The mysterious crabmeat-shark soup at New Kam Fong in Wheaton. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) From everything I’ve read about shark fin soup — whether it’s the starring ingredient’s complete lack of flavor or its impact on the world’s shrinking population of ocean stalkers — I had a hard time understanding how any restaurant could still be serving the stuff. Especially after last week’s report, which indicated that eateries in 14 U.S. cities were essentially serving bowlfuls of endangered shark.

Sure, I get that this is a cultural issue. The shark fin soup isn’t so much about the pleasures contained within the bowl (well, save for texture) as it is about the prestige of merely having a bowl placed in front of you. Given the high price of shark fins, just serving the soup in certain cultures is supposed to convey a sense of the host’s wealth and power. It’s sort of the Chinese equivalent of ordering a bottle of Cristal at the Park at 14th.

I felt no such power or prestige as I sat down to a modest helping of crabmeat-shark soup at New Kam Fong, a neighborhood Cantonese spot in Wheaton with stark fluorescent lighting and a nearly-empty dining room. I felt like a criminal on the black market.

The stink eye? Spot can’t be fooled into eating food she doesn’t like. (Tamar Haspel for The Washington Post)

Editor’s note: As part of her Pig to Table Project, Haspel will update readers on her porcine charges’ progress each week. You can read her earlier posts here and here.

In Yiddish, there are two words for eating: “Essen” is simply to eat, and “fressen” is to eat like a pig.

Keeping pigs has given us the chance to observe fressing up close. Whoever coined the adage about not wanting to see sausage made wasn’t likely going this far back in the process, but he may as well have been. It isn’t pretty.

Pigs eat a lot — and they eat like pigs. They spread their food all over the place; they grunt noisily; and they chew with their mouths open. They climb over each other to reach the food, and fight each other for the last scrap of something delectable.

In one respect, though, pigs get a bum rap. No matter who tells you otherwise, pigs will not eat everything. And even among the things they will eat, they have definite preferences. They are very fond of fish and fish skins. They love eggs, cooked or raw. Any kind of grain — bread, noodles, oatmeal — makes them very happy. They are not, however, overly fond of vegetables.

Local grapes are not just for wine. Several varieties will be available this week at Saturday’s FreshFarm Market in Silver Spring, Saturday’s 14th & U Farmers Market, Saturday’s H Street NE FreshFarm Market, Sunday’s Bloomingdale Farmers Market, Wednesday’s Farmers Market at Maryland and Wednesday’s Foggy Bottom FreshFarm Market.

INTERACTIVE: Click the image above to view our interactive farmers market map.

Also on the tables:

At today’s Ballston FreshFarm Market:

This just in

Farms at Ellis Bay: potted herbs, including Italian basil, sage and oregano.

Gunpowder Bison and Trading Co.: bison kielbasa.

Mickley’s Orchard: string beans; red raspberries; lettuce; seedless watermelon.

Chefs Feed: An app that lets you eat like your favorite toque.The logic would seem infallible: Your favorite chefs produce your favorite foods, so of course you would trust their palates to steer you to other dishes in the area.

Such is the premise of Chefs Feed, a smartphone app that allows chefs to serve as your concierge on where to eat in a number of cities across the country. The app debuted last fall in a small handful of markets, but has now expanded to include the D.C. area.

At present about 25 local chefs are featured in the D.C. portion of the app, including Scott Drewno of The Source, Nicholas Stefanelli of Bibiana, Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central, Mike Isabella of Graffiato and Bandolero, Jamie Leeds of Hank’s Oyster Bar, Eric Ziebold of CityZen and Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve.

Their recommendations, I would suggest, are a reflection of the city where they do business: They’re largely political.

Can you identify the folks who feted Julia Child in 2002 at 1789? ( From Ris Lacoste) Chef Ris Lacoste was kind enough to spend time with her nose in boxes last weekend, looking for old photos of times she spent with Julia and Paul Child, including her job and schooling at Ann Willan’s Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Burgundy, France.

Which presented us with a headscratcher: We could name some of the chefs and Important Food People pictured above. Others looked familiar, but we couldn’t quite match faces with names. And there are those we ought to know but don’t.

Lacoste is next to Julia, on the left, of course. Jamie Stachowski of Stachowski’s Market and Deli is sharing a moment with Julia.

At the far left, next to Stachowski, is Mitch Berliner, of MeatCrafters and co-founder of the Bethesda and Central Farm Markets. (He was in the specialty-food distribution trade at the time, and told us he was asked to bring the ice cream for dessert.)