Friday Faves No. 172

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Oil-cured Coho salmon. We're still waiting on the seafood "charcuterie" revolution. Photo by Polished Brands.

Shop till you flop: Why can’t anyone make money in online grocery delivery? "Despite immense growth in demand in recent years, the online grocery business remains largely unprofitable. As an online grocery business grows, it can no longer rely on sending workers to local grocery outlets to fill orders. Instead, they must invest heavily in more intricate and more costly ordering and logistics systems in order to pick, pack and deliver the near-infinite combinations of items customers select."
(Salon)

‘Big ag’ omega-3 solutions in canola oil, algae stoke fears for fishing companies. It's not good news for fishmeal producers, but it is good news for the oceans and the food chain. (Undercurrent)

Teff could be the next quinoa as Ethiopia boosts exports. Ethiopia’s staple grain is the latest superfood, but there are fears about impact of rising exports on local people who rely on it as their staple food. “What happened with quinoa will not happen with teff. We just won’t let it," said Khalid Bomba, the head of the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA). (Guardian)

Time for more product innovation. Sales of specialty meat and seafood are up, and Millennials are pushing the trend. "Specialty frozen and refrigerated meat, poultry, and seafood accounts for 10.5 percent of all meat, poultry, and seafood sales. The category hit $3.6 billion in 2015, jumping 23.1 percent since 2013." (Specialty Food)

Friday Faves No. 171

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

From the You Can't Make this Stuff Up files, Joan Crawford goes to the supermarket, in white gloves, in a 1969 Pepsi promo (video above). You can read here about where this wacky three and a half minutes of TV came from. (Stargayzing)

The Next Hot Trends in Food as identified by the Wall Street Journal. Not a lot of surprises here for those who keep up with the food scene and sustainability discussions, but concepts like "regenerative agriculture" might get more mainstream. (Wall Street Journal)

Is Dry Farming the Next Wave in a Drought-Plagued World? Some fruit growers in California eschew irrigation and have escaped the financial fallout experienced by fellow farmers in recent years. “There’s all this talk about watering the almonds...When you set up almonds to receive water every few days and the roots don’t go deep, then yeah, they will die if we don’t water them. But almonds were once dry farmed in many parts of California, including San Luis Obispo County, southern Monterey County, and the Sierra foothills.” (Food & Environment Reporting Network)

As with our politics, fast food keeps getting weirder and more over the top. Why fast-food chains are making ‘increasingly outrageous’ creations to get you through the door. (Washington Post)

Entrepreneurs getting creative with seafood byproducts “If all fish were processed and all the byproduct collected, it is estimated that globally there would be around 36 million tons of raw material available, producing about 9.5 million tons of fishmeal and 1.5 million tons of fish oil,” according to the University of Stirling/IFFO report. (Seafood Source)

Meat packers add plants to plate as consumers, competition shift. "We are going to see the meat industry recognize that it needs to diversify." (Reuters)

The Real Soylent Sickness "Silicon Valley’s failure to capture our appetites lies at the heart of what the technology industry misses about so many other things in this world. Though it may be possible to create technically feasible products for any aspect of our lives, those only succeed if they improve—rather than seek to replace—the human, highly tactile, and pleasurable world we want to live in." (New Yorker)

Friday Faves No. 170

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Grand Lake Farmers Market, Oakland, CA. Photo by Polished Brands.

Investors urge food companies to shift from meat to plants "'The world's over reliance on factory farmed livestock to feed the growing global demand for protein is a recipe for a financial, social and environmental crisis,' said Jeremy Coller, founder of the FAIRR initiative and chief investment officer at private equity company Coller Capital." (Reuters)

Your phrase for the day "carbon confident" Greener pastures: the dairy farmers committed to sustainability. Biological farming, conservation planning and water recycling are part of a concerted push to make the milk industry more ‘carbon confident’ "The report says dairy farmers want to create “a carbon-confident industry” and various software has been created to help to calculate and reduce farm emissions. These include the dairy climate toolkit and the dairy greenhouse abatement strategies calculator." (Guardian)

A Dickensian headline on a situation that should not still be in 2016: Skipping Meals, Joining Gangs: How Teens Cope Without Enough Food At Home "Roughly 7 million children in the U.S. aged 10-17 struggle with hunger, according to one report, which examines teenage access to food. Dogged by hunger, teenagers may try a wide range of solutions, from asking friends for meals to bartering sex for food." (NPR/The Salt)

Is tech the answer to a streamlined restaurant experience, or just another distraction? Danny Meyer has found a use for the Apple Watch with his staff. "When Meyer’s 30-year-old Union Square Cafe reopens in Manhattan next month, every floor manager and sommelier will be wearing an Apple Watch. And when a VIP walks through the front door, someone orders a bottle of wine, a new table is seated, a guest waits too long to order her or his drink, or a menu item runs out, every manager will get an alert via the tiny computer attached to their wrist." (Eater)

Most concepts in food live or die by logistics. A peak behind the production to delivery curtain: How One Delivery-Only Service Makes Dinner Without a Restaurant  (Eater)

Friday Faves No. 169

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Fish-themed treats. How could we resist? This Japanese Dessert is Made from Fish-Shaped Waffles (Food52)

A lovely short video about the people behind our restaurant food who we never see, the immigrant cooks. About the video: "This video was produced by visual journalist Andrea Patiño Contreras and journalist Victoria Bouloubasis, who met as graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their mutual interest in sharing immigrant narratives through personal and empowering ways makes them natural friends and collaborators. Their first collaboration was an Instagram video series on how the pain and hope in the case of Mexico’s missing students affects North Carolina’s immigrant communities. La Comida de los Cocineros is part of Victoria’s folklore master’s thesis work." More on the project.

Climate Change Threatens World’s Coffee Supply, Report Says "The strategies the organization is developing acknowledge the severity of the threat from climate change, and many are adaptive rather than preventive — taking for granted that temperatures are bound to keep rising." (New York Times)

Is Caffeine Addiction Real? Is it the chemical that we're attached to, or the ritual? Or both? Whichever way, we hope we never have to live without our coffee. (Extra Crispy)

Friday Faves No. 168

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

image via Downeast Magazine

In a central Maine warehouse, the fungus–loving partners of Cap N’ Stem are running Maine’s weirdest farm. And it's pretty cool. (Downeast)

We know about the terrible conditions that farmworkers can be subjected to, but did you know labor and human rights abuses are happening on fishing boats based out of US ports? "For many boat owners, the fishermen are a bargain: Bait and ice can cost more than crew salaries. Some of the men in Hawaii earn less than $5,000 for a full year. By contrast, the average pay for an American deckhand nationwide last year was $28,000, sometimes for jobs that last just a few months, according to government statistics. Experienced American crew members working in Alaska can make up to $80,000 a year." (Star Advertiser)

*By week's end Whole Foods had dropped fish from Hawaii. (Undercurrent)

'Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman': Conservation In America's Heartland A full radio hour on the challenges: the rancher, farmer, fisherman view of conserving our environmental future. (On Point)

Cultural appropriation, again. Why You Should Care About the Bon Appetit Pho Uproar "I think eating a delicious pho that satisfies you is more important than eating an authentic pho....But in addition to the quest for delicious, some other things matter too — like history and culture. Context matters, and sensitivity matters. When you’re talking about (and eating, and making) food, you’re dealing with the lifeblood of people. A lot of times, just giving credit — and if possible, some monetary sharing — to people you learned from is helpful." (Paste)

Cleaning the bay, oyster style:  NYC’s newest oyster bed is 50,000 mollusks and 5,000 old public school toilets. (Washington Post)

Why Farm-to-Institution Sourcing is the Sleeping Giant of Local Food The farm-to-institution market holds more power to benefit farmers and fisherman than any other local food market. (Civil Eats)

Making the old new again is always eco: How to refurbish a vintage cast iron skillet (Gear Patrol)

Friday Faves No. 167

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

photo via Portland Press Herald

Moleche, anyone? Invasive green crabs are scuttling from dilemma to delicacy. A group of Maine fishermen and scientists are getting expert advice from Venice, Italy, to turn a rampant threat to Maine's fisheries into a marketable part of the solution. (Portland Press Herald)

Are Rotisserie Chickens a Bargain? A thorough answer to a curious question of food retailing economics."In most stores, the cooked chickens aren’t any cheaper. They just look cheaper. The per-chicken price favors the deli counter, but the per-pound price favors the refrigerator case." (Priceonomics)

Craft beer makers diversify to spread the love: Stone Brewing plans a craft beer-centric hotel with room service growler delivery and farm-to-table dining in San Diego, California. (Restaurant Hospitality)

That's not trash. Artisanal Food Waste: Can You Turn Scraps Into Premium Products? "Conversations about waste don't have to carry connotations of self-flagellation." (NPR / the Salt)

Ramen outpaces tobacco as currency in US prisons "Cost-cutting measures by private facilities have led to subpar food quality and fewer meals, making noodles a commodity that trades well above its value" (Guardian)

Finger lickin' good? Actually, don't eat KFC's limited edition "fried chicken" sunscreen. (Ad Week)

Friday Faves No. 166

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

image via the Guardian

Eyes are on Rio and all thing Olympics this week, including food coverage. 

Food trucks rescue shortfall of Olympic vendors, a sign of Rio scene on the rise "This embarrassment for the organizers has been welcomed as an opportunity by food truck owners, who have been conscripted to provide emergency reinforcement for the fixed kiosks at the Olympic Park." (Guardian)

You can cook your own Brazilian snacks, no waiting in line. Become an Expert on Brazilian Cuisine Right Now (Eater) and Seven Brazilian Foods to Know if You're Going to the Olympics (National Geographic, The Plate)

Chefs Serve Olympic Village's Surplus Food to Rio's Hungry Population "RefettoRio Gastromotiva, the project co-founded by Italian chef Massimo Bottura and Brazilian chef David Hertz, aims to 'offer food and dignity to people in situations of social vulnerability,' according to a statement released by the City of Rio, which is supporting the initiative by providing a building for the group to use in the city center." (ABC News)

Newsflash of 2016 — women can be real athletes, and farmers. The Female Farmer Project puts a bright face (and some great interviews) on the new demographics of farming. Women have always been there doing the hard work of raising our food, but now they're out front and getting credit too.

A great long read on the struggles of surviving in limbo. Inside the women-owned restaurants of Yida, South Sudan’s largest — and most tenuous — refugee settlement. (Eater)

Is That Real Tuna in Your Sushi? Now, a Way to Track That Fish Traceability software has been on the edges of the seafood industry for a while, so it's great to see it get more coverage. (New York Times)

Another app for seafood is restaurant driven. Pearl shows users detailed info on seafood being served in nearby restaurants. "Do you know what you're getting when you order, say, clams casino? Pearl demystifies the process, providing information and education on the taste, texture, nutrition facts, and sustainability of your seafood." (Crave)

Food tech might not be as hot as you thought. The meal delivery and grocery space is crowded, and investment is looking further back in the chain. "Soil and crop technology turned out to be the dark horse in the sector, nabbing $161 million in investment this year compared to just $41 million last year." (SF Biz Journal)

Friday Faves No. 165

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

image via Washington Post

Huge, once-hated fish now seen as weapon against Asian carp
"Persecuted by anglers and deprived of places to spawn, the alligator gar (above) — with a head that resembles an alligator and two rows of needlelike teeth — survived primarily in southern states in the tributaries of the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico after being declared extinct in several states farther north. To many, it was a freak, a “trash fish” that threatened sportfish, something to be exterminated."(Washington Post)

Where the girls (chefs) are: Why are so many women chefs drawn to the coast of Maine? “While male chefs tend to follow the money and status, women chefs are in search of appreciative, knowledgeable audiences, a sense of community, and a more balanced life outside the kitchen.” (Boston Globe)

Meal kits an eating less meat continue. Restaurants enter the meal kit space. Operators who have been following the growth of delivered meal kits are now experimenting with their own. "And while more than 100 meal kit delivery companies are attempting to differentiate themselves by offering niche categories such as vegan, paleo and even Southern food, restaurant operators are beginning to see the wisdom of offering a grab-n-go meal kit or quick delivery kit that’s prepared by local chefs who consumers know." (Restaurant Hospitality)

Grill Concepts launches new Laurel Point seafood-focused restaurant with Millennial appeal.  “We saw a void in the marketplace...Few restaurants are going in this direction and doing it well, though people are eating less meat.” (Restaurant Concepts)

A super-cute new video for Chipotle. Guess it take a lot of cute to make people forget about e. coli.

A futurist on food: Farming on the moon, lab-grown meat, and old fashioned boring stuff like greater transparency. (Washington Post)

A Space-Age Food Product Cultivated by the Incas "What did the Incas and NASA have in common? They both faced the problem of long journeys through harsh, forbidding territory" (New York Times)

The Curious Appeal of ‘Bad’ Food In the age of Instagram-perfect dishes, why are there so many sites and blogs dedicated to culinary disasters? "Feeding yourself or others is a success, an act of love, even when the meal resembles unappetizing brown mush."  (Atlantic)

Bycatch is no small matter. A shameful death on the part of we humans for an animal that had lived so long: 400-year-old Greenland shark is the oldest vertebrate animal (Guardian)

Friday Faves No. 164

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

image via National Geographic

Is Jackfruit (above) the Next Big Meat Substitute? Nutritious, plentiful, and meaty, this Indian staple is poised to catch on with eco-minded consumers hungry for variety. (National Geographic)

Why are so many men are cooking? I guess they want to eat? "What's driving the trends? The higher level of cooking overall among men and women may be driven by an era of stagnant wages that makes cooking at home the more affordable option, as well as the fact that broad Internet access and the popularity of social media make it more fun and easier to do than perhaps ever before. While women are cooking at about the same rates they have been for several decades, it's the surge in men's cooking at home that may be most noticeable. Companies that make money off food are weighing how to take advantage of the trend, deciding whether to treat cooking as a distinctly masculine activity or to show foodie-ism as a gender-neutral hobby." (Washington Post)

Key to ending food waste on a big scale is finding new uses for products that are now treated as trash. How Food Waste From The Coffee Industry Is Making Chocolate More Delicious The fruits of the coffee plant used to be garbage. Now they are being used to create a nutritious, tasty flour that can flavor everything from pasta to candy. (Fast company)

America Wastes $160 Billion in Food Every Year But Is Too Busy to Stop "Almost 80 percent said they feel guilty when throwing food away, but 51 percent said it would be difficult to reduce household food waste. And 42 percent said they don’t have enough time to worry about it." (Bloomberg)

Has Jamie sold out, or upped his food revolution reach? Fresh food champion Jamie Oliver signs frozen meals deal with Brazilian chicken giant (Telegraph)

In Alaska's Remote Towns, Climate Change Is Already Leaving Many Hungry "The Inuit know how to adapt, but they need to be supported." (NPR/ the Salt)

Friday Faves No. 163

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Whelk from Macduff Shellfish in Scotland, photo by Polished Brands.

Is whelk having a moment? When it got in front of our camera, we thought it was gorgeous. Tasted good too. ‘Ugly’ snails, once ignored by fishermen, now a prized catch "Some upscale New York City restaurants now feature fresh or even raw whelks on the menu. The old-school Italian restaurants that serve sea snail salad — a popular Christmastime dish — usually get it canned from a handful of specialty processors." (Seattle Times)

Pickled and Smoked: Reasons to Get Excited About the Good Food Awards New Preserved Fish Category "In the past years, smoked and pickled seafood had been a subcategory of Charcuterie. It now has its own, with subcategories for roe, rillettes/pates, salt preserved, water and oil packed, pickled, and of course, smoked....Along with sustainability, there’s the deliciousness factor. Imagine a mezze platter with preserved anchovy fillets, a hiking trip that includes rich smoked black cod rillettes, a simple winter evening meal of pickled herring in sour cream on rye. We are on the verge of something big, good, and delicious." (National Geographic)

Would you, could you, on a boat? Biggest Salmon Producer, Marine Harvest, Wants to Farm Fish Inside Cargo Ship (Bloomberg)

The Grocerant goes on: Millennials driving sales of grocery prepared foods "In-store dining and takeout of prepared foods from grocers has grown nearly 30 percent since 2008, accounting for 2.4 billion foodservice visits and $10 billion in consumer spending in 2015, according to NPD’s research." And “40 percent of consumers would like name-brand foods at grocery or retail restaurants." (Restaurant Hospitality)

A peak into the best of the new food halls, from New York City to Denver, photo essay. (Restaurant Hospitality)

A Nonprofit Grocer Tries To Sell More Healthful Food Without Going Under "If you're on a budget, you're not purchasing food with the intent of improving your health. You're purchasing food to satisfy hunger,...You make choices you can afford on things you know your family will eat."
(NPR/ The Salt)

Isn't it time we all learned how to make Japanese fried chicken? (Gear Patrol)

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. 160

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Tribes Create Their Own Food Laws to Stop USDA From Killing Native Food Economies (photo above) From blue corn to bison, narrow federal food-safety codes impact tribal food systems. But advocates are writing their own food laws to preserve Native food sovereignty. (Yes Magazine)

Jamie Oliver Doesn’t Want to Be a Hipster Chef And he's getting an awful lot done. (Munchies)

Aside from fashion, a look at what food can mean to those who have nothing. PHOTOS: An Intimate Look At Las Patronas, The Mexican Women Who Feed Migrants Traveling On La Bestia (Remezcla)

From the vintage files: Care Packages: How The U.S. Won Hearts Through Stomachs After WWII (NPR)

How Small Grocers are Banding Together to Change Food Retail For the Good Cultivating an independent grocery space can be challenging, but a group of retailers are building a collaborative to change the conversation. "These days, there’s a lot of talk about tech incubators, but Mogannam believes that every good retailer can be an incubator too." (Civil Eats)

Why matching fish farming with crop irrigation is a win for parched Southwest Farmers in the Southwest are turning a harsh, dry climate to their advantage by raising fish. (Guardian)

Friday Faves No. 159

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

In the Polished Brands test kitchen and photo studio, we mess with everyone's traditions — like cooking sockeye salmon in a Korean ginger marmalade. And it was good too.

An excellent read to talk about trend, class and race issues in the food scene: Putting identity politics on the table "So who’s allowed to cook what? Who defines authenticity? What does it mean when ancient dishes are exploited as trendy, cooked badly, and fashioned by hipsters instead of grandmas? Geopolitical sensitivities flare." And some fine, fighting points: “'I’m a bit annoyed by the ‘at my grandmother’s knee’ stories. I get the significance of lineage, but nobody asks a lawyer if she was at her father’s knee practicing law,' says Tiffani Faison, whose Tiger Mama serves riffs on Southeast Asian food." (Boston Globe)

Denmark Considers Taxing Meat, Calling It An Ethical Responsibility: How can we stop eating our way to a warming planet? "Their initial recommendation is to tax beef. Globally, food productions accounts for up to 29% of emissions. Cattle are responsible for a huge 10%. Taxing beef, they say, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food by 20% to 35%." (Fast Company)

Not all food and politics mash-ups are designed to encourage virtue. Largest US food producers ask Congress to shield lobbying activities: United Egg Producers, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and National Pork Producers Council are proposing a change to the Freedom of Information Act. (Guardian)

We don't include items about individual restaurants much, but seriously, it's Alinea, and too cool to resists: A New Alinea Plans to Serve Emotions as Well as Entrees "How do we season with sound? With light? With elements of emotions? For us, that makes the experience more complex and nuanced.” (New York Times)

Food and emotion are no strangers of course. Love might tear us apart, but chickpeas can bring us together: How Hummus Brought a Palestinian and an Israeli Together to Help Refugees in Berlin "I wanted to be a bridge between different cultures. Every time in nature when you combine two things together, you make a new thing that is stronger. The dish you just ate, “hamshuka,” is a mix of the traditional hummus that Jalil’s family has been making for more than 400 years and the shakshuka of my grandmother, with the egg and everything. It’s the bestseller here. Everybody loves it." (Munchies)

And for when you don't want to talk to anyone at all, not even to place an order, Amazon is getting into the restaurant delivery business, at least as a pilot project in some zip codes of San Francisco. 

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. 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. 156

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Coffee beans getting ready for your morning at Oakland, CA's own Mr. Espresso.

First, the good news: Drinking more coffee may undo liver damage from booze (Reuters)

Car and snacks are for everyone as Nascar starts using food sites as an a ad base: "'We wanted to start to talk about Daytona as a day that families get together," said Robert Gottlieb, Fox Sports' evp of marketing. 'It was important for us in framing that conversation to reach into food and lifestyle.'" (AdWeek)

Coupons for millennials: Whole Foods introduces digital coupons to lure more shoppers (Guardian)

From local patriots to beer: Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed "11. They have craft breweries. One final marker, perhaps the most reliable: A city on the way back will have one or more craft breweries, and probably some small distilleries too....A town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur, and a critical mass of mainly young (except for me) customers. You may think I’m joking, but just try to find an exception." (Atlantic)

Mike Velings: The case for fish farming A great TED talk about a subject that's near and dear to our hearts — the need for developing aquaculture to feed a growing world population.
 

Friday Faves No. 155

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

For Rockfish, A Tale Of Recovery, Hidden On Menus The slipperiest part of fish is sometimes the name. We have to agree with John Rorapaugh: "And a little tableside education could quickly help consumers get over the unfamiliarity factor, adds John Rorapaugh, owner of a seafood wholesaler and distributor in Washington, D.C., called ProFish. "I think it's more interesting to use the real names," Rorapaugh says. "If you have thornyhead rockfish on the menu, it will start a conversation." (NPR)

Note to seafood producers — time to start upgrading your communication and storytelling “The biggest factors driving the use of farmed seafood in restaurants are pricing, consistency and availability...But chefs still need to be convinced that farming seafood is an ecologically sound practice.” says the report's author. "That data becomes even more interesting when combined with another finding from the survey: 44 percent of participating chefs said they preferred researching seafood sustainability online, versus 33 percent of chefs who preferred getting information from suppliers, vendors and visits to sources." (Seafood Source) 

Oaxaca’s Native Maize Embraced by Top Chefs in U.S. and Europe "In New York, Los Angeles and beyond, a taste for high-quality Mexican food and its earthy centerpiece, the handmade tortilla, has created a small but growing market for the native, or landrace, corn that is central to life in these plains and to Mexican identity." (New York Times)

Nestlé admits slavery in Thailand while fighting child labour lawsuit in Ivory Coast The company has won plaudits for its admission of forced labour in the Thai seafood industry but much of the supply chain remains hidden. (Guardian)

‘Forked’ Rates Restaurants On How They Treat Their Workers "One in 12 working Americans work in this industry, [and] 1 in 2 Americans have worked in [a restaurant] in their lifetime. But it has continued to be one of the absolute lowest paying employers in the U.S. For every year that the Department of Labor lists the 10 worst paid jobs, seven are, every year, restaurant jobs." (KQED)

Friday Faves No. 154

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

The art of the perfect bit goes super-artsy with teeny, tiny food installations, like the one above. (Eater)

Refugees solve farm worker shortage: From Bhutan to New York’s Dairy Heartland "The men were once farmers, and then spent 20 years in refugee camps in Nepal, unable to hold legal jobs. Now they worked wordlessly alongside two other milkers, both Mexican immigrants, in practiced repetition. The raw product would soon supply a cross-cultural dairy case: Siggi’s, an Icelandic-style yogurt; Norman’s kosher Greek yogurt; and eggnog for Pittsford Farms Dairy." (New York Times)

Activists Demand a Bill of Rights for California Farmworkers "Many of the bill’s items – which are grouped into wage theft, safety and health, and overwork – simply demand that existing laws be enforced, like respecting required rest breaks and penalizing employers who steal wages. It also calls for educating farmworkers on their rights and establishing a complaint hotline." (KQED)

A New York food institution that was accessible to all of us fades into the history of a quirkier, more fabulous, and less chain-store dominated Manhattan as Broadway Panhandler prepares to close. “'My first question is, ‘What do you like to cook?’...We can help tailor a purchase to suit a customer’s needs instead of just selling sets. We’re more traditional, with just one store. As independent stores disappear, people are going to remember them fondly.'” (New York Times)

The surprising truth about the ‘food movement’ (which probably isn't that surprising): people like to give the right answers more than they like to do the right thing. (Washington Post)

Shrimp oasis: Sahara desert opens biofloc shrimp farm  "The shrimp farm uses underground salty water beneath the oases of the world’s largest desert. Algeria's portion of the Sahara Desert has an extensive underground water source beneath its sand layers, with a salt concentration of 4~5 percent, suitable for the shrimp farm, ministry officials said." (Yon Hap News via Undercurrent)

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)