Archive for category Trends
Seriously, Watch Jamie Oliver’s TED Talk About Food Education!
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on February 13th, 2010
Jamie Oliver has always been someone within the food space that I’ve tracked with. His attitudes around simple delicious dishes that use local fresh ingredients is definitely something that I agree with. Along with being an amazingly accomplished chef and author, he’s done great work advocating for healthy lunches in the schools throughout England.
Well this year the TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), a conference where some of the smartest people in the world come together to talk about world’s issues, honored Jamie with the TED Prize for 2010 for his work in fighting childhood obesity by teaching children about food.
He gave a really moving talk (embedded above). He illustrates through numbers and some very moving stories how diet related illness kill more people every year then anything else. He also comes with a pretty awesome action plan of, which I agree with, of how to combat it…
- Every super markets needs to have a food ambassador that’ll help their patrons be smart about food and how they prepare it.
- Big food brands need to put food education at the heart of their business.
- Fast food companies need to start thinking differently and working to get us off of our addiction to fatty, sugary, and overly processed foods.
- Better regulations around how food is labeled.
- Kids in schools need to be cooked local healthy food.
- Every child needs to be taught 10 recipes that they can use for the rest of their life.
- Their needs to be greater funding for getting healthy food into schools.
As I’ve talked about before on this blog, from a very young age, I was blessed with an amazing mother who helped and encouraged me to learn my way around a kitchen. Also, Both of my parents have been encouragements and examples for eating healthy but I know that others aren’t so lucky.
I a big believer in what Jamie’s advocating. We need to do something. While Washington DC is flailing trying to figure out how to fix health care, we can do so much to actually fix our health.
This is Jamie’s mission statement…
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
Seriously, watch Jamie’s talk and let’s do something about what’s happening.
What Would You Name Your Restaurant?
Posted by Jonathan Tilley in Coffee Shops, Restaurants, Trends on January 30th, 2010
As I mentioned in my last post, one of the initial reasons I darkened the door of the Sacrificial Lamb Kebob and Pizza was the clever name. I like clever names for restaurants, cafes and shops, and I’ve often thought about what I would call my coffee shop, if I owned one. (admit it – you have too)
I especially like names with local flair – here in D.C., Hawk & Dove and the 18th Amendment come to mind. Literary references are cool too. Familiarity has bred contempt – I’m not a huge Starbucks fan, but the Moby Dick references helps you remember the coffee giant’s independent beginnings. Sometimes a name simply sounds cool. A bar/music club in Orlando, Florida (my hometown) was called, for reasons unknown to me, the Sapphire Supper Club. Before I moved away, they changed it to the Social, killing that delightfully alliterative example of pizzaz.
So, commenters, let’s hear it! What’s a great restaurant name? Has the name of a bar ever convinced you to drop in for a drink? If you owned a burger dive, a coffee house or a tapas bar, what would you name it?
Is Culinary School Worth It?
Posted by Justin Thorp in Trends on January 14th, 2010
Being an aspiring foodie, I’ll admit that I’ve day dreamed about the idea of going to culinary school. In the Atlantic Food Channel, they have a really interesting article about whether culinary school is worth it or not. It’s a very interesting read.
Salon’s Interview with Wylie Dufresne on Flavor
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on January 5th, 2010
Through the television show Top Chef, I’ve become familiar with molecular gastronomist and chef Wylie Dufresne. For those of you who aren’t familiar, molecular gastronomy is all about utilizing chemistry and more generally science in the process of cooking.
I’ve heard stories and seen examples of some pretty crazy concoctions that Wylie has come up with that create some pretty interesting flavors.
Well, Salon has got a really interesting interview with Wylie about how he is inspired to come up with these flavor combinations.
Michael Ruhlman on Why You’re Not Too Stupid To Cook
Posted by Justin Thorp in Famous Chefs, Trends on January 5th, 2010
Chef Michael Ruhlman has got a really great post on his blog about how there’s an incorrect perception that we’re all too stupid to cook. Through the media, we’re told that if you’re going to cook something it should be from a bag or in a box because cooking something from scratch is just too hard and should be left to master chefs and the dudes on TV.
His thought is that if we were all shown some of the fundamentals then we’d all see how easy cooking really is. At the end of his post, he shares a roasted chicken recipe with like 3 steps. (Will try it this weekend.)
I’m not an idiot. I know people are busy. I don’t always feel like making dinner. And I know a lot of people who simply don’t like to cook. If I had to knit my own clothes I’d be really bummed. But the notion that cooking is hard and that it takes a long time and we’re just too stupid to cook is wrong. And I want people to recognize the truth from the bill of goods they’re being sold.
Christmas Food Traditions
Posted by Justin Thorp in Trends on December 24th, 2009
I love tradition. On Christmas eve, my family definitely has lots of great traditions, especially ones that include food.
In my family, we’ve always gone to church on Christmas Eve. Afterwords, we come back, my mom will put together a bunch of delectable treats and pieces of finger food, someone will pour the glasses of Baileys liqueur, and we’ll open Christmas presents.
After the presents are opened, we continue to eat and drink, while we enjoy one of the presents someone received.
This year my mom made these delicious meatballs. Yummmm. 
It’s SOOO much fun. We eat, we drink, and we celebrate each other by giving each other presents. It’s definitely something that I look forward to every year.
Do you have Christmas traditions? Do they include food?
Wow. We Waste A Lot Of Food.
Posted by Justin Thorp in Trends on December 2nd, 2009
There is a really interesting article in the Atlantic Food Channel about “The Cost of Wasted Food.” The author talks about his Thanksgiving experiences and how his family worked to use every aspect of their left over meal for one thing or another. The goal was to waste nothing.
He talks about how food waste isn’t just an issue of hunger. It’s also an issue of sustainable production. It is wasteful to produce all that food thats not eaten and to then process all the un-eaten food.
How much food is uneaten? This was kind of surprising.
University of Arizona researchers have concluded that about half–yes half–of all food produced in the United States is never eaten. The same study determined that a typical American household throws away almost $600 worth of food every year.
That’s intense. I know I definitely don’t do a good enough job keeping track of the perishable food that I have and whether I’ve eaten it or not. I think that this is a call that we can all take to heart.
Do you do anything to make sure that you don’t waste the perishable food in your fridge?
Eating something different for Thanksgiving…
Posted by Justin Thorp in Trends on November 27th, 2009
I have been in DC for four different Thanksgivings. For each, my family has made the trek out here so that we could all spend time together and it’s always been a grand time.
For the big Thanksgiving dinner, we kind of stumbled into a new tradition. It’s a tradition of making a different kind of poultry every year. We started with chicken breasts, just out of convenience and not having time to make the whole turkey. The next year we did the whole turkey. The next year was a duck and this year was Cornish hens.
What does your family do for Thanksgiving? Do you do a turkey or do you do something completely different? Eat pasta on Thanksgiving Day? Fish?
Microbrews in Aluminum Cans
Posted by Justin Thorp in Beers, Trends on November 1st, 2009
I’m always amidst an exploration to find more great beer to be drank. One trend that I’ve noticed when I go into a liquor store is that you’re seeing microbrews slowly starting to embrace using aluminum cans versus glass bottles.
This weekend I was inside a store in Eastern Market and picked up a six pack of Butternuts Beer & Ale Porkslap Pale Ale, which was in an aluminum can. Despite the weird name of the beer, it is pretty tasty.
Does this mean that aluminum cans are losing some of their negative frat house image? Would you buy a microbrew in a six pack of cans?
Cupcakes Coming to Taco Bell?
Posted by Justin Thorp in Cupcakes, Restaurants, Trends on October 10th, 2009
Slashfood is reporting that Taco Bell is testing cupcakes in some of its markets, along with smoothies and shakes. Huh? I guess the smoothies and shakes don’t confuse me that much but cupcakes?!?
I guess I understand that one of these food mega giants would want to capitalize on the cupcake revolution that’s taking place and really bring the trend the masses but Taco Bell?!?
What do you think? Think cupcakes at Taco Bell is a good move?
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