Let’s just be perfectly clear exactly what is going on. I am crossing town, via two buses, in weather below freezing, for a bunch of kale, a chunk of Parmesan, and a bag of flour. While I’m there I’ll have a slice of pizza. Yes, kale is hard to find in Berlin, and it’s unequivocally the best pizza in town, but really? In the last two weeks I have sampled the state of the art […read the rest]
“I worked as an art director inadvertising for 29 years. First as a consultant and then for more than 10 years in Sennheiser. On my 10 years anniversary, they gave me candlesticks as a present. This was too much. I had saved a lot of holidays, so I used them to go study ice cream in Italy and then I quite and opened Favvo Glass. I used to have sleep problems and pain in my body in my back, arms. Now I’m on my feet all day, but the physical pain is gone.”
Nutrition “science” is so unreliable that it can hardly be trusted, and for this reason, I sympathize with people who resign themselves to mystery unaided by modernity. Despite the lack of clear information and uncontradictory advice, we face the choice between [1] believing that what we eat does indeed directly affect our health and [2] seeing the body as a pipe. Many people eat only to quell the annoying hunger pangs or for the taste […read the rest]
1. what is economics.
TOOLS
HISTORY
thingsto track
EDGE
how do we find these? history, institutions, ideology
As part of the ETH World Food Systems Summer School 2016 I had the honor of 3 hours tour of the Fintan farm and Sativa Seed Production facility with farmer Martin Ott. Fintan is the largest organic farm in Switzerland, a country whose organic agriculture regulations forbid heating greenhouses. We had a chance to hear about 5 aspects of the farm. Own sorts Our first stop was at a small field which is devoted to the […read the rest]
I’m hanging out with my friend Aimée Schreck at the ETH World Food Systems Summer School, discussing symbols and certification schemes for packaged food. Her dissertation examined small-scale banana producers’ experience of the fair trade system. Together we decided some years ago that fair trade was best understood as a gateway drug and that really the consumers ought to be certified, not just the producers. There are several definitional dimensions, which are rarely synonymous: social movement […read the rest]
So the topic of this session is innovation and social change in the food system. I’m going to start with some examples of innovation. There are too many to cover in such a short time, so I only choose some examples. Then I’ll share some conceptual tools for thinking about how to create powerful social change. The capital letters indicate when to move forward in the prezi. Innovations FMKT Farmers markets are certainly not an […read the rest]
A few days ago I was sitting at Maso A Kobliha in Prague (at the recommendation of the excellent Taste of Prague Blog), savoring a plate of superlative house-smoked meat, three donuts, and tea. By way of entertaining my vegetarian and already sugar-shocked friend, I told him about the return of butchery, a new generation, typified in The Real Meat Society, mothership of Maso A Kobliha, sister of Sansho Restaurant. (If you aren’t familiar with the […read the rest]
Dinner at Zagreus. Best €36 I’ve ever spent. Every bite was so delightful. Zagreus is an art gallery owned by a chef. Every exhibit inspires a meal, collaboratively co-designed with the artist. This time, the show was by a group of students in product design. The table, napkin, lighting, and servingware for each course were designed by different groups and Chef Ulrich Krauss invented fabulous flavors for each aesthetic experience. The serviceware was so compelling […read the rest]
