Cooking

February 10, 2010February 10, 2010

Mapping the fast food culture

Amid all the hype about Michelle Obama’s blitz on child obesity, USDA has come out with an interactive Food Environment Atlas, which has been much commented on in the blogosphere. Here’s what the distribution of fast food restaurants in the US looks like:

Coincidentally, Pete at PeteSearch has mined Facebook profile data and come up with this visualization of the connections among users:

Is it me, or there a coincidence between the maps? Here’s one of the things Pete says about the Nomadic West:

Starbucks is almost always the top fan page, maybe to help people stay awake on all those long car trips they must be making?

Geography is destiny?

February 10, 2010February 10, 2010

Nibbles: Vet, Pastoralists, Eggplant, US food map, Mexican food, Poultry, Maize, GMOs

What’s it like being the only vet in a country? The BBC tells us.
The CBD on how to be a good pastoralist.
James does a mini-roundup of the India GM brinjal to-do.
Mapping the fast food culture.
Mexico wants Unesco to recognize culinary traditions. As if tamales were in danger of extinction. Didn’t France ask for the same last year?
Heirloom chickens don’t taste like chicken.
Deconstructing the cultural significance of the colour of corn.
“GM crops: still not a panacea for poor farmers.” In other news, still no cure for cancer.

February 8, 2010February 8, 2010

Nibbles: Sequencing, Agricultural origins, Mating systems, Tomato shelf-life, Beer vs Tea, Soy, Carrot, Seed processing, Screw-pine, Yams, Salicornia, Pollinators

Second generation sequencing on the one hand. First generation methylation mapping on the other. What’s a poor bitechnologist to do?
Site of the birth of MesoAmerican agriculture pinpointed.
Meta-analysis says mating system does not affect magnitude of local adaptation. Ok, I really need to understand this one, because it’s kinda counter-intuitive..
Boffins produce longer-lasting tomato. Which, however, still tastes like water. Those pesky biotechnologists are all over this.
A tale of two brews. And here’s why I prefer beer. Well, one reason. Meanwhile, a hero probes how the amber nectar comes to be.
Another slightly dubious use for soy. Aren’t you glad its genome has been sequenced? Thanks, Jacob.
Evidence for cultivated carrot from medieval Poland. I’m sure this is REALLY important.
CIMMYT video of seed processing.
Pandanus photo for all my Pacific friends.
Yams to have their day? I hope so, but we have been here before. Repeatedly.
Salicornia the new hope for saline regions? I hope so, but we have been here before. Repeatedly.
FAO manages wild biodiversity to manage pollinators.

February 7, 2010February 6, 2010

Nibbles: Freakeh, Communication, CBD, konjac

Freekeh, the New Quinoa? Mebbe. Meh.
Biodiversity loss matters, and communication is crucial. Uh’huh.
“We’re all gardeners in some way or another, so we can play a role.” Convention on Biological Diversity gets it?
Got konjac? The Toad’s has flowered.

February 5, 2010February 5, 2010

Podcast on food as history

Guests Tom Standage, business affairs editor of The Economist and author of An Edible History of Humanity joined Eric Tagliacozzo, associate professor of history at Cornell University and author of Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States Along a Southeast Asian Frontier and award-winning culinary expert Julie Sahni, author of Classic Indian Cooking to discuss food as a driving force behind economic expansion, industrial development and geopolitical competition.

And you can listen to the podcast, courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.