Friday Faves No. 139

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

We resisted watching this, but then, Schadenfreude can be sweet: Hugh Acheson Made Kris Jenner's Nachos And if you still haven't had your fill: The 23 Most Ridiculous Lines From Kris Jenner's Kookbook (yeah, that's how she's spelling it). 1) On her casual taste in dishware: "I am notorious for my table settings and my dishes. If I'm cooking an Italian meal, I will grab my red Hermès china to go with the red sauce." (Eater)

Marketing rule #1 — don't insult your customers. Sexist beer ads: why it's time for a cold, hard rethink. "There is a powerful business case for beer companies to abandon the puerile misogyny and step into the 21st century. The Daily Mail reports that the number of female beer drinkers in the UK has doubled to 1.3 million in recent years, and that women make up 31% of weekly beer drinkers." And the real shocker: "The study, which examined nearly 40,000 banner adverts over a six month period, is perhaps another suggestion that sticking a semi-naked woman next to a product isn’t necessarily the most inventive or effective way to sell it." (Guardian)

Ivory Coast president tours country's first chocolate factory. Chocolate to be made in Ivory Coast for first time despite country being the world’s biggest grower of cocoa beans. "Despite its French ownership, the plant represents a small victory in the continent’s battle to profit from its natural resources instead of exporting them to be processed elsewhere." (Guardian)

Does A Pig Fed With Green Tea Taste Better? Some farmers in Japan think so. Apparently, it works with goats too. (Modern Farmer)

A nice personal essay from David Chang on how war and scarcity can shape a culinary legacy. "At the end of the day, you’re not born a great cook. It’s something you have to learn, and you need something to work with." (Lucky Peach)

The Piggly Wiggly way: Businesses should think carefully about continuing to heap work on their customers. Lots of interesting points here: "The reason why so many people feel overworked these days is that they are constantly being asked to do “unseen” jobs by everybody from Amazon to the Internal Revenue Service to the local school board. And the reason why they feel so alienated is that they spend so much time pressing buttons and speaking to machines rather than interacting with other people." And: "If [businesses] never meet their customers, they will lose touch with them. And although self-service is great for saving costs, its effect over time is to train customers to shop on price, and thus to switch as soon as a slightly cheaper rival comes along." (Economist)

'It's like eating a hedgerow': why do hop shoots cost €1,000 a kilo? Sounds like a bit much to pay for something described as "kale-like," but if people are willing to pay... (Guardian)

Friday Faves No. 138

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

This Morbid Artist Serves Her Cake with a Side of Death (like above, and much more through the link made from chocolate) "The chocolate project came about as kind of a natural progression of having switched to an edible medium,” de Vetten explains. “I was reading Dr. Paul Koudounaris’ book Empire of Death and was marveling once again at the painted skulls displayed in the Ossuary of St. Michael in Halstatt, Austria, and it occurred to me that I could make myself one, in chocolate. I hadn’t really thought about if that would be something my customers would want or aimed at selling. It was just something I wanted to own and as I couldn’t have a real one I made one from chocolate."  (Munchies)

Astoundingly Realistic Candy Animals Skillfully Crafted Using the Traditional Japanese Art of Amezaiku gives a cuter version of sugar art. (Laughing Squid)

Why your next food porn will come from Ethiopia Really, it's about time. (CNN) 

The All-Stars of Stadium Snacks From the best pie in English football to Baltimore’s crab cakes, we serve up the tastiest game-day grub (Mr. Porter)

'Tales' Of Pig Intelligence, Factory Farming And Humane Bacon with Barry Estabrook Good commentary, but not an easy listen. (NPR)

As if you didn't already know that kombucha was up to no good; it's now part of an LA cult bust. (Jezebel)

Is it aliens, or is your microwave talking to you? At one observatory in Australia they were. Rogue Microwave Ovens Are the Culprits Behind Mysterious Radio Signals (National Geographic)

Decaying City Just Wants To Skip To Part Where It Gets Revitalized Restaurant Scene “Sure, we’ll eventually see lobster roll stands and high-end noodle bars popping up on every corner, but that could take years or even decades. Let’s just skim over all the gang turf disputes and burnt-out streetlights and go straight to blocks lined with stores specializing in key lime pies, locally sourced butcher shops, and gourmet empanada places. That honestly seems like the way to go.” (The Onion)

Friday Faves No. 132

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Angst muffins (above). Life is short. Read the full comic here, while you can. (Existential comics)

The furry face of California salmon conservation: beavers. "Wild salmon are adept at crossing the beavers’ blockages. In addition, the dams often reduce the downstream transport of egg-suffocating silt to the gravel where salmon spawn, and create deeper, cooler water for juvenile fish and adult salmon and steelhead. The resulting wetlands also attract more insects for salmon to eat. In ongoing research that covered six years, Pollock and his colleagues showed that river restoration projects that featured beaver dams more than doubled their production of salmon." (On Earth)

Pancake day and Semla — the quieter culinary pursuits of Shrove Tuesday. "But the Protestant Reformation, which swept across Northern Europe some 500 years ago, killed off most of the traditions that made Catholic Mardi Gras so much fun. As they stripped the church of ornate decoration, reformers railed against the feast-and-famine cycle of extremes." At least they still had sugar. (NPR)

Bittman Does Berkeley: Talking Food Politics With Mark Bittman On how the food conversation is evolving: "Labor has really stuck out for me. The fact that people who cared about food did not talk about labor five years ago and now they do talk about labor, that’s a big deal." And to the inseparable issues of food and economic justice: "People are suffering. we need to fix that. but that’s not a cooking problem. if there’s a cooking problem, I can solve it. Cooking is easy. Social justice problems are not so easy." (KQED)

From Cup to Coupe: A History of Our Favorite Champagne Glass With the release of A Year in Champagne in select theaters and on iTunes March 6, we've had Champagne on the brain. (Food52)

With emerging markets such as Russia and China facing disruption, Rabobank has highlighted a shift in exporters’ focus towards the US. (Drinks Business)

Friday Faves No. 130

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

You think those little individual K-Cups of coffee are cute, do you? Sure, this little video is just a dramatization of what could happen. That's what you think now. But it's time to kill the K-Cup before the plastic wins. Don't say you weren't warned. (NPR)

New York’s Health Department Wants to Freeze All of Its Sushi An attack on authenticity? Good public heath sense? Other states already do it. (Munchies) 

Relax, people. You are the boss of your food. Stop being afraid of it. We’re "clean eating" our way to new eating disorders. Is orthorexia about to join the DSM?  (Salon) 

We see perfect produce. He sees pain and danger.  How the produce aisle looks to a migrant farmworker. (PRI/The World)

Bad for fish and bad for people: Meant to Keep Malaria Out, Mosquito Nets Are Used to Haul Fish In  (New York Times)

A Compound in Beer Might Save Your Brain from Degeneration "The beneficial compound is a flavonoid called xanthohumol, which is found in hops (and thus, in beer)." (Munchies)

If that inspired you to get your geek on, and throw around doozies like oxidation and red anthocyanin molecules, we've got you covered. Everything you ever wanted to know about cork, but were afraid to ask. A Chemist Explains Why Corks Matter When Storing Wine  (Wine Folly)

What does a fictional world taste like? Londoners will get a sample as a Game of Thrones pop-up restaurant offers a taste of Westeros. How about a sample of a dish called: “The Lies of Tyrion Lannister and his Proclaimed Innocence” which happens to be poached veal tongue with beetroot, horseradish and Oldtown Mustard”. (Guardian)

And if you think that sounds unappealing, how about beer made from treated waste water? A trial of home brewers and one commercial brewery in Oregon are giving it a go. "Clean Water Services spokesman Mark Jockers said his company is the top provider of recycled water in Oregon. Its high-purity water treatment system turns sewage into water that meets or exceeds all drinking water standards." Want a cricket burger to go with that? (NPR)

Will fish be the next up and coming fake meat? Sounds pretty good compared to "recycled" beer, right? (NPR)

Friday Faves No. 126

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

A new way to wear your dinner (above). "Hatanaka, a Japanese manufacturer specializing in highly realistic plastic food replicas for restaurants, recently entered the fashion business with their line of food replica jewelry and accessories on their website." (Laughing Squid)

Further confusing consumables and wearables, a new fabric has been created using Harris Tweed that will permanently give off the smell of whisky. (BBC)

If your meal was good, but your server stinks, this restaurant in LA will let you tip just the cooks. (Food & Wine)

Budget Problems? Kentuckyand Elsewhere Find Answer in Bottle “'A key factor is the growing interest in American whiskey,” said Frank Coleman, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council. 'Then obviously you have all these ancillary economic impacts,' he said, such as sales of bottles, corn used to make bourbon, and tourism." (New York Times)

Made in China, the boutique version. "The conventional wisdom—or cliché—is that China can reproduce Western manufacturing or technology overnight, but European artisanal culinary delicacies that have evolved over generations are all but impossible to replicate. And yet, even apart from wine, there are dozens of small producers in China who are now attempting to do just that, with surprising success. Truffles, burrata cheese, prosciutto, feta, Roquefort, baguettes, foie gras—almost every Western gourmet item has been tackled by Chinese entrepreneurs for a new audience of adventurous diners." (WSJ via Punch)

SciShow Explains the Chemistry Behind What Makes Spicy Things Taste ‘Hot’ and Minty Things Taste ‘Cool’  (via Laughing Squid)

To the theme of what's (really) old is new again: Mead  (Food & Wine)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 45

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

• Pop culture food spin-offs abound with two new cook books. There's 50 Shades of Chicken (right) for when you feel the need to truss something, and The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook for when you want to indulge your landed gentry side.

• Shining light of the urban food movement Growing Power has announced a $5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to fund “community food centers” aimed at relieving hunger in five of the nation’s poorest areas: Detroit; New Orleans; Forest City, Ark.; Shelby, Miss.; and Taos, N.M. As Grist reported: "Growing Power’s urban projects are frequently the subject of news reports, but the rural ones are rarely described. In the case of the Mississippi Delta, for instance, Allen says, 'Most of the land has gone over to industrial agriculture. It’s devastated those towns, because most of the people used to have their own farms.' Now, he says the area is plagued by drugs, much in the way many urban areas are. And that’s all the more reason why Growing Power’s model can make a difference."

• Rural food deserts really do exist. There may be wide open spaces, but not a decent grocery store in sight. “There’s a lot of people that don’t eat well here...There’s a lot of poor people, too.”

• Fishing in New England is declared a disaster: “Despite fishermen’s adherence to catch limits over the past few years, recent data shows that several key fish stocks are not rebuilding.... Low levels of these stocks are causing a significant loss of access to fishery ­resources with anticipated revenue declines that will greatly affect the commercial fishery.”

• One agricultural sector on the rise is wine. PBS Newshour profiled a community college in Walla Walla, Washington that has created a winemaking degree that "fosters economic, environmental and cultural sustainability in and around the city of Walla Walla where vineyards continue to sprout."

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 43

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

• A sense of whimsy decorates a bar called “Le Nid” (meaning the nest) in Nantes, France.

• Speaking off eggs, this is the most random (yet awesome) food trick — watch how you can separate eggs with a plastic bottle. We tried it ourselves.

• Food has always been part of diplomacy, but now American chefs are being tapped by the State Department as official culinary ambassadors. "The wide-ranging effort creates an American Chef Corps, a network of culinary leaders who could be deployed to promote U.S. cooking and agricultural products abroad."

• In a spirit of goodwill towards the American people, and beer enthusiasts everywhere, The White House has realeased its much-aniticpated home brewing recipes (complete with a video). Cheers!

• Smithsonian magazine takes a visual tour through the history of the lunchbox, from 19th tins to mid-20th century classics, like the Partridge Family and Lost in Space.

• There's nothing more mid-century than nuclear obsession. Cold War–Era Science Shows Beer Will Survive a Nuclear Apocalypse "In a world that had seen the potential of nuclear weaponry and that faced the threat of disaster as America and the U.S.S.R descended into the Cold War, a hierarchy developed around facts society might need to know about nuclear explosions. Number 32.2a on that list, apparently, was understanding 'The Effect of Nuclear Explosions on Commercially Packaged Beverages.' Specifically, beer. And soft drinks."

• Now lunch room politics is about more than choosing between Holly Hobby and Star Wars. In suburban Pittsburgh, students are taking to twitter to protest their low quality school food.

• Urbanization Puts Farms In Africa's Cities At Risk "The survey — which is the first of its kind — looked at city farming in 31 countries, where more than half of Africa's urban population lives. The authors say that governments need to integrate urban farming into city planning, or else the cities may lose one of their best sources of food."

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 36

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

This week we're dedicating ourselves to one of our favorite themes — beer.

• Is it really true that everything good in the universe can be combined into one experience? Rouge Ales is giving it a try with it's new maple, bacon, doughnut beer. 

• First they brought us couches. Then it was meatballs. Now Ikea is in the beer business with the debut of their new dark lager. When they come out with a movie channel, their take over of our living rooms will be complete.

• Las Vegas has a new use for it's most renewable resource — empty beer bottles. 500,000 were crushed and turned into building material.

• From 19th century bound volumes on the best beer to a cache of labels, check out a gallery of beer advertising through the ages.

• We had no idea that London ever fell out of love with beer, but according to the Washington Post, the romance is back on.

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 33

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

 

• We thought the bacon sundae was weird, but in the Netherlands, there's hamburger eye shadow.

• Urban cleanup that earns farmer's market vouchers with a new "trash for food" exchange in Mexico City sounds like a win-win.

• A vertical urban farm in an old meatpacking plant that's also a food business incubator, The Plant in Chicago has lots of space and big plans.

• Another idea that we're excited about: Local Food Lab, a California based incubator and collaborative workspace for early stage sustainable food and farm startups.

• Farming indoors starts to sound like a pretty good idea with crazy weather events like the hailstorm that wiped out Champagne's southern Côte des Bar region. "The damage is estimated at 130% because at least 30% of the 2013 crop will also be affected."

• There's a lovely series from the site Wine Searcher called When We First Met with personal stories of wine and how people have interacted with it. The profile with English writer Matt Walls caught our eye: "Sometimes, particularly with pinot noir, the wine just goes into a bit of a sulk. Nobody knows why. If you open it when it’s in a mood, there’s nothing you can do. It won’t play. You just have to give up. That’s what we had to do with that bottle, and it’s the most expensive bottle of wine I ever bought."

• By helping to spread the message that farming can make for a fulfilling and meaningful life in the 21st century, the Greenhorns and NYFC are hoping to attract a few more new recruits: "It's one of those jobs that provides endless opportunity to create positive change while making a living. As farmers, we're tasked every day with environmental stewardship, sustainable business development, preserving culture, and providing nutrient rich food for our families, friends, and neighbors. Although it can be fraught with stress and exhaustion just like any job, it's an incredibly rewarding way of life," says 32-year-old Brad Halm of the Seattle Urban Farm Company in Washington State. 

• Hands Off our Special Regions, says the European Commission to an American initiative calling for the unfettered use of what are currently protected food and drink monikers, such as Parmesan and port. How 'bout we put some creativity into creating new names. One of our favorites: Quady Winery's Starboard, a port-style wine made in California.

• Some feel that an old name is what's holding back a good fish. In the U.K., Sainsbury is trying to boost pollack's popularity through a new name artsy packaging.

• The best packaging innovation might be edible. "WikiCells is rooted in the way nature has always delivered nutrients: in a digestible skin."

• And from the wild world of innovation, Air Canada Flew Plane Using 50% Cooking Oil Biofuel for First Time

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 30

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

 

• Above, a few of our favorite pins of the week on Pinterest. If you haven't been by to visit us there yet, you're missing out on the fun.

• In serious news: Land grabbing has more of an impact on the world's poor than climate change. "Wherever I went, people were being moved off with little or no regard for their historic or cultural rights. The grabbers want big spaces – 50,000 hectares – and you can only get that if you take commonly owned ancestral lands."

• An OpEd in the New York Times this week took on how sustainability in seafood is messaged to the public. "We should recognize that seafood-labeling systems hold seafood to much higher standards than other forms of agriculture. The same stores that won’t sell an overfished species are selling other foods whose production affects the environment far more."

• Historical chickens: To accompany their story on the history of the chicken as food, Smithsonian magazine dressed up a few birds (in their ready to roast state) as historical figures. via foodiggity

• If you're in the market for something even stranger, Brazilian juice maker Camp Nectar embarked on a two year stunt to highlight that their juice is all natural — growing fruit in the shape of a juice box. Check out the video. via psfk

• A quixotic sweet that endeavors to out-green the competition, the first of a new line of "carbon-neutral" chocolate arrives in Britain by sailing ship from Granada. (It's all so romantic looking that we'll be good sports and not get into the question of how carbon neural anything produced in the modern world is.)

Sing Along Snacks: Food Raps

It's never too early or too late for a snack, so crank up that volume on your computer.

What's Cooking, a new stop motion video where food raps about its favorite subject, food.

Which brought to mind the modern internet classic, It's Getting Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot

Dj Dave tells it how it is. "You know the deal with the little shopping carts they got."

Forget bling, baby. "I'm just trying to find a decent pinot noir for under 20."