Friday Faves No. 118

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

These 5 Crops (including the beautiful vanilla, above) Are Still Hand-Harvested, And It's Hard Work  (NPR)

Could Great Lakes Fisheries Be Revived Through Fish Farms? "The reality is that the native Great Lakes wild fishery is in a state of general collapse...If we're going to have locally available fish, it has to come from fish farms." The concerns trade on the assumption that's there's only one way to raise fish. (NPR)

The back of your fridge is a perfectly good babysitter for your starter, but for some, it's the new frontier in helicopter "parenting." (Guardian)

Downton Abby and The Sopranos have had their own cookbook. Now its Portlandia's turn.
Check out the guides below and do head over the cookbook's website to play with the incredible menu generator, spitting out brilliant dishes like "dehydrated wild roses salad of cabbage blossoms" and "communal veal with inverted asparagus and a charred yeast brew paste." (Eater)

Nomiku Sous-Vide Cooking Immersion Tool Adds a Larger Screen and Wi-Fi, available for home cooks. Awesome idea or food poisoning generator? (Laughing Squid)

Friday Faves No. 108

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Since we're all a-buzz with competition and national pride, why not delve in to the World Cup of Food "In the spirit of the World Cup, we offer you a lively and completely subjective global conversation about the merits of the national cuisine of each of the 32 countries competing in Brazil. Can England’s Yorkshire pudding stay the course against pasta al pomodoro? Will Red Red from Ghana emerge victorious over America’s barbeque (North Carolina division)?"
 (AlJazeera America)

National Geographic explores the "Blue Revolution" of progressive aquaculture. Congratulations to Gustavo Valdez on being included — and with some great photos of his shrimp pods. (National Geographic)

Fun with tools: custom carved rolling pins that decorate whole sheets of dough at once (Laughing Squid)

The 'Tastemakers' Who Shape Our Food Trends: From cronuts to kale chips to gluten-free, a look at food crazes and the people who create them. A radio discussion featuring guest (and cronut creator) Dominique Ansel.  (On Point)

Looks like leatherback turtles have favorite hang-out spots to eat. NOAA Scientists recently discovered that most adult leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean return to the same feeding areas between nesting seasons. (NOAA)

Yuck: Australian Honey "Sting" busts importers for passing off sugar syrup as real honey. (The Courier)

Champagne that was salvaged from a shipwreck in the Baltic prompted Veuve Clicquot to create  a "Cellar in the Sea" to monitor aging. (Wine Searcher)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 4

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

 

• Now you can feed the multitudes, with Grilled Cheesus (above).

• The Wall Street Journal wrote on chefs and twitter in @Foodies: Peak Into My Kitchen. "It's a power tool. Before you had to [spend] a quarter-million dollars in ads to do this."

• Trying to find opportunity in the crisis of invasive species, one Illinois company Schafer Fisheries is catching asian carp and making fillets, fish sticks, nuggets and fertilizer.

• Young entrepreneurs are finding inspiration in the past, from Sheep Lawn Mowers to raising chickens. “It’s a gateway to that whole rural dream...And with the type of recession we’re having, there’s stability in it.”

• Why stop at 140 characters when you can bring consumers to a world of information. QR codes provide the anti-tweet for wine and other foods. "I’m looking forward to the day when I will be able to scan a QR Code on a barrel of cheese and be transported to a farm instead of a news review."

• Give 'Em Shell: oysters make new homes at the Oyster Recovery Project on the Chesapeake Bay. Be part of their Shell Recycling Alliance.