Friday Faves No. 180

Our favorite finds from the front lines of food.

 

This summer will mark the 10th anniversary of one of the best (not just food) ads of all time. Created by director Juan Cabral, the 2007 idea was not popular but he ultimately prevailed.  "A brand needs to go to the heart and not to the brain. Gorilla is - in those 90 seconds- trying to take you somewhere".   How are you going to celebrate this landmark anniversary? (Guardian)

Algae here, algae there,  algae everywhere.....no it's not the latest Dr. Seuss crazy, its what's in your food!  It's already in baking mixes, cookies, milk, non-dairy creamer, vegan eggs, salad dressings, ice cream, smoothies and so on. Are you ready for the algae revolution? (Fast Company)

We heard a lot of support last week across social media channels for "A Day Without immigrants".  One of our absolute fave chefs, Jose Andres,  stepped up to close his restaurants to make this very important point.  But it was not just the top chefs or the mom & pop shops.  CNBC reported that some McDonald's closed for the day in support as well.  (Washington City Paper, CNBC)

What is your favorite ice cream?  Coppa, a retailer in Juneau, Alaska, has their answer - Candied Salmon Ice Cream. Yup....they walked away with the Symphony of Seafood top prize this last week. Other winners included a pool and spa clarifier, a leather clutch,  coho salmon bottarga, salmon chowder, salmon bites (for babies) and Orca Bay's albondigas and jjamppong soups.  What a list!  (SeafoodSource)

It looks like Mexico's sugar tax is starting to have an effect on consumption but the jury is still out on how much impact it might have on obesity. (Guardian) 

Friday Faves No. 172

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Oil-cured Coho salmon. We're still waiting on the seafood "charcuterie" revolution. Photo by Polished Brands.

Shop till you flop: Why can’t anyone make money in online grocery delivery? "Despite immense growth in demand in recent years, the online grocery business remains largely unprofitable. As an online grocery business grows, it can no longer rely on sending workers to local grocery outlets to fill orders. Instead, they must invest heavily in more intricate and more costly ordering and logistics systems in order to pick, pack and deliver the near-infinite combinations of items customers select."
(Salon)

‘Big ag’ omega-3 solutions in canola oil, algae stoke fears for fishing companies. It's not good news for fishmeal producers, but it is good news for the oceans and the food chain. (Undercurrent)

Teff could be the next quinoa as Ethiopia boosts exports. Ethiopia’s staple grain is the latest superfood, but there are fears about impact of rising exports on local people who rely on it as their staple food. “What happened with quinoa will not happen with teff. We just won’t let it," said Khalid Bomba, the head of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA). (Guardian)

Time for more product innovation. Sales of specialty meat and seafood are up, and Millennials are pushing the trend. "Specialty frozen and refrigerated meat, poultry, and seafood accounts for 10.5 percent of all meat, poultry, and seafood sales. The category hit $3.6 billion in 2015, jumping 23.1 percent since 2013." (Specialty Food)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 86

weekly round-up of our favorite finds from the front lines of food

 

• Got high temperatures and constant sunlight? Start a roof-top algae farm like these in Bnagkok that grow "super food" spirulina (above). EnerGaia is the company that's making it happen, and they want to feed you their vitamin and protein-rich brew in everything from smoothies to pasta. (Design Boom)

• Wine under attack in France? What's the world coming to? Alas, the tone of a new campaign to tax wine as a health risk sounds awfully American. “Gastronomy, art de vivre, wine in moderation – this is still the majority of the French, but there is a real minority that wants to make illegal everything that could possibly be harmful." Sigh. (Wine Spectator)

• And while that might be shocking, let's just file this under Hell No: sexy food-themed Halloween costumes. (Laughing Squid)

• Food start-up incubator Local Food Lab (not the kitchen space kind of incubator, but based on the business training model tech firms use) is expanding its offerings to reach more entrepreneurs with a new Ask Me Anything series that interviews experts. (Full disclosure — we've been mentors with LFL since its first session over a year ago.)

• Keeping our communities safe for doughnuts is an important civic duty. Cops in the small town of Clare, Michigan took their mission so seriously the bought their local bakery so it wouldn't go out of business. The bakery now operates under the genius name Cops and Doughnuts. (American Food Roots)

• The news that people in the seafood industry have known for years is hopefully coming into the mainstream: farmed salmon is a lot better than it used to be and not every producer is the same. The article doesn't get us all the way there, but it's a step in the right direction. Even Seafood Watch can admit: “Our understanding of the science has changed, and production practices have changed....Some of the older concerns are less of a concern.” (Washington Post)

• From Senegal to the American South: a Charleston chef traces the roots of his favorite Southern dishes back to West Africa. "'The contributions of Africa to beloved dishes like gumbo, jambalaya and collard greens are monumental,' he says. They are dishes born of the terrible legacy of slavery that, as he puts it, "need to find their true voices again." (Food & Wine)