Read Up On It for September 7th, 2012
I don’t know what happened, but this week there were some pretty amazing stories about food posted online. Everything from the serious (studies on organic farming) to the trends (home canning, temperance cocktails) to the surreal (ice cream nachos, McDonalds going vegetarian in India). It’s Read Up On It!
- - Baskin Robbins is either sick or smart. I haven’t decided yet.Ice cream nachos? Gawker asks, WTF?
- The Globe and Mail had some pretty interesting stories this week. First, a piece about the recent surge of urbanites who do their own bottling/canning . Apparently the lion’s share of sales of canning jars is in urban, not rural areas. Neat. Then a story by Wency Leung about what is arguably the most maligned of sandwhich meats: bologna (or baloney, depending on who you talk to). Finally, a report on a subject that we are maritimers should be proud of: moonshine, and the people who make it (legally, that is).
- McDonald’s used to fry their fries in beef tallow, rather than veg oil. That wouldn’t have flown at their most recent venture, a vegetarian-only resto in India.
- I’m a huge fan of burdock and dandelion soda/root beer. What I didn’t know is that it was fostered through the temperance movement. Now with the recent interest in mixology (how I hate that word), temperance “cocktails” have found their own nice in the U.K.
- I’d be interested to know what the deal is for Canada, but in the U.S., 80% of the antibiotics produced in the country go straight into the food chain, and a lot of it is unregulated. The New York Times looks into it.
- Also at the NYT, a story about how Taipei may be the greatest place to eat food in China, and how restaurants are keeping stock of what you like, what you don’t like and who you are.
- Finally, I don’t even live in Los Angeles, but I read/follow Jonathan Gold’s reviews all the time. Believer sits down with him and talks about food criticism and snobbery, and eating live octopus is perhaps a bit more fucked up than you think it is.
