News Bites 2/12 – 2/21
Photo by GlutenFreePDX
1.8 % of people are diagnosed with celiac and suffer from an extreme gluten intolerance. 6% of people are gluten sensitive, meaning they're better off without it. The roughly 23.2% of the rest of us who are perfectly capable of digesting gluten are enamored with the idea of cutting gluten out anyways, and "if you find 30 percent of the public doing anything, you'll find a lot of marketers right there, too." Companies are embracing the freedom from gluten because they can tell that although it resembles a fad, it is a profitable sector of the market likely to make some profits for a good while. Our nutritional history is a consistent resume of "free" – fat-free, carb-free, calorie free, and gluten-free falls neatly into the pattern.
Photo by Eater
If you're planning on dining in any fancy French restaurants anytime soon, be prepared to put away your phones and cameras, kids. The argument is that it takes away the surprise for others and de-incentives others from wanting to come for a unique and novel experience since they've already seen it on their Instagram feed. And not to mention by the time the pictures are taken, the food is cold. Alexandre Gauthier, the chef at "La Grenouillère" in Pas-de-Calais in northern France has included cameras with lines drawn through them on next to his menu items, strongly suggesting that photos should not be taken. And although "photos are not banned, [] I want them to question it," said the Michelin-starred chef.
Photo by Noboru Bitoy
There is a guy who started a kickstarter to raise money for his jump from a plane, and not just any jump from a plane, but a jump from a plane with a chipotle chicken burrito in hand. The project has actually been successful thus far and he raised the initial $500 for the skydive and now he's asking for $6,000 in order to perform the dive at zero-gravity. Apparently the goal is to document and graph the experience of eating a chipotle burrito in free fall. The project has yet to prove any scientific merit.
Photo by Food Republic
Grubhub and Seamless not willing to bend to your every stomach grumble and slightest heart's desire? There's a new delivery service in town and as long as you're willing to pay the flat fee of $9.99 ($10), Caviar will bring you whatever your heart, and stomach, desire. For example, Mission Cantina's burritos (available only for take-out) would be a fancy way to beat the system and maintaing your laziness at a respectable level.
Photo by Hulu
Hulu and Chipotle have teamed up in a revolutionary marketing strategy and have released a new mini series, called Farmed and Dangerous. Committed to food with integrity, Chipotle makes its goal for the series quite obvious; to show "the lengths to which corporate agribusiness and its image-makers go to create a positive image of industrial agriculture." The first episode introduces quite a cast of characters: Buck Marshall (a surprising appearance from Ray Wise who played Leland in Twin Peaks) the head of the marketing company who generates positive PR for "Big Ag", his sly and ruthless daughter Sophia, the antagonizing Chip who represents the sustainable side of things, and Mick Mitcherson the man who runs Animoil – the company trying to convince the public that feeding cows PetroPellets (pellets made from petroleum) is a good idea despite the occasional exploding cow. But despite the sometimes cheesy humor, the series does have a serious message about the industry. Exploding cows may not be an issue quite yet, but the metaphor is clear.
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