These entrepreneurs are using technology to turn a profit on food waste: Food waste is bad for our wallets. It’s also bad for the environment — the equivalent of throwing away the water, energy, and other resources that go into growing it in the first place. But as interest in reducing food waste grows, so does innovation to make it happen. Take a look at what some creative businesses are doing to turn trash into treasure. Shouty chef Gordon Ramsay is known for putting professional cooks through the ringer on television, but in this video, he's here to offer some sage advice to the amateur at home. Ramsay serves up 10 tips that are simple, but can improve anyone's home cooking game. The best sandwich ever: "Your Top 5 favorite sandwiches, in order, please. Go.” This is a game I play in the car with my children, as if we were characters in a Nick Hornby novel. It’s a diversion to make long travel more bearable. We play it all the time. The children rush to judgment, and as is true for … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #74
You can buy a cheap chicken today, but we all pay for it in the long run: Have you ever asked yourself why an everyday “value” chicken can now be cheaper, pound for pound, than bread? Cheap chicken has become the “healthy” meat of choice for most shoppers and sales are booming, up 20% since 2000 in the UK. But is it really either cheap or healthy? Enigma chef Frantzen to open restaurant in Dubai: Swedish chef Björn Frantzén has revealed further details about his new venture in Dubai Design District (d3), following the news last month that his restaurant Frantzén is one of the culinary concepts set to open in the freezone this year. In an interview with Caterer Middle East, Frantzén, who is currently in residence at Engima in Palazzo Versace Dubai, said the restautant will "be a Nordic brasserie called Frantzén Kitchen". You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Jeremiah Tower: For a man who has just seen his life pass before him, Jeremiah Tower is handling things with complete composure and … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #73
First came the parent-and-toddler dining club at Michelin-starred restaurants — and now, kids can ditch the adults for a children-only meal at restaurants like Per Se, Del Posto, and Blue Hill, part of Danish culinary star Claus Meyer's new New York project Kid's Table. At the event, children aged 7 to 14 eat a three-course meal for $30, sans parents. Meanwhile, each restaurant incorporates rhubarb, lamb, and turnip in the dinner and treats the tots and teens like regular diners. You can read the story about how Meyer, the co-founder of Noma, is trying to bring in a new generation of food-aware people. How food became pop culture: Mario Batali writes that pp until the late ’70s/early ’80s, nobody in America thought of dinner as much more than something they did before they went out to a game or the opera or the movies. Gastronomy was only important to, maybe, a small group of people, and even then, it was a frippery. No one cared about consuming the information as well as the … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #72
Restaurants are struggling to make ends meet and rising rents and changes in labour laws in various countries have made it even harder. David Chang has a great article on the subject. Called the earthquake that is about to hit restaurants he says razor-thin does not even begin to describe just how slender the margins are in the restaurant business, and that’s if you’re one of the fortunate few that don’t go under in the first year. Anthony Bourdain has 3 Best Tips For Eating Great When Traveling Abroad: If you like traveling and you're an even bigger fan of food, then you might also be a fan of Anthony Bourdain. The restaurant chef turned author has become a popular TV personality in recent years, first with his show No Reservations on the Discovery Channel and now with Parts Unknown on CNN. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Bourdain has a large and respected presence in the worlds of food and travel. The 58-year-old is known for his honest, no bullshit approach to exploring and telling the … [Read more...]
A review of Michael Pollan’s documentary series Cooked
Cooked, the new documentary series on Netflix by Michael Pollan which is based on the best-selling book by Pollan is a must watch. It follows the same structure of the book and is based on four episodes looking at cooking through the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. Pollan is not new to food. He is probably one of the most influential writers in the United States on the subject and has made it a mission to get people to learn more about the food we eat. Famous for his book the Omnivore's Dilemma, with Cooked Pollan takes a different approach. He tackles the subject of cooking through the four elements and shows how these have been crucial in shaping the society we know today. But, unlike ever before, we are at risk of losing a lot of our culture and identities by our decision to 'outsource' cooking to corporations. The four documentaries in the series are narrated by Pollan himself and include interviews with the author. He visits different parts of the world to … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #71
Identita Golose has published Massimo Bottura's speech that was delivered at the event in Milan earlier this month. It is worth reading. Entitled the contemporary chef's manifesto, here is the first paragraph. "Creativity is a happy hindrance. When you have mastered a technique, you’ve become aware of your means, you have developed a critical ability and most of all you know yourself, at that moment, on the road to creativity, by slipping on an over mature banana, by tasting a pesto made with breadcrumbs or a lemon tartlet that fell down, at that moment you see the world with different eyes, the eyes of a child hiding underneath a table who steals a raw tortellino from the cutting board, catching a glimpse in the darkness." Recipe for success: Tiziano Gérard might be the greatest chef you’ve never heard of. He combines the skills and repertoire acquired in the kitchens of five-star hotels in Monte Carlo, Milan and Sardinia with the traditional cuisine of the Aosta Valley in … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #70
It has been 20 years since "Under the Tuscan Sun" was published. The book became iconic and was also turned into a film. The New Yorker revisits the book that made people dream of going to live in Tuscany. The author of the article says it reads slightly better now though he has a longtime love-hate relationship with the book as its success has haunted him, teased him and turned him. Read why in the article especially if you are thinking of a trip to Tuscany any time soon. Robots could be staffing hotels by 2020 according to this article. Robot butlers and bartenders could be staffing hotels by 2020 as consumers become increasingly open to the idea, according to new research. A survey of 6,000 travellers from Europe, Asia and North America by Travelzoo found that almost two thirds would be comfortable with artificial intelligence being used in the travel industry in the next five years. Netflix has ordered more 'Chef's Table'. The streaming company has … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #69
We are often reminded of the impact that technology is having on our lives. In Sweden, the first unstaffed food shop has opened. This is the work of a 39-year old IT specialist who runs a 24-hour shop with no cashier. Customers simply use their cellphones to unlock the door with a swipe of the finger and scan their purchases. All they need to do is to register for the service and download an app. They get charged for their purchases in a monthly invoice. In Australia, Noma Forages for Ingredients and Inspiration: On the menu that comes to the table at the end of the meal, it is described simply as “abalone schnitzel and bush condiments.” But those words don’t really do justice to the delicious eccentricity of the dish, part of a 10-week pop-up being staged there, through April 2, by the team from Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant famed for foraging indigenous ingredients and weaving them into a new kind of contemporary cuisine. The New York Times has an article about … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #68
Here is a thought-provoking read about ordering food online in New York. It is about two savvy entrepreneurs who have created a successful company called Green Summit that is built on the notion that diners do not really care if their food comes from a restaurant that really exists in the real world. It offers menus from eight different virtual menus but the food is prepared in the same two kitchens. Could this be successful elsewhere? How often do you eat on your desk at lunch? The trend seems to be growing and that is not a good thing. According to an anthropologist the way people eat at work is pretty said. In the 1987 movie ‘‘Wall Street,’’ Gordon Gekko famously remarks, ‘‘Lunch is for wimps.’’ It has proved to be a prescient line in the American workplace, where taking time off for lunch has increasingly become a sign of idleness. But in an economy where the standard task is sitting in front of a computer, lunch is less intuitive and far more optional. On June 1st, … [Read more...]
Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #67
If there is one thing that you should read this week then we recommend the following article which appeared in Wired. It's about Noma's taste of tomorrow and the future of food: One autumn afternoon in 2015, Danish chef René Redzepi is thinking hard about his restaurant's place in the world, both philosophically and geographically. "People consider Noma to be a local restaurant," he says. "We might be culturally local, but 'local' in terms of food miles - what does that mean? There are no definitions of these things. According to some 2008 Farm Act in America you have to source within 400 miles, which is like 650 kilometres, which makes us actually a Polish restaurant as well." Would you believe it if you are told that some of the best Italian food in Britain is served by non-Italians. There may be all sorts of reasons behind this odd fact but the reason is that the British chefs seem to have a stronger belief in a pan-Italian cuisine than most Italians do. Tim Hayward, has … [Read more...]