Friday Faves No. 158

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

The most emotional ad about a strawberry you will every watch. OK, it's really about the epidemic of food waste and how "some 40 percent of all food purchased in the U.S. each year goes uneaten, wasting money, water and energy to the tune of $162 billion." (AdWeek)

The Future of Food Is Lab-Grown, according to some new start-ups. How appetizing they sound runs the gamut, from "fake meat" shrimp made with algae to stem cell meatballs. Sounds like a revolution that's going to be won on messaging and taste.  (Fortune)

Other than seaweed, the new food trend we're seeing everywhere is...weed.  In the Weed: Meet the bakers, chefs and soda makers who are taking the edibles world higher This new wave of products features "weed-infused spicy cheddar crackers, a buzzy iced coffee drink and even steak tartare with truffle oil that's got a little something special." (Tasting Table)

Kickstarter-Funded Chocolate Bar Company Wants to Pay Africans a Decent Wage For Once “There are no Ghanaian workers involved in the traditional or fair-trade production of chocolate (outside cocoa farms) because the production happens outside the continent....Our goal is to bring these jobs to Africa.” (Modern Farmer)

For fruit and veg, suffering might not make them beautiful, but it might make them more nutritious. Beneath An Ugly Outside, Marred Fruit May Pack More Nutrition (NPR)

The slow life of a Cow Cam: Waitrose live-streaming boring videos from the farm. "The strategy is simple: Shoppers want proof of quality food, so why not use modern technology to give them a live look at it? Waitrose does have a good sourcing story to tell, too, having recently become the only supermarket able to guarantee that all the cows that provide its milk and cream have access to grazing." (AdWeek)

Friday Faves No. 140

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

In summer everything slows down, including our blog posting. This Friday Faves is a smattering of some of our favorite stories from the past few weeks. 

A team at MIT has devised away for you to get the last of the sauce out of the jar. LiquiGlide, A New Surface Coating Developed to Let Food and Other Products Slide Easily Out of Their Container  (Laughing Squid)

When Will Native American Food Finally Get Its Due? Most people don't know what plants are native to the Americas, much less what Native American cuisine consists of. (Eater)

Is It Time to Table Farm-to-Table? Sure, this one is full of snark, but also some very good points. (Vanity Fair)

In fast food news, Amy's Kitchen is opening its first all-vegetarian drive-thru restaurant in Sonoma County, California, this month, and McDonald's tries to reach out to a new bike-riding market with new take-away tote. "The packaging then unfolds, revealing two little pockets where the fries and burger have been gently cocooned during the commute. It’s like a little fat- and sugar-filled purse, and it’s great." Well, great except for the actual food. (Well and Good / Wired)

Sweden's wine industry? There is a whole world of wine coming out way. Says one winemaker: “I like to compare Sweden to Central Otago on South Island in New Zealand – the world’s most southerly wine region. It now has some of the best pinot noirs, but for years they said it was impossible because it was too cold.” (Guardian)

Back here at home, new hybrid grapes help grow wine industry. Did you know Indiana even had a signature wine grape? "Across the country we've seen a huge expansion in wine and grape production and wine-related tourism," said Bruce Reisch, who leads Cornell University's wine and grape research and development program in New York's Finger Lakes. (Press Connects via Specialty Food News)

Google Street View Goes Inside California Wine Country The map tool's panoramic views expand to include vineyards, tasting rooms and barrel cellars. (Wine Spectator)

Brew Dog is coming to America — to make beer here. Columbus, Ohio is the lucky destination. (FoodBev Media)

Will we ever be rid of the great Pacific Garbage Patch? Hopefully, yes. The world's first ocean cleaning system will be deployed in 2016. (Minds)

Amazon Plans to Add Its Own Line of Food — Milk, baby food and household products would carry Elements label. "Private labels have become a vital business for mass-market retailers, generating stronger margins and building loyalty with consumers who no longer view generic products as lower quality." (WSJ)

Friday Faves No. 124

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Wine, women and television: Red Wine Is the Drink of Choice on ‘Scandal’ and ‘The Good Wife’ "The way wine is used as a character device in shows like these can tell us a lot about how wine is viewed in popular culture. As much as a small group of wine lovers would like to believe wine has gone mainstream, in fact its portrayal on television as a character prop suggests that many Americans still view it as somehow effete, foreign or, at least, no different than any other alcoholic beverage. (New York Times)

Boldly going where no cafe has gone before, a new science-inspired restaurant opens in MIT's backyard of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The restaurant, Cafe ArtScience has a sister incubator / exhibit space called Le Laboratoire. "Le Laboratoire also has been where Edwards incubates his many offshoot companies. Theres’s WikiFoods, a company that develops edible food skins that are looking to replace plastic packaging and the oPhone, a gadget that sends olfactory messages." (Wired)

Africa's Slow Food, in pictures: "This year Lavazza Coffee and Petrini collaborated on Lavazza’s annual Earth Defenders Calendar to celebrate the farmers of Africa’s Slow Food movement—individuals who safeguard the land, crops and resources in their local communities. The 2015 calendar, featuring photography by Steve McCurry, is a sumptuous visual treat that opens a window into a culture and livelihood most of us know very little about." Proceeds for all calendar sales will go to the “10,000 Food Gardens in Africa” project. (Forbes)

Guilty pleasure read: Jeremiah Tower — just the name is memory lane of 1970s and 80s California cuisine. Is he coming back on the scene? The writer John Birdsall on Tower: "as a know-nothing kid cooking in San Francisco in the late 1980s, I envied and feared Tower like nobody else I ever thought about. Jeremiah was the Jay Gatsby of my own longing for ascendancy, the distant idol of my ambitions, trailed by a rumor-fueled narrative of trouble that, to me, only made him more heroic." (Eater)

Friday Faves No. 120

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

The illustrated sound of frying food in other languages. In English, we say fried eggs "SIZZLE," but in China they go "ZIZI."  (First We Feast)

The Hard And Soft Rules Of Apple Cider Cider sure isn't new, but it's surge in the market is making news.  Check out this full hour radio segment. (On Point)

The gluten police are coming: a new portable device lets diners test foods for gluten. (Eater)

For the stylish bootlegger who like their household objects to multi-task: The Prohibition Kit comprises a fully-functioning cooking pot, fondue stove, fruit bowl and watering can that can be combined to brew alcohol at home. "Producing schnapps, liquor or alcohol is very restricted by the law in most countries," says Morackini. "The separated elements are legal but put together the objects become illegal. I wanted to explore the limit of legislation." (Dezeen)

Charles Spence: the food scientist changing the way we eat An Oxford professor’s research into what affects flavour, from who we eat with to background noise, has influenced food-industry giants and top chefs alike. Now his new book brings food science to the home cook, too. (Guardian)

New York, the World's Greatest Wine City: Swaggering sommeliers, intrepid importers, sophisticated consumers—why even French Champagne producers agree New York is the greatest town for grape. "In New York, wines are decontextualized," he said. In other words, everything has an equal shot—whether it is a bottle from Bordeaux, Rioja or the Priorat. There is no regional bias to overcome. As Mr. Little stated, "It's the most egalitarian city in the world." (WSJ)

Seattle Assesses Fine to Homeowners for Wasting Food "In an effort to encourage residents to stop wasting food, the city council passed an ordinance this last Monday that allows households to be fined $1 each time that garbage collectors find more than 10 percent of organic waste in their garbage bins."
(Triple Pundit)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 85

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

• Singing the praises of masa, from pupusas (above, from a NYT slide show) to arepas and tortillas. "Without the tortilla, there is no taco. And, as the Mexican saying goes: Sin maíz, no hay país. Without corn, there is no country." (New York Times)

• Eau de Toast, a scent to bring bread back into fashion It sold out immediately, but you can always recreate it in your very own toaster. (Laughing Squid)

• Harvard wants to help you geek out over your food with a new free online course Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. Class starts October 8. (NPR)

•  An OpEd on how states can help Keep Farmland for Farmers by the founders of the National Young Farmers Coalition highlighted the difficulty faced by farmland turning into second homes for the wealthy. "Easements are intended to protect farmland, water, animal habitat, historic sites and scenic views, and so they are successful in keeping farms from becoming malls and subdivisions. But they don’t stop Wall Street bankers from turning them into private getaways, with price tags to match....one-quarter of the land trusts that oversee these conservation easements have seen protected land go out of production. Why? A nonfarmer had bought it." (New York Times)

• In Scotland two of our favorite industries are joining together to turn the byproduct of whisky into salmon feed. “Distillery effluent can be damaging, but also contains potentially valuable nutrients and micronutrients. The waste can also be used to produce a microbial biomass which has the potential to be a cheap and sustainable source of protein-rich feed." (Food Magazine)

• Marcella Hazan, teacher, cookbook author and guide to Italian cooking for scores of Americans, died this week at 89. Her New York Times obituary quoted her husband on her notoriously strident style: "'A lot of people had encounters with her because she knew in her mind, in her heart, exactly how things were supposed to be,” Mr. Hazan said on Sunday. “That is what made her cooking great. Marcella wasn’t easy, but she was true. She made no compromises with herself with her work or with her people.'” (New York Times)

• Home cooking site Food 52 did its own tribute to What Marcella Hazan Taught Us (Food 52)

• Ever want a taste of that cake you're bringing to a party later but can't think of a way to cover up where you snuck a taste? Of course you do. The solution to that dilemma has been found in the Nibble, a cake pan with a tiny sidecar for sampling. (Laughing Squid)

• A quick history of the rise and fall, and rise again of craft beer in America. "From 89 to 2,538 [breweries] in three decades might be more than a renaissance, however — we may be witnessing the second-coming of an American craft brewing boom." (Smithsonian)

• And if you've ever debated beer vs. coffee, this infographic explains it all to you. Basically, beer is good for making new ideas and coffee is good for acting on them. (Fast Company)