Monthly Archives: September 2009

Agricultural Asylum

By Nicola | Published: September 30, 2009

“Non-GMO corn seeks asylum in France,” read the Agence France Presse headline (more or less, given my rusty French). The article went on to explain that on Tuesday, September 29, “non GMO ears of corn from Spain sought refuge in the arms of the French Embassy, petitioning for agricultural asylum.” Somewhat disappointingly, this turned out […]

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Day Out | Sugar in the Raw

By Nicola | Published: September 27, 2009

Last month, BLDGBLOG and I joined a small group (consisting mostly of wheat farmers on a busman’s holiday) to visit Mossman mill, which is just up the road from Cairns.

As it happens, we are apparently on the brink of a sugar crisis, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Americans might face an autumn without sugar

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Landscapes of Quarantine Studio: Participants Announced

By Nicola | Published: September 23, 2009

It’s been an extremely eventful month since Edible Geography and BLDGBLOG teamed up to announce “Landscapes of Quarantine,” an eight-week, intensive, independent design studio to be hosted this autumn in New York City; its brief is to create original and thought-provoking design projects that explore the spatial implications of quarantine.

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Pig Futures

By Nicola | Published: September 17, 2009

2009 has really not been the year of the pig. Despite the best efforts of the USDA and the EU’s Health Commissioner, the first pandemic of the twenty-first century is commonly known as swine flu – a negative association that hasn’t helped pork sales at all. IMAGE: Pigs on a farm, via Still, at least […]

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The Taste of Climate Change

By Nicola | Published: September 15, 2009

Beer enthusiasts, myself among them, were upset to read this week that our pints of pilsner lager might be the latest casualty of climate change. New Scientist reported the depressing news: it seems that the quality of Eastern European Saaz hops is going downhill each year. According to brewing suppliers Seven Bridges Cooperative, “Saaz hops […]

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Yeast-bursts, seed packs, and extreme agriculture

By Nicola | Published: September 13, 2009

Over on BLDGBLOG, Geoff speculates on the agricultural possibilities of “Endothelium“, an organic, automated geotextile designed by architect Philip Beesley, in which…

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And now the weather, brought to you by Tesco

By Nicola | Published: September 12, 2009

As any self-respecting locavore can tell you, many of us have forgotten how to eat seasonally, at least in the developed world. Nonetheless, the weather still exercises a huge effect on the food we choose to buy and eat. As British supermarket giant Tesco has discovered, “a rise of 10ºC, for example, led to a […]

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Day Out | The Mushroom Tunnel

By Nicola | Published: September 9, 2009

As Geoff has already mentioned on BLDGBLOG, we spent our last full day in Australia touring the Li-Sun Exotic Mushroom Farm with its founder and owner, Dr. Noel Arrold. Three weeks earlier at a Sydney farmers’ market, we were buying handfuls of his delicious shimeji and chestnut mushrooms to make a risotto, when the vendor told us that they had been grown in a disused railway tunnel in Mittagong.

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Publishing Food

By Nicola | Published: September 3, 2009

Food publishing is a curious business: cookbook sales boom in lockstep with the rise of ready-meals, testifying to a fascination with food that elides the act of actually preparing it. Nonetheless, most follow a proven formula, leavening glossy photos of gorgeously styled food with a sprinkling of concise instructions, titillating sensory details, and hackneyed personal […]

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