Taco Bell Is 50 Years Old And More News

The Daily Meal's Weekly Media Mix rounds up the week's big food stories.

Industry
• Taco Bell turned 50 this week — it started off with a "fried-to-order shell" and made its way to Doritos Locos Tacos. Here's to 50 more years of 2 a.m. drunk burrito fests. [OC Register]

• How are pop-ups more popular (and profitable) than regular old storefronts? [WSJ]

Restaurants
• Smashburger has introduced a new burger called the Fresh Mex Burger, a beef patty topped with avocado, cilantro, onions, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and a spicy chipotle mayo on a Mexican roll. [Marketwatch]

Environment
• McDonald's is trying out paper cups instead of those weird Styrofoam-y ones for their coffee. They'll also have to invest in cup sleeves, we imagine. [MSNBC]

Chefs
• Grant Achatz has settled for an undisclosed amount in a lawsuit against a dental clinic who failed to identify his tongue cancer. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Travel
• Delta is introducing a slew of fancy-schmancy food stops to New York's LaGuardia Airport, bringing in chefs like Michael White, Andrew Zimmern, Andrew Carmellini, Anne Burrell, and Aarón Sanchez. Traveling just got a little bit better. [PR Newswire/Marketwatch]

Food
• How to pair food and flavors using science, and does it really work. [PopSci]

Shame of the Week
• A middle school food fight turned into a full-fledged brawl. You kids are doing something wrong. [Buzzfeed]