Tonight CBS News is airing part one of a two-part series that’s investigating antibiotic use in livestock production, and how it contributes to the spread of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” Katie Couric was on the Early Show this morning to discuss the series, and sounds the alarm bell. According to Couric, “the CDC says that antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing issues facing Americans today, and there is growing concern agriculture may be playing a major role in this, with huge amounts of antibiotics being given to healthy livestock.”
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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Katie Couric Lays Into Antibiotic Use in Livestock
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
The Dark Side of the Sunny Side
The Washington Post’s Checkup blog is all freaked out about commercials for Eggland’s Best featuring eggs sunny-side up. If you weren’t in the know, as, apparently, I wasn’t, sunny-side up eggs are perceived by many to be only slightly safer than fugu or warthog anus in terms of their potential health impact.
Monday, February 8th, 2010
The McItaly McControversy
Does the introduction of the McItaly burger mean that McDonald’s is finally tuning in to the higher themes of gastronomy on the Italian Peninsula, or that civilization itself is under attack?
McDonald’s would argue that the McItaly burger is a big step forward, as it’s made from “all-local ingredients, including the artichoke spread and the Asiago cheese.” Critics such as Matthew Fort at the Guardian in the U.K. say the Italian government’s endorsement of the new product is nothing short of a “monstrous act of national betrayal.”
Dan Mitchell at Slate moderates, sort of, but it seems pretty clear everybody’s talking about different things. McDonald’s sees itself as embracing Italian food and culture by making a burger tailored to local tastes using local ingredients. Points for the company: The move doesn’t make McDonald’s a local trattoria, but it does show that the company’s paying attention to its critics and putting a bit more money into the local economy.
Friday, February 5th, 2010
What Have You Learned from Home Fermentation?
If you’ve ever pickled, made your own sauerkraut, or experimented with growing your own sourdough starter, you’ve probably read Sandor Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation, or been helped by someone who did. Now the granddaddy of today’s DIY fermentation craze (and one of our inaugural CHOW 13 food trend influencers) is penning a follow-up. Katz, who lives in an intentional community in the hills of Tennessee, is collecting anecdotes and info for his new book, and would love to hear from fermentation hobbyists and pros. He sent out this questionnaire this morning. You can email him with your responses at sandorkraut at wildfermentation dot com.
QUESTIONS FOR FERMENTERS
1. Can you think of any practical tips you wish you had had when you
embarked upon a fermentation project?
2. Are there any common misunderstandings or fears that you have
encountered talking to people about your fermentation projects?
3. Can you describe any unusual flavor, ingredient, or process
variations that you have tried and especially liked?
4. Can you articulate any important life lessons you have learned
from your fermentation practice?
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Beer Movies! (And Some Wine.)
We’ve seen a handful of interesting wine and beer documentaries popping up recently. First, there is Blood Into Wine, a film about the winemaking endeavor in Arizona of Maynard James Keenan (frontman of Tool, A Perfect Circle) premiering February 19 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Check out the website for info on screenings in other cities.) Keenan is infamously reclusive, and just the fact that he was open to having a documentary made about him is pretty interesting. He’s apparently trying to bring recognition to Arizona’s wine industry, and from the trailer, the movie looks pretty humorous.
Last week, a somewhat mysterious trailer for what looks to be a documentary on the late, great beer writer Michael Jackson, put together by the Wine Travelers, was posted on YouTube. There isn’t much info on the film, other than a 2010 release date.
And finally, the folks at Stone Brewing have been releasing a series of videos about their travels in Europe and collaborations with Nøgne Ø in Norway and BrewDog in Scotland. So far the clips have been really fun to watch, with surprisingly high production values. There are four parts; here is number one. Check the Stone Brewing website for the other clips as they release them (part two is also out).
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Standing Up for Young Farmers
A couple of weeks ago, Severine von Tscharner Fleming filed the paperwork to start the National Young Farmers’ Coalition, a nonprofit she says will be the first of its kind, aiming to address the needs of the new generation of farmers. Farming has been a huge part of her entire adult life (she’s 28), from working on farms for the last eight summers, to starting her own Smithereen Farm last year in New York’s Hudson Valley, where she raises rabbits, pigs, chickens, herbs, and vegetables. That’s not to mention her work on an organization called the Greenhorns, which has produced a documentary on young farmers in America, as well as a radio show, newsletter, and young farmer mixers. We caught up with her to find out more about the new coalition. (more…)
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
Out: Fire Alarms, In: Wasabi
Japanese scientists have figured out a new, gastronomically cutting-edge way to wake up deaf people and alert them to a possible fire. The Telegraph writes:
“Japanese horseradish, whose smell is more usually found in sushi restaurants, contains allyl isothiocyanate—the same chemical compound that gives mustard its bite—and tests at the Shiga University of Medical Science have shown that virtually all the hearing-impaired people exposed to the odour of wasabi woke up within two-and-a-half minutes.”
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Learning to Love Offal
Cookstr.com, coming to us via the Daily Beast, presents a roundup of ways to enjoy offal, those taste-rich little bits of organ meat that so often end up wasted in conventional cooking and food prep.
With highlights including tripe and onions, calf’s liver with orange (a Mario Batali recipe), and seared foie gras with mango and mango vinaigrette, this article is nice gateway into the many dimensions of a sometimes maligned type of meat.
Image source: Flickr member quinet under Creative Commons
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Download CHOW Wallpaper: Peppers
This week’s wallpaper comes from our pepper chart, a visual guide to chiles. Our photographer, Chris, shot his first pepper when he was 12, trying to copy the famous photograph by Edward Weston. But for these shots, he said he wanted them to look bright and saturated, so he shot them with a single hard light. This enabled him to clearly show the surface of each pepper, and keep it real, not romanticized.
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