On his relationship with Toby Young: "A lot of people were like 'Oh, I can tell Tom hates Toby.' I actually got along with him really well. To get some fresh blood is nice. He's actually quite charming and funny and witty, and I enjoyed having him around so I don’t know why people think I hate him." [Time]...
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More Time magazine linkage for you today. Remember that inspiring story about a woman named Alissa Ruxin who opened a restaurant in Kigali, Rwanda, with a menu featuring African, Mexican, Indian, and Mediterranean dishes? And more important, one that employs waiters and cooks who were orphaned by genocide? Time magazine agrees that such international progress tastes good....
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More food trends. This time, from Time. Here, a look back at 2008 rather than a fast forward to 2009. 1. Recession Dining: Gourmet meals for 4 for around ten bucks. 2. Nanny State Food Regulations: New York City requires calorie counts on menus; LA legislates fast food joints out of certain nabes. 3. Salmonella Saintpaul: A look back at that nasty outbreak from earlier this year. Poor St. Paul gets saddled with the association. 4. The War on Bottled Water: Carbon miles and wasteful packaging, blah blah blah. 5. The Clover Coffee Maker: Coffee geeks wet their pants over it, then Starbucks buys it. Now it's not cool anymore....
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This morning, time.com, Time magazine's website, named Serious Eats one of the 50 best websites of 2008, saying, "Whether or not you're a gastronome, reading about Rome's bountiful organic markets and the hearty hot dogs of Santiago, Chile, will surprise and delight you." And the site takes note of the vibrant discussions happening on the Serious Eats Talk boards: "Entertaining and heated discussions flare up about the most mundane food-related minutiae: the best thing to eat when you're lunching at your office desk; the pros and cons of Ruth's Chris Steak House." Thanks for the props, Time. We appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who reads and comments and talks on Serious Eats. This site wouldn't be as entertaining or...
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Molecular gastronomist Harold McGee, author of the New York Times column "The Curious Cook," earned a #143 ranking on Time magazine's annual 100 most influential people list. Polling is entirely reader-generated, so the popularity contest has nothing to do with editorial opinions. Our food nerd hero beat out Oprah (#150), Steve Jobs (#174), Hillary Clinton (#183), Gawker overlord Nick Denton (#199), and the Dalai Lama (#207). McGee is the preeminent scholar of double-dipping, and the greater intersection of food and chemistry....
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Time Magazine's current cover story is Eating Better Than Organic by John Cloud, in which he explores the debate between buying local and buying organic. Which is better for the food system, food grown by a small farmer locally or one grown by a big organic firm that uses large-scale industrial methods? Is buying local food that might have been treated with pesticides better for the environment than organic food that's been trucked, shipped and flown from far away, using up tons of fossil fuels? Which tastes better? Cloud asked Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for his opinion: He told me that when he can't get locally grown organics--and even he can't reliably get them--he decides on the basis...
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