When I'm at home, I always take time to prepare my own food, I have always been into cooking and even get the Ivy and Wilde homeware for it, but sometimes life just happen and with work and the kids, we don't always have time to prepare the food, in those time is when cereal … Continue reading Breaking Breakfast News: Froot Loops Are All the Same Flavor
Category: Food
Brain Candy: An Exercise in Knowing Thy Context in The Check-Out Aisle
Checking out at the Whole Foods on my way to a Father's Day lunch I spied (and purchased) this parent-trap: Sharkies Kids Sports Chews. As with most things in life, brand and product positioning (the mindspace a company would like their product to occupy in the mind of the consumer) is all about context. In … Continue reading Brain Candy: An Exercise in Knowing Thy Context in The Check-Out Aisle
Food Allergy Critical Mass Creates Commerce
The other night I was out to dinner with a friend who works for Atlanta Parent, having just briefed my waiter on the table's allergy and intolerance restrictions (gluten =wife, Soy= me, MSG= both of us) and joked that they should really do a Top Chef "allergy edition" if they wanted to really be on … Continue reading Food Allergy Critical Mass Creates Commerce
From Natural Resource Commodity to Criminality: The Canadian Maple Syrup Saga Continues
About a year ago I got an email from a coworker in our Toronto office about a maple syrup heist that became global news - and shortly thereafter was the inspiration for my first Freshly Pressed blog about what makes criminal behavior something laughable rather than something tragic. About 8 months later, last night, said … Continue reading From Natural Resource Commodity to Criminality: The Canadian Maple Syrup Saga Continues
Thai Curry Paste Episode II: Authentic Green Curry Paste (Kaeng Khiao Wan)
One of the best ways to get to know a culture is through it's food. Culture, bey definition, is created by our collectiive reaction to our environments and other macroforces. Our environment also dictates our subsistence. From an anthropological perspective, I see the culinary tradition as one way we pay homage to the natural environment … Continue reading Thai Curry Paste Episode II: Authentic Green Curry Paste (Kaeng Khiao Wan)
Is The Food Industry in America Ready To Start Paying Its Karmic Debt?
It's no secret that in the food industry, whether you are selling fruit or fried snacks, "the selling of food matters as much as the food itself. A little bit of marketing strategy goes a long way (something I would know a few things about) and the companies who make the stuff you buy spend … Continue reading Is The Food Industry in America Ready To Start Paying Its Karmic Debt?
IKEA Monkey Madness
Last night I was on my way to meet a friend after a long day at "the Toronto office", which I have a chance to visit every now and again. He told me where to meet him and said "I'll bring the IKEA Monkey. Wearing our jackets". Since I had been living in a work-enduced … Continue reading IKEA Monkey Madness
Fried Chicken, Gentility, Sweet Tea and Bibles: How Do You Define Southern Culture?
Being a Yankee transplant to the south from several years ago, I have been enjoying the extended ethnographic experience I have had as a participant observer of Southern culture. Although I live in a fairly "big city" metro area, the southern charm doesn't get lost in the urban settings. At least the denizens of this … Continue reading Fried Chicken, Gentility, Sweet Tea and Bibles: How Do You Define Southern Culture?
I like the commentary in this blog regarding how the contents of said bloggers refrigerator depict a bleak portrait of decrepit single-life.
I spent much of the early part of my career as a consumer anthropologist working in the consumer package good space, with endless hours engaged in scrutinizing the contents of different household refrigerators: seeking context for grocery purchase-decision-making behavior.
It’s a habit I still hold on I and have used (in addition to pantry and bathroom drawer / medicine cabinet-audits) as a dating litmus-test as well as to gain a better understanding of my friends / family / etc.
You can learn an awful lot about a person’s socioeconomic status, priorities, habits and lifestyle choices based in their “consumable” artifacts: all organic veggies? Condiments-only? Name brand booze but generic food items?
In often catch myself in the checkout line making up stories about the person in front of me in line based on what’s in their belt.
It makes me wonder what people might think of me. Last grocery order : Cottonelle toilet paper with aloe, organic yogurt, egg whites, coconut ice cream, razors and salt and vinegar pop chips…the analysis please?
There’re few things as depressing as a bare fridge. It’s the cliché of the single person you always see in movies: a few moldy Chinese takeout containers, a half-empty jar of mayonnaise, a box of baking soda, a six-pack.
But shopping for one is tricky. These days, I do tend to eat at home and to cook more than I did when I had a teenaged roommate. But I have to be careful not to be too ambitious and to fill my kitchen with stuff I’ll never have time to eat. I hate throwing out stuff that survived past its due date: a head of cauliflower, a half-gallon of milk, some cheddar that’s turning into bleu cheese. Still, I’d rather waste food than face an empty larder.
Whenever I do a drawing in indian and sumi ink, I think of Ben Katchor. For years he did comics in the Daily…
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A Maladaptive Moo For Modified Milk
Humans have evolved over time to become allergic to many of the foods we eat. I have allergies to soy and intolerances to lots of yummy fruits and vegetables, for instance. Then there are things like wheat and peanuts and milk that many humans just can stomach. Some attribute this to blood type or environmental … Continue reading A Maladaptive Moo For Modified Milk
The Narcissistic (American) Anthropologist 