Sundays New York Times has a beautifully illustrated account of how the U.S. food supply has changed since 1970, based on USDA food supply data.
Yesterdays New York Times published a gorgeous recipe for chocolate chip cookies but I was stunned by the size. The recipe calls for pounds of ingredients but only makes 16 cookies (5 inches in diameter). I couldnt resist looking up the calories on the USDAs food composition data base.