Food

A vegetarian diet, according to its proponents, has a lighter ecological footprint, reduced resource impacts, and lower carbon emissions than the non-vegetarian equivalent. A new fast-casual vegetarian restaurant chain, however, is taking “eating green” to a whole new level. Otarian, which already has locations in New York and opens in London this Friday, is the first global chain to carbon footprint all of its menu items according to the internationally recognized PAS 2050 standard. Not only can diners see the carbon figures for each item listed on the menu, but foods that generate too large of a footprint are simply not offered. The restaurant is also testing out the World Resources Institute's new product carbon foot printing standard, which Otarian claims “will help diners to understand the environmental impact of their food choices in a highly measurable and quantifiable way.” Read More

Anyone who has suffered the very unpleasant experience that is food poisoning will be happy to hear that researchers have developed technology enabling the high-speed detection of the toxic proteins that cause it. The new sensor was manufactured by employing a combination of artificial antibodies which capture these toxic proteins and a signal converter which converts those “capturing events” into optical signals. Read More

Rice is the second highest produced grain in the world after corn. With a large portion of corn crops grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice takes the title of the most important grain with regards to human nutrition and caloric intake. It is especially important in Asian counties such as Japan, however, the consumption of domestic rice in Japan has decreased by half compared to 1962. In an effort to arrest this decline, Japan’s Sanyo has committed to creating products that contribute to increasing rice consumption. The latest is the GOPAN, the world’s first home cooker that makes bread from rice grain. It should also appeal to those on a gluten-free diet. Read More

Whether it be high-tech automation or just clever design, I love gadgets that make life in the kitchen easier. So you’ll understand why I’m enamored with the Bowlboard – it’s a clever take on the chopping board which will have you preparing food like a real professional in no time. Read More

When one thinks of magnetic levitation, or maglev, one generally thinks of insanely fast floating trains or possibly even levitating cans and bottles. Well, scientists are reporting the development of a new use for the technology as an inexpensive sensor for analyzing food, water and other beverages. Read More

Here's a clever product that's being sold by Oishi & Associaties in Japan. You know those sandwiches that you always wanted to stuff in your toaster but couldn't because your mom told you the cheese would drip and make a mess (or was as that just me?) The TOASTit bag is your workaround, letting you throw all kinds of crazy foods into your toaster without any concern for the mess afterwards. Read More

Light beers are often promoted as being “light-tasting,” but light-tasting beer certainly isn’t to everyone’s liking. Many people go for light beers only because they’re watching their weight, but would still prefer a beverage that was dark and full of flavor. Those people will doubtless be glad to hear that the European Union is investing 3.4 million Euros (about US$4,183,835) in a yeast research program, aimed at producing new products for the food industry. One of the possible outcomes of the research - tastier light beers. Hurray for science! Read More

The International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition (or Fooma for short) took place last week at Tokyo Big Sight, where a number of companies were demonstrating more efficient ways of producing food. Regrettably, not all of them allowed for photography or video. But for anyone involved in food production, Fooma is definitely a worthwhile exhibition to visit if you can make the trip to Tokyo. Here are just a couple of the food production devices from Fooma 2010 that we found particularly eye-catching... Read More

The last thing the world needs right now is more discarded food packaging, which is why it’s good to hear that Frito-Lay is about to introduce a 100% compostable bag for their SunChips snacks in the US and Canada. Made with plant-based polylactic acid, the new bags will completely biodegrade within about 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost bin. Read More