Friday Faves No. 162

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Watch as 10 Swedish children ages 3-9 taste test oysters to find out what they really think.

Swedish kids are no strangers to seafood. They even have fish paste in tubes! But how do you get kids to embrace the oyster? Brasserie Lipp thinks they have it figured out; you give it to them for free! (Seafood Source)

OK....now what? What will the Brexit mean for UK food? (Eater)

Questions over the sustainability of wild harvested seaweeds lead to cancellation of the Maine Seaweed Festival. Some of the organizers say a 'Gold Rush mentality' as the product gains popularity threatens the industry's future, but harvesters disagree. Thoughts? (Portland Press Herald)

Chewing Over Our New Idea Of 'Better' Food At The Fancy Food Show This past week we were at the Fancy Food Show in NYC and so was the iconic Clark Wolf. Here is a small taste of his take on the state of specialty foods: "It's a history lesson, a geopolitical reflection and a mouthwatering decent into a foo coma of bounty."  (Forbes) 

Normally eggshells can be disposed of in the garden, crushed up and scattered on flower beds or just thrown into the compost bin, but what do you do when you are a Scotch egg manufacturer facing the problem of how to get rid of 1.5m eggshells a week? You partner with your local university to create a sustainable and cost-effective way to use the shells. (Guardian)

At the first Refugee Food Festival in Paris, chefs in exile show off their skills: From Refugee Chefs, a Taste of Home “Immigrants here are seen in a negative light, as pulling the country down, as having nothing to offer, but in fact they offer a chance to exchange cultures, to bring something positive: The cuisine of a place gives pleasure.” (New York Times)

From noodles to poodles The tastes of China’s consumers are rapidly changing "Brands that promise healthy lifestyles are also thriving. In a recent survey, the top complaint by Chinese consumers was poor food safety and the next biggest grouse was shoddy health care. These attitudes have helped restaurants and supermarkets with names like 'Element Fresh' and 'Pure and Whole' spread like organic mushrooms across the land." (Economist)

As Chinese, Iranian and Indonesian As Apple Pie A great look at the diverse origins of our favorite foods, but this quote is too fun to not call out: "By the turn of the 20th century, pie had become 'the American synonym for prosperity,' as The New York Times proclaimed in a 1902 editorial. 'Pie is the food of the heroic. No pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished.'" (NPR, The Salt)

Even Vogue is talking about shrimp: Should We Really Be Eating Shrimp? A simple dinner-party question—should one eat shrimp?—sets off on an ethical and gastronomic journey. (Vogue)

Kellogg’s Is Opening Its First-Ever Permanent Café Dedicated Entirely to Cereal in Times Square Get in line for "cereal innovation and delicious experimentation," otherwise known as cereal from the box with fancified toppings like thyme, white chocolate and matcha (not all in the same bowl). (Laughing Squid)

Friday Faves No. 161

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Would make a great fitness class: High Speed Mochi (link to video) (Laughing Sqiud)

Buy some vegetables already. For some growers, farmers markets just aren’t what they used to be. "The decline in sales is, arguably, one result of the contemporary farmers market, which has evolved to meet the needs of a new generation of shoppers who view these outdoor markets as more a lifestyle choice than an opportunity to support local agriculture." More sophisticating marketing can help: "But market managers say farmers must also help themselves if they want to survive and thrive in this new era. It’s not enough to simply show up at a market and expect consumers to buy all your gorgeous, freshly harvested stone fruits and greens. Farmers must be attuned to consumer demand and be better marketers and shopkeepers, even at their makeshift outdoor stands." (Washington Post)

There is always room for compassion, and another bakery: Syria’s Beloved Sweet Shops Follow Its Refugees Into Exile "Civil war has scattered Syria’s bakers, pastry chefs, and restaurateurs. For the foodies—and children—in their new communities, it’s a tasty turn of events." (National Geographic)

We're not generally fond of "food as medicine" headlines, but we do love our seaweed. Seaweed Could Help Fight Food Allergies (Food & Wine)

The New York Times is barely dipping its toe in here, but the further we get from the "farmed = bad, wild = good" trap the better. Farming for Fish As leading chefs are turning away from the sea and toward sustainable hatcheries, it seems we’ve just begun to skim the surface of aquaculture (New York Times)

A great new food site for the breakfast obsessed — Extra Crispy with some really fine personal essays like: Soup is the Breakfast of Kings 

The future is in the works, with both rising interest in sustainable food and domestic production in China: International hotel chain starts serving 'low carbon' Chinese salmon (Seafood Source)

Friday Faves No. 157

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Seaweed is good eating, as these wooly beast know. Saving seaside Scottish sheep: The future of a rare, seaweed-eating sheep in Orkney looks more secure, thanks to the work of a new charity. (Country Life)

Figuring out how to get humans to do what's good for them can be a bit more muddled. "It’s nice to see Mark Rylance’s bottom. But our oceans deserve better" Getting celebs to take their kit off won’t change attitudes to overfishing. The public are intelligent beings, not morons who have to be bribed to pay attention. (Guardian)

Traceability in Seafood Chain About Money, Not Just Ethics Not much of a surprise. "But traceability also comes at a cost. Providing the story of the catch means disentangling the seafood supply chain, which involves communicating with harvesters, shippers, wholesalers and retailers on the chain of custody. Buyers might also require some kind of independent third-party certification program." (New York Times)

Rise of the Grocerant with more and more prepared foods sold at retail. And putting restaurant seating in and around retail isn't just for Eataly anymore. “Providing on-trend menus is only the beginning. More retailers are creating in-store areas with seating and table service like a traditional restaurant, if not operating full restaurants in, or adjacent to, their stores. Non-food retailers have proven the success of this model, Johnson notes: in-store foodservice at Nordstrom’s can rake in nearly $1 million in sales a year per unit, and Ikea’s casual dining operations do well over $2 million per store.” (Specialty Food)

Food and fashion cross-pollinate again: Nike Is Releasing a Chicken-and-Waffles-Themed Shoe (Munchies)

Friday Faves No. 153

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Wishing a good Burns Night to all our Scottish friends! Scotland's beloved poet (above) looking quite delicious. Artist Prudence Staite creates edible portrait of Robert Burns using Scottish Breakfast items for a promo by Toby Carvery restaurants. (Scotsman)

What were all those chickens for if we weren't eating them? Chickens Weren’t Always Dinner for Humans (New York Times)

The sonic meal — how sound influences your food experience. Take a listen and run your own little experiment. (Science Friday)

Seaweed, seaweed everywhere — or at least it seems so to us. We approve. Move Over, Kale: Dulse is the Superfood of the Future (Fast Company)

Why we’ve been hugely underestimating the overfishing of the oceans. "A study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that the national data many countries have submitted to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has not always accurately reflected the amount of fish actually caught over the past six decades. And the paper indicates that global fishing practices may have been even less sustainable over the past few decades than scientists previously thought." (Washington Post)

From Candy To Juleps, Persians Left Imprint On Many Edible Delights "Iran was the first home of many commonly used herbs, from basil to cilantro, and to scores of familiar preparations, including sweet and sour sauces and almond pastries. We know that quinces, pomegranates, almonds, fenugreek (despite its name), cumin, coriander and mustard seeds went from Iran to the West." (NPR)

Food and Drink Trend lists abound, but this UK-focused list is particularly delightful with quite a few things we hope catch on, from immersive dining to Alpine cuisine and a mead revival. (Drinks Business)

Friday Faves No. 152

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

image via Civil Eats

Oyster farmers and lobstermen are turning to probiotics to fight bacteria that has been wreaking havoc for more than a decade. "The problem of bacterial infections in hatcheries has been worsening over the past decade as the waters of the Northeast warm. Rheault, who is now the president of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, says that thanks to climate change, bacterial infections now kill off 10 to 20 percent of the Northeast’s shellfish larvae each year. And because the bacteria, Vibrio, gets into the tanks via seawater, it affects not only shellfish but also lobsters, by turning their shells black and making them impossible to sell." (Civil Eats)

More Hospitals Are Ditching Antibiotics In The Meat They Serve "Hospitals understand antibiotic resistance, and they're being asked to steward their own use of antibiotics. So it's very easy for them to say, 'Livestock producers need to be doing their part, too.' " (NPR)

Nation's first vegan butcher shop to open in Minneapolis "The pair have attracted quite a following since they first started serving up their signature maple glazed bacon, Sriracha brats and other meatless wonders at farmers markets around the Twin Cities in 2014. They spent three years perfecting the recipes, using ingredients such as yeast, soy, juices and a blend of seasonings. The opening of a vegan butcher shop is yet another sign of the rise of fake meat in American diets. Since 2012, sales of plant-based meat alternatives have grown 8 percent, to $553 million annually, according to the market research firm, Mintel." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

NOAA expands opportunities for U.S. aquaculture: Groundbreaking rule opens the door for seafood farming in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully the Gulf of Mexico is just a start: "The groundbreaking rule creates a coordinated permitting system for the Gulf of Mexico, opening the door for the region to expand seafood production and create new jobs in an environmentally sustainable manner." (NOAA)

Slow fish: Preventing waste via packaging: BluWrap technology extending product shelf life, reducing carbon footprint of seafood. "He’s making it his mission to get fresh fish off airplanes and onto ocean-bound cargo ships where it may take weeks to reach its destination. And he says he can do it without ice or environmentally unfriendly Styrofoam — lingering symbols of just how antiquated the seafood supply system is in comparison to today’s high-tech world. 'There’s a myth that time is the biggest enemy to fresh proteins,” he said. “But the truth is that oxygen and temperature, not time, threaten freshness.'” (GAA Advocate)

Everything you ever wanted to know about salmon propagation, but were afraid to ask: To Save Its Salmon, California Calls in the Fish Matchmaker. At a hatchery on the Klamath River, biologists are using genetic techniques to reduce inbreeding, though some argue natural methods are more effective. (New York Times)

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. 102

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Trendy Kale has been getting around. Meet the newest celebrity offspring (above).  (Modern Farmer)

Romancing the Soybean: Agribusiness Funds 'Farmland' To Counter Hollywood Message  Says Randy Krotz, with the Farmers and Ranchers Alliance: "How do you get to millennials?...How do you get to ... a transparency generation? Let's show them a little more about how their food is raised firsthand." You can view the trailer here.  (NPR)

The EC-funded Diversify Project is trying to get more and different kinds of fished raised in Europe. But how much effort will be put into bringing buyers and tastemakers along? "Cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens make up the vast majority of meat consumed around the world, and every time someone has the bright idea of introducing something like crocodile, ostrich or coypu to the market, the general reaction from taste panels is “Mmmm, nice! It tastes just like chicken or pork or beef....In a few years’ time, will we see taste panels saying “Mmmm, nice! It tastes just like salmon.”? (Seafood Source)

The growing popularity of ancient grains has caused a spelt shortage. (Probably never thought you'd read that phrase.) Spelt flour 'wonder grain' is set for a price a hike as supplies run low (Guardian)

Can seaweed burgers and potato mayo feed a growing world population? It's just seaweed people. Compared to eating bugs, this one should be easy. (Science Nordic)

Friday Faves No. 94

Happy Chinese New Year! A look at some amazing sugar artistry with dragons on a stick in the video above.

Here's why some Peruvians are giving up jobs as lawyers and accountants to become chefs: "Julio Hevia, a psychologist, says Peruvians embracing their cuisine is about more than just the food, or even cultural diversity. 'It's a way of compensating, of escaping, of disconnecting,” Hevia says, “of inhabiting something like the Matrix — a parallel reality. I've always felt that in our culture we have a sense of a parallel reality.'"(PRI / The World)

Startup Brings Fresh Food to Chicago, One Vending Machine at a Time (Modern Farmer)

Seaweed is such a hip ingredient that it's now hitting the mainstream food press destined for middle America. (Bon Appetit)

RIP Pete Seeger. He was always an inspiration and will be missed. In keeping with his support of folk ways, here he is singing about making maple syrup.

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 70

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

 

• A new European regulation on laser marking technologies has been adopted by the EU commission and seeks to replace sticky labels on fruit (like above). "Because production of adhesive stickers requires natural resources (wood for paper, energy, water, etc…) as well as chemical substances (glue & ink production), the project proposes a sustainable solution for food labeling. In addition, the process reduces energy consumption and GHG emissions, while guaranteeing full information about origin and production conditions."

• The economy in Europe is forcing Spanish companies to sharpen up and look to exports: "Spain must reinvent itself as an export-oriented, high-value-added economy, says Fernando Casado, director of the Business Council for Competitiveness, a group of big companies." We hope more delicious products are on their way to North America.

• Food production has a long history of labor abuse, which is still going strong in the global food system, according to a report last week from the US State Department on human trafficking. "This year's report looks at things like the fishing industry — and actually raises a question that I think all of us should be asking, which is: How much of my life is impacting modern-day slavery? Do I know where the shrimp is being caught or processed that is on my plate?"

• With Silver Bells and Oyster Shells (and So Their Gardens Grow) "The oyster industry has grown nearly 20 percent yearly in states like Rhode Island, Virginia, and Massachusetts, over the past decade, and owning a restaurant in which to sell the product is becoming a more common business model for oyster farmers."

• The trend that's cropping up all over — seaweed. It's everywhere, from the musing of a seaweed foragers on Scotland's Isle of Bute, to getting fried as chips in San Francisco to seaweed butter in Nashville. 

• And speaking of Nashville, there seems to be great things happening on that food scene every time we look.

• Eat this: local Houston restaurant Underbelly debuts a "Cease and Desist" burger in response to trademark infringement threats from the In-N-Out chain. And now, through the power of snarky humor, they've gotten a ton of press for it.

• More than the smell of fries will be wafting from McDonald's. In a wacky cultural mash-up, McDonald's Singapore is offering a Durian Crunch McFlurry based on a fruit so stinky, it's been banned from being eaten in public in several countries. 

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 55

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

• Mermaids who ride lobster, and other glamorous menu art of decades past from Smithsonian Magazine. And if you're wondering what an oyster loaf is, read here. Hint, it's from San Francisco.
  

• AUA’s Resources Working Group is working with the Chicago Urban Agriculture Mapping Project to inventory and map the thousands of urban agriculture projects (urban farms, community gardens, residential vegetable gardens, school gardens, etc.) underway across the Chicago metro area.

• New web service Feastly says it's aiming to be the Airbnb of the food world, creating alternatives to impersonal dining the way that the travel rental company has created an alternative market to generic hotels. "We want to be in every city in the world so wherever you're traveling, you can find a home-cooked meal," Danny Harris, co-founder of Feastly, tells The Salt.

• One of our new favorite ingredients was highlighted in Tasting Table this week in a profile of Chef Joshua Skenes of Saison in San Francisco and his obsession with seaweed. Stay tuned for lots more on cooking with seaweed in our latest culinary project, New Gaelic Cuisine, a cookbook featuring the artists and ingredients of Scotland.

• Food waste, the eco-issue we all feel participate in, but it might be easier than you think to not throw out so much. Food writer Louisa Kasdon explains. "You know “sell-by” dates? Also known as “use-by” dates, or the more euphemistic “enjoy-by” dates. Whatever you call them, it turns out most of them are marketing malarkey with a slim relationship to ensuring that food is actually fresh and safe to eat."

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 22

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

• Too pretty to eat, pantone tarts by Emilie Guelpa.

• Mountain-city-saliva-chicken anyone? There's a new campaign in China to make menu translations less literal (and less gross).

• Pesticides and the fate of the honey bee: Three new studies link bee decline to Bayer Pesticide. Their products are used on corn, soy and more.

• Those crazy cephalopods, one minute you see them, the next minute they've turned into something else... rare footage of the mimic octopus.

• An Atlantic vintage? A Pacific vintage? "You can think of the world’s oceans as a kind of rich broth. They’re full of salt, of course, but they also contain other ingredients, many of them vital to marine life and to the processes that control the Earth’s climate." Not strictly a food story, but we appreciated the metaphor.

• One more story from the deep: Unlocking Seaweed’s Next-Gen Crude — Sugar (although intended more for cars and fertilizer than doughnuts).

• Feeling nostalgic for one of our favorite culinary innovators, we happened on this Swedish Chef collection. Bork! Bork! Bork!

• Usually, we go looking for the bizarre. Occasionally, it shows up in our mailbox, like this promotion for a bacon coffin. "We think that your final resting place deserves the eternal glory that is bacon." And Penelope the Pork Fairy says, "Amen."