Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

I’ve been very busy celebrating the International Biscuit Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. (It’s awesome, and everyone should head to Tennessee next year.) But that doesn’t mean that I don’t see another carb-loaded breakfast item that’s poised for world domination.

Every day, the waffle gets a little more famous, as institutions from Taco Bell to Dominique Ansel (the Cronut’s creator) consider its possibilities. The following are some notable waffles that you might be hearing more about.  
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

The other day, a cold-hearted Brooklyn kid kicked a cat, and then the Internet exploded.

I’m with the Internet on this one. I have two cats that I’m fiercely in love with and this kind of story makes me insane.

Clearly, there are a lot of people in my camp. Witness the multiple cat cafés - casual spots that stock snacks, drinks and temporary cat companionship - that are in various stages of opening here in the U.S.

Note that local health departments have rules about live animals in eating establishments, so you’ll no doubt see a separation of the food service area from the cat hangout zone. There are also animal treatment rules to be observed; you probably won’t be able to pick up the cute cat lounging nearby, although most of these places will double as pet adoption agencies.

Note: None of these spots are open yet. To get a look at a successful cat café culture, check out Tokyo, where there are places where each cat has its own set of baby pictures, headshots and videos. Awwwwwww.
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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

Isn’t spring the time to celebrate ingredients that are here oh-so-briefly and then disappear? Ramps, fiddlehead ferns, rhubarb...
 
Yes, it is, and yes, everyone is talking about them. So let’s talk about something else. Here are the most exciting foods you can get right now, plus great places to find them. One item that didn’t make the list is Palcohol (the newly minted powdered liquor). You might have been able to get it, but the Feds just pulled their approval.

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Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.

Happy This Year! If, like me, you’ve already broken a few of your resolutions, you might be done with new diets in 2014.
 
If, however, your will to lose weight is stronger than ever, US News & World Report has some helpful intel. It ranked 32 current diets for effectiveness and simplicity, naming the DASH Diet (developed to fight high blood pressure; the focus is on fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low-fat dairy) and the TLC Diet (focusing on increasing fiber intake and cutting back on saturated fat) as the winners.

Tied at the bottom of the list are the Dukan Diet (the super-strict high-protein diet that claims you’ll lose 10 pounds in the first week) and the Paleo Diet (followers eat like cavemen: lots of meat, fish and vegetables; not a lot of refined sugar, beans, grains).
 
And then there are a few new weight loss plans that somehow missed the rankings, like the Mushroom Diet and the God Diet. Read on to learn how to lose weight according to the Old Testament.
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