tingilinde

a proper falafel

David Lebovitz on proper falafels in Lebanon

Any recommendations for truly great falafels in the US?

 

liquid nitrogen ice cream

Making ice cream with liquid nitrogen gives a very small ice crystals and a very very smooth result.  Mike points out someone who set up shop making it.



So if you are in San Francisco..

a culinary explorer

BBC Radio 4's Food Programme featured a piece on Madhur Jaffrey - now 80. (about 28 minutes of audio) Recommended if you are interested in how cuisines change or if you are a fan.

state govt. support of animals cruelty

So called ag-gag laws via The New York Times.

snip

...

Each video — all shot in the last two years by undercover animal rights activists — drew a swift response: Federal prosecutors in Tennessee charged the horse trainer and other workers, who have pleaded guilty, with violating the Horse Protection Act. Local authorities in Wyoming charged nine farm employees with cruelty to animals. And the egg supplier, which operates in Iowa and other states, lost one of its biggest customers, McDonald’s, which said the video played a part in its decision.

But a dozen or so state legislatures have had a different reaction: They proposed or enacted bills that would make it illegal to covertly videotape livestock farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups. They have also drafted measures to require such videos to be given to the authorities almost immediately, which activists say would thwart any meaningful undercover investigation of large factory farms.

Critics call them “Ag-Gag” bills.

Some of the legislation appears inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business advocacy group with hundreds of state representatives from farm states as members. The group creates model bills, drafted by lobbyists and lawmakers, that in the past have included such things as “stand your ground” gun laws and tighter voter identification rules.

One of the group’s model bills, “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act,” prohibits filming or taking pictures on livestock farms to “defame the facility or its owner.” Violators would be placed on a “terrorist registry.”

Officials from the group did not respond to a request for comment.

Animal rights activists say they have not seen legislation that would require them to register as terrorists, but they say other measures — including laws passed last year in Iowa, Utah and Missouri — make it nearly impossible to produce similar undercover exposés. Some groups say that they have curtailed activism in those states.

...

 

 

viking bees

Jheri notes an urban beekeeping group in her city of Copenhagen.  Apart from the environmental benefit it provides training and work for people.  (there is a Danish/English toggle, but much of the site is in Danish - if you are interested you can use an online translator)

a vegan egg substitute?

I'm skeptical about many of these substitutes and eggs have been very difficult, but perhaps this one will get close enough... (noted in Triple Pundit)

snip

...

The team at Hampton Creek is working hard to crack this code, and they’re taking an interesting approach. Though the long-term goal is to recreate the egg from the shell in, they’re starting out by deconstructing the ways that eggs act in recipes for things like cookies and mayonnaise, and trying to rebuild the chemistry using proteins found in plants. The 17-member R&D team, consisting of chefs, scientists, and bakers, has studied more than 217 kind of plant proteins (from soy to spinach to carrots), and made 344 prototype egg replacements.

The chef has made more than 250 batches of mayonnaise alone. While most of them have separated, collapsed, or otherwise been “off” in terms of texture or taste, the sample I was given was indistinguishable from Hellman’s (the gold standard in both his opinion and mine). Hampton Creek’s blind taste test panelists agree. The next step is to make that product shelf stable, and offer it to both consumers and food companies.

...

 

I'd like to know their nutritional values - although it sounds like they are not finalized.  And, of course, how they perform.

 

 

blaming the chairs

There is evidence that being sedentary for hours at a time is unhealthy - even for athletes. But Cocoa Cola distorts the message and fixes blame..



There is a correlation between activity and calories used, but it isn't as great as people might hope.  Very active people like farm laborers may burn 1,000 or even 1,500 extra calories per day and athletes can burn even more, but most of us aren't close to those levels.  A  Coke has about 150 calories and an adult of average weight would need thirty minutes of walking at a very brisk pace to burn it off - a couple of soft drinks and a candy bar would take about 45 minutes of running at 7 mph -  way above what most people do.

Activity and eating are both important if one is to manage weight, but eating is much more important for most of us.

 

torching food

Torches are used in some kitchens - usually in the finishing stages of some dishes.  There are a lot of problems associated with them and it is strange that specialized flame heads have been slow to develop.  Dave Arnold (of Cooking Issues and an all around clever guy) has been playing with the idea and may have a product soon.

a culinary notebook from paris in 1871

Finding calories - an expanded selection of meals in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war

 

 

 

the economics of food trucks

New restaurants have an extremely high failure rate ...  where do food trucks fit in? 

(hat tip to Josh)