A celebration of the America worker, Labor Day was first celebrated in 1882 in New York City. By 1885, municipal ordinances were passed declaring the day an official celebration. By 1887, Oregon had become the first state to pass legislation declaring Labor Day a holiday.

In 1894, the U.S. Congress made it official.

Like most national holidays in America, the driving force behind the celebration is food. Though I consider grilling a year-round activity, some consider Labor Day as the point of food transition – a grand goodbye to the summer grilling days (if largely ceremonial). If you enjoyed our Memorial Day food and drink Twitter guide, consider this part two – more Twitter accounts to follow for recipes and tips for Labor Day and beyond –

Beer Advocate – Beer tweeting fun by @JasonAlstrom @ToddAlstrom (Alström Bros), Founders of BeerAdvocate. Hardcore champions of craft beer. Respect #Beer Tweets.

Founders of one of the most popular beer sites in the world, the Beer Advocate guys introduce you too some interesting brews that you may never have thought to try.

Serious Eats – In ur place, eatin’ ur f00dz.

Meathead Goldwyn – Barbecue Whisperer, Hedonism Evangelist, HuffPost Columnist, publishes world’s most popular BBQ website.

The Meat King. I once made his kicked-up pimiento cheese recipe and whoa…forever a fan.

Imbibe – Imbibe is your ultimate guide to liquid culture, from coffee to cocktails.

Eatocracy – We’re CNN’s food blog & we’re here to make you hungry.

Grilling Guide – How To Grill Anything. Great grilling tips and recipes.

Mark Bittman – Writer on food for New York Times Opinion and Magazine, and others. Author of Food Matters & How to Cook Everything.

He just know his stuff. About everything. Simple as that.

Enjoy the holiday!

Although Allison is not a professionally trained chef, he told us that he has always had a passion for cooking. However, he does not enjoy cooking for people. He believes that cooking should take place in a social environment. So, when he got on Google+ and began to play with Hangouts with his good friend and fellow foodie Eric McKee, he said it didn’t take long to develop the idea for the Google+ Cooking School.

“As soon as I got into it, it was a light bulb moment,” said Allison. “I realized that’s what we needed to be utilizing to teach people how to cook.”

“It was one of those real eureka moments, and it happened almost the second we got into the Hangout,” he added.

The show has taken off rather quickly and has already established a following. Allison conducts the classes in his own kitchen with two cameras, one for capturing a close-up angle of the stove, chopping block, or other in-depth procedure he is working on, and the second camera for getting an overall shot of the process.

The biggest challenge for Allison and McKee is the fact that, at this point, Google only allows 10 people to be a part of a Hangout. It makes for a cozy kitchen but makes for some great limitations for a hopeful startup. To handle this challenge, the Google+ Cooking School has tried to keep the classes very frequent. They have taken place on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday basis, but Allison told us that they plan on varying the times up.

They have also partnered with Hangout Party, which streams the Google Hangout to their site so that more people can watch the show. Allison said they plan to work more with this site.

Just as Steve Rubel and others recently shared with us, Allison and McKee are also hoping that Google will raise the limit on the number of people that can attend a Hangout. Until that time, however, they plan on working with what they have.

Their methods have seemed to be effective so far because they have already launched the concept into a business. They created a website called The Social Skillet that will archive all the free cooking classes after they air on Google+. In addition, they will offer special skills classes with prices starting at $20 per class to help fund the venture.

At this point, their business model is the typical tech startup motto of “build it and they will come.” They plan to offer more skills classes and will likely incorporate advertising in the future. Allison was quick to point out that they would never have a site that was overrun with advertising. He said that content would always be the most important and most prominent aspect of The Social Skillet.

“Two months into it, we have an idea of what we think the business model should be like,” said Allison. “Every single day, we’re taking that, and we’re testing it against what is the reality of the marketplace. So, it’s absolutely a work in progress.”

Despite figuring out the ins and outs of monetization, Allison and McKee are excited about their startup. And you have to admit, their idea is pretty impressive.

Allison told us that they were not on the level of Le Cordon Bleu or anything, but that they thought they could reach an audience aimed at mom n’ pops and families.

“We think that’s a niche in the market that has a huge amount of potential, and we’re looking forward to exploring it,” he said.

It’s no secret that No Reservation‘s Anthony Bourdain doesn’t exactly love what the Food Network has to offer. If you’ve ever watched his show (one of the best on TV), you would have gathered that from the frequent jabs at celebrity chefs Sandra Lee, Paula Deen and Rachael Ray.

His Travel Channel show is not the only place where Bourdain hits out at the Food Network lineup. The outspoken food personality recently spoke to TV Guide Magazine and had this to say:

About Paula Deen:

The worst, most dangerous person to America is clearly Paula Deen. She revels in unholy connections with evil corporations and she’s proud of the fact that her food is fucking bad for you. If I were on at seven at night and loved by millions of people at every age, I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s OK to eat food that is killing us. Plus, her food sucks.

He went on to say he is glad he’s not Guy Fieri and ask why Rachael Ray even bothers to cook anymore.

His criticism of Paula Deen made its way to Twitter, where his @NoReservations account has been pretty active since yesterday:

Bourdain then links to a Paula Deen recipe on FoodNetwork.com

Paula Deen has yet to respond on Twitter, but she did talk to the NY Post about Bourdain’s comments.

“Anthony Bourdain needs to get a life,” she said. “You don’t have to like my food, or Rachael’s, Sandra’s and Guy’s. But it’s another thing to attack our character.”

She went on to discuss how her cooking has helped to feed millions of hungry people and asks what Bourdain has done to contribute “besides being irritable.”

“You know, not everybody can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine. My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills . . . It wasn’t that long ago that I was struggling to feed my family, too,” she said.

What do you think? Is a doughnut burger bad for an already obese America? Let us know in the comments.

The deal includes Lagasse’s television programs, his library of a dozen cookbooks, the Internet site emerils.com, and kitchen and food products. Lagasse’s eleven restaurants and corporate office, called Emeril’s Homebase were not part of the transaction.

Martha Stewart Living is hoping to leverage its skill of creating celebrity brands to grow Lagasse’s businesses, which will run as its own unit within Martha Stewart Living the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company said the deal will "contribute immediately to our performance," bringing in $8 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. In 2007 Lagasse’s properties being acquired  generated $14 million in revenue.

The deal could be worth as much as $70 million if certain performance goals are met in 2011 and 2012. Martha Stewart Living said the deal is expected to close in the second quarter.