Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 66

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

• Pinkhouses, like at right, could be the more energy-efficient future of vertical farming. "A photon is a terrible thing to waste...So we developed these lights to correctly match the photosynthesis needs of our plants. We get almost 20 percent faster growth rate and save a lot energy."

• Luxury Daily goes over the seven deadly sins as applied to QR codes, and they're right on. "Gluttony Just because they exist does not mean that you should engorge your marketing collateral with QR codes."

• Michael Pollan on Why Bacteria Aren’t the Enemy and the cheesemakers and fermenters who are “pacifists in the war on bacteria.”

• A powerful use for spoiled food: Kroger Co.'s anaerobic digester in Compton takes unsold food from Ralphs and Food 4 Less and converts it into 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

• In a display of branding gone bad, Nutella's parent company Ferrero want to ban World Nutella Day as an unlawful use of it's mark.

• A thoughful piece that explores How Twitter is Reshaping the Future of Storytelling "For people who love compelling writing, there’s something tantalizing about lines being shared one at a time. A line on its own changes a reader’s relationship to the very texture of the syllables and ideas. Twitter story experiments aren’t shackled by the linear requirements of paper."

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. 32

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

• What the Pork Fairy might get as a tattoo, on the cover of Lucky Peach food journal.

• "Driven by a growing awareness that the only thing local in most “local” beers is the water, microbrewers all over the country have begun using regional hops, fruits and honey. Now, many are taking the next logical step and snapping up local grains." Malters Bring Terroir to the Beer Bottle: Mr. Stanley (profiled in the article) "hopes the malt revival can stem the tide of hop-heavy pale ales, enabling craft brewers to focus on malt’s sweet, rich character and, in turn, open up a new kind of terroir for American craft brewers to explore."

• Terroir aside, the future of farming may be up in the air. Microbiologist Dickson Despommier talks about the concept of skyscraper farming. (audio clip) With increasing problems of soil pollution in China especially, many people worldwide may have no other choice.

• June 11 was World Day Against Child Labor. Consider The Children in Our Fields and The food movement’s final frontier: Taking care of workers

• Put you money in bottles? French funds turn to wine as safe-haven investments. "Numerous studies have shown that great wines have, since 1950, consistently outperformed financial markets."

• AgLocal wants you to have meat from small-scale farms, accessible by smartphone. KC-based Startup Takes Aim at Meat Distribution Paradigm

• It's Pastured Poulty Week in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia with over 30 chefs serving pastured birds to introduce them to the public. Chefs explain, that means new education for both customers and staff: “A few years ago we were able to get a very small supply from a gentleman in South Georgia, and when we would serve it, people would say things like it, ‘It’s too flavorful’ — which was funny to me, because, you know, this is what chicken actually tastes like. It made us realize that,  if we were going to change people’s minds about the product, we would have to do it with some education attached.”

• The Guardian asks: Should we be eating more goat? "When goats are bred for dairy farming, the billies are killed at birth. Why not rear them free-range for meat instead? Says one farmer: "The idea of treating my billies as a waste product doesn't sit comfortably."

• For those who want to eat less meat, or none at all, there may be better options in the future. Twitter cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are investing in a vegan meat company called Beyond Meat.