At Eatocracy, we eat like it's our job - because it is. There's no crystal ball for food editors to peer into or a Ouija board that contacts Escoffier from beyond the grave for culinary guidance. Instead, we rely on the tastemakers – the chefs, the farmers, the artisans – and our own eyes, ears and mouths to keep us informed of the latest movements in the food world. This series, Next Course, looks into what’s coming up in the food world.

"Pssst! Hey buddy, you looking for any of that there...fish goo? I know a guy."

An unusual product, popping up in hushed conversation among chefs and their fishmongers, may soon be swimming to a restaurant near you. It's fish marrow. Yes - bone marrow from fish.

Once the domain of dogs' dinners and the working class’s cucina povera, in recent years, bone marrow oozed into chef territory. Platters of sawed-open bones with rich marrow soon popped up on high-end menus across the country. Anthony Bourdain coined it "butter from god," and it gained a devout following accordingly.
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Editor's note: Each week in "Apparently This Matters," CNN's Jarrett Bellini applies his warped sensibilities to trending topics in social media and random items of interest on the interwebs.

There's a great dive bar in my neighborhood called Jack's where they oven-bake the chicken wings. And they're absolutely amazing. I'm not saying I've had semi-inappropriate fantasies about them. But I'm also not denying it.

Yes. Things continue to be weird at home.
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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.

You don’t need me, or any chef in the world, to tell you the best ways to keep from gaining weight. They involve breakfast, balanced meals and exercise. Instead, I’ve become fascinated with the less obvious ways that chefs and other people who are constantly around food keep from packing on pounds.
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Up to half of the world's food is wasted, according to a new report that found production inefficiencies in developing countries and market and consumer waste in more advanced societies.

The British-based independent Institution of Mechanical Engineers said about 4.4 billion tons of food is produced annually and roughly half of it is never eaten.
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

Milk today for all it's worth - January 11 is Milk Day!

It’s got one of the most recognizable advertising campaigns, without it we wouldn't have café lattes or cheese, and it’s perfect first thing in the morning or warmed up right before bed.

Milk as we know it has been around since animals were domesticated. When man started treating cows, sheep and goats as livestock, milk became a staple of the human diet. Not only is milk high in proteins and vitamins, it also contains calcium which promotes healthy bone growth.
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We are utterly thrilled when readers want to hang out and talk – whether it's amongst themselves or in response to pieces we've posted. We want Eatocracy to be a cozy, spirited online home for those who find their way here.
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File this under the "wouldn't it be cool if ...?" category.

IBM is developing a computer system that could theoretically customize healthy recipes based on your personal taste buds. An outline of the project was presented as part of the company's annual 5 in 5 list - five inventions that could change the world in five years.

"At the end of the day, taste is about chemistry," Bernie Meyerson, vice president of innovation at IBM, told Fast Company.

So how would it work?

Find out in the full story: Future computer system could be your personal chef

Bordeaux's not on the list, and that's one reason it's interesting.

New York-based Wine Enthusiast Magazine has released its picks for best wine travel destinations for 2013.

The selections are notable for including offbeat wine regions around the world, from a castle in Puglia, Italy, to a university town in South Africa.

Other picks include: Danube, Austria; Vale dos Vinhedos, Brazil; Monterey County, California; North and South Forks of Long Island New York; and Willamette Valley, Oregon.

Read the full list - 10 best wine destinations for 2013 - on CNN Travel.

This is the fourth installment of "Eat This List" - a regularly recurring list of things chefs, farmers, writers and other food experts think you ought to know about.

Nice, neat things make me nervous. I'm almost relieved the first time a pristine pair of shoes gets a scuff or there's a ding on the bumper of a new car. I'm no longer responsible for maintaining this object in a perfect state, and somehow through the rupture of it, it's finally marked as mine.

Cookbooks definitely fall into that category for me. The more one speaks to me, the more I'll crack it open, weight it down to splay the relevant pages, and muck up the pages in the frenzy of cooking from it. My most beloved are my most battle-scarred.
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

January 10 is National Bittersweet Chocolate Day!

Not all chocolate is created equal, and not all chocolate tastes the same. Chocolate, which the Mayans thankfully discovered, is classified by the amount of fat in it. Chocolate starts out as chocolate liquor, the nib of the cacao bean that’s been ground down or melted. A fat, usually cocoa butter, is then added to this and it forms a solid substance. The amount of fat and sugar mixed into the liquor determines how the chocolate is classified.
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