Smarter Food: How Social Media is Making Our Cities Tastier

Social media has certainly changed the way we interact and the way we do business, but the way we eat? No really, it’s true: social media is positively affecting virtually all aspects of our lives, including how we find, sell, and eat food. From helping restaurants connect with customers in new and innovative ways to helping consumers locate good eats, social media and the web are making our cities more delicious places to live.

In this post we’ll look at some of the ways that social media is giving small food businesses the power to promote themselves and find new customers, as well as how it is providing city dwellers with the tools to find great (and safe) food. How else is social media making your city tastier? Let us know in the comments.
For Food Providers

Food vendors have put social media to some incredibly innovative uses in order to better locate and connect with their key demographic. The Albion Cafe in London, for example, uses Twitter (Twitter) to automatically alert customers when fresh baked goods have just come out of their ovens. Using a specially built box called BakerTweet, the people at Albion are able to automatically update Twitter any time something new comes out of their ovens. The result is that their customers know exactly when the freshest cookies and scones are available for sale. BakerTweet is a clever way to use social media to connect with customers on a new level and get them more interested in coming into the shop to purchase food.

Technorati Tags: social media, food, eat, recipes, restaurant, menu

Science of BBQing - Boing Boing

As part of the American Chemical Society's big meeting last week, they hosted a chemistry-themed barbecue reception. Science News reports on the geek cook-out, including some news-you-can-use from two food chemists. From Science News (photo from Wikimedia Commons):

"Unfortunately, if you ask the [food] safety people they'll tell you to cremate everything," said Shirley Corriher, a food chemist and cookbook author from Atlanta. Meats should be cooked long enough to kill bacteria, she noted, but they don't need to be cooked beyond medium to be truly safe. For one thing, carcinogenic chemicals called heterocyclic amines form when creatine -- a substance found in muscle tissue -- reacts at high temperatures with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The amount of HCAs formed in grilled meats typically triples if meats are cooked well done rather than medium well, she noted.

Other research-proven tricks for reducing HCAs, as noted in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, include using marinades, garlic and onion, said Risch. A marinade of red wine, for instance, can reduce the formation of HCAs by 88 percent, she noted. Although scientists aren't sure exactly how these techniques work, moisture from marinades may ensure that the meat directly in contact with the grill remains at a relatively low temperature, she said.

"Better BBQ Through Chemistry"

Technorati Tags: bbq, chemistry, barbecue, food, cooking, recipes

Frank's red hot sauce? Grilled chicken? I approve, Mr. Flay.

   * 1 stick unsalted butter
* 2 cloves garlic, chopped
* 8 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
* 1/2 cup hot sauce (recommended: Frank's)
* 2 tablespoons honey
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 4 French-cut chicken breasts
* 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin (8 teaspoons)
* Canola oil
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1/2 cup creme fraiche
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus some whole leaves for garnish
* 1 cup crumbled blue cheese (recommended: Cabrales)

Buffalo Style Grilled French Cut Chicken Breasts

Technorati Tags: bobby flay, grilled chicken, buffalo chicken, frank's red hot sauce, recipe, food, cooking, chef

The meats start rolling in around 10 after 6:

A rack of lamb. Two duck breasts. A bag of squid. Four soft-shell crabs. Veal scaloppine.  . . . 

Karen Wilets, caterer for the evening's party, remains cool. Excited, really. She loves the spontaneity of mystery-meat night. Smiles as she sits down to start to compose the evening's menu on a dry-erase board.

"The lamb will have to be an appetizer. . . . I'm wanting to do a soup. . . . I bought some beautiful greens at the farmers market - I'll do a duck breast salad. . . ."

Some of this will change as more proteins join the mix - and soon they do.

Two fat beef filets. A bag of scallops. A fresh salmon fillet. A bag of cooked shrimp. A single chicken breast. . . .

To most of us, this would be utter chaos. Invite guests to bring their own meat? Then turn it into an eight-course feast in two hours?

It was actually Wilets' idea.

The caterer was looking for a distinctive party theme a few years ago for her Mequon-based The Good Life Catering when the brainstorm hit: "What if I didn't know what I was going to cook?"

She put the proteins in guests' hands: Each is instructed to bring a single serving - 6 to 8 ounces - of any protein. (Tonight, several people cheat, bringing a whole rack of lamb, a whole - marinated - pork tenderloin, a large salmon fillet.)

When the parade of meats is over, Wilets puts together a menu entirely of her choosing.

Mystery meat dinner excites caterer, guests - JSOnline

Technorati Tags: dinner, party, mystery, meat

The next post in the continuing frugal gastronomy series features a pair of schoolteacher-writers who gave themselves the toughest of all restrictions: All their food had to cost no more than $1 per day per person. Amazingly, if they invited guests over to eat, the guests' food had to be covered by the $1 allotment. You'd have to really like the guest, I suppose.

Once again, I'll repeat: Eating on a budget is not a contest; it's a conversation. I've asked several other bloggers who write about their low-cost food adventures to answer questions similar to those posed to the 50 Bucks a Week trio, which started the entire conversation. The responses will be posted here to keep the conversation going.

How to Eat on Just $1 per Day

Technorati Tags: dollar a day, food budget, calories, health, hunger

1. St Giles farmers' market, Shipbourne, Kent

St. Giles Church, Stumble Hill every Thursday, between 9.00-11.00 Tel:01732-355325

Voted one of Britain's best farmers' markets in the 2007 BBC Food and Farming awards, this market is held both inside and outside an 11th-century church at the heart of the village. More than 20 stalls offer local fare, including breads, meat, vegetables, mushrooms, smoked fish, pickles, cheeses and fruit, sold direct from the producers. It's a truly local community affair, providing a forum for both shopping and socialising.

2. Winchester farmers’ market, Hampshire

Middle Brook Street, second and last Sunday of the month Tel: 01962 845135

This mega FM has been running twice a month since May 1999 and has almost 100 stalls. The produce must be grown, reared, baked or caught in Hampshire or within 10 miles of the border. Hampshire Fare is the county's excellent food and drink organisation and specialities inlude Alresford watercress (the festival is on May 11), water buffalo, Dexter beef, and Manx Loughton sheep.

Top 12 UK farmers' markets - Times Online

Technorati Tags: markets, top 12, uk

Easily one of the most magnificent things I've read since Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums:

# 4 slices bacon
# 1 (1 pound) fillet salmon, cut into 2 portions
# 1 tablespoon olive oil
# 1/3 cup mayonnaise
# 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
# 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
# 4 slices country-style bread, toasted
# 4 slices tomato
# 2 green leaf lettuce leaves

Grilled Salmon Sandwich with Dill Sauce - All Recipes

Technorati Tags: salmon, dill, bacon, oh my, sandwich, recipe, cooking, food