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While mentions of food around New Year's are often limited to diatribes about holiday overindulgence and plans to forego various edibles in the coming year - food also plays a pivotal role in the cultural introduction of a dawning year.

Various countries and cultures around the world have specific food traditions designed to ring in the new year. So if you're looking for a tasty way to celebrate 2013 that stays true to your heritage, here are some options. May your new year be eternally delicious!

Read also:
- Year in Review: Miami Food Scene 2012
- The Year in Meat! (2012)

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Did it get you? Here's how to stop the maddening itch.

Mosquito season is here. Fueled by the heavy rains last week, eggs are hatching at an alarming rate, causing the little monsters to swarm south Florida, making life difficult for everyone who wants to enjoy a cool drink on their porch after a long day.

Mosquitoes aren't just annoying, they're carriers of some nasty diseases like West Nile virus, malaria, and dengue fever, according to the Mayo Clinic.

What to do if one of those nasty bloodsucking insects takes a bite? Although there are dozens of chemical-based remedies at the drug store, your kitchen has a host of remedies that are just as effective, a lot cheaper, and better for you and the environment. Next time a mosquito gets you, try one of these home remedies:

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Food Network

Macaroni and cheese: childhood favorite elevated to cult status.

​Macaroni and cheese. What began as an inexpensive school cafeteria lunch for most of us has turned into an adult's obsession: the search for the ultimate dish of firm noodles engulfed in creamy béchamel sauce and topped with a layer of golden-brown cheese.

Though the classic mac 'n' cheese consists of elbow noodles and cheddar or American cheese sauce, there are so many variations -- topped with breadcrumbs, baked into individual mini casseroles, made with upscale ingredients such as truffle oil and lobster. Frankly, we love them all.

Here's a list of our top ten favorite mac 'n' cheese dishes, from classic to epic. All have one thing in common: bubbling, cheesy goodness that warms both heart and stomach.

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via .:[ Melissa ]:.'s Flickr (CC)

​The world's population reaches seven billion today, according to the United Nations. That has led to a lot of hand wringing about how we feed future populations around the world.

But what we really need to worry about is right here.

In both Miami-Dade and the rest of Florida, the population has increased while the amount of farmland has shrunk in the last decade. The number of folks living in the county jumped 10 percent to 2,496,435 while approximately 30,000 acres of farmland was lost due to real-estate development and the Everglades Restoration Act, which reduced farmland by at least 10,000 acres, said Debbie Brady, director of member services for the Dade County Farm Bureau.

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From Pig 05049 by Chrstien Meindertsma

Deep-fried pig nose.

​Generally speaking, being vegetarian is a choice. I am all for those who forgo meat for health reasons or just for the sake of feeling healthier and leaner. But keep me away from fashion-conscious tree huggers who look at us carnivores with disdain, while stomping around in leather shoes and chomping on Twizzlers touting, "I don't eat meat because of the way animals are slaughtered".

This gets you to the top of my pet peeve list. True, there are many vegetarians who truly follow this mantra and don't wear any fur or leather, however, when was the last time you checked the ingredient statement on your daily dose of candy?

Christien Meindertsma recently published a three-year project called Pig 05049 researching all products made from a single pig. The result -- a whopping 185 items. Seemingly "innocent' things like chewing gum, marshmallows, store-bought bread and Jell-O contain porcine strands -- pig by-products. Pig protein, bone fat and hoofs. If the idea of eating piggly wiggly's hoofs turns you off, keep reading for a quick appetite suppressant.

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Lee Klein

Ketchup didn't start out with tomatoes.

​Labor Day weekend brings hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecued chicken, cole slaw, some baked beans, chips and salsa (and perhaps guacamole), ice cream, beer, lemonade ... well, we can go on quite awhile with this list. Every one of these foods has a fascinating history (except for maybe the baked beans), as do all of the condiments used -- like, say, ketchup, which 97% of American kitchens are stocked with. Each one of us, in fact, consumes on average three bottles of the stuff a year.

Did you know that, like wines, there are good and bad ketchup years determined by the tomato harvest? Neither did I, but now that I do, I think it's high time someone introduced vintage ketchup with the year printed on the label.

Even though you're all very familiar with ketchup, there's probably a whole lot you don't know about it.

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all photos Laine Doss

Forager bees coming home after collecting nectar

​Marcie Davis sells her local honey at the weekly Coconut Grove organic market and online. Wearing a bee necklace, she displays her wares with the smile of a mom showing what her child made in art class - local honey, bees' wax candles in the shape of little hives, soaps. Give her a few minutes and she'll tell you why bees are so important and why she feels so strongly about her hives.

"One third of all your food is dependent on honey bees", Davis says. Even digging into a steak you can thank bees, in part, since livestock eat grass, grain and other plant life.

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​Perhaps I could borrow some honey. (Pooh's stomach growls.) Just a taste. A small lick I should think.

Have you seen the promos for the new Winnie the Pooh movie out today? It's so utterly nostalgic, (dare I even say cute?) capturing even the hearts of grown men.

Focusing on Pooh, he's the king of honey. You could also say that he's one BIG foodie. (Have you seen his belly? The true sign of a food connoisseur.) I could definitely hang with him.

Hell, I'm sure he'd know all the tricks of the trade -- type of bees that make the best honey, the best tasting honey and how to store the procured honey (I bet he'd say pots).

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Astronauts chowing down at zero gravity

​According to NASA, the last space shuttle launch of STS-135 will take place at 11:26 this morning (be sure to turn on the TV). Just as space flight has evolved, so has the astronaut's diet of what used to be Tang and tubes of ham salad and cheddar cheese. In honor of the brave folks about to be shot into space, we bring you ten crazy astronaut food facts:

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Lee Klein

​Great article about deep-frying in this month's Food Arts by Chris Young (co-author of Modernist Cuisine:The Art and Science of Cooking and head of The Fat Duck Experimental Kitchen for five years). Assuming you already know the basics of frying (the oil should be clean and hot, the food very dry), here are ten things that you may not have thought about:

10. Those bubbles you see in the oil after placing food in the fryer represents the evaporation of moisture -- the heat, in other words, is being used to vaporize water rather than to increase the temperature of the food. In fact, these bubbles actually serve to cool the surface of the food, so while the temperature of the fryer may be 400F, the effective cooking temperature is only 200F. Once the water is evaporated, the heat then goes towards browning the surface of the food.

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