Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 86

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

 

  • Got high temperatures and constant sunlight? Start a roof-top algae farm like these in Bnagkok that grow "super food" spirulina (above). EnerGaia is the company that's making it happen, and they want to feed you their vitamin and protein-rich brew in everything from smoothies to pasta. (Design Boom)
  • Wine under attack in France? What's the world coming to? Alas, the tone of a new campaign to tax wine as a health risk sounds awfully American. “Gastronomy, art de vivre, wine in moderation – this is still the majority of the French, but there is a real minority that wants to make illegal everything that could possibly be harmful." Sigh. (Wine Spectator)
  • The news that people in the seafood industry have known for years is hopefully coming into the mainstream: farmed salmon is a lot better than it used to be and not every producer is the same. The article doesn't get us all the way there, but it's a step in the right direction. Even Seafood Watch can admit: “Our understanding of the science has changed, and production practices have changed....Some of the older concerns are less of a concern.” (Washington Post)
  • From Senegal to the American South: a Charleston chef traces the roots of his favorite Southern dishes back to West Africa. "'The contributions of Africa to beloved dishes like gumbo, jambalaya and collard greens are monumental,' he says. They are dishes born of the terrible legacy of slavery that, as he puts it, "need to find their true voices again." (Food & Wine)

 

Sing Along Snacks: Beer Bottle Boogie

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

Our love of craft beer is spilling over into Snack selections with the Beer Bottle Boogie by Ko Ko Taylor.

"Well I don’t like beer when I’m goin too fast

I don’t like foam in a muggy glass

You put out s’more and let the beats come on

I drink good beer when I go home"

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 85

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

  • Singing the praises of masa, from pupusas (above, from a NYT slide show) to arepas and tortillas. "Without the tortilla, there is no taco. And, as the Mexican saying goes: Sin maíz, no hay país. Without corn, there is no country." (New York Times)
  •  An OpEd on how states can help Keep Farmland for Farmers by the founders of the National Young Farmers Coalition highlighted the difficulty faced by farmland turning into second homes for the wealthy. "Easements are intended to protect farmland, water, animal habitat, historic sites and scenic views, and so they are successful in keeping farms from becoming malls and subdivisions. But they don’t stop Wall Street bankers from turning them into private getaways, with price tags to match....one-quarter of the land trusts that oversee these conservation easements have seen protected land go out of production. Why? A nonfarmer had bought it." (New York Times)
  • In Scotland two of our favorite industries are joining together to turn the byproduct of whisky into salmon feed. “Distillery effluent can be damaging, but also contains potentially valuable nutrients and micronutrients. The waste can also be used to produce a microbial biomass which has the potential to be a cheap and sustainable source of protein-rich feed." (Food Magazine)
  • Marcella Hazan, teacher, cookbook author and guide to Italian cooking for scores of Americans, died this week at 89. Her New York Times obituary quoted her husband on her notoriously strident style: "'A lot of people had encounters with her because she knew in her mind, in her heart, exactly how things were supposed to be,” Mr. Hazan said on Sunday. “That is what made her cooking great. Marcella wasn’t easy, but she was true. She made no compromises with herself with her work or with her people.'” (New York Times)
  • Ever want a taste of that cake you're bringing to a party later but can't think of a way to cover up where you snuck a taste? Of course you do. The solution to that dilemma has been found in the Nibble, a cake pan with a tiny sidecar for sampling. (Laughing Squid)

 

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 84

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

  • Guerilla Wi-Fry: Burger King left giant, eight-foot-long fries lying on the streets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago (above), along with free wi-fi in the area, to promote its new crinkle-cut fries. (Design Taxi)
  • We've posted about independent Scottish brewery Brew Dog before because we love their irreverent style. Now US consumers are going to get to know them better through a show on the new Esquire network (see video previews) where they travel around the country making new beers and evangelizing for craft brewing. Audio clip on the show from The World. (PRI/The World & Esquire)
  •  October 2 is National Kale Day, with a whole supporting web site celebrating all things kale (actually way more about kale than you would have thought possible).

Sing Along Snacks: Egg Cream

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

Lou Reed rhapsodizes on the classic New York treat, the Egg Cream (which contains neither eggs nor cream).

"When I was a young man, no bigger than this
A chocolate egg cream was not to be missed
Some U Bet's chocolate syrup, seltzer water mixed with milk
You stir it up into a heady fro, tasted just like silk

You scream, I steam, we all want egg cream"

Friday Faves — notes from the new gastroconomy, No. 83

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

 

  • What if sausages grew on trees? One upon a time (above), in a 1970's German food fair, they did. (Retronaut)
  • Fast casual chain Chipotle sponsors a short movie and game targeting Big Ag: "According to Chipotle, the game encourages players to 'tilt and tap your way through four unique worlds to protect vulnerable veggies, rescue caged animals, and bring fresh food to the citizens of Plenty, all while dodging the menacing Crowbots.'" (NPR)
  • Offshore wind farms and shellfish could be a good economic match. "A small trial using seabed cultivation has already been carried out within the North Hoyle array by Welsh mussel company Deepdock Ltd, who showed that such an operation is both practical and viable, with no negative impacts on the wind farming operation." (Seafood Source)
  • Latino winemakers are a growing group in California, making the generational transition from pickers to winemakers. “'All of us have come from the ground up,' said Rafael Rios, 46, the group’s president, whose father came to the Napa Valley under the bracero program, a series of guest-worker agreements between the United States and Mexico. 'We know how it feels to be in the fields in 90 degrees.'” (New York Times)
  • First there was the Cronut, and then the world went food mash-up crazy. A Cheetos macaron? Oh, my. (LA Times)
  • In a new world of armchair farming, we found ourselves watching GoatCam, a livestream of adorable baby goats. (Modern Farmer)

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

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

  • 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)
  • 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
  • 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)

  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)

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)
  • 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)

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)
  • 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)

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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
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