fruit or even vegetable juices that contain more fructose corn syrup than carrots or tomatoes.  We call this food?

Walking down the aisles of the common grocery store, these foods become glamorized by the shiny packaging, catchy advertisements, and transformed claims plastered to boxes to convince a parent that their child needs sugar-filled cereal to make good grades.

In between all of these persuasive foods, there lays the purest food that nature create itself—not a food created in a laboratory.  However, most stores often limit the amount of space for the real foods and provide vast space in order to put the business at top priority, not the health of its customers.

Kansas Eating blog provides resources to help educate the consumer on foods produced in Kansas and where to buy them. The blog is dedicated helping Kansans purchase, prepare, and enjoy food from this great state.

Link to Claire Armstrong’s blog:

http://KansasEating.blogspot.com/