Category Archive

Nourish the Thought recently posted an interesting piece about the lowly potato. And we only say “lowly” because, come on, they grow underground. And they’re covered in dirt.

And we’re better than them.

But apparently, with the cost of several staple crops heading skyward, the FDA and the UN are both pushing 2008 as the Year of the Potato. Potatoes can be grown on less land than many other food crops. They require less water and grow more quickly. And they provide key nutrients like complex carbohydrates, fiber, amino acids, vitamin C and a good deal of potassium. (We’re saying all this like we know what we’re talking about…surprisingly not true. Maybe it’s best if you visit the above links and read it from the smart people.)

Many thanks to Playskool for Mr. Potato Head, which made the above picture possible (is it a little disconcerting that they intentionally misspell the word “school”? It is, isn‘t it?)

Hands down the tastiest of the many Marlin entities, FoodIQ, recently launched their very own food blog, Nourish The Thought. (We’ll go ahead and coin the new mash-up term “Fblog!” Say it with your friends! Exclamation points!!) The FoodIQ blog is already chock full of commentary on food and culture and food culture. Good stuff.Case in point, this post on the potential for good and/or evil in the inventive new fast food packaging, Col-Pop from South Korea’s BBQ Chicken.

The basic idea is that you stick chicken nuggets or other similarly poppable morsels into a little plastic holder that is then stuck into the top of a drink cup. There’s even a straw so you can slurp while you munch. (Hey BBQ Chicken. Free name idea to replace the Khmer Rouge-sounding Col-Pop. Ready? Slurp-n-Munch! Or how about the Slurpinmunchinator? The kids will love it!) The result is hot fried lovin’ up top and cool refreshment down below. It’s McD.L.T. Mach Two.

So is it a brilliant packaging solution for today’s hectic lifestyle or the end of civilization as we know it? Do we need to eat nuggets from our cupholders? For that matter, do we need to eat nuggets?We’ll just have to wait and see. And while we wait, why not enjoy the on-the-go convenience of Col-Pop? Mmm…so mobile!

Thanks to Nourish the Thought for the heads-up on the possible impending packaging-induced apocalypse.

Every year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day on October 16th, though “celebrates” might be a bit of a misnomer, since the intent is to highlight the continuing devastation wrought by hunger worldwide. Not really a party hat occasion, but it is a wonderful opportunity to think about how you can help.

This year’s theme is The Right To Food. Most if not all of the commemoration events are taking place in Rome (including a…poster competition?) so we’re pretty sure no Notchweiners will be in attendance. But our hearts and thoughts are there.

Here’s an interesting map we found on the official site that lets you see the shifting regions of hunger around the world since 1970. There’s a lot less red (bad bad) on the map in 2003 than in 1970, which is good. But there’s still plenty of yellow-orange (still bad). The site also has a donations section, where you can support the TeleFood program. A little cash can go a long way. For example:

Thanks to Lab Cat for dishing out the World Food Day information. We were just as surprised to realize there was such a thing as World Food Day, and happy to help spread the word.

We’ll go ahead and admit that we’ve never heard of Popcorn Worker’s Lung. Apparently it afflicts, yes, workers in plants that manufacture microwave popcorn and it’s enough of a hazard to prompt potential legislation. The flavoring diacetyl, which gives many micro popcorns their buttery flavor (and infuses every microwave with that permanent sorta-butter smell), has been linked to the illness, also known as bronchiolitis obliterans. Obliterans. That can’t be good.

Now, the New York Times is reporting the first known potential case of Popcorn Worker’s Lung in a Colorado man who is not a popcorn worker. He is, however, Mr. Popcorn. Apparently, this man has eaten two bags of microwave popcorn a day for the past ten years. He even went so far as to inhale steam escaping freshly opened bags because he loved his popcorn so much. Heated/vaporized diacetyl is what does the lung damage, so this was a bad, bad move. It also couldn’t have been all that great for his complexion.

The good news is that he has sworn off his beloved microwave popcorn, shed a lot of weight and is improving lung-wise. Workers in popcorn manufacturing plants, maybe not so much.

The Angry Toxicologist has, surprise, an even angrier take on the issue here.

A few days ago, the always-interesting Freakonomics blog asked the question that most likely was not on everyone’s mind at the moment: why are we eating more shrimp than we used to?

“Between 1980 and 2005, the amount of shrimp consumed by Americans nearly tripled, from 1.4 pounds per person to 4.1 pounds per person.”

The idea was to open that question to the cyberpublic and see what happened. Today, they posted the results, which are frankly pretty fascinating. For, um, a blogged social experiment about shrimp economics.

Food Tool for the Week
by Chef Rob Corliss of FoodIQ.

Here at Food IQ, we love the unique and the bizarre, especially when it’s edible. This week’s Food Tool is an imaginative list of the world’s most unusual restaurants. One of our local favorites even made this international list of the incredible. Lambert’s Cafe, Home of Throwed Rolls (that’s right,“throwed”), is just down the road from Food IQ Central, and a big hit for busloads on their way to/from seeing Yakov down in Branson, as well as ornery kids all across Southwest Missouri.

Check out the whole list. A few more favorites are De Kas, Dinner In the Sky (saw this on TV recently), Urban Pooch, B.E.D., Karne Girabaldi (thirteen seconds? Really?) and Kinderkookkafe. Plus, who can deny the weird, deja vu-laden experience of dining in a restaurant staffed entirely by twins?

Food IQ is a Marlin strategic partner that understands consumer consumption influencers and applies them to make your business future ready.

Apparently, kids in Las Vegas have had enough frozen green beans. Hopefully, the one kid’s requested alternative of “chocolate filled panda cookies” will fall in line with the school budget.

A double dose of caffeine and exercise actually might help prevent skin cancer. Something to do with the body’s ability to kill off damaged cells before they become malignant. Maybe instead of comfy couches, Starbucks should install treadmills. Replace the drive-thru with a jog-thru. And of course, offer 20 lb. venti cups—one for each arm.