Coming in April, a new book by foodie and economist Tyler Cowen - An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies. The description is intriguing. Food snobbery is killing entrepreneurship and innovation, says economist, preeminent social commentator, and maverick dining guide blogger Tyler Cowen. Americans are becoming angry that our agricultural practices have led to global warming-but while food snobs are right that local food tastes better, they're wrong that it is better for the environment, and they are wrong that cheap food is bad food. The food world needs to know that you don't have to spend more to eat healthy, green, exciting meals. At last, some good news from an economist! Tyler Cowen discusses everything from slow food to fast food, from agriculture to gourmet culture, from modernist cuisine to how to pick the best street vendor. He shows why airplane food is bad but airport food is good; why restaurants full of happy, attractive people...

In the post Evolutionary Cooking the implications of cooking for our species were discussed. But there are much more recent historical considerations. Consider: Why did our ancestors prefer white bread to wholegrain bread? Answer One. Whole grains are hard on the system. Today we don’t eat many grains or grain dishes. They are just one element in the diet along with fats, sugars, vegetables, fruits, meats and fish. The recommended amount in the US is six ounces for a 2000 calorie a day diet. In the past people ate huge amounts of grains. Wheat bread provided 40% of the calories of Americans, almost certainly the most lavishly fed population ever in the history of the world, as late as World War II. Through most of history, farm laborer and their wives (and that’s what most of us would have been) probably consumed between 70% and 90% of their calories in the form of bread, porridge, or other grain dishes....

The trope that humans are "cookivores" rather than merely omnivores has more empirical support. In a first-of-its kind study, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked meat provides more energy than raw meat, a finding that suggests humans are biologically adapted to take advantage of the benefits of cooking, and that cooking played a key role in driving the evolution of man from an ape-like creature into one more closely resembling modern humans. ... It's a finding, she said, that holds exciting implications for our understanding of how humans evolved. Though early humans were eating meat as early as 2.5 million years ago, without the ability to control fire, any meat in their diet was raw, and probably pounded using primitive stone tools. Approximately 1.9 million years ago, however, a sudden change occurred. The bodies of early humans grew larger. Their brains increased in size and complexity. Adaptations for long-distance running appeared. Though earlier theories suggested the changes were the...

Cargill is entering the grassfed beef business, at least in Australia. While the Grasslands brand concept has been developed under Cargill’s direction, it will undergo its effective commercial establishment phase under the new Teys-Cargill joint venture commencing on Monday (see Beef Central tomorrow for more details). As circumstances have unfolded, the new Grasslands brand has reached the market within weeks of the Teys-Cargill joint venture being activated, but the brand is already assured of a strong future under the new merged processing entity. Just one of the possibilities is co-supply into the program under a common specification from one or more of the former Teys Bros plants. Cargill Beef Australia marketing and brands manager Andrew Negline said his company had been sizing-up branding opportunities and value creation within its grassfed beef program over the past three years, but felt with the onset of the Global Financial Crisis that the time was not right to launch a new brand earlier....

One of the things that most squicks me out about food fetishes is the willful ignorance of those who have them. More, it's the aggressive, violent cultivated ignorance of sociopaths who take pleasure in the harm they cause to others. If there's one phrase I'd like to put to pasture it's the increasingly popular designation of "conscientious carnivore." As with so many other expressions in the food movement's growing lexicon of culinary virtue, this one euphemistically masks a harsh reality with a soothing, but ultimately damaging, rationalization. The rationalization is that because factory farming is so horrifically brutal to animals, the conscientious carnivore can vote with his or her fork by purchasing meat from farmers who raise their animals in a more "humane" manner—free-range pork, grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs, and all that. The reality, however, is that the so-called conscientious consumers who support these alternative systems are doing very little to challenge the essence of factory farming. In fact,...

A companion film for Food Inc. “Farmageddon,” which opens tomorrow at Cinema Village, argues compellingly that in the United States, the freedom to make, sell and buy healthy, nutrient-rich foods, such as raw (unpasteurized) milk, grass-fed beef and free-range chicken, is both worth fighting for and, unfortunately, under continual attack by our government in the form of harassment, illegal raids and unfair regulations. Common sense would suggest that the right to farm and consume healthy foods is an inalienable right. But in case after heartbreaking case of good, decent farmers being treated like criminals, “Farmageddon” reveals how determinedly government agencies at both the state and federal levels are working to prevent small farmers from practicing ethical, traditional and sustainable agriculture. These agencies claim to be protecting the public’s health, but by subjecting tiny family farms to the voluminous paperwork and complicated laws written for the regulation of multibillion-dollar, multinational corporations that practice factory farming, they cheat small farmers out...

The taste and smell of food is only part of our sensory array for evaluation and selection. Perhaps the most shocking discovery from this new science of taste, however, is that the act of eating is not the only source of gustatory pleasure. Instead, a big chunk part of our sensory delight — the joy that makes us crave particular foods — comes afterwards, when the food is winding its way through the gut. Look, for instance, at a recent paper in Neuron, led by a team of scientists at Duke. They came up with a clever paradigm for isolating this more indirect pleasure pathway: They studied mice without a functional TRPM5 channel, which is essential for detecting sweetness. As a result, these mutant mice showed no immediate preference for sugar water. But here comes the cool part of the experiment. The scientists then allowed the mice to spend some time with the sugar water and normal water. After...

Food diva Jamie Oliver is squicked out about hamburger. (via Dave Greene, BaltoNorth) You do have options other that watching your butcher grind beef for you. If you know your local rancher you can avoid such methods. If you buy ground chuck or sirloin then your burger is not made from trimmings. Both of these options are more expensive but avoidance of pink slime is not the only reason to know your rancher and buy grass fed and finished meats. One of the reasons that beef from such sources is more expensive is that carcass yield is less when you do not use every trick to get as many pounds of useable food as possible. Also, local ranchers use smaller local processors who offer more expensive foodie class services such as long dry aging, and they don't get as much out of a carcass as the bigger processors do, so their services are even more expensive. The processor gets...

As world prices for food continue to rise and pundits have a go at describing the effects to date and predicting those to come there is an increasing amount of finger pointing and insult hurling. A couple of weeks ago in Food Shortage I noted that "foodies are being ridiculed". For example: B. R. Myers's much-discussed condemnation of foodies and the writers who enable them is, in many ways, a masterpiece of invective. Globe-trotting gourmets, sanctimonious Slow Foodsters, and gonzo adventure eaters all come in for their share of Myers's signature drubbing. ... The fact that foodies so often construct their pursuit of rarified taste to be an environmentally and socially responsible act only intensifies the ugly paradox at the core of the movement. Essentially the message sustainable foodies end up of delivering goes something like this: Only a few can eat the way we eat, but the way we eat is the best way to achieve social and...

I continue to be surprised by the variety of social systems that arise to deal with food sourcing and consumption. First, 252 pounds of beef get laid out on long tables. Next, 12 numbered slips of paper get plucked from a baseball cap by a clutch of hungry meat buyers. A swarm of the merchandise ensues. And for the next hour or so, the buyers take turns filling their carryout coolers with porterhouses and short ribs and mock tenders, one by one and in order of the most- to least-coveted cuts. Omnivores, this is the latest way to share a steer: the meat draft. This takes cow pooling to a different level. Rather than trying to divide the cuts and costs equally among those in the buying pool - an impossibility since some cuts are only available in small quantities for each carcass - a lottery and draft approach is used. Cooper had decided that in the spirit of...

I'm hungry. I wanted to outline, show and detail all the steps needed for making a stew, especially for all the ”stew virgins” out there . Really once you get the procedure down, it honestly is an equation of meat + broth + veggies + herbs/spices. The result = unbelievable creations. See the recipe....

My booth babes and customers expect me to know how to cook the beef that I produce. I have a theoretical understanding and some rudimentary practical experience so I rely on hearsay expertise to some extent. I can talk a good game when put on the spot by a customer, but knowing more than they do isn't saying much. I just have a good memory for the details of stuff that I have read: Gary-pedia. I think I'll get this book. Good Meat is a comprehensive guide to sourcing and enjoying sustainable meat. With the rising popularity of the locavore and organic food movements—and the terms “grass fed” and “free range” commonly seen on menus and in grocery stores—people across the country are turning their attention to where their meat comes from. Whether for environmental reasons, health benefits, or the astounding difference in taste, consumers want to know that their meat was raised well. With more than 200 recipes...

It's a rural tradition to harvest livestock and take wild game at certain times of the year and squirrel the meat away in the freezer for use bit by bit over time, but it is a growing practice for some consumers too. Perhaps it is useful to consider the yield breakdown. Research and practical experience indicate that an 1100 pound steer that's been fed a concentrate feed for 90 or 100 days should yield roughly 670 pounds of hanging beef. The typical yield or dressing percentage is 60 to 62%. Thinner and older animals, especially cows, will have a lower dress. The typical beef carcass that is processed into closely trimmed cuts, some boneless, some bone-in with regular ground beef yields about 65 to 67% of the carcass weight into wrapped beef. Thus, the 670 hanging weight now is broken down to about 442 pounds. (670 lbs. x .66 = 442 lbs.) Remember that the 670 pound hot carcass...

I was doing some seeding in one of our pastures a couple of weeks ago with our cowgirl/booth-babe Jane. In one corner about 10 acres or so are used by our associate poultry man Mr. Green Jeans who raises a few Bronze Turkeys this time of year. I mentioned in passing to Jane that I needed one of those (need meaning want) and thought no more of it, but I discovered this morning that folks had pitched in to get me one. Note that these heritage turkeys are not cheap so it is a nice gift. Bronze turkeys are the product of crossing domestic turkeys brought from Europe by colonists (which had been exported to Europe years before) with the Wild Turkey. These matings produced a bird that was larger and more robust than the European turkeys, and tamer than wild turkeys. Though the Bronze turkey type was created in the 18th century, the actual name was not used...

See Seering Beef for the tale of burger prognosticator Bill Helming who in the 1960s predicted the U.S. Hamburger Society which would eat a lot more burgers and that they would be more full-fed, grain-fed beef than was common at that time when over 40% of beef was grass fed. He is now predicting a reversal as the US share of beef consumption as burgers rises to 70% in the next few years. Clearly, burgers are an issue. A possible indicator that Helming is once again on the mark is the growth of gourmet burger chains. Celebrity chefs have slaved in haute cuisine kitchens and mastered the world's most complex dishes. Today, they're dedicating their culinary brain power to another challenge: How to cash in on the burger craze. Chefs such as French-trained Hubert Keller, all-American Bobby Flay and television star Emeril Lagasse are devoting their expertise to the once-humble hamburger. The rapidly growing pack of burger chefs is...

More about the price of food. Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months. ... Costs are being driven by growing demand for meat in China, India and other emerging markets. That's driven up grain prices, which in turn boost the cost of chicken, steak, bread and pasta. Grain prices also have been nudged higher by drought in Russia, planting problems around the world and speculative trading. Food prices are rising faster than overall inflation. The consumer price index for all items minus food and energy rose 0.8% over the year to September, the lowest 12-month increase since March 1961, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The food index rose 1.4%, however. The U.S. Agricultural Department is predicting overall food inflation of about 2% to 3% next year. It's not that simple. World wheat and maize prices have risen 57%, rice 45% and sugar 55% over the last six months and...

In the fall a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of really good food to stoke the inner fires and cope with inclement weather, such as grass fed beef roast. Here's a way to do it. Brush roast with extra virgin olive oil. Melt butter from a grass dairy in a Dutch oven. Brown roast on all sides in the Dutch oven on the stove top. While browning, preheat stove oven to 425F. Place Dutch oven in the stove oven, lid off. Roast for 2 to 4 minutes per pound, increasing time with weight of roast. For example, a 2 pound roast takes 4 minutes (2 * 2) and a 5 pound roast takes 20 minutes (5 * 4). Turn the oven off and walk away. Leave it for 2 hours unopened. The roast should be 135+ degrees in the center with a browned exterior and a moist and tender interior. This emulates natural cooking with fire, which...

It takes a great deal of energy to avoid thought. They've found that just as thinking burns energy, stopping a thought burns energy - like stopping a truck on a downhill slope. "Maybe this explains why it is so tiring to relax and think about nothing," said Daniela Calvetti, professor of mathematics, and one of the authors of a new brain study. . . To stop a thought, the brain uses inhibitory neurons to prevent excitatory neurons from passing information from one to another. "The inhibitory neurons are like a priest saying, 'Don't do it,'" Calvetti said. The "priest neurons" block information by releasing gamma aminobutyric acid, commonly called GABA, which counteracts the effect of the neurotransmitter glutamate by excitatory neurons. Glutamate opens the synaptic gates. GABA holds the gates closed. "The astrocytes, which are the Cinderellas of the brain, consume large amounts of oxygen mopping up and recycling the GABA and the glutamate, which is a neurotoxin," Somersalo...

Do I smell? I smell home cooking. Aside from street food sold openly in busy city centers, another common category of low-cost food includes the many unlicensed, clandestine restaurants in America’s black urban ghettos. Around since at least the Great Migrations of blacks out of the South, these establishments sit at the margins of society, serving low-cost meals but kept from the light of day by zoning and health rules, compounded by a longstanding mistrust of government. Tyler Cowen has rightly noted how few restaurants one sees as one drives through neighborhoods southeast of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC, but women selling soul food out of their homes or in local meeting places like barbershops appear quite often in Off the Books, Sudhir Venkatesh’s ethnography of the underground urban economy. Cooking food is a skill many people already have and can be done with equipment they already own, but health and zoning regulations force licensees to rent commercial...

Rachel Laudan was quoted in Culinary Luddites: "Eating fresh, natural food was regarded with suspicion verging on horror, something to which only the uncivilized, the poor and the starving resorted". But that ignores gourmets. In his new book, “Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy,” Gentilcore traces the tomato from its origins in the New World, where it was domesticated by the Maya, then cultivated by the Aztecs. It likely entered Europe via Spain, after conquistador Hernan Cortes’s conquest of Mexico. When it arrived on the scene in Italy, it was strictly a curiosity for those who studied plants — not something anyone faint of heart would consider eating. In 1628, Paduan physician Giovanni Domenico Sala called tomatoes “strange and horrible things” in a discussion that included the consumption of locusts, crickets, and worms. When people ate tomatoes, it was as a novelty. “People were curious about new foods, the way gourmets are today with new combinations and...

Spam logic. For our ancestors, natural was something quite nasty. Natural often tasted bad. Fresh meat was rank and tough, fresh fruits inedibly sour, fresh vegetables bitter. Natural was unreliable. Fresh milk soured; eggs went rotten. Everywhere seasons of plenty were followed by seasons of hunger. Natural was also usually indigestible. Grains, which supplied 50 to 90 percent of the calories in most societies, have to be threshed, ground, and cooked to make them edible. So to make food tasty, safe, digestible, and healthy, our forebears bred, ground, soaked, leached, curdled, fermented, and cooked naturally occurring plants and animals until they were literally beaten into submission. They created sweet oranges and juicy apples and non-bitter legumes, happily abandoning their more natural but less tasty ancestors. They built granaries, dried their meat and their fruit, salted and smoked their fish, curdled and fermented their dairy products, and cheerfully used additives and preservatives — sugar, salt, oil, vinegar, lye — to...

It's on. Three years ago, Schatzker (no honorifics; a man who has written a book about steak has to be called by his last, meatiest name) set out to cure his growing disappointment in the corn-fed, feedlot-fattened fare that constitutes that vast majority of steak eaten in North America. To his surprise, no book on the subject existed. “There’s all kinds of cookbooks,” he explains, “but nobody’s ever done a book about steak like this one” – a serious search for flavour that, along the way, delves into cattle breeding, the history of stockyards, marbling and why it’s not the be all and end all, grass versus corn (grass wins), the vast chemistry of flavour (there are 25 different kinds of fat in steak), evolutionary history and its relation to carnivorism, Roland Barthes’s love of meatiness, and the difference between a Beef Loyal eater and a Variety Rotator, which is what Schatzker was afraid he was becoming – to...

Better barley for malting. Some of the team's current research into barley enzymes follows up on studies they reported several years ago. In one investigation, Schmitt found that enzymes called serine-class proteases, which break down proteins in the sprouting grain, can also break down beta-amylase, an important enzyme for converting carbs to simple sugars. The study, a scientific first, was reported in a 2008 issue of the Journal of Cereal Science. The finding might help explain one of the patterns found in an earlier study, published in a 2007 issue of the journal Cereal Chemistry. In that analysis of more than 2,000 North American malting barleys, Schmitt and Budde found that high levels of a desirable, beta-amylase-associated attribute in the barleys correlated to low levels of the serine-class proteases. Better barley can mean better beer, a boon to humanity....

Perhaps this is a good follow on post for the previous which began by discussing eating disorders. The word "flexitarian," meaning someone who mostly eats vegetarian with the occasional cheesesteak thrown in, has been around for a while. But only recently have former vegetarians been so smug about their forays to the dark side. "There is something almost primal about it," writes lapsed vegetarian Tara Austen Weaver, describing her first meat-buying expedition in The Butcher and the Vegetarian. "I haven't actually hunted dinner myself, but I set my sights and claimed the prize I sought." The "primalness" of the meat-eating (or meat-purchasing) experience comes up a lot in these conversion narratives, which inevitably take place at a quaint, family-run butcher shop. Some of these shops are even run by former vegetarians and vegans, such as Fleisher's, the upstate New York store where Julie Powell (of Julie and Julia fame) learned to carve up a steer for her forthcoming Cleaving....