Horecatrends | Tips for Culinary videos worth watching – week 5
YouTube has been a source of inspiration for spotting trends the past few years. Every day, thousands of movies are uploaded with new and interesting content. We too use videos as a source of inspiration to write about sometimes. Our colleague Vera Rauwerda made this week selection of videos which are cool to watch. Amongst them a video about the reason why vanilla is so expensive, fake food in Japan and what’s the reason why we boil lobster alive?
Sampuru | Fake food, a million dollar industry in Japan
Sampuru, (Fake food) made in Japan is a million dollar industry. Food made from plastic is extremely popular in Japan. Ice cream, beer, hamburgers, fruit or sushi, you name it! And it is all handmade. These imitations are often 10 times more expensive than the food they represent.
One of the reasons it has become so popular is that after the 2nd World War, many Americans were stationed in Japan but they couldn’t read the Japanese menu cards. The Japanese therefore decided to make their menu’s more visual with the help of plastic food. This gave the Americans a clear picture of the menu.
Last year I went to Thailand and Vietnam, here too they had a lot of plastic food in order to show tourists what a certain dish looks like. Often this looks very real! Great to learn more about the origin of this art!
Duration: 5:01
Channel: Business Insider
Date: 08-01-2019
Why do we boil lobster alive?
Boiling a pig or chicken alive is simply something we don’t do, but why are we boiling lobsters alive then? There are several reasons why. The main reason is that this reduces the chance of a severe food poisoning. In addition, the lobster looks and tastes better when it is boiled alive.
What I find particularly interesting about the video is that the fact that the rumour around the ‘awful scream’ when the lobster is cooked alive is not true at all. It is air and steam that escapes from their shells. But it’s still unclear if lobsters can feel pain when they are boiled alive and more research is needed in order to draw a conclusion about this.
Duration: 3:47
Channel: Tech Insider
Date: 07-04-2018
Why is vanilla so expensive?
In recent years the price of vanilla has increased a lot. Meanwhile, it is even more valuable in weight than silver. One of the reasons why vanilla has become so pricey is the fact that growing the plant is a difficult process. In addition, it is due to changes in the vanilla market, the rise and fall of the artificial flavours and the global warming has an important influence as well. Many vanilla farmers also stopped growing vanilla because it is a violent business. Due to the fact that there is such a high demand, vanilla beans are often stolen. To prevent theft, the farmers pick the beans before they are ripe, which affects the quality of the beans.
It’s special to see what has an impact on such a well-known product as vanilla and that there is such a criminal world around vanilla beans, I had no idea! In addition, they explain very well why the price of vanilla has increased in recent years.
Duration: 3:45
Channel: CNBC International
Date: 04-07-2018
