Friday Faves No.110

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

A summer ride worthy of Wallace & Gromit!

Orange is the new black...Close call for the Tillamook Cheese micro-buses. They were stolen last weekend but they have been recovered and arrests have been made. These custom mini-buses are worth $100,000 each! (ABC)

This past week we saw Bastille Day come and go...but the debate is still on about the merits of France's "fait maison" law. Will chefs be able to keep their heads? (Guardian)

First the sugar companies and brewers were fined for price-fixing....now it's the würst-case scenario for 21 German sausage manufacturers slapped with a whopping 338 euro fine. (Guardian)

Italian in-mates on Italy's last island prison of Gorgona are learning the craft of high-end wine making. This Vermentino and Ansonica grape blend production is only 2,500 bottles, selling in the U.S. at $90 each. (The Salt, NPR)

In other news from Italy, Alberto Alessi talks about many of their iconic designs. Kettles, coffee pots to juicers, this is pure design poetry. (Dezeen)

Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Heather Ale" beer-themed poem was turned into a comic book for Glasgow's Comic Con. What's next? We can only imagine.... (Dram)

SPOILER ALERT! Real food truck owners review the new movie Chef.  We loved it!  (watch the trailer)

Friday Faves No. 109

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Peruvian food (like the excellent doughnuts at right) is on the rise in Hong Kong "When Hong Kong does eventually catch up, it may come as a surprise just how much local and Japanese influence there is on that far away country's cuisine." (South China Morning Post)

Bring on the Haggis! Scotland to petition US to bring back haggis UK environment secretary to ask opposite number to end decades-old ban and import meat dish once again Maybe haggis should come with video instruction for the intimidated. (Guardian)

Ritz-Carlton Thailand is creating how-to, interactive cooking videos tutorials for guest to use in their home kitchens as a way to continue the guest experience and build brand loyalty.
 (Luxury Daily)

The big guys go small as some mega-retailers try out the small grocery store model  (Seafood Source)

A Museum Devoted to Roast Duck Opens in Beijing Discover the culinary history of roast duck through sculptures and imitation dinners at the newly-opened  (First We Feast)

Prince Charles wants to turn fisheries into investment opportunities New report from prince's sustainability unit says investment in fisheries could be an effective way of saving the world's oceans "It is now time to explore a new approach to investing in the transition, an approach which involves all types of financial capital – from philanthropic to public to private. Each can play an important role and through coordination and integration, different types of capital can work together to finance the transition to self- sustaining fishery systems.” (Guardian)

Baijiu is coming to America, but will the popular Chinese liquor go down smooth? Some people consider it a drink. Some people consider it a form of hazing. "Broadly speaking, Chinese baijiu is a type of super-strong booze distilled usually from sorghum, but other grains as well. It might be medicinal, or not." (The World /PRI)

Whisky, on the other hand, is so popular that fraud is costing the industry. Whisky detective hunts and exposes sham drams  “Water that falls in the Cairngorms is different from water that falls in the Lowlands, and water that falls in Islay is different to water that falls in Orkney. And we can measure the difference. We’ve mapped out the isotopic fingerprint of all the fresh water in Scotland – we call it the isoscape.” (Scotsman)

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 No. 107

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Lobster Rolls Take London As all New Englanders know, the lobster roll is the best thing to happen to summer since ice cream. How did this possibly take so long to jump the pond? (Guardian)

We told you beer was good for you, and so is the waste from brewing: Spanish scientists have developed a new biomaterial from waste discarded after beer brewing which can be used to regenerate human bones.  (Drinks Business)

How could we not have a world cup story? Pass the ketchup: World Cup 2014 players dip into favourite foods England has tomato sauce to hand while pasta is Italy's preferred fuel before matches, says their team nutritionist (Guardian)

Walmart China Is Substantially Upping Its Food Safety Game In light of rampant food fraud in China, the multinational giant is throwing $48.2 million at the problem. Says a Walmart rep: “We see this as our future home market." (First We Feast)

Yes, you will have to get your own idea if you wan to be different. Craft-beer: One strategy won’t fit all shows why you shouldn't only look at your competitors when you need brand inspiration (Drinks Business)

Goats In The City? Making A Case For Detroit's Munching Mowers (NPR)

This story was everywhere last week, but just in case you missed it: Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK It's a situation you really should know about. "I thought I was going to die," said Vuthy, a former monk from Cambodia who was sold from captain to captain. "They kept me chained up, they didn't care about me or give me any food … They sold us like animals, but we are not animals – we are human beings." (Guardian)

Friday Faves No. 106

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

We've got a lot o beverage stories this week. Hey, it's a summer Friday.

Now sophisticated pets can join happy hour with their own specially-blended beer for dogs and wine for cats. Pet cocktails (pet-tails?) are obviously next.  (Drinks Business)

Open Source Seeds: "Inspired by the open-source software movement, the Open Source Seed Initiative has quietly spent the last two years developing a cache of seeds that they released to the world at a launch event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May." Said Irwin Goldman, a University of Wisconsin researcher leading the initiative: “We decided to essentially create a national park for seeds, a protected commons. We feel there is a window of time. We need to do this now or else we won’t be able to do it.” (Fast Company)

San Francisco – and Sean Penn – show a city’s heritage bars are worth saving (Guardian)

San Francisco Bay Area folks can go drink some history with this list

Demand for (Very Expensive) Customizable Whisky on the Rise Diageo PLC, maker of Johnnie Walker, can create a customized blend of whisky tailored exclusively to your palate for $130,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. (Punch)

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down...“Edible escapism” is how Brits are getting themselves through the slow economic recovery.  (Anxiety Index)

This really isn't good for anyone: Global Hunger for Protein Fuels Food-Industry Deals. "The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has projected that by 2030 the average person will consume about 99 pounds of meat a year, versus 86 pounds in 2007 and 73 in 1991." (Wall Street Journal)

Friday Faves No. 105

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Discerning pollinators in Toronto will now be residing at the “Bee Hotel” on the roof of the Fairmont Royal York. “We’re certainly hoping to positively sustain and support the bee species, but we’re also doing this to drive awareness and education, so this issue comes to the surface and hopefully others will take action.” The hotel uses its restaurant to showcase the project by featuring herbs from their garden (which the bees have pollinated) and honey that they make. (Luxury Daily)

How Atomic Particles Helped Solve A Wine Fraud Mystery Those of you who've read The Billionaires Vinegar will be familiar with this story and how detecting atomic activity can help detect wine fraud. If not, you can get the quickie version in this Kitchen Sisters radio spot. (NPR)

Spreading the Nutella wealth: Italy's sweet success at 50  We still remember our first tastes of Nutella, hand-carried over from France before you could buy it in the US. It came with the realization that there were places in the world where everything tasted amazing and people were eating chocolate for breakfast. (Guardian)

What does meat taste of? When we describe meat dishes we rely on unhelpful words such as lamby or beefy. Why is it so hard to explain what meat tastes like, and what are its distinctive flavours made up of? This is your nerdy read of the week, including the fascinating fast fact that some Southeast Asian tribes allocate specific names to smells, just as we do colors. (Guardian)

When the real estate business use community gardens to sell: Gentrification and the Urban Garden “Our work wasn’t the cause of gentrification, but our programs and our aesthetics were being used to sell land and help displace people.” (New Yorker)

Will we all be drinking Chinese wine someday? It might take a while, but some think it's coming. The first sparkling wine made in China will be issued under the Chandon label this year. "China will rock our wine world – we just have to wait a little longer." (Wine Searcher)

If you felt like the Google and Facebook ads that pop up on your screen know too much about you, this will really freak you out: The Reverse Yelp: Restaurants Can Now Review Customers, Too (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Friday Faves No. 104

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Kitchen table social history in old USSR: "This is how this subversive thought grew and expanded in the Soviet Union, beginning with free discussions at the kitchens."  (NPR)

France’s legendary House of Moët & Chandon has made its initial foray into India with the premiere release of Chandon India "Nashik’s diurnal temperature creates an ideal growing condition for Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc — wines perfectly suited for India’s hot weather and spicy foods." (Zester Daily)

We were particularly struck by this radio interview with James Beard Award winning chef Daniel Patterson. His thoughts on why food commands such dedication for those who work with it (despite how difficult it can be) spoke to us, as well as his thoughts on finding your voice in the kitchen. (Forum)

This week the world lost a remarkable voice as poet Maya Angelou dies at age 86. Many of us know her poetry on the page, but she was also a poet in the kitchen, as this tribute explores. "She took as much care with her cooking as with her writing. And to her they were similar exercises. You have to know the way a red pepper will act in hot oil, she said, as clearly as you know how a particular verb will behave in a sentence." (American Food Roots)

Weird Britain: Brave Daredevils Roll With the Cheese in Annual Cheese Rolling Race – Video (Anglotopia)

Coupe d’État: The Rise & Fall of the Champagne Flute What the evolution of Champagne's drinking vessel—from coupe to flute to wine glass—says, not only about how the wine has changed, but how we, the drinkers, have changed. (Punch)

Sorry guys, you can't have all the whisky. The Top 10 Women in Whisky (Drinks Business)

Friday Faves No. 103

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Literature for lunch: Chipotle Cups Will Now Feature Stories by Jonathan Safran Foer, Toni Morrison, and other Authors. Literati are in a bunge, but who says art can't be accessible? The Poetry in Motion subway series delighted commuters for years.(Vanity Fair)

Webster added 3 new food words to the dictionary. New culinary terms include pho ("a soup made of beef or chicken broth and rice noodles"), turducken ("a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey"), and the Canadian favorite poutine ("a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds").

Chef Dan Barber covers What Farm to Table Got Wrong: eat your beans and grains. "In celebrating the All-Stars of the farmers’ market — asparagus, heirloom tomatoes, emmer wheat — farm-to-table advocates are often guilty of ignoring a whole class of humbler crops that are required to produce the most delicious food." (New York Times)

You can get this message, plus a longer conversation with Dan Barber in this radio interview. (WNYC/ Leonard Lopate Show)

The terrifying new McDonald's mascot – and other creepy corporate monsters (Guardian)

Again, science proves what we all know is true: ‘beer goggles’ exist. (Drinks Business)

Help Wanted: S.F. Restaurants Using New Incentives to Attract Kitchen Talent "Simply put: Fewer people want to start at the bottom, so they're getting into the business with a food truck or pop-up and bypassing the restaurant hierarchy." (SF Weekly)

A portrait of the rare and dangerous in Spain: Scraping for Sea Delicacy, and a Meager Living  (New York Times)

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. 101

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

The San Francisco blog The Bold Italic has a series based on taking four-year-olds to fancy restaurants and getting their views on the food, like this little girl (above) who went to Plum. Unless chicken nuggets are in fact your favorite food, it's not super-informative, but they sure are funny. (Bold Italic)

Bodega Snacks & Wine Pairings: The Definitive Guide Now you know what to drink with wasabi peas & Swedish Fish. (Epicurious)

Bittman tackles talking about "organic" and "GMO" in Leave 'Organic' Out of It "Maybe all I’m saying here is this: There are two important struggles in food: One is for sustainable agriculture and all that it implies — more respect for the earth and those who live on it (including workers), more care in the use of natural resources in general, more consideration for future generations. The other is for healthier eating: a limit to outright lies in marketing “food” to children, a limit on the sales of foodlike substances, a general encouragement for the eating of real food." (New York Times)

It's about time: Seafood Suppliers Get Bullish on Brands “The marketplace has a lot of choices, so you need to position a strong brand, particularly with seafood...if we don’t position ourselves we can’t go to market.”  (Seafood Source)

Per-Anders Jörgensen photographs staff meals at top restaurants  "The family meal has evolved to become an extension of why people work in restaurants in the first place. Now more than ever it is fundamental to their success, and symbolic of what makes a good restaurant great." (Financial Times)

Airpocalypse Now: Jing-A’s New Double IPA Is Inspired by Beijing’s Notoriously Bad Smog
At the launch party, a sliding-scale beer discount was tied to the Air Quality Index.  (First We Feast)

Friday Faves No. 100

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Kenzo Creates Virtual Aquarium Pop-Up In Paris To Raise Awareness Of Overfishing  (Design Taxi)

A Cold One For Everyone: Craft Beer Sales Surged In 2013 (NPR)

Scotland adds sake to its brewing line up. It would be a shame to send it all for export before exploring just how well sake can pair with Scottish meats and seafood. (BBC)

OMG! The question occupying marketers everywhere — what are Milennials eating and drinking? (Bon Appetit)

Carp(e) Diem: Kentucky Sends Invasive Fish To China (NPR)

Wackaging: do we want our food to talk back? You can blame Americans for increasing casualization, but twee is Brit-made (Guardian)

As Commodity Farmers Shift Course, a Library to Collect Their Stories (Civil Eats)

This isn't the first Lego "food" we've covered, but this one comes in a kit, so you can make yourself a KitKat, or maybe a dinosaur if that's more to your liking. (Design Taxi)

Friday Faves No. 99

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

6 Kooky Concepts For Foodies Of The Future Innovation consultancy Gravity interviewed foodies all over Europe in an attempt to discover what’s driving the renaissance in food culture "The basic insight? “Food is no longer about physical, emotional, or even social needs. It revolves around self-expression and status.” Like any other mode of self-expression, it holds a mirror up to culture at large. Whether that means buying potatoes that correspond to your net worth on the free market, or getting to know the cow you plan to eat in a few months a little better, well, that’s on you." (Fast company)

We always love seeing American food and drink products celebrated abroad. Sales of Bourbon are booming in London bars and restaurants, fuelled by a spike in American-themed new openings in the capital. “We get a lot of regulars coming in to try our older offerings and single barrel Bourbons – I’ve noticed women taking a particular interest in them.”(Drinks Business)

Beyond the big markets: Six small cities with big local foods scenes, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Cincinnati, Asheville, North Carolina, Boulder, Colorado and Portland, Maine (USA Today)

Snails, snails, snails! Gastropods from land and sea are making headlines. In France, a Quest to Convert a Sea Snail Plague Into a Culinary Pleasure (New York Times)

All Hail the Snail in US restaurants "'The fun part," says Le Pigeon's Gabe Rucker, "is taking the classic flavor pairings and tweaking them.'" (Tasting Table)

Climate change is trying to mess with your breakfast. Sugaring: Inside The Maple Syrup Industry It’s sugar season in the maple forests of the U.S. and Canada. We’ll look at the secrets of the maple syrup industry, and how it’s dealing with climate change. (NPR/On Point)

Friday Faves No. 98

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Supermarket by Karl Lagerfeld: Chanel's Fall-Winter Show Took Place in a High-Fashion Supermarket where even the baskets and mayonnaise jars were redesigned. (The Coveteur)

US supermarkets say ‘no’ to GM salmon "According to Friend of the Earth, the total number of companies committed to not sell genetically engineered salmon now stands at more than 60 retailers, including Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, H-E-B, Meijer, Hy-Vee, Marsh, Giant Eagle, and now Safeway and Kroger, representing more than 9,000 grocery stores across the country." (Seafood Source)

What the new US serving sizes really mean – in pictures  (Guardian)

Coming Soon To A Wine Near You: Ancient Amphorae Oregon potters turned winemakers are experimenting with the ancient technique (Forbes)

Is Wall Street Eyeing America’s Farmland? And should we be concerned about that?  (Modern Farmer)

Frank Zappa give wine pimples:Grapevine bacteria named after Frank Zappa “This is the first time it’s been found that a microorganism can switch from a human to a plant.” (Drinks Business)

They disappear fast enough from our cabinets, but if you find yourself with a surplus, here's 13 ways to use all those Girl Scout Cookies (LA Times)

Friday Faves No. 97

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Lego sushi, above, almost good enough to eat.  (via Laughing Squid)

Eco-conscious fast-casual chain Chipotle makes it's TV production debut with a new series, Farmed & Dangerous which "explores the outrageously twisted world of industrial agriculture."

Feel the Churn: a workout that makes butter (The Kitchn)

Trend meets trend as Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn has released a limited edition smoked beer – Smokin’ Gunn – onto the market. (Drinks Business)

Saving an Endangered British Species: The Pub  "New legislation is letting people petition to have a pub designated an “asset of community value,” a status that provides a degree of protection from demolition and helps community groups buy pubs themselves, rather than seeing them get snatched up by real estate developers eager to convert them for other uses or tear them down." (New York Times)

Friday Faves No. 96

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Need more milk from your cows? Dig out all your old weepy break-up music. “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M. Inspires Dairy Cows to Produce More Milk A University of Leicester study proves that slow tunes make cows produce up to 3% more milk. (First We Feast via Culture)

Stick it to The Man and eat the whole apple. Why throw away $13.2 billion? "The core is a product of society, man"  (Atlantic)

This past week we lost a great performer of songs about food when Shirley Temple Black died. We've added Animal Crackers in My Soup and On the Good Ship Lollypop to our Sing Along Snacks collection. In addition to her singing and dancing, millions of children have grown up with her namesake cocktail. You can make one at home. It's just ginger ale, grenadine and a maraschino cherry — parasols are optional.

Shanghai Warms Up To A New Cuisine: Chinese Food, American-Style Said one Chinese patron when trying a fortune cookie: 'Hmmm. This is like glutinous rice....It also tastes like a street-side pancake. I've never been to America, so I'm not quite clear about this thing.' Another thing at Fortune Cookie that intrigues people here are the white cardboard takeout boxes with wire handles and red pagodas on the side. Ubiquitous in America, they are known to Chinese only through scenes in Hollywood movies. When the restaurant staff saw them for the first time, they were so excited, they took photos." (NPR)

Friday Faves No. 95

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Camel Milk Cheese? Why not. ''We have a rich culture of [consuming] fresh camel milk so the cheese could be a way of adding value to the product and valorizing pastoral cultures.'' (Fine Dining Lovers)

The Seeds of a New Generation  Some Midwestern farmers who have been growing feed corn exclusively are switching over acreage to fruit and vegetables, and increased demand for local produce is making it possible. "While an acre of corn is projected to net average farmers $284 this year after expenses, and just $34 if they rent the land, as is common, an apple orchard on that same acre will make $2,000 or more, according to crop analysts. A sophisticated vegetable operation using the popular plastic covers called high tunnels, which increase yields and extend the growing season, can push that figure as high as $100,000. Until recently, farmers in the nation’s heartland could only dream about such profits because there were so few ways to sell their produce locally." And did you know the Department of Defense is helping with DoD Fresh?  We sure didn't. (New York Times)

Georgian chocolate-making kitchen uncovered at Hampton Court Palace "Chocolate was an expensive luxury. Having your own chocolate maker, chocolate kitchen and chocolate room filled with precious porcelain and silver – all this, just for chocolate  – was the last word in elegance and decadence." (History Extra, BBC)

Tweet For Your Supper—And Handbag: Brands, Customers, And The New "Social Currency" What is the value of a tweet? And will kick backs devalue that? (Fast company)

With lobsters in mind, legislator proposes ban on some pesticides “Too many Mainers’ livelihoods depend on having a healthy lobster population not to act.” (Bangor Daily News)

California Is So Dry, Some Diners Won't Get Water Unless They Ask  "The entire idea of 'auto-items' is a huge generator of waste in North American restaurants, and it is often associated with 'good service,' " (NPR)

Women chefs, not just a cute side dish: "They are chefs. Not sexy chefs. Not cool chefs. Just chefs. They should be respected for what they do, and the mass media should be challenged to diversify its coverage of the food industry and when it talks about women, do it in a way that honors their work not their looks." (Foodie Underground)
 

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 No. 93

Honey Bees get wired: Australian Researchers Attach Tiny Sensors to Honey Bees to Track Their Movements (Laughing Squid)

A Change in the Kitchen discusses the rise of women in US restaurant kitchens and says that in many leading kitchens a full third of the cooks are women. It's been a long time coming. Now if we can only speed up their track to media coverage and broaden the popular imagination of who chefs are... (New York Times)

Big in Japan: Farming Via Webcam It could be a great way for city-based restaurants and the farms they buy from to connect. (Modern Farmer)

Attention Food Nerds: Classic Southern Cookbooks Now in the Public Domain Fancy a recipe for antebellum pineapple beer or turn-of-the-century succotash? (Garden & Gun)

Wealthy foreigners buy up swaths of UK farmland and country estates Estate agents report rising interest from China, Middle East and Scandinavia with sporting estates 'top of Christmas wish lists' "It's a tangible asset – people can live on it and walk on it," he said. "It's a popular product and we're not making more of it." Ouch.  And: "The agents said buyers are also attracted by the increasing array of money-making opportunities from land ownership, which now extends to rent from wind turbines and fracking as well as traditional farming activities." It won't stay lovely with fracking. (Guardian)

You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love a Kosher Prison Meal "Airplane passengers, for instance, have been known to order kosher meals, even if they are not Jewish, in the hope of getting a fresher, tastier, more tolerable tray of food. It turns out that prison inmates are no different." (New York Times)

Small-Batch Distilleries Ride The Craft Liquor Wave "Wherever you live, you're probably not too far from a local microbrewery making beer. Now, the latest trend is the spread of what you might call "micro-boozeries." Craft liquor distilleries are springing up around the country like little wellheads spouting gin, whiskey and rum." (NPR)

Friday Faves No. 92

We went into the history vaults for this week's image: Atomic Whiskey. "This whiskey of the future now" the label brags. "Aged 30 days by radiation...This is the world's first whiskey to be aged by atomic materials. It's 30 day process is equivalent to 40 years of standardized 19th century aging." Distilled in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (home of the Manhattan Project). I'd love to see the guys on Mad Men get this account.

French government endorses Burgundy vineyards, Champagne for UNESCO status "'We are different... 'It's not because we are French, it's because of our geology, our climate and centuries of knowledge.'" (Decanter)

A Degree in Beer, Wine, and Kombucha “When I tell people that I'm doing fermentation sciences, they're like, 'Oh, you're just drinking beer.'”  (Atlantic)

Artisan toast — now how much would you pay? The $4 slice of toast, a trend started in San Francisco, was probably due for some international mocking. "Is pricey toast a symbol of everything that's wrong with a trend-obsessed food culture? Or are well-made basics worth paying for?" We eat DIY artisan toast in our own kitchens all the time. And if a baker can get people with disposable cash to pay up... (Guardian)

The headline Bringing sexy (cabbage) back flashed in our inboxes this week. Talk about turning basics into hip food. Maybe it's time for trendy kale to take a seat. (Tasting Table)

Friday Faves No. 91

Meat Atlas Shows Latin America Has Become a Soy Bean Empire (Guardian)

The home brewing trend has left cooks with a new ingredient. Spent But Not Worthless: How to Cook with Spent Grain (Food52)

3D-printed pasta – the shapes of things to come? Italian food giant and Dutch researchers working on technology for rapid production of custom-designed pasta shapes.  (Guardian)

Spain Tightens Rules for Bottled Olive Oil attempting to use compulsory labeling as a way to boost the country's image as a producer. “It now also gives Spain a chance to ensure every visitor goes home with a clearer appreciation of our oil."  (New York Times)

Food truck clusters making quickie urban development: SoMa StrEat Food Park in S.F. "We've created an oasis in a food desert." (SF Gate / San Francisco Chronicle)

Although from a few weeks ago, this issue came across our desk again this week. China's ban on Pacific Northwest shellfish that's left an industry stranded is an important reminder to not put all your export "eggs" in one basket. (Olympian)

And this one was too awesome to not run: there's a small but growing trend for subdivisions with a working farm at their center. There are more than 200 of them across the country. (NPR)