Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 82

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

• In her ongoing series “Les Temps Modernes” (“Modern Times”), French artist Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard creates elaborate dioramas of everyday life that are populated by human-like figures with fish heads (like above). This one reminds us of Lucy and Ethel in the choclate factory. (Laughing Squid)

• Could QR codes revolutionise transparency in food supply chains? Honestly, probably not. They're too high-maintenance to scale, but they are pretty cool. (Guardian)

• The New York Times is running a series of articles called Leaving the Land: Picking Death Over Eviction. The series looks at how "China’s government-driven effort to push the population to towns and cities is reshaping a nation that for millenniums has been defined by its rural life." (New York Times)

• 2014 has been declaered the International Year of Family Farming by the United Nations. "Supporting the success of family farms—and increasing the incomes of family farmers—will significantly raise the overall standard of living. Research from Oxfam shows that investing in small farmers also creates a ‘multiplier’ effect that extends beyond the farming sector — farmers spend a big share of their income in other sectors, including construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing."(Dawn)

• Not just for hipsters anymore, the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain is showcasing its culinary talent through the "Taste Truck" which will be making stops throughout California, as well as Scottsdale, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Food-related events have been found to drive traffic to the properties. This food truck promotion follow series of pop-up cooking classes the hotel chain has offered. (Luxury Daily)

• An exploration on whether we all, at least people living in rural areas, should take a look at eating roadkill as an ethical meet. "If the roadkill is fresh, perhaps hit on a cold day and ideally a large animal, it is as safe as any game. Plus, not eating roadkill is intensely wasteful: last year, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company estimated that some 1,232,000 deer were hit by cars in the United States. Now imagine that only a third of that meat could be salvaged. That’d be about 20 million pounds of free-range venison, perhaps not much compared to the 23 billion pounds of beef produced in the U.S. in 2011 but significant.^" (Modern Farmer)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 81

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

• Eat Drink Vote: an illustrated guide to food politics compiles 250 cartoons that strike at the heart of what's wrong with our food system (like the ones at right). Says the author, nutrition activist Marion Nestle: "I want these cartoons to inspire readers to become active in food politics and work toward a food system that is healthier for people and the planet. Join groups that are working on these issues. Vote with your fork! But food choices are also about politics. Exercise your democratic right as a citizen. Vote with your vote." (Civil Eats)

And Marion Nestle, the noted NYU nutrition professor, public health advocate, and tireless food politics blogger/tweeter, has compiled the cream of this non-genetically modified crop in her just-published book from Rodale, Eat Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics. - See more at: http://civileats.com/2013/09/04/food-politics-illustrated/#sthash.SxarlPJ6.dpuf

Marion Nestle, the noted NYU nutrition professor, public health advocate, and tireless food politics blogger/tweeter, has compiled the cream of this non-genetically modified crop in her just-published book from Rodale, Eat Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics - See more at: http://civileats.com/2013/09/04/food-politics-illustrated/#sthash.SxarlPJ6.dpuf

• Has the world reached peak chicken? Domestic chicken populations are up 262% since 1970. When we will figure out something useful to do with all the spent laying hens? (Mother Jones)

• IRS Rule Leads Restaurants to Rethink Automatic Tips now that gratuities added for large groups will be taxed as service charges (WSJ)

• Last week we took a retro look at the kitchen of the future, but the design brainstorming continues. What Your Kitchen Will Look Like In 2025: smart refrigerators, faucets that detect chemicals and bacteria on produce, and 3-D printed dishes are just some of GE's predictions. (Fast Company)

• And if that's not enough, how about chef robots that stamp out cookies, hologram cooking lessons, and little vacuum-bots that pick up the food you drop while cooking (although having a dog is a good low-tech solution to that problem). (CNN)

• Boston city schools democratize free lunch by offering it to all students, removing some of the stigma of accepting help and opening up access for kids with parents who can't/won't fill our the paperwork that was previously necessary. The move is part of a new federal program. (Boston Globe)

• The debate over the safety of GM food wages on. French researcher who claimed GM food caused cancers in rats says UK should review food safety and assess long-term toxicity. (Guardian)

• New Nordic is everywhere in restaurant news but still has to make its way into American home kitchens. "We now know about strange spices from other countries, and kimchi from Korea," [Marcus] Samuelsson says. "Why wouldn't we want to learn about lingonberries and reindeer?" Hopefully, Scandinavian producers are working on their marketing plans. (Metro NY)

• August was National Bourbon Heritage month. We hate to be late to the party, but it's always the right time to catch up on cocktails, recipes and profiles like a real Southern aficionado with this tour. (Garden & Gun)

Scotland Distilled Now on Honest Cooking

Recipes from the new cook book in progress, Scotland Distilled, are now being featured on the international culinary site Honest Cooking.

Honest Cooking, based out of New York City and Copenhagen, is an online food magazine that gets 700K unique users each month from around the world.

In Scotland Distilled: A Culinary Journey to the Soul of Whisky, Polly Legendre and Alisha Lumea are applying their training and experience as chefs to their enthusiasm for Scottish products.

Recipes from the book will be featured regularly on the site. These recipes will be the first on the site specifically celebrating the Scottish larder.

Scotland Distilled is a work in progress. Are there products we should be cooking with? Food and drink producers we should meet? Please let us know!

See our full Honest Cooking archive.

Visit Scotland Distilled.

Sing Along Snacks: Stomp Them Grapes

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

Winemakers all over are in harvest-mode (or getting there soon). In honor of that, we're sending out a little vintage country with Mel Tillis singing Stomp Them Grapes. (The video is a bit rustic, but then, so is the song.)

"Stomp, stomp them grapes and make that wine
Put it in a bottle, boys, and ship it on down the line"

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 80

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

• London-based photographer Carl Warner uses bits of food to construct intricate landscapes like the one above, and many more. (Design Boom)

• Seattle is setting the example for community gardens: "Parks and rec departments are starting to realize that community gardens can be a vital part of a program, just like a skate park or a dog park. A community garden is a new asset the residents are asking for, nationally." (NPR, KPLU Seattle)

• Japan may be the spiritual homeland of the vending machine, but Belgium is winning points for the sheer awesomeness that is the Frites Machine, which fries up a cone for you in just 95 seconds. Sigh. (Laughing Squid)

• A special whisky for the customers who will pay the earth, Johnnie Walker debuts new “super-premium” whiskies costing more than £100 a bottle in response to demand from China and other emerging markets. (Scotsman)

• The latest lifestyle marketing lesson comes from real estate, where mini-movies, complete with actors and staged parties, are increasingly the way to sell high-end properties. They "add a little emotion" and give people a view into the life they aspire to. (Wall Street Journal)

• The trend of merging retail and restaurant marches on in New York as popular seafood market Lobster Place expands into the Cull & Pistol. "They way people shop for food — particularly at the high-end — is changing. The idea that is should be sort of a visceral experience has really caught on. People very much look at it as a lifestyle hobby." (Seafood Business)
  
  “The way people shop for food — particularly at the high end — is changing. The idea that it should be sort of a visceral experience has really caught on. People very much look at it as a lifestyle hobby,” MacGregor says. - See more at: http://seafoodbusiness.com/articledetail.aspx?id=21605#sthash.5xVLjBBg.dpuf
  “The way people shop for food — particularly at the high end — is changing. The idea that it should be sort of a visceral experience has really caught on. People very much look at it as a lifestyle hobby,” - See more at: http://seafoodbusiness.com/articledetail.aspx?id=21605#sthash.5xVLjBBg.dpuf
  “The way people shop for food — particularly at the high end — is changing. The idea that it should be sort of a visceral experience has really caught on. People very much look at it as a lifestyle hobby,” - See more at: http://seafoodbusiness.com/articledetail.aspx?id=21605#sthash.5xVLjBBg.dpuf(Seafood Business)

• It's back to school time. In promoting healthy choices, especially for kids, Revolution Foods is taking on Lunchables (a little box of poor quality, industrial food) in the pre-made lunch market. “There’s good potential for new brands to come in and establish themselves in this category...Portable foods are still very relevant to dual-income households with kids on the go, and products like these suit their needs.” (New York Times)

• NPR went dumpling-wild this week with stories on the origins of dumplings (there's archaeological evidence of dumplings in China more than a thousand years ago) and an essay on the emotions and remembrances that get stuffed inside — wontons, tortellini, pierogi or whatever you want to cal them — for many of us. (NPR)

• Take a peak into the "miracle" kitchen of the future, tomorrowland-style, with a 1957 promotional video from Whirlpool, complete with a Star Trek-worthy control panel that does everything from calling the butcher to setting the mood lighting. They only thing they didn't invision was changing gender roles.

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 79

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

• We're so excited about this retail-focused photo shoot (above) we did for a client, that we had to share. The full gallery is on our site.

• Sure, it's a bit gossipy, but Eater's Airing of Grievances, Parts One and Two is hard to resist. New York food writers dish on both the new and established, from David Chang, to Le Bernardin and Cronuts. Preach. (Eater)

• Food columnist Mark Bittman braved locavore wrath by stepping out to say that Not All Industrial Food Is Evil, like canned tomatoes, for example. "The issue is paying enough for food so that everything involved in producing it — land, water, energy and labor — is treated well. And since sustainability is a journey, progress is essential. It would be foolish to assert that we’re anywhere near the destination, but there is progress — even in those areas appropriately called 'industrial.'” (New York Times)

• Opportunity alert: sea buckthorn, which grows wild along the Scottish coast, could be the next super food. Its bright orange berries are packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Not much has been attempted commercially yet, although the Scottish company Cuddybridge is producing an apple and sea buckthorn juice blend. (BBC)

• It's hard to pass up a headline like Sommelier turns water into cash. The 43-page water tasting menu at Ray's and Stark Bar located in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art sounds a bit more like performance art than an epicurean experience, but it wouldn't be the fist wacky idea from LA (see avocado beer). And then there are great phrases, like how one comes to "drink water professionally" and the new branded water Beverly Hills 90H20. (CNN)

• More problems for pollenators as monarch butterfly numbers drop from drought and herbicide use, particularly in fields of GMO herbicide-resistant corn. (Central Illinois Pentagraph)

• Want to catch more food and environment news on twitter? The Society of Environmental Journalists has compiled a handy list of foodie handles and hashtags.

• And as summer comes to a close, we find ourselves wondering "Are those real legs, or are they hot dog legs?" now that hot dog legs has gone viral in a new Tumblr. Even your lunch is now taking selfies. (LA Times)

A Visit to Long Meadow Ranch

Long Meadow Ranch, an organic farm in the Napa Valley, graciously hosted us for an in-depth tour of the property and a great discussion of food and food systems in California and beyond. 

The world Long Meadow Ranch has created is an inspiration and a beautiful example of what can be done when dedication, ideals and resources are brought together. 

They maintain over 650 acres with a mix of gardens, orchards, vineyard, olive groves and pasture land for their herd of Highland cattle (the largest in North America). They make their own wines, press their own olive oil and run the restaurant Farmstead where you can taste everything they produce.

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 78

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

 

• Chefs as media celebrities is old news. Now chefs are becoming comic book heroes (see right). "According to the folks at Marvel, 'Fanboys and foodies are very much alike. There are similar mentalities to both kinds of fandom.' Foodies collect culinary experiences—often displayed in digital pictures—oozing with the same glory and excitement found in the eyes of fanboys (geek culture aficionados) who collect comic books." (Food Arts)

• Thursday, August 15 would have been Julia Child's 101st birthday. In her honor, her hometown, Pasadena, is celebrating with the launch of a citywide cocktail competition. (LA Times) This PBS Digital Studios video remix of her sayings from her centennial is still amazing. Bon Appétit!

• This week also saw the Glorious 12th in the UK, the day when grouse shooting seasons begins and the first birds start showing up at restaurants, with preparations ranging from the traditional to the innovative like oloroso-marinated grouse and grouse tandoor-roasted in a fennel seed and star anise marinade. (Flavour First)

• A new app, Drync, lets you scan the label of a wine you're drinking and buy more of it right then. Get the app (Fast Company)

• Ever wonder how sake gets made? The Birth of Sake, a documentary in progress and looking for more crowd funding by Erik Shirai, gives a peak into the ancient process. View a short video about the project (Food Tech Connect)

• Bring on the foodie jobs: Le Cordon Bleu, in collaboration with Southern Cross University in Australia, has launched a new online postgraduate degree, the Master of Gastronomic Tourism. (Edinburgh Foodie)

• In the interest of keeping it super-local, beer can now be made right where so much of it gets consumed: on campus. Newcastle University is to set up the UK’s first student-run microbrewery. (Drinks Business)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 77

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

• Sushi Cat Island (above, full video here), courtesy of Japan. Sometimes, it doesn't help to ask why. The world, and internet videos, are mysterious.

• Ecologists Turn To Planned Grazing To Revive Grassland Soil "'When I learned about it, that style of grazing, the basis was everybody was producing more grass," said Andrews, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in eastern Colorado. "It's hard, as a producer, to argue with more grass. Because we never have enough grass.'" (NPR)

• Monday was National Oyster Day and it's never too late to celebrate. Chef Chef Eric Woods of Blue Water Grill gives a quick Oysters 101. (CNN/Eatocracy)

• The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest, "the site drives more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn combined." (Fast Company)

• The most exciting/disgusting food story of the week (depending on your point of view) is the world's first lab-made hamburger that was debuted in London and bankrolled by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. (Guardian)

• Craft beer — the rising tide that lifts all boats: All kinds of businesses ride the wave with local breweries "You look at the (beer) businesses popping up, you’re not seeing any of them going out of business and a lot of them are in peculiar spots." (Register-Guard)

• “Global Appetites: American Power and the Literature of Food” An interview with author Allison Carruth explores the intersections of food production and power: "My argument is that we cannot understand a concept like globalization or history of the U.S. rise to becoming superpower without looking closely at changes in how we grow and consume food." (Modern Farmer)

• An affordable housing project in the Bronx has a sparkling urban hydroponics farm on its roof, built by the company Sky Vegetables. (Agri-Tecture)

• The trailer for A Year in Burgundy (a documentary film on Burgundy winemakers that Polish has done publicity and promotion for) has been viewed 11,000 times by people in 128 countries. Have you seen it yet?

Sing Along Snacks: John Barleycorn (Must Die)

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

John Barleycorn is an old British folk song that tells the story of whisky making through the character of "John Barleycorn." Scottish poet Robert Burns published his own version of the ballad in 1782, and it's a story that writers and musicians can't stop coming back to.

Here Steve Winwood sings an acoustic version of Traffic's John Barleycorn (Must Die).

the lyrics:

There were three men came out of the west, their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead

They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart

They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a pond
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones

And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 76

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

Estonia barley bread and Latvian midsummer cheese, from Clouds

• From what started as a trickle of enthusiasm a decade ago, Scandinavian food is now getting its own festival, North — The Nordic Food Festival in New York City this October. (Honest Cooking)

• We find there's a lot to love from the countries up against the North Sea and the Baltic — fresh summer berries, earthy grains, tangy dairy, lots of cake. This week we wandered through some gorgeous Lithuania food blogs (some days the internet is magic like that) and found Clouds, a composite magazine with an English edition.

• How much sense do boycotts really make? Sometimes, not much. Bars across the U.S. and around the world are boycotting Russian products—particularly Stolichnaya vodka—to protest the Russian government’s passage of laws discriminating against gay citizens and rights advocates. But as Stoli points out: a company is not a government, and doesn't necessarily have much sway. The company has also publicly supported gay rights. (Forbes)

• Vineyard growth plan for 'Bordeaux of China' raises concerns for animal habitats and livelihoods of villagers who switch to grapes "Pandas are squished into the last little upland refuge that hasn't been converted into agriculture....A species that has lost so much habitat can't afford to lose more." (Guardian)

• In the struggles of farm and food labor, this week, fast food workers went on strike across America to demand higher wages. "'These companies aren’t magically going to make our lives better,” said Terrance Wise, who earns $9.30 an hour after working for eight years at a Burger King in Kansas City, plus $7.40 an hour at his second job at Pizza Hut. “We can sit back and stay silent and continue to live in poverty or, on the other hand, we can step out and say something and let it be known that we need help.'” (New York Times)

Sing Along Snacks: Cheese Alarm

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

Robyn Hitchcock sings about one of our favorite food groups in Cheese Alarm. Why are there not more love songs to cheese?

"Roquefort and Gruyère and slippery Brie
All of these cheeses they happen to me
Oh please
Rough Pecorino and moody Rams Hall
Stop me before I just swallow it all
Oh please
Somebody ring the cheese alarm"

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 75

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

 

• Draught and flood-resistant gorilla beans (above) are helping fight malnutrition in central Africa. "Protein-rich gorilla beans have been bred to target malnutrition in DRC's North and South Kivu provinces. They contain up to double the iron and 70% more zinc than regular beans, and are often used as a meat substitute. Much of the scientific research into the purple and white kidney-shaped pulses, which have been produced without genetic modification, has been conducted by African research institutions" (The Guardian)

• Rising temperatures are throwing food production in jeopardy, especially in the western US, and we're not doing enough to adapt, says an OpEd on Our Coming Food Crisis. "Last year some farmers made more from insurance payments than from selling their products, meaning we are dangerously close to subsidizing farmers for not adapting to changing climate conditions." Maybe we should be looking at Gorilla Beans too. (New York Times)

• The Distraction of Data: How Brand Research Misses the Real Reasons Why People Buy "The evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller believes that humans display brands like proud peacocks exhibit their tail feathers, as “fitness indicators” that advertise their potential as mates....Humans also advertise their “fitness” to our fellow kind. The brands we choose are symbols that signify traits that mark our success and worth in the pecking order." (Fast Company)

• Happy hour in motion: animated gifs of some favorite indie beers (Laughing Squid)

• Hangovers: The Driving Force Behind Our Favorite Foods For the gifts of the Bloody Mary and Eggs Benedict, we are truly grateful. (Smithsonian)
  

• We love collective action: A new seafood industry coalition for sustainability has formed called Sea Pact, made up of member companies Albion Fisheries, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Ipswich Shellfish Group, Santa Monica Seafood, Seacore Seafood and Seattle Fish Co. "The coalition will pool resources to promote fisheries and aquaculture improvements, in an effort to support more environmentally-friendly fishing and seafood farming." (Seafood Source)

• A slide show of the 50 Best Things to Eat and Drink Right Now in America, from brisket tacos in Brooklyn to beet homefries in Austin. "We're living in a golden age of stuffing our pieholes." (GQ)

• The latests in fake food in China — salt. Authorities busted a fake salt operation worth
  $3.23 million (China Daily)

• In the shadow of the world's tallest building, Dubai has a farmers market. "A whopping 4000 people attended the first market. 'People were unbelievably grateful...Local produce just was not available to the common man.'” (Modern Farmer)

• Looking for food poisoning? There's an app for that. Actually is for swapping leftovers with strangers, which probably amounts to the same thing. (Daily Meal)

Sing Along Snacks: Dim Sum Song

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

The Fung Brothers sing the Dim Sum Song — it's got food trucks, pierced models, and dim sum, oh my!

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 74

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

 

• In Australia, one farm is employing the cutest little beekeeper you've ever seen, a labrador retriever named Bazz (above) who takes to the fields in his custom-made suit and has been trained to sniff out diseased hives. (Treehugger)

• It's not like selling handbags: For online food startups, a challenging recipe for success "Unlike groceries, artisanal foods are generally considered a niche market. They make great gifts, as well as delicious occasional treats, but most people -- even foodies -- aren't buying high-end truffle oil too often." (Fortune)

• Rare Japanese Volkswagen Bus Toaster Imprints VW Logo on Toast and you can't have one, unless you're one of the lucky few. (Laughing Squid)

• Men's fashion site Mr Porter has bridged their style into food with their "The Way I cook" series, like this one with model and cake enthusiast Sam Homan. Anyone looking to make a company video for their food product, take notes. (Mr Porter)

• Hotels and resorts want a piece of the Farm to Table movement: "In May 2012, Hyatt Hotels Corp. required chefs at its 120 full-service hotels in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean to use at least five local ingredients on their menus. The rules define local as food grown or caught within 50 miles of the hotel." And the experiment is still going. (News-press)

• Want to know which currencies are over or undervalued? You can find the answers through Burgernomics. (Economist)

• More US consumers are looking to purchase organic foods, but supply issues are sending farmers and consumers to China. Will the US be able to sort out its domestic supply? (audio of radio show) (On Point)

• Harrod's links it's Cocktails and All that Jazz in-store promotions with its social platforms including great little videos like this one for mixing Hendricks gin cocktails in a teapot. “Extending a local retail campaign like this to digital can enable a global audience to participate, expose new customers to the brand, and ultimately, if done right, drive traffic and sales to ecommerce.” (Luxury Daily)

• How to drink coffee in space at zero gravity, explained to you, in this little video made by NASA. Because, you know, it could come in really handy if you find yourself in space. (Laughing Squid)

• San Francisco style prediction: uni is the new foie gras, with a tour of some of their favorite uni dishes, from crostini to flan to snuggled up next to a raw quail egg. (The Bold Italic)

Sing Along Snacks: Raining Tacos

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

Singer-songwriter Parry Gripp and animator BooneBum have come up with the taco-themed wonder, It's Raining Tacos.

If the Pet Shop Boys had ever written a song about tacos, it probably would have sounded a lot like this.

"It's raining tacos, from out of the sky
Tacos, no need to ask why
Just open your mouth and close your eyes
It's raining tacos"

Ad: Thirsty for Love

David Hasselhoff is thirsty for love and iced coffee in this Cumberland Farms ad.

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 73

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

 

• Happy Summer from the Pork Fairy. These bathing beauties make an uninhabited island in the Bahamas their home. (Treehugger)

• Another reason not to underestimate smaller regional markets: the chefs are spreading out. A shortage of qualified cooks to work in top New York kitchen has risen to newsworthy levels. The reasons are the same as they ever were — low pay and high rent — but now there are so many other scenes to be part of. (NPR)

• Despite the economic slow-down, the food business is still booming in the US. "Specialty food sales in the U.S. alone grew 13 percent to $85 billion in 2012. And Americans consumed a record $34 billion worth of wine last year." (Inc.)
  

• In a problem that could be fixed in the stew pot, urban farmers are abandoning hundreds of fashion chickens. Really, it was only a matter of time. (Jezebel)

• Biotech corn seeds that were supposed to keep pests away are faltering, causing an upswing in pesticides. "Steiner, the Nebraska crop consultant, usually argues for another strategy: Starve the rootworms, he tells his clients. Just switch that field to another crop. 'One rotation can do a lot of good,' he says. 'Go to beans, wheat, oats. It's the No. 1 right thing to do.'" (NPR)

• Nursery food is good for you, or at least the nostalgia it inspires. "Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders. Couples feel closer and look happier when they’re sharing nostalgic memories. On cold days, or in cold rooms, people use nostalgia to literally feel warmer." Bring on the mac & cheese and a fluffernutter. (New York Times)

• David Hasselhoff is now Thirsty for Love (and apparently iced coffee) in this campier than camp video. In a world of spoof upon spoof, Entertainment Weekly suggests that this is really Hasselhoff as character David Brent from The Office. (Laughing Squid) Which brings to mind another Hoff, this time of the deep sea. "The alien-like crab -- nicknamed the "Hoff" in honor of David Hasselhoff's similarly hairy torso -- was discovered in 2009, living on the perimeter of hydrothermal vents thousands of feet beneath the Indian and Arctic oceans." Really, you can't make this stuff up. (LA  Times)

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 72

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

• Amelie meets butter (above) in one of the coolest cooking commercials we've ever seen.

• Gin is at risk: British gin distillers could be facing a production crisis as a deadly fungus rips through Scottish junipers, leaving the berries “in serious trouble.”

• A new culprit in cod decline? "Scientists believe they have evidence global warming may hold a clue in the mystery of why, despite 20 years of increasingly harsh fishery regulations, cod hasn't rebounded. The species of zooplankton that is one of the preferred foods of larval cod simply can't take the heat."

• How about no more "trash" talk for starters. Short of Cod, Massachusetts Chefs Suggest a Dish of Blood Cockle: Catch Limits Have New Englanders Testing New Recipes, and Names, for 'Trash Fish'

• Foodem, a new tech solution for linking wholesale food buyers and sellers has launched. “Today, you see lots of small and mid-size farms take their produce to farmers markets, but they only sell for individual use,” Rehman said. “Many of those farms could handle wholesale quantity buying, but don’t know how to connect with those buyers. We help them find a market that works for them.”

• And one from the advertising vaults: If you don't have cutting-edge food photography, there's always naked ladies, like this one for Pol pasta in 1905.

Sing Along Snacks: Texas Cookin'

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

Guy Clark sings about Texas Cookin', just in time for the 4th of July.

"I know a man that cook armadillo
tastes so sweet he calls it pie
I know a woman makes pan dulce
tastes so good it gets you high

Get them enchiladas greasy
get them steaks chicken fried
Sho' do make a man feel happy
to see white gravy on the side"