Trawling through some photos of a Hong Kong trip for a friend
I came across this one of steamed sweet buns. Yes, I ate one and lived.
This Guy is Crocheting Food Hats and It’s Awesome
Toothsome, I would have said J
Wicked fat
‘I’m a historian and I don’t predict the future, but
historians will say that in an area like this, it’s not likely that any current
state of affairs will persist forever. When it comes to present-day views of
fat, of cholesterol, of fiber, of sodium, etc., it’s only prudent to expect
change. The historian knows that views of food and eating have always been
subject to change, and the historian is hard-pressed to see why such change
should cease.’
A follow up to last Compost’s article about culinary modernism
and religion via Helen Greenwood.
Smog meringues
‘In any
case, our hope is that the meringues will serve as a kind of “Trojan treat,”
creating a visceral experience of disgust and fear that prompts a much larger
conversation about the aesthetics and politics of urban air pollution, as well
as its health and environmental effects. Eat at your own risk!’
I love this – quirky, technically clever
as, and a terrifically direct way to raise the issue of air pollution
particularly with the growth in outside dining. I wonder what Sydney smog
meringues would taste like?
The inefficiency of local food
‘Forsaking comparative
advantage in agriculture by localizing means it will take more inputs to grow a
given quantity of food, including more land and more
chemicals—all of which come at a cost of carbon emissions.’
I’ve read other articles on this pointing
out that some food grows best and most sustainably in particular conditions and
hence geographies. I am not an unthinking supporter of the food miles concept
in that regard. I like my access for example to tropical fruit that will not
grow in Sydney except in hothouses potentially massively inefficiently created
power and landwise. In this as in other areas of foodways all is down to the
negotiations and compromises we make to live within some ethical and healthful
framework while also working to change the systemic failings where we can.
A culinary modernist reader: Volume One: Opening
salvos
And continuing the discussion on culinary
modernism Colin alerted me to this site which looks worth engaging with.
It’s raining lamb chips and pizza: the problem with
sending food into space
‘There has been a cloud-bound can of Coors Light, a curry-house lamb
chop sent into orbit by a novelist,
a congealing pizza flung into the sky by an NYC electronic band, and a
burger from a London delivery business that hoped to publicise its ability to
deliver a meal by firing it in the opposite direction
to all human life. Plus, there was a
brewery that decided to create an imperial stout by shooting yeast into space.’
Yep, just what we need, a whole new class
of space junk(food).
The naked chef? Chimpanzees can ‘cook’
and prefer cooked food - study
‘A study found that chimpanzees prefer
the taste of cooked food, can defer gratification while waiting for it and even
choose to hoard raw vegetables if they know they will have the chance to cook
them later on. The findings suggest that our earliest ancestors may have
developed a taste for roast vegetables and grilled meat earlier than previously
thought, potentially shifting the timeline for one of the critical transitions
in human history.’
MasterChimp – bring it on!!! Notice I did
not make a terrible joke about the apes in the kitchens around hipster cafes.
Drinking
an ethical cup of coffee; how easy is it?
‘Fairtrade Foundation standards do not regulate wages if a
smallholder employs less than a “significant number” of workers, which is
generally interpreted to mean 20. If they employ fewer than 20, they aren’t
even required to pay the legal minimum wage. This controversy is important,
firstly because it shows how far we have come. Fairtrade is now firmly
established on our supermarket shelves - a huge achievement not only for the
organisation but also for the campaign groups that started the label in the
late 1980s. If Fairtrade was only accrediting niche ethical products, the story
wouldn’t have had the media pick up that it has. Secondly, it will ultimately
help Fairtrade improve what they do. A statement at the time said, “We welcome
this focus on the low wages that persist among too many agricultural workers,
particularly those who carry out informal work and who are very hard to reach.”
It occurred to me on reading this that I
have seen little discussion about the integral role of the informal economy in
countries like PNG and how this intersects with calls for minimum wages. That is, can the informal economy which
currently provides some income for a large proportion of those able and willing
to work continue if the push for minimum wages extends into small scale,
episodic or seasonal work within it. Has anyone come across any material on
this issue?
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