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...]
Archives for March 2016
A tour of Sicily through its wines
Goethe said in the 18th century that to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything. Is that valid for Sicily's wine? And how do you take a tour of Sicily during a wine tasting? That was the question I tried to answer in a tasting of Sicilian wine that I presented recently. A tour of Sicily is by no means easy. Many refer to the largest island in the Mediterranean as a continent and you can see why when you are in the process of selecting the wines for such a tasting. You can approach Sicilian wine in many ways. Maybe the simplest approach would be to focus either on Mount Etna as a region on its own or else look at some of Sicily's indigenous grapes and showcase them specifically comparing the way the wineries work with the grapes and their terroir. But I wanted to take a different approach which was that of showcasing the different styles of wines that you can find and also challenge stereotypes. The … [Read more...]
Brussels craft brewery converts discarded bread into beer to combat food waste
Babylone is the name of a beer created by Brussels Beer Project that is brewed with bread that would otherwise be thrown away. The innovative craft brewery in Brussels, which produces around 20 beers each year, is the brain child of Sébastien Morvan and Olivier de Brauwere. They have created the first beer of its kind using unsold bread that would otherwise go to waste. The beer takes us "back to the future" as the brewery says and is the perfect example of how to move from words to action when it comes to tackling the issue of food waste. Now, after interest from Jamie Oliver who featured the beer on his programme on Channel 4, the recipe of the Brussels based micro-brewery is also being made in London. The two co-founders of the Brussels craft brewery were recently invited to London for the launch of Toast Ale, a beer that is based on Babylone's recipe. The beer in London is brewed by Hackney Brewery and Tristram Stuart. The latter, a food waste activist, is the project … [Read more...]