Friday Faves No. 191

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

All about this crazy clear pumpkin pie! Alinea team, you have indeed done it again! 

It's turkey season but what about all the turkey tails? Where do they actually go and why don't we get to gnaw on them here? (Smithsonian Magazine)

Love food puns as much as I do? Well, you are in luck. NBC's comedy  The Good Place is chock full of background shops sporting names as food puns along the lines of: Beignet and the Jets, Lasagne Come out Tomorrow, The Pesto's Yet To Come and so on and so fourth. For a longer list check it out here. (Nerdist)

Looking for Christmas gift ideas for that favorite foodie? Check out the Inspect a Gadget product reviews to match up who gets the Doughnut Mug, the Penneli garlic peeler or the Bacon Express toaster. Important stuff here. (Guardian)

VINDICATED Rule 47 in Jon Bonné's New Rules of Wine says I can drink rosé any time of the year! This is THE book for the holiday season!  (NPR's The Salt)

I have to say I know people who just might wear these....No, no names. Check out the cheesy video. (FoodBeast) 

Sing Along Snacks: Volver en Vino (Return as Wine)

It's never to early or late for a snack so turn up the volume on your computer.

From Madrid we are sending out our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the fires in California, Spain and Portugal. It's a sad close to a lovely summer. Let us hope that new life sprouts from the ashes to return as wine. (English lyrics translation below)

Return as Wine

If wine comes, life comes: I come to your vineyard, beloved land.

I want to die singing under your ripe vine and to be buried at the dawn my grave watered of wine.

If wine comes, life comes: I come to your vineyard, beloved land.

I'd like to leave my bones under the Mendoza sky, for my blood and my ashes return in the wine way

How sad must be dying and never returning, but life is so beautiful, but the way is so stunning, that if I die someday bury me in Mendoza, in San Juan, there at La Rioja, in the beautiful Cayafate, that I'll return as wine!

And when the vines cry for the men to laugh, I'll be filling the glasses, and I'll be kissing the mouths of the old partners or maybe the one I love and couldn't love me.. and in a party night when you take the guitar if you see the wine crying let it cry its sorrow that a brown tear as never I'll be singing!

Life is a bitter wine, sweet in a shared jar: those who swim inside drown only in life.

If wine comes, life comes:

Sing Along Snacks: Man No Sober

It's never too early or too late for a snack so crank up that volume on your computer.

This is in honor of our resident Plaza San Miguel drunkard, wino, whatever you want to call him. We have been living in Madrid for a month now and have gotten to "know", or rather become recognized by, our local beggars and drunks. What that means is that we are no longer solicited for our spare change. Instead we get a snear and they just move on....and I'm O.K. with that.

Woooh! Man no sober
The drunkard he staggers around
The alleys of cities and towns
His sorrows he tries to drown
Solution to his problems
Can never be found
Booze is what he choose
Like a gipsy he's tipsy
He drinks too much whiskey
Like a gipsy he's tipsy
He drinks too much
A Mr Winehead stagger deh
Booze is what he choose
Watch him how topples over

Man no sober

In and out of discotheques
In and out of wine bars
Burnt out shell looks a wreck
Got to help him somehow oh
Greets bartenders drink firewater
Dance bossanova he topples over

Friday Faves No. 150

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Is this the face of the new Scottish "super food" above: What Is This Weird Weed, and Why Are Farmers and Health Nuts So Into It? It's chock full of omega 3's. "The EU this month awarded corn gromwell the status of “Novel Food,” a designation to let consumers know that this might be a new thing, but it’s safe and approved for consumption." (Modern Farmer)

Does story trump product? How Millennials Are Changing Wine "Yet with conventional wisdom holding that millennials don’t care about luxury and aren’t loyal to brands, it’s little wonder that wine producers all over the world—like every other business—are scrambling to figure out what they want." (Wall Street Journal)

Because the young ladies who lunch want artisan pizza, Urban Outfitters adds food to hipster empire with Vetri restaurant group acquisition.  (Restaurant Hospitality)

Entrepreneurs Pitch Sustainable Seafood Ideas; Investors Take The Bait at Fish 2.0  "Entrepreneurs presented ideas that ran the sustainability gamut: Licensing schemes designed to keep local family fishermen on the water; developing consumer-friendly, ready-to-cook sustainable seafood products; collecting old nylon fishing nets to recycle into skateboards and sunglasses; cutting-edge technology to monitor everything from a fishing fleet's location to the storage temperature for its catch; land-based aquaculture solutions; and programs designed to create both jobs and sustenance for tiny remote fishing communities in the Pacific." (NPR)

And in sucky news, the FDA approves GM salmon for sale in the US.  (Wall Street Journal and just about everywhere else)

Friday Faves. No. 145

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Women fishing in Alaska, image via Glamour Magazine.

This week, instead of the "the good, the bad, and the ugly," we bring you the Cool, the Gross and the Glamourous. 

Cool — The farmer who’s starting an organic revolution in Cuba. (Guardian) And clever marketing: Reynolds makes an endless table on instagram. (Ad Week)

Gross — I love you, coffee, but not like that. Face lids for your coffee cup. (Bored Panda)

Glamorous — Women Fishermen in Alaska: Says Melanie Brown:"I think that I feel the most beautiful when I'm fishing. I'll have slime on my face and fish parts—but when we're picking really hard and getting the fish out of the gear and we're racing against the tide—to feel something where I get to feel my strength; to be out in the open air and on the water; to feel the power of the water and the tide—there's something really amazing about that. And it's something I get to return to every year. Other things in my life continue to change, but I get to have that return, that reference point. It's a really great way to check into a bigger perspective." (Glamour — that's right, fishing in Glamour!)

Burgundy joins other storied wine making regions, like Champagne and the Douro Valley in winning designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (New York Times)

Friday Faves No. 143

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Artists Transform Coffee Spills Into Masterpieces, like in the above by Maria Aristidou. (NPR)

Why everyone who is sure about a food philosophy is wrong. Food and philosophy don't mix, the author argues. "Here’s why. Food is a constant tug-of-war between people and planet. We can’t feed ourselves without doing environmental harm." (Washington Post)

The US is the world’s “most attractive” wine market while China has fallen out of the top five according to a new Wine Intelligence report. (Drinks Business)

Pot for foodies: Is marijuana the next California cuisine? "Flour Child’s line of jams and granolas, in contrast, are everything that resonates with the Bay Area culinary ethos circa 2015: local, seasonable, sustainably grown, free of chemicals, perhaps a wee bit precious. They represent a new class of medical marijuana products — meant to be savored for their taste, not just for their ability to turn an eater into a puddle of goo." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Friday Faves No. 140

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

In summer everything slows down, including our blog posting. This Friday Faves is a smattering of some of our favorite stories from the past few weeks. 

A team at MIT has devised away for you to get the last of the sauce out of the jar. LiquiGlide, A New Surface Coating Developed to Let Food and Other Products Slide Easily Out of Their Container  (Laughing Squid)

When Will Native American Food Finally Get Its Due? Most people don't know what plants are native to the Americas, much less what Native American cuisine consists of. (Eater)

Is It Time to Table Farm-to-Table? Sure, this one is full of snark, but also some very good points. (Vanity Fair)

In fast food news, Amy's Kitchen is opening its first all-vegetarian drive-thru restaurant in Sonoma County, California, this month, and McDonald's tries to reach out to a new bike-riding market with new take-away tote. "The packaging then unfolds, revealing two little pockets where the fries and burger have been gently cocooned during the commute. It’s like a little fat- and sugar-filled purse, and it’s great." Well, great except for the actual food. (Well and Good / Wired)

Sweden's wine industry? There is a whole world of wine coming out way. Says one winemaker: “I like to compare Sweden to Central Otago on South Island in New Zealand – the world’s most southerly wine region. It now has some of the best pinot noirs, but for years they said it was impossible because it was too cold.” (Guardian)

Back here at home, new hybrid grapes help grow wine industry. Did you know Indiana even had a signature wine grape? "Across the country we've seen a huge expansion in wine and grape production and wine-related tourism," said Bruce Reisch, who leads Cornell University's wine and grape research and development program in New York's Finger Lakes. (Press Connects via Specialty Food News)

Google Street View Goes Inside California Wine Country The map tool's panoramic views expand to include vineyards, tasting rooms and barrel cellars. (Wine Spectator)

Brew Dog is coming to America — to make beer here. Columbus, Ohio is the lucky destination. (FoodBev Media)

Will we ever be rid of the great Pacific Garbage Patch? Hopefully, yes. The world's first ocean cleaning system will be deployed in 2016. (Minds)

Amazon Plans to Add Its Own Line of Food — Milk, baby food and household products would carry Elements label. "Private labels have become a vital business for mass-market retailers, generating stronger margins and building loyalty with consumers who no longer view generic products as lower quality." (WSJ)

Friday Faves No. 133

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

From Lucky Peach

We try not to rant on fad diets, so we're always delighted when someone else does it for us. You'd be hard pressed to find anything with a more convoluted rationale than Paleo. Food & Consequences: The Real Paleo Diet "In the end, what’s really interesting to me is that diet fads exist at all, since they presuppose a level of food security and consumer choice that are unprecedented in human history. The Paleo diet as a cultural phenomenon is inconceivable outside the context of the development of agricultural societies." (Lucky Peach)

The Real Problem With Bread (It's Probably Not Gluten) Is there no problem that industrial food can't both cause and "fix" for a price? "In commercial bakeries, rising time has been winnowed from hours or even days down to mere minutes, thanks to fast-acting yeasts and additives. By contrast, the team in Jones' laboratory, located in a rural stretch along Puget Sound, lets dough rise for as long as 12 hours—and they've found that the longer it rises, the less potent the gluten that remains in the finished bread." (Mother Jones)

If Wines Had Online Dating Profiles Wine needs love too. See which type is your perfect match, then grab a bottle. (Buzzfeed)

The latest installment in the "eat it to save it" files: Pacific groundfish. "Unless fishermen can collect a price that reflects the expense of the new sustainable methods of catching groundfish, we won't be able to maintain the fishery's revived state. The challenge is to reintroduce these species to consumers, build demand and help secure
a strong market that can support the fishermen and fishery in the long term." (LA Times)

Veuve Clicquot will be the first company to produce packaging using grapes when the Champagne house launches its newest “Naturally Clicquot” next month. (Drinks Business)

Only the good die out. Super-delicious and eco heroes, oysters, clams and scallops face high risk from ocean acidification, new study finds. (Guardian)

Friday Faves No. 130

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

You think those little individual K-Cups of coffee are cute, do you? Sure, this little video is just a dramatization of what could happen. That's what you think now. But it's time to kill the K-Cup before the plastic wins. Don't say you weren't warned. (NPR)

New York’s Health Department Wants to Freeze All of Its Sushi An attack on authenticity? Good public heath sense? Other states already do it. (Munchies) 

Relax, people. You are the boss of your food. Stop being afraid of it. We’re "clean eating" our way to new eating disorders. Is orthorexia about to join the DSM?  (Salon) 

We see perfect produce. He sees pain and danger.  How the produce aisle looks to a migrant farmworker. (PRI/The World)

Bad for fish and bad for people: Meant to Keep Malaria Out, Mosquito Nets Are Used to Haul Fish In  (New York Times)

A Compound in Beer Might Save Your Brain from Degeneration "The beneficial compound is a flavonoid called xanthohumol, which is found in hops (and thus, in beer)." (Munchies)

If that inspired you to get your geek on, and throw around doozies like oxidation and red anthocyanin molecules, we've got you covered. Everything you ever wanted to know about cork, but were afraid to ask. A Chemist Explains Why Corks Matter When Storing Wine  (Wine Folly)

What does a fictional world taste like? Londoners will get a sample as a Game of Thrones pop-up restaurant offers a taste of Westeros. How about a sample of a dish called: “The Lies of Tyrion Lannister and his Proclaimed Innocence” which happens to be poached veal tongue with beetroot, horseradish and Oldtown Mustard”. (Guardian)

And if you think that sounds unappealing, how about beer made from treated waste water? A trial of home brewers and one commercial brewery in Oregon are giving it a go. "Clean Water Services spokesman Mark Jockers said his company is the top provider of recycled water in Oregon. Its high-purity water treatment system turns sewage into water that meets or exceeds all drinking water standards." Want a cricket burger to go with that? (NPR)

Will fish be the next up and coming fake meat? Sounds pretty good compared to "recycled" beer, right? (NPR)

Friday Faves No. 129

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Even Victorian orphans are foodies now in satirical spins on classic Ladybird illustrations, like one above. (Guardian)

Bone Broth cocktails are now a thing, at least in LA. "For the broth itself, Melendrez boils lamb neck bones for eight hours then clarifies the liquid, straining it through a coffee filter. Instead of a cocktail glass, the hot savory cocktail is served in a shallow bowl garnished with toasted crostini and bits of asparagus, carrots, and cilantro leaves. Does that make it more soup than cocktail? "If you put a Bloody Mary in a bowl, wouldn’t it be like gazpacho almost?" questioned Melendrez. "I’m just trying to change people’s perceptions about what a cocktail possibly could be."' (Eater)

WTF story of the week — Is Kim Jong-Un Really Opening a Restaurant in Scotland? “North Korea is rich in natural resources and we like the taste of Scotch whisky, so [Scotland and North Korea] can be beneficial to each other.” (Munchies)

Despite their smart phone obsessions, Millennials aren't buying their wine online.  (Punch)

Time to buy an extra suitcase for your next visit home, because these are sad times for Brit expat chocolate lovers.

In better news from the UK, the Guardian's video selection was in great form this last week with these two: 

Have you tried the full English breakfast detox? (video) which really sums up what we feel about the detox trend. And then there was 

Americans try haggis for the fist time (video). Some sophisticated souls are on board, some, think of socks. (Guardian)

The Surprising Science Behind Your Favorite Flavors Did our sense of taste make us human? From evolution to culture, a new book explores the science and perception of flavor. (On Point)

Colorado inmates are turing into farmers. "All inmates have to work, whether that’s in the library, or the cafeteria, or somewhere else—you have to do something to keep yourself busy. And over 1,000 guys are on a waiting list for one of the agricultural programs.”

Friday Faves No. 126

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

A new way to wear your dinner (above). "Hatanaka, a Japanese manufacturer specializing in highly realistic plastic food replicas for restaurants, recently entered the fashion business with their line of food replica jewelry and accessories on their website." (Laughing Squid)

Further confusing consumables and wearables, a new fabric has been created using Harris Tweed that will permanently give off the smell of whisky. (BBC)

If your meal was good, but your server stinks, this restaurant in LA will let you tip just the cooks. (Food & Wine)

Budget Problems? Kentuckyand Elsewhere Find Answer in Bottle “'A key factor is the growing interest in American whiskey,” said Frank Coleman, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council. 'Then obviously you have all these ancillary economic impacts,' he said, such as sales of bottles, corn used to make bourbon, and tourism." (New York Times)

Made in China, the boutique version. "The conventional wisdom—or cliché—is that China can reproduce Western manufacturing or technology overnight, but European artisanal culinary delicacies that have evolved over generations are all but impossible to replicate. And yet, even apart from wine, there are dozens of small producers in China who are now attempting to do just that, with surprising success. Truffles, burrata cheese, prosciutto, feta, Roquefort, baguettes, foie gras—almost every Western gourmet item has been tackled by Chinese entrepreneurs for a new audience of adventurous diners." (WSJ via Punch)

SciShow Explains the Chemistry Behind What Makes Spicy Things Taste ‘Hot’ and Minty Things Taste ‘Cool’  (via Laughing Squid)

To the theme of what's (really) old is new again: Mead  (Food & Wine)

Friday Faves No. 124

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Wine, women and television: Red Wine Is the Drink of Choice on ‘Scandal’ and ‘The Good Wife’ "The way wine is used as a character device in shows like these can tell us a lot about how wine is viewed in popular culture. As much as a small group of wine lovers would like to believe wine has gone mainstream, in fact its portrayal on television as a character prop suggests that many Americans still view it as somehow effete, foreign or, at least, no different than any other alcoholic beverage. (New York Times)

Boldly going where no cafe has gone before, a new science-inspired restaurant opens in MIT's backyard of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The restaurant, Cafe ArtScience has a sister incubator / exhibit space called Le Laboratoire. "Le Laboratoire also has been where Edwards incubates his many offshoot companies. Theres’s WikiFoods, a company that develops edible food skins that are looking to replace plastic packaging and the oPhone, a gadget that sends olfactory messages." (Wired)

Africa's Slow Food, in pictures: "This year Lavazza Coffee and Petrini collaborated on Lavazza’s annual Earth Defenders Calendar to celebrate the farmers of Africa’s Slow Food movement—individuals who safeguard the land, crops and resources in their local communities. The 2015 calendar, featuring photography by Steve McCurry, is a sumptuous visual treat that opens a window into a culture and livelihood most of us know very little about." Proceeds for all calendar sales will go to the “10,000 Food Gardens in Africa” project. (Forbes)

Guilty pleasure read: Jeremiah Tower — just the name is memory lane of 1970s and 80s California cuisine. Is he coming back on the scene? The writer John Birdsall on Tower: "as a know-nothing kid cooking in San Francisco in the late 1980s, I envied and feared Tower like nobody else I ever thought about. Jeremiah was the Jay Gatsby of my own longing for ascendancy, the distant idol of my ambitions, trailed by a rumor-fueled narrative of trouble that, to me, only made him more heroic." (Eater)

Friday Faves No. 120

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

The illustrated sound of frying food in other languages. In English, we say fried eggs "SIZZLE," but in China they go "ZIZI."  (First We Feast)

The Hard And Soft Rules Of Apple Cider Cider sure isn't new, but it's surge in the market is making news.  Check out this full hour radio segment. (On Point)

The gluten police are coming: a new portable device lets diners test foods for gluten. (Eater)

For the stylish bootlegger who like their household objects to multi-task: The Prohibition Kit comprises a fully-functioning cooking pot, fondue stove, fruit bowl and watering can that can be combined to brew alcohol at home. "Producing schnapps, liquor or alcohol is very restricted by the law in most countries," says Morackini. "The separated elements are legal but put together the objects become illegal. I wanted to explore the limit of legislation." (Dezeen)

Charles Spence: the food scientist changing the way we eat An Oxford professor’s research into what affects flavour, from who we eat with to background noise, has influenced food-industry giants and top chefs alike. Now his new book brings food science to the home cook, too. (Guardian)

New York, the World's Greatest Wine City: Swaggering sommeliers, intrepid importers, sophisticated consumers—why even French Champagne producers agree New York is the greatest town for grape. "In New York, wines are decontextualized," he said. In other words, everything has an equal shot—whether it is a bottle from Bordeaux, Rioja or the Priorat. There is no regional bias to overcome. As Mr. Little stated, "It's the most egalitarian city in the world." (WSJ)

Seattle Assesses Fine to Homeowners for Wasting Food "In an effort to encourage residents to stop wasting food, the city council passed an ordinance this last Monday that allows households to be fined $1 each time that garbage collectors find more than 10 percent of organic waste in their garbage bins."
(Triple Pundit)

Friday Faves No. 119

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Great things come in small packages with seafood too, especially at Tincan, a new London pop-up that serves only canned seafood. (Guardian)

The Vocabulary of Food — reading menus through politics and pretensions, and a cool-sounding new book, “The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu” (New York Times)

Ever wonder what the Waldorf Astoria was serving for dinner in 1917? The New York Public Library has made available a digital archive of menus through the years.  So far: 1,302,722 dishes transcribed from 17,376 menus

If we could get rid of all that pesky running, this is a marathon we could really get into: The Marathon du Médoc: a full marathon with 23 wine stops, costumes, oysters, steak, and ice-cream. (Guardian) 

Ralph Lauren has gotten into the coffee business to spiff up your breakfast. And there's a snazzy vintage truck and copy right out of a perfume ad: “The smell of freshly brewed coffee evokes so many memories for me, mostly of time spent with friends and family; the people I love.” (Luxury Daily)

After 25 Years, Food Arts Magazine Folds Who will fill the gap? (Eater)

Friday Faves No. 113

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

Fast Love: You wanna super-size that? In Hong Kong, McDonald's is now a wedding venue. They will even make you a dress out of either red or white balloons. Other optional swag includes a crystal McDonald's replica. A quick Google search reveals that this is actually a thing that goes beyond Hong Kong.

In a major quality of life step, a French Hospital Opens a Wine Bar for Dying Patients (Jezebel)

Beyond basic wine pairing, Krug Champagne called on artists to pair songs with their wines.  (Luxury Daily)

Please don't market your food products like this China, peaches and underwear go horribly wrong... (Jezebel)

In other fast food news, McDonald’s Canada expands seafood offerings to include an Asian Crispy Shrimp Signature McWrap. Why not an Asian Carp McWrap that would help clean out our Midwestern waterways? The chain is legend for getting people to eat "underutilized protein sources." Just look inside a chicken nugget if you doubt that. (Seafood Source)

From Boulder, Colorado to Ho Chi Minh city, the revolution will be brewed “There’s the potential in that part of the world to introduce them to craft beer. We go over there and we’re not just selling our brand, we have to sell an entire style of beer. There will be a lot of focus on education, promoting craft beer in general, the use of higher-quality ingredients and traditional processes.” (Drinks Business)

Raising Sustainable, Grass-Fed Beef? There Is, Of Course, Even An App For That (Fast Company)

All parents want to instill good values in their children. Some are even concerned about their future lives as gourmandes. Writes Maurice Dimarino on his wine blog: "I don’t want them to make the same mistakes I did, getting drunk from Coors and Mickey’s Big Mouth. I want them to have class and drink something they will enjoy and not get wasted. Parenting is difficult and I must commend myself for being forward thinking and watching out for the things most parents don’t think about or try to ignore." It's never too early to start talking to your kids about Riesling.
 

Friday Faves No. 112

our favorite finds from the front lines of food

We don't need much of an excuse to see a movie about food, but Helen Mirren certainly seals the deal. She's staring in the upcoming feature (trailer above) The Hundred-Foot Journey, about a young Indian chef in the south of France and his neighbor/rival French restaurateur. (Tasting Table)

Poland takes the bite out of Russian apple ban Prominent Poles post tongue-in-cheek photos on social media to endorse campaign against Russian ban on fruit imports (Guardian)

Another item in the category "Food is Politics" — South Korean activists launch 'Choco Pie' balloons Choco Pies – banned as a capitalist symbol by North Korea after being traded at inflated prices – carried in balloons across border  (Guardian)

Chefs Move Beyond New York The phrase "only in New York" may no longer apply for many great culinary experiences. A new awareness and engagement with food in cities across the country has given chefs more options — and the rest of the country better food. "What has changed significantly is the audience that greets chefs elsewhere.” (New York Times)

Finding the difference that a grain makes to whisky: A project to determine the perfect grain of barley for distilling whisky could pave the way for barley ‘vineyards’, viewed in much the same way as the world’s wine regions. "This project will analyse which compounds in barley contribute to desirable flavours in whisky, many of which come from the grain." (Drinks Business)

Agriculture is always at the mercy of the elements, sometimes to the point of complete destruction. After years of horrible storms, Burgundy winemakers trial anti-hail nets (Decanter)

If you can't grow bigger, grow better and smarter. What's a producer to do with global competition when their traditional grounds are hitting their max, Champagne makers are wondering. ''We have to increase the quality and increase the technical gap between Champagne and other regions.''  (Good Food)

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. 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. 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)