15 January 2018
I built up quite a backlog over the holidays, some of which I’m editing out because their moment has passed. Maybe next year I’ll dredge up the history of the potato latke. So let’s get going.
- Something a bit seasonal. What if we let a social scientist who understands human foibles design a tool to promote weight loss? Dan Ariely and his team have done just that.
- Germans apparently lost their taste for kraut? Say it isn’t so! Thanks to the Kraut Braut, they’re reclaiming their birthright.
- I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Measuring harvests is hard. Latest case in point, a clash between India’s Ministry of Agriculture and an analyst who cares what people actually ought to eat, according to India’s Institute of Nutrition.
- We all know supermarkets have power over growers. In South Africa, Woolworths’ Farming for the Future program actually prompts farmers to act more sustainably.
- I’m not enamoured of chicken wings myself, but apparently Americans are, and prices have been climbing steadily. As a result of which – and this is the weird bit – “many restaurants boosted menu prices and began offering boneless wings, which are usually chunks of white meat doused in familiar sauces and spices”.
- They’re not food deserts, they’re food swamps. It isn’t a lack of access to fresh food that makes people obese, it’s ease of access to fast food.