The Food Scene in East Nashville. Christopher Berkey for The New York Times Top row: habanero guacamole, a chicken taco and fried avocado taco, and chicken tortilla soup at Mas Tacos Por Favor; the restaurant's food truck; Olive & Sinclair chocolate. Bottom row: relishes and peaches at the Nashville Farmers' Market; the open kitchen at The Catbird Seat.
More Photos » Look for the signs: a fixed-gear bicycle shop, a coffee roaster run by fellows with scraggly beards, a bar with handmade bitters, food trucks and, perhaps, a paleta shop run by young women with advanced degrees. East Nashville, a down-on-its-luck side of town being brought to life one great plate of food at a time, is the indicator species for this city, which has been climbing the charts as a new food star. Like Atlanta and Charleston, S.C., before it, Nashville is enjoying the attention of a nation that sure likes the South these days. Nashville has long embraced its history as well as the newcomer looking to make a mark.
The Marmalade Special Effects Studio Creates Mesmerizing Food Commercials. Ever wonder how food commercials capture that perfect shot of beer cascading into a glass, or perfectly moistened vegetables falling elegantly onto a plate? It's no chance happening. The folks at German special effects studio The Marmalade scrutinize every aspect of a film shoot before they call it a wrap. Their team of specialists is a dizzying roster of food stylists, directors, cinematographers, model-makers, mechanical engineers, pyrotechnicians, matte painters, fluids specialists, 3D-animators and compositing professionals "Our customers want the unseen," says CEO and founder Torsten Eichten in a mesmerizing video explaining his craft.
"They require a unique image for their brand that no one's created before. That's where we start. " The Marmalade staff achieves their desired look by way of a high speed robot that films precise moments -- when a drop of water hits another, when bubbles in Champagne burst -- during ultra high frame rate takes. Bourdain And Crew Embark On Meat And Booze-Filled Bender On Vice 'Munchies' Dirty Dozen: EWG Reveals List Of Pesticide-Heavy Fruits And Veggies. What could be purer than a single ingredient? As health-minded consumers work to avoid processed meals and turn their focus to whole foods, we may find ourselves picking up fruits and veggies more often. The average American currently eats about 100 pounds of fresh produce per year, but that number could be a lot higher. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends adults eat two to three daily servings of fruits and veggies, only one-third of us meet that recommendation. Clearly, nothing should deter efforts to consume more fresh produce, the healthfulness of which is undeniable.
For the eighth year in a row, the nonprofit advocacy organization Environmental Working Group has released their list of the twelve most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables on the market as part of their 2012 Shoppers Guide. Certain pesticides have been identified as potential carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and have been associated with learning and developmental delays in children. Loading Slideshow. What We're Reading. California Dairy Farmers Split Over Milk Payments In Farm Bill : The Salt. Hide captionA dairy cow peeks out of its stall at Case van Steyn's dairy in Galt, Calif. Kathleen Masterson/NPR A dairy cow peeks out of its stall at Case van Steyn's dairy in Galt, Calif. California is known as the land of fruits and nuts, but it also happens to be the country's largest milk-producing state. So it's no surprise that its dairy farmers are front and center in the debate over reforming the milk marketing system, which hasn't really changed much in 30 years.
Congress is debating a multibillion-dollar farm bill, the massive spending bill that comes up every five years. Over the past few years, feed costs have skyrocketed, and many farmers have taken out multiple loans just to stay afloat. "If you listen to the experts, a lot of people say things will improve fall or by early next year — but those kind of comments have been made before," van Steyn says.
He says that of California's 1,600 dairies, more than 40 have gone bankrupt in the past few months. "They don't see a future. McDonald's Customer Satisfaction: Chain At Bottom Of Fast Food Rankings In New Survey. Data collected by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) reveals that McDonald's, despite being the top fast food company in revenue, ranks in last place in customer satisfaction. The study, which looked at several limited-service restaurants, placed McDonald's at 73 percent satisfaction.
Papa John's, in comparison, led the pack with 83 percent. On the whole, chains averaged at the 80 percent mark. It's worth noting that this year's numbers for McDonald's, while lowest among the restaurant chains examined, is the company's highest customer satisfaction in the ASCI data presented, which goes back to 1995. The Chicago Tribune also writes that despite McDonald's consistently low rates of customer satisfaction -- it's ranked lowest for the last several years -- it has made some strides in this area: The chain has shown significant improvement in the past decade, up from 61 percent satisfaction in 2002. See all the ACSI rankings for limited-service restaurants below: Also on HuffPost: 8 Tips For Buying Lobster (And What To Do Once You've Bought It)
Lobsters, tastiest when fresh from the ocean, antennae intact. Ever find yourself staring in awe at an overcrowded lobster tank in a grocery store with no idea how to choose the perfect one? Are you clueless about what to do with it upon your return home? We recently caught up with Luke Holden, President of Luke’s Lobster, home to New York’s best lobster roll. In honor of National Lobster Day today, June 15, we asked him for tips on buying supermarket lobsters, and how to best preserve them after purchase (and before the big finale). 8 Lobster Buying Tips There are two types of lobsters There’s hard-shell and soft-shell lobsters. Sneak a peak at the underbody If you look at the underbody of the lobster – particularly the claws – they’re a vibrant red. You don’t need a good nose to find a good lobster Smell is not an issue. Be sure to enjoy it before it enjoys itself!
So, a lobster is like a fat cow. It’s kind of like a fat cow. Size matters…antennae size that is Steaming equals sweetness. Health - Alexandra Jaffe - It's Settled: Dishwashers Beat the Lowly Hand, Almost Every Time. The secret is scalding water that's too hot for the human touch. Camilo Torres/Shutterstock There comes a time in every person's life when the futility of it all hits home, full force. That time for me is every Friday, around mid-afternoon, when I set to tackling the piles of dishes that have accumulated in my sink throughout the week. I have a dozen plates and countless utensils to scrub and scrape. At the end of the day, how clean are they, really? According to science, my weekly crisis is well-founded: hand-washing doesn't get your dishes as clean as machine washing. And, before washing even begins, your dishes are likely disgusting.
"Any time you're dealing with food, or even just utensils touching a person's mouth, there's the potential for harmful bacteria and even parasites to transfer from food to food, or food to person," said Dr. Schneider described the formation of "biofilm" on plates left to steep in their own scum for prolonged periods of time. What to do? And soap? The Senate passed its version of the farm bill. Now what? It’s difficult to know what to say about a 1010-page bill that affects literally hundreds of programs, some big, some small, at such astronomical cost—an expected $97 billion per year. The bill is so big and so complex that it is unreasonable to expect legislators to understand it well enough to vote on it intelligently.
Think of it as a prime example of special interests in action. I’ve been collecting e-mailed responses from various groups. From these, it’s seems that the food movement scored a few wins along with plenty of losses. First the wins. The United Fresh produce association is happy that the bill provides for: Oxfam likes two things: It converts the 2008 pilot program to study the effectiveness of purchasing food aid locally and regionally to a full program funded at $40 million per year.It tries to reduce dumping of food aid on developing country markets.
Everyone else is mixed or skeptical: From Food and Water Watch: “Today, the U.S. This is a call to action. Watch McDonald's Make A Supermodel Out Of A Quarter Pounder : The Salt. If you think supermodels are the only ones who get gussied up and airbrushed during photo shoots, think again. Food companies use stylist magic that can cost big bucks, too, but mere mortals like us rarely get to see how that magic is made.
In a novel marketing move, McDonald's Canada recently posted a You Tube video of Marketing Director Hope Bagozzi responding to a customer's question about why the famous burgers looks better in front of the lens. As the British marketing blog The Drum describes it, Bagozzi guides the viewer through the steps of how the marketing firm they've hired is "painstakingly reconstructing a store bought quarter pounder with cheese with surgical precision. " Using the same ingredients as McDonalds does, watch as condiments move forward in the frame, microscopic bun holes are fixed, and the cheese is Photoshopped into an even melt.
New Orleans restaurant Johnny V's earns three beans. It can be easy to forget that the restaurant game is, in fact, a team sport. This was true even before personality cults started sprouting around American restaurant chefs during the 1980s. Satisfied diners have been sending their compliments to the back of the house at least since the days of Antonin Carême. But the world has yet to witness someone attributing their foodgasm to how well a restaurant staff marched in lock step. All of this has made the emergence of what I like to call Dream Team restaurants all the more interesting. Restaurant R’evolution, Cochon and Domenica are just three of the most obvious local members of the tribe. A maitre d’ who goes about his work like he was born to the trade, Laurent may be the most recognizable face on the Johnny V’s team, at least among serious grazers of New Orleans restaurants. Hughes earned his stripes at Café Degas, where he turned the limits of an unusually cramped kitchen into an unlikely asset.
Johnny V’s. Healthiest Meal Ever: Food Researchers Create World's Healthiest Meal. Put away the broccoli, tuck that quinoa in the pantry, and don't even look at those apples -- scientists have come up with the healthiest meal in the world, and the menu looks pretty darn tasty. Employees at UK-based Leatherhead Food Research, a marketing and research company for the food industry, were given a challenge by their boss: come up with a meal that incorporates the 222 health claims the company had determined were valid and scientifically based, from an original pool of 44,000.
Originally intended as an airline meal, CEO Dr. Paul Berryman came up with the idea flying back from a food conference. "I had spent three days talking about health claims and at a round table event I suggested that Leatherhead could make a product with all 222 claims, no problem! " he states in the company's press release. "It wasn’t that simple, but we did it within one week! " So what goes into the world's healthiest meal when scientists have a say?
Loading Slideshow. Robert F. Moss: The Pimento Cheese Trap. My article this week for the Charleston City Paper delves into the perilous world of the gourmet burger and calls for a reformation. One of the problems I identify with "the Serious Burger" (as I've dubbed the gourmet variety) is with the cheese. I didn't have space to ponder the subject of cheese too much in the article, but it's a thing that I've come across again and again and deserves addressing.
If you slap on a thin slice of American cheese on top of a burger, it gets soft right away and melts around the patty to form a smooth, soft coating. With fancier cheeses--like crumbles of bleu cheese or feta--you don't get that effect. The hunks and shards just don't melt properly, and leaving you with a burger with the textures all wrong. It's a problem that is particularly pronounced with pimento cheese, creating what I like to call "The Pimento Cheese Trap.
" Virtually every Serious Burger joint in Charleston--and all over the South, for that matter--has stumbled into this trap.