Friday Faves No. 149

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

A really great read: “Kelp Is the New Kale.” A New Leaf: Seaweed could be a miracle food—if we can figure out how to make it taste good. "Much as kale needed Barber and his ilk to turn it from a T-bone garnish into a way of life, kelp will need a chef to make us desire it." (New Yorker)

U.N. taps crowdfunding app to tackle refugee camp food shortages "The WFP, which requires $26 million a week to feed the 4 million refugees residing in countries bordering on Syria, earlier cut back its food rations to 1.3 million people due to a funding shortage in 2014." (Reuters)

America, Scotland Thinks You’re Ready to Eat Lungs Now We do love haggis, although I sincerely doubt it's about to sweep the nation with "tens of millions" of new American devotees as Scotland’s rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead hopes. (Munchies)

Urban Ag in Detroit gets even bigger (although as always, more funding is needed) "Recovery Park and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced last week an ambitious plan to create a 60-acre urban farm (35 acres of which comes from the government, through the Detroit Land Bank Authority) to be settled not with new houses for people but greenhouses and hydroponic systems for specialty produce. Recovery Park already operates a pair of smaller urban farms, growing vegetables like radishes, greens, and edible flowers and selling them to restaurants in the city." (Modern Farmer)

Restorative planning is for more than just urban blight: The Sushi Project: Farming Fish And Rice in California's Fields "The salmon project is likely within a year or two of overcoming the last bureaucratic obstacles keeping it from operating as a government-sanctioned method of mitigating environmental harm. Though less-developed, the forage fish venture offers the prospect of global impact by taking pressure off of wild fish stocks. Both projects suggest the rising influence of "reconciliation ecology," which argues for the reconfiguration of human-dominated landscapes to include other species as the only way left to sustain most ecosystems." (e360)

This Food Truck Spends Part Of Its Route Delivering Meals To Hungry Kids "As efficient as food banks are, they still have a hard time delivering food to the margins of our community," says Mike Zserdin from Made Possible By Us, the startup launching the truck. "A lot of times the people who need the food aren't able to get it at the delivery points." (Fast Company)

Friday Faves No. 129

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Even Victorian orphans are foodies now in satirical spins on classic Ladybird illustrations, like one above. (Guardian)

Bone Broth cocktails are now a thing, at least in LA. "For the broth itself, Melendrez boils lamb neck bones for eight hours then clarifies the liquid, straining it through a coffee filter. Instead of a cocktail glass, the hot savory cocktail is served in a shallow bowl garnished with toasted crostini and bits of asparagus, carrots, and cilantro leaves. Does that make it more soup than cocktail? "If you put a Bloody Mary in a bowl, wouldn’t it be like gazpacho almost?" questioned Melendrez. "I’m just trying to change people’s perceptions about what a cocktail possibly could be."' (Eater)

WTF story of the week — Is Kim Jong-Un Really Opening a Restaurant in Scotland? “North Korea is rich in natural resources and we like the taste of Scotch whisky, so [Scotland and North Korea] can be beneficial to each other.” (Munchies)

Despite their smart phone obsessions, Millennials aren't buying their wine online.  (Punch)

Time to buy an extra suitcase for your next visit home, because these are sad times for Brit expat chocolate lovers.

In better news from the UK, the Guardian's video selection was in great form this last week with these two: 

Have you tried the full English breakfast detox? (video) which really sums up what we feel about the detox trend. And then there was 

Americans try haggis for the fist time (video). Some sophisticated souls are on board, some, think of socks. (Guardian)

The Surprising Science Behind Your Favorite Flavors Did our sense of taste make us human? From evolution to culture, a new book explores the science and perception of flavor. (On Point)

Colorado inmates are turing into farmers. "All inmates have to work, whether that’s in the library, or the cafeteria, or somewhere else—you have to do something to keep yourself busy. And over 1,000 guys are on a waiting list for one of the agricultural programs.”

Friday Faves No. 109

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Peruvian food (like the excellent doughnuts at right) is on the rise in Hong Kong "When Hong Kong does eventually catch up, it may come as a surprise just how much local and Japanese influence there is on that far away country's cuisine." (South China Morning Post)

Bring on the Haggis! Scotland to petition US to bring back haggis UK environment secretary to ask opposite number to end decades-old ban and import meat dish once again Maybe haggis should come with video instruction for the intimidated. (Guardian)

Ritz-Carlton Thailand is creating how-to, interactive cooking videos tutorials for guest to use in their home kitchens as a way to continue the guest experience and build brand loyalty.
 (Luxury Daily)

The big guys go small as some mega-retailers try out the small grocery store model  (Seafood Source)

A Museum Devoted to Roast Duck Opens in Beijing Discover the culinary history of roast duck through sculptures and imitation dinners at the newly-opened  (First We Feast)

Prince Charles wants to turn fisheries into investment opportunities New report from prince's sustainability unit says investment in fisheries could be an effective way of saving the world's oceans "It is now time to explore a new approach to investing in the transition, an approach which involves all types of financial capital – from philanthropic to public to private. Each can play an important role and through coordination and integration, different types of capital can work together to finance the transition to self- sustaining fishery systems.” (Guardian)

Baijiu is coming to America, but will the popular Chinese liquor go down smooth? Some people consider it a drink. Some people consider it a form of hazing. "Broadly speaking, Chinese baijiu is a type of super-strong booze distilled usually from sorghum, but other grains as well. It might be medicinal, or not." (The World /PRI)

Whisky, on the other hand, is so popular that fraud is costing the industry. Whisky detective hunts and exposes sham drams  “Water that falls in the Cairngorms is different from water that falls in the Lowlands, and water that falls in Islay is different to water that falls in Orkney. And we can measure the difference. We’ve mapped out the isotopic fingerprint of all the fresh water in Scotland – we call it the isoscape.” (Scotsman)