Cragels, the kickoff of the year of hybrid foods
27-1-2014
Cragels – the adventurous hybrid between a croissant and a bagel, the newest “famous” pastry of New York. Originating from The Bagel Store on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg this is the snack that tries to challenge the cronut in 2014. Saturday January 25, was the first day that the bakery was serving flavored cragels next to the basic cragels and we were there to try them out! They were selling plain, chocolate, bacon-cheddar-egg and parmesan spinach cragels. Personally I was especially impressed by the way both items were actually to be found in the eating sensation. When you take a bite, the first you notice is the flakiness of the croissant but when you are really eating your bite you feel and taste the denseness of the bagel. On top of that the flavor is very full and I have to say the bacon-cheddar-egg cragel was a delight for the taste buds! Hospitality insiders already predicted it.. 2014 will be the year of hybrid foods and I would say, this is a great kickoff!^Leonie van Spronsen
Shepherd Ham
24-1-2014
Shepherd Ham is made from sheep that are taken to graze on moorlands, dikes and other natural grazing and they are accompanied by a shepherd. Shepherd Ham is a local product of Limburg and is soft and full of flavor, available with or without bone. The meat is massaged with fine sea salt and then dry-cured for a length of time. Each Shepherd Ham has its own story: every shepherd has a UBN number that can be traced through the website. So you can see the information about the shepherd and the grazing locations.
Vending machine with salads
24-1-2014
We already have seen a number of vending machines, but mostly with unhealthy products. The vending machine of Farmers’s Fridge sells healthy, fresh packaged salads, fruits and breakfast. The company prepares the salads made of organic, local en fresh produce early in the morning and delivers the packed salads to the vending machines by 10AM. The unsold salads from the previous day will be donated to the local food bank. The vending machine has a touchscreen and is made of wood and recycled materials. Farmer’s Fridge currently has vending machines in the Chicago area.
Oedipus Brewpub
21-1-2014
{youtube}gTSl3-CGWBw{/youtube}Alex, Paul, Rick and Sander started brewing beer 2,5 years ago in a kitchen with two pans on a stove. Nowadays the brewery produces at about 3000 liters of beer to a growing number of restaurants, bars and liquor stores in the Netherlands. For the next step, the creation of their own brew-pub, the brewers ask their fans for help. To set up the location where brewery, bar and local foodsnacks are combined at the Westerdok in Amsterdam, they need an investment of € 200.000,-. A total of €100.000,- will be collected via CrowdAboutNow, where everyone can invest from € 100,- upwards for a return on investment of 5% per year for three years. There are extra rewards for various amounts of invested money.
PeekInToo
15-1-2014
Curious about someone else’s life? With PeekInToo you can look through the eyes of other users for 12 seconds. Select the user based on location to catch a glimpse of a sold out concert for instance or see if the party at your local disco has started already. Facebook and Twitter had a direct influence on spreading the ‘places to be’, this app allows you to have a realtime peek in a café of club. See the video.
Handy cooking videos without a mess
14-1-2014
For anyone who cooks along with a youtube video, dirty fingers on the screen of the laptop or tablet are very recognizable. The video goes to fast, you need to pause it every now and then. The website ‘Handy’ by Flore avoids this problem. You can upload a youtube video on the site and it is played in full screen mode, while the webcam is activated. When you wave your hand from left to right the video will play, whilst a right-to-left wave will pause it. Additionally you can save the videos in an online cookbook.
Algae flour by Roquette
13-1-2014
Roquette developed flour based on algae. With this flour it’s possible to bake a brioche without eggs, butter or allergen. With the flour the brioche will contain 70% less fat than normal. During the FiE Innovation Award in Frankfurt this November the High Lipid Algal Flour by Roquette won the overall price for most innovate product and was category winner in the Bakery category. The flour is approved as ingredient by the EU and has the American GRAS-label (Generally Recognized As Safe). Roquette joined the ALGOHUB® research program for developers of ingredients based on micro-algae in 2008. Last year we’ve spotted egg-replacement ingredient ‘Beyond Eggs‘.
Kromkommer crowdfunding
13-1-2014
Around 5 – 10% of the Dutch vegetable and fruit produce is wasted because the products don’t fit the ‘common appearance’. Kromkommer wants to use these weird shaped vegetables and fruits for an alternative series of soups. Therefore Lisanne van Zwol, Jente de Vries and Chantal Engelen started a crowdfunding campaign to raise € 25. 000,- and produce the soups themselves. Their goal is to motivate 20.000 crazy vegetable heroes in 2014. According to the ladies, someone is already a vegetable hero after buying one of the soups, because the content would otherwise be wasted. The collected donations will be used for purchasing vegetables from growers, transportation to the factory, production of the soups and design and print of the labels. Donators can choose from a range of rewards like tickets to the launch event (€ 10,-), a visit to the factory or one of the growers and a fair amount of soup packages (€ 500,-).
In 2013 Kromkommer collaborated with hospitality industry wholesaler ‘Zegro’ to reduce waste. With their Kromkommer concept the ladies are nominated for the ‘Horecava Innovation Award’ 2014.
Start organic campaign
10-1-2014
Giovanni van Bronckhorst will kickoff the national campaign ‘Start organic’ on Monday, January 13. The campaign has been running since January 2 to January19 and stimulates people to buy healthy, natural and organic food. For each biological product bought, people get a sticker and with a full card (7 stickers) they can win various prizes such as a weekend in an organic Bed and Breakfast. For each full card sent, the organic sector will give ten pieces of fresh organic fruit, vegetables or potatoes to the children of the Giovanni van Bronckhorst Foundation.
Sushi with weed
9-1-2014
To celebrate the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, the mini sushi chain ‘Hapa Sushi’ has introduced a special weed-food pairing menu to show guests that weed goes well with sushi. Sashimi that is normally served with wasabi is now served with a platinum cookie made of marijuana. In 2009 the sushi restaurant and TDA Boulder made a campaign to encourage smokers to come eat sushi to satisfy their munchies.