THE DANES and the New Yorkers have it easy. The former won’t find foods with trans fatty acids on their grocery store shelves. That’s because Denmark banned the artery clogger in 2003. On the other hand, New Yorkers need not worry about trans fats when they eat out. A ban took the harmful fats off their dining plates in 2007.

THE KING is dead, long live the king. The popular phrase has been used to symbolize continuity; that in an institution like a monarchy, while the head may die, the show goes on.

AFTER FOUR consecutive years topping the list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, Bangkok’s Gaggan has finally been dethroned.

WHAT IS a dish without the drink, and vice versa? Without a dish, one approaches sin, and without drink, one courts a sort of insufficiency, and, well, choking. Homegrown Don Papa Rum encourages one to live life to the fullest with both food and drink in its Chef & Shaker competition.

SM MEGAMALL’s Megatrade Hall was buzzing with activity (and we kid you not, there were actual bees — at least in the honey booths) during the National Food Fair: Philippine Cuisine and Ingredients Show held from March 14 to 17.

JUST in time for summer, Andrew Café’s resident pastry chef Erna Canatoy has come up with the Sweet Summer Series, a collection of cupcakes in banana, strawberry, and carrot flavors with cream cheese topped with a drizzle of walnut brittle, a tangy slice of fresh strawberry, and a carrot candy made of butter cream.

SHAKESPEARE’s Rose Theatre Company will make its international debut in Manila in September. The UK company will be performing two of Shakespeare’s plays — Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The two plays will play over one week for nine shows only from Sept. 17 to 22.

WHAT are you having for lunch today? If you’re like four in every 10 Filipino adults, you will eat lunch out. Will you eat a burger and fries in a fastfood restaurant, fried fish in a canteen, or fried chicken in a convenience store? Maybe you’ll have a donut or a cup of 3-in-1 coffee for dessert.

BEFORE the advent of Photoshop, the initial design for a poster was drafted by hand. A stencil would be made and the design would then be transferred onto a screen. A sheet of poster paper would be set under the screen, ink would be applied and pushed through the screen onto the paper with a squeegee. The paper would then be set aside to dry. Then the process would be repeated for the next poster, and the next, and the next.

HIMALA: Isang Musikal and Ang Huling El Bimbo each got 12 nominations for the upcoming 11^th Gawad Buhay Awards which honors the performing arts.

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Performatura: Performance Literature Festival is back for its third installment as it once again “highlights the rich tapestry of Philippine artistic traditions that leap beyond the written word.”

WHEN THE Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group opened the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium for the initial offering of its 20^th season production last Friday, it performed for what could be the most theatrically star-studded audience possible. There was Lea Salonga, Monique Wilson, Michael Williams, and the cast of Ang Huling El Bimbo in attendance to name a few. It was like being in a family reunion of kindred spirits bound by love for the theater.