The Swiss town of Vevey has staged a once-in-a-generation celebration of its winemakers, with fancy dress, alpine horns, cows and dancers kicking off a festival that dates back to the 18th century. The three-week Fête des Vignerons, which began in 1797, is held roughly every 20 years and on Thursday 5,500 locals donned costumes, wigs and makeup to take part in the gala opening
Continue reading...Category Archives: Food
The Syrian refugees changing the UK’s food scene
Mohamad Rahimeh found a talent for cooking in the Calais refugee camp. Now he has a viable business in London
When Mohamad Rahimeh arrived in the Calais refugee camp that was nicknamed “the Jungle”, cooking was the last thing on his mind. He was a political scientist from Syria with a journey from hell behind him. Food was just a means to an end.
But when a close friend fell sick, he rustled up a meal of eggs. A hidden talent was uncovered.
Continue reading...Revealed: rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat
Investigation exposes how Brazil’s huge beef sector continues to threaten health of world’s largest rainforest
The cows grazed under the midday Amazon sun, near a wooden bridge spanning a river. It was an idyllic scene of pastoral quiet, occasionally broken by a motorbike growling on the dirt road that cuts through part of the Lagoa do Triunfo cattle farm to a nearby community.
But this pasture is land that the farm has been forbidden to use for cattle since 2010, when it was embargoed by Brazil’s government environment agency Ibama for illegal deforestation. Nearby were more signs of fresh pasture: short grass, feeding troughs, and salt for cattle.
Continue reading...We must not barter the Amazon rainforest for burgers and steaks | Jonathan Watts
The EU-Mercosur trade deal is good news for Brazil’s huge beef industry but devastating for the rainforest and environment
European leaders have thrown the Amazon rainforest under a Volkswagen bus in a massive cows-for-cars trade deal with Brazil and three other South American nations.
The EU-Mercosur agreement – the largest in Europe’s history, according to officials – will make it cheaper for Brazilian farmers to export agricultural products, particularly beef, despite growing evidence that cattle ranching is the primary driver of deforestation.
Continue reading...Enforcement of food and drug safety regulations nosedives under Trump
Number of ‘warning letters’ sent by FDA has fallen by 33% compared with the most recent equivalent period under Obama
The US regulator of food and drug safety has seen steep declines in several markers of enforcement under the Trump administration, according to a new analysis in the journal Science.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sends “warning letters” for tainted food, improperly advertised dietary supplements or even violations of human subjects’ protections in clinical trials.
Continue reading...Plan to sell 50m meals made from electricity, water and air
Solar Foods hopes wheat flour-like product will hit target in supermarkets within two years
A Finnish company that makes food from electricity, water and air has said it plans to have 50m meals’ worth of its product sold in supermarkets within two years.
Solar Foods is also working with the European Space Agency to supply astronauts on a mission to Mars after devising a method it says creates a protein-heavy product that looks and tastes like wheat flour at a cost of €5 (£4.50) per kilo.
Continue reading...Belgian monks finally launch website to sell ‘world’s best beer’
Beer lovers will still have to travel to St Sixtus abbey to pick up their allotted crates
It has been described as the world’s most sought-after beer. Just over 5,000 barrels are brewed annually by the 19 Trappist monks of St Sixtus abbey in Westvleteren, Flanders, and drinkers tempted by the regular appearance of its darkest brew at the top of the world rankings must travel in person and on appointment to pick up their allotted two crates.
But even the reclusive brothers are having to change with the times – to an extent. In order to stay one step ahead of those seeking to sell on their beer at steeply inflated prices, the abbey has announced it is going digital. A website has been set up where customers can order their two crates, with priority given to recent and new customers.
Continue reading...Up to four avocado trucks stolen in Mexican state every day
Packers and exporters took out newspaper adverts to decry situation in Michoacán, a battleground for warring crime factions
Up to four trucks carrying avocados are stolen every day in the violent Mexican state of Michoacán, as organized crime groups seek to take advantage of consumers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for the fruit.
Avocado packers and exporters took out newspaper adverts on Friday to decry a worsening security situation in the state, which has long been a battle ground for warring crime factions.
Continue reading...Germans thirsty for alcohol-free beer as brewers boost taste
Rise in bars stocking 0% beers to meet demand of drinkers who wish to ditch the hangover
During last year’s sweltering summer in Europe, workers of the Störtebeker beer brewery stood at the doors of the bottle depot eagerly awaiting the empty returns so they could be washed and refilled as quickly as possible. A bottle shortage swept the country due to the rate at which beer was being consumed to quench the overheated nation’s thirst.
But it wasn’t the demand for their classic range of beers that surprised the brewery bosses most, rather the rate at which its alcohol-free varieties were being drunk.
Continue reading...Pale rosé isn’t better – and nine other pink wine myths debunked
It’s all sweet, it’s only for summer or ought to be cheap ... the prejudices about rosé wine endure, but we really should know better
Red wine gives you headaches; white wine tastes of nothing, unless it’s sauvignon blanc; all Aussie wines are fruit bombs; the world will end if the flow of prosecco falters – the world of wine is full of ridiculous prejudices. Yet no style gets discriminated against quite like rosé. It’s all sweet, we’re told, or it’s only for women, or for summer, or for women in summer …
For a long time, rosé was disregarded because good winemakers didn’t make it: star California winemaker Rajat Parr, who was a San Francisco sommelier in the 1990s, once said: “No one cared about it, no one thought about it, no one drank it.” That, thank goodness, has changed – yet the prejudices remain. So let’s bust a few persistent myths.
Continue reading...Most ‘meat’ in 2040 will not come from dead animals, says report
Consultants say 60% will be grown in vats or plant-based products that taste like meat
Most of the meat people eat in 2040 will not come from slaughtered animals, according to a report that predicts 60% will be either grown in vats or replaced by plant-based products that look and taste like meat.
The report by the global consultancy AT Kearney, based on expert interviews, highlights the heavy environmental impacts of conventional meat production and the concerns people have about the welfare of animals under industrial farming.
Continue reading...Food porn meets Hitchcock horror as seagull spies Maine chance
Pepperdine professor photobombed by lobster mobster bird happy to see picture of roll reversal go viral
Alicia Jessop knew Friday was going to be memorable, but she didn’t realize it would be a day she would never forget.
Related: 'We live in a lobstocracy': Maine town is feeling the effects of climate change
Continue reading...New York’s Four Seasons Restaurant to close less than a year after reopening
Restaurant, which opened in in 1959 in the Seagram Building, will close the week of 10 June
The Four Seasons Restaurant in New York is to close, less than a year after it reopened away from the Seagram Building, the masterpiece of modern architecture which was its home for almost 60 years and which it came to complement as a high point of 20th-century art, style and design.
Related: A man for Four Seasons: my goodbye to New York's modernist cathedral
Continue reading...Heathrow eateries to take least sustainable fish off menus
Airport will be world’s first accredited for serving sustainably sourced fish
Heathrow is to become the world’s first airport accredited for serving sustainably sourced fish and seafood, as all its restaurants pledge to help tackle overfishing.
Outlets whose menus still include “red-rated” fish – deemed by the Marine Conservation Society to be the least sustainable – have pledged to remove them by June 2020. Fish in that category include wild atlantic salmon, bluefin tuna and king prawns from non-certified farms.
Continue reading...Major tuna brands failing to tackle slavery in Pacific supply chains – report
Research shows only four of biggest companies in £17bn industry said they conducted due diligence specifically to uncover abuses
The world’s biggest canned tuna brands are failing to tackle modern slavery in their Pacific supply chains, leaving thousands of workers at sea under threat of human rights abuses, a report has found.
According to findings published on Monday by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), an international corporate watchdog, only four of the world’s 35 largest tuna retail brands said they conducted due diligence with the specific aim of uncovering modern slavery in their supply chains.
Continue reading...Heavily processed food like ready meals and ice-cream linked to early death
Two major studies add to body of evidence against foods made with industrial ingredients
People who eat large amounts of heavily processed foods, from breakfast cereals and ready meals to muffins and ice-cream, have a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and early death, according to two major studies.
The findings, from separate teams in France and Spain, add to a growing body of evidence that foods made in factories with industrial ingredients may have a hand in an array of medical disorders such as cancer, obesity and high blood pressure.
Continue reading...From chicken to tomatoes, here’s why American food is hurting you
The recent news about glyphosate and cancer only highlights a broader problem with our system: our obsession with killing the natural world is poisoning us
The recent headlines announcing billions of dollars in damages to people who have gotten cancer after using Roundup are just the tip of a very large iceberg. There are over 1,000 lawsuits against Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer, waiting to be heard by the courts. Beyond concerns about that specific glyphosate-based weedkiller, we should be talking about the innumerable other potentially punishing chemicals in our food system.
After all, our food and our health are deeply connected. American healthcare spending has ballooned to $3.5tn a year, and yet we are sicker than most other developed countries. Meanwhile, our food system contains thousands of chemicals that have not been proven safe and many that are banned in other countries.
Continue reading...Belgian monks resurrect 220-year-old beer after finding recipe
Grimbergen Abbey brew incorporates methods found in 12th-century books
It has taken more than 220 years but an order of monks at Grimbergen Abbey, producers of a fabled medieval beer whose brand was adopted by mass producers in the 1950s, have started to brew again after rediscovering the original ingredients and methods in their archives.
In a sign of the significance of the news for beer-loving Belgians, the announcement was made by the abbey’s subprior, Father Karel Stautemas, in the presence of the town’s mayor and 120 journalists and enthusiasts.
Continue reading...Library stink: smell of durian prompts evacuation at University of Canberra
Fire and rescue teams in Australia remove rogue fruit in a sealed bag after it was left near an air vent
A piece of fruit prompted the evacuation of an Australian university library last week.
On Friday afternoon fire and rescue teams in the Australian Capital Territory responded to calls of “a strong smell of gas” inside the University of Canberra library.
Continue reading...Octopus farming is ‘unethical and a threat to the food chain’
Mass-breeding of the highly intelligent creatures is ecologically unjustified, a new study says
Plans to create octopus farms in coastal waters round the world have been denounced by an international group of researchers. They say the move is ethically inexcusable and environmentally dangerous, and have called on private companies, academic institutions and governments to block funding for these ventures.
The researchers say that farming octopuses would require the catching of vast amounts of fish and shellfish to feed them, putting further pressure on the planet’s already threatened marine livestock.
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