A new look for healthy food…

As a parent or as a child, everybody can relate to the struggle of convincing yourself to eat healthy.  The junk food companies of the world simply have a leg up in creative and attractive advertising that carrot farmers of the world do not.

However, according to Fast Company, “an ambitious new ad campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky tries to convince kids that baby carrots are like Doritos. (But what about the cheese dust?!)

The high-profile ad agency is launching an ambitious $25 million campaign to help the carrot industry compete with the junk food industry. The campaign is being launched with the help of almost 50 carrot growers, including carrot behemoth Bolthouse Farms.”

Read more here…

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Rare Vegetable Auction

This is pretty cool…

Sotheby’s New York is often the site to buy fine art and collectibles but for one night it can be where you buy your vegetables. The Art of Farming benefit on September 23 will turn Sotheby’s Manhattan showroom into a very fancy farmers’ market with heirloom vegetables including Turkish Orange Eggplant, Lady Godiva Squash and Pink Banana Pumpkin up for sale for $1,000 a crate. The Wall Street Journal reports that the auction is the first of its kind by Sotheby’s and that the McEnroe Farm in Millerton, New York is growing some of the rare veggies. Beekman Farm, the farm seen on the Discovery Channel’s “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” is also growing some of the items. Other foodie-friendly auction lots including celebrity chef dinners and produce shares in local farms. The event includes a cocktail reception and a four-course dinner created by celebrity chefs.

Proceeds from the event benefit GrowNYC New Farmers Development Project and the Sylvia Center, a program that teaches children to eat well. At the end of the auction attendees will be asked if the want to donate $1,000 for one of 10 crates of the mixed heirloom vegetables. The contents of the crates then will be donated to two local food pantries. People can buy vegetables for themselves through a silent auction. Tickets to the auction and reception are $250 and gala dinner tickets are $1,000.  (via Luxist)

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NYC’s Beergarden Culture

It might be the fact that we are based in Germany, or it might be just because we love beer, but either way, the beergarden culture of New York City really has is craving a frosty cold brew…  NYTimes recently wrote a piece about the burgeoning beergarden scene in NYC and spotlighted the lovely Standard Hotel, NYC’s among others like Lorely and Die Schwarzer Koelner.  Here is an excerpt:

“THERE is no drinking forum more compatible with summer than the beer garden. Until recently, New Yorkers wanting to raise a stein in dappled sunshine had one choice: Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens, which turns 100 this year.

But in the last year or so, beer gardens have sprouted across the city. This wave coincided roughly with the outbreak of modern speakeasies. Both of them appeal to a populace seeking authentic, backward-glancing drinking traditions. Otherwise the two trends couldn’t be more different. Speakeasies, small, dark coves hidden behind nameless doors, tell of exclusivity, while beer gardens are proudly populist bastions of communal seating. And with wallets being battered daily, ease of entry and easily met tabs give beer gardens the edge among the thirsty…”

Read the full article here…

Credit: Joshua Bright for The New York Times

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Bad idea of the year… Conde Nast Restaurants

Does anybody else think that this is a horrible idea?

“Condé Nast is looking to expand its magazine-themed restaurant business across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move is part of the company’s strategy to build its brands beyond print magazines, which have been suffering from drops in advertising.

“The idea involves only Condé Nast’s international unit, so there are no plans for a Vanity Fair Café or a New Yorker Bar & Grill in the U.S.,” says the Journal article. The licensing deal belongs to the company’s international unit and U.S. magazines can reach their own licensing agreements for products, the Journal reported.  The company hopes to have one or two restaurants open in 2011 and as many as five per year after that, Jonathan Newhouse, Chairman of Condé Nast International, told the paper. At the top of the list are places like Hong Kong and Dubai. Istanbul and Kiev are also being considered.

In the beginning, Vogue and GQ will be the focus of the restaurant expansion, Newhouse told the Journal. Along with the restaurants comes a new division of the company, dubbed Condé Nast Restaurants, which will be based in Hong Kong.  “I think there’s been a new openness in the entire organization to experimenting, trying new things, and I would say thinking about the business model in new ways,” he was quoted as saying in the article.  The company’s Moscow restaurant ventures — the aforementioned Vogue Cafe, GQ Bar and Tatler Club — have been a success.”

Photo: jon.keane, Flickr

Via Slashfood

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Design Hotels Presents… Tuscan Stroll

Ahh Tuscany…  The place of Dante, the Medici family, great wine, rolling hills dotted with cyprus trees, and on and on…  Out of our love of this Italian region we have put together together a presentation to inspire the heart, mind and appetite!

Be inspired here…

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Beer Stuffed Squirrel, Hare, and Stoat… oh my!

The upmarket beer industry has been steadily growing around the world.  Experts say that as luxury spending has taken a hit, “luxury” boutique beers afford consumers the chance to experience small indulgences for $5-$10 rather than a comparable “upmarket wine” which could start a ten times the amount.  Some beer brewers however, have felt the need to make their segment even more exclusive by releasing a beer for $770.  Oddly enough, the price is not the primary reason that the beer is generating a buzz…

“You’ve heard of beers getting skunked, but what about squirreled?  Believe it or not, a brewery in Fraserberg, Scotland, is selling a new Belgian blonde ale, and one of the selling points is that each bottle is packaged inside the dead, taxidermied carcass of a squirrel, hare or stoat. Some are even wearing offbeat costumes, including a hat and a tuxedo reminiscent of the Monopoly man.

The bizarre brewery behind the offbeat packaging is BrewDog, and it specializes in unusual, extra-strong brews with suitably edgy names like Punk IPA, Trashy Blonde and Tactical Nuclear Penguin.  You might think that the name refers to the use of road-killed rodents, but it is actually a paraphrasing of a famous quote by philosopher Francis Fukuyama from his 1992 book where he suggested the advent of Western liberal democracy may signal the end point of humanity’s sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government.

BrewDog owners are cheekily adopting the quote to imply that their new ale is to beer what democracy is to history.  How is that? Well, The End of History is more than just a beer bottled in dead animal bodies; it is being sold as the most alcoholic beer ever made — a whopping 55 percent alcohol by volume. And this stiff drink comes with a stiff price: About $770 per bottle.”

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God, please invite me to the Perrier Mansion…

Of all the beverages in the world that could potentially be described as “sexy,” before today I would be put Perrier somewhere between Kool-Aid and Root Beer.  It just has a dusty old personality suitable for cheese radio theme songs and sponsoring Roland Garros.  However, the marketing genuises at the venerable French water company have made leaps and bounds in the sex factor with their latest online feature entitled, Perrier by Dita…

In case you are wondering, yes, Dita is that Dita… Dita von Teese, and she wants to play with you in her giant French mansion.  All we are going to say is that you must be of legal age to enter the mansion, and that your mouse click finger is going to get quite a workout…

Enter The Perrier Mansion here…

Below is the trailor for the featurette…

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Do you know Michelada?

We here at the Future Blog are tired of hearing about the Michelada…  The reason- because nobody in Berlin serves them!  For any of you still un-enlightened, a Michelada is a Mexican-inspired cocktail perfect for hot days and hot nights.  The Moment gave a great overview about the oft-misunderstood drink…

“The michelada neatly bridges two unsung categories of drinks I happen to love: savory cocktails and beer cocktails. Nailing down exactly what is in a michelada, or its sibling, the chelada, is like defining Zen; there is a set of acceptable ingredients from which you choose your tastes and proceed. As a loose definition, a michelada has some kind of tomato juice in it, often Clamato, and a chelada doesn’t. (I find myself preferring the “without” kind, but it all depends on appetite, disposition, the angle of the sun and what the mariachi band is playing.) It could be considered a cousin of the Bloody Mary, or a spiced-up version of a Midwestern staple, the Red Eye…

Use a pilsner or other tall beer or cocktail glass; a 20-ounce cooler or imperial pint works beautifully in that it allows for the ice, the additives and an entire 12-ounce bottle of beer. Cut a small lime wedge and use it to moisten the rim of the glass, then invert it onto a saucer of kosher salt, or salt mixed with chili powder. Fill the glass with as much or little ice as you wish. Then use whichever of the following ingredients fit your mood, pouring the beer in last. Do experiment with lavish versions compared to more stripped-down ones to see which you like best. Salùd!

— Fresh lime juice, about an ounce, or one lime’s worth. I like to save the squeezed half-hull to cap the drink, to incorporate the aromatics of the oil into it as well.
— Maggi Seasoning
— Salsa picante (bottled hot sauce)
— Worcestershire sauce
— Soy sauce
— 1-3 ounces tomato juice
— Beer, 12 ounces.”

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

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Raw food in Copenhagen

Visitors to Copenhagen with a hunger for raw food need look no further than 42degrees…

“Serving up fresh juices and creative salads—like watermelon-beetroot, strawberry-olive and asparagus-seaweed—in biodegradable packaging, Copenhagen’s recently-opened 42°Raw is dedicated to “celebrating food and drink in their natural state.”

The healthy eatery, the first in the city serving only unprocessed and uncooked food, makes it their mission to create delicious recipes using seasonal produce that anyone can enjoy—whether vegetarian, vegan, raw or just looking for something deliciously nutritious. Making sure the salads please the palate as well as the eyes, 42°Raw draws on the talents of two veteran chefs Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov (the imaginative duo known for creating experimental food events). The pair came up with their initial menu of unusual salads and will continue to dream up new ideas according to weather and other changes.

With options so far like one mixing cherry tomatoes with avocado, red quinoa, arugula and a high-tech powdered dressing that melts into a vinaigrette (which I tried and loved), the new approach to health nut eating reinvents the lifestyle choice as a richer experience overall.” (Cool Hunting)

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Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival

Food & Wine magazine has announced a new four-day food event. The “Taste of Beverly Hills,” will be held September 2, 2010 through September 5, 2010 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event plays on the rich food and wine culture in Los Angeles bringing in chefs and restaurateurs from throughout the area such as “Top Chef” season six winner Michael Voltaggio, Walter Manzke, formerly of Church & State, Ludo Lefebvre of the popular “Ludo Bites” series, and Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal, who were recently profiled in the New Yorker.

Others in attendance will include culinary icon Wolfgang Puck; Ted Allen, the host of the Food Network series “Chopped”; Scott Conant, host of the Food Network’s “24 Hour Restaurant Battle”; Michel Nischan, award-winning cookbook author and Chef Tim Love of the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Forth Worth, Texas.
The event begins with the 9.02.10 Beverly Hills Celebration Event on September 2nd. The pre-festival event is hosted by Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad and celebrity Beverly Hills ambassadors and will include a live musical performance and picnic baskets provided for guests to fill with signature samplings from exclusive Beverly Hills restaurants. Tickets are $150. (from Luxist)

While making the trek to Los Angeles for the festival, use the opportunity to check out either The Standard, Hollywood or The Standard, Downtown LA…

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