Creative Packaging Ensures Food Safety

Japanese design agency TO-GENKYO has designed an innovative hourglass shaped label for packaged meat which uses a special ink that changes color as ammonia is released inside the package. As the meat ages, it releases increasing amounts of the substance, obscuring the barcode at the bottom. Customers can quickly see if the meat is going bad – and when the barcode becomes completely covered, it can’t be scanned.

Volunteer Test Chefs Needed This Weekend!

Our publishing deadline is fast approaching and we need many of our recipes to go through a final scrutinizing round of tests. We are looking for volunteers to cook and submit recipes this weekend.

If you’re up for the (fun) challenge, sign up here and let us know how many recipes you’d be able to test.

For each recipe you try, we’ll put your name in a raffle for a $50 gift certificate from Whole Foods… but you must submit the feedback by Sunday (May 2nd) at midnight!

Why It’s OK for Vegans to Eat Oysters

Biologically, oysters are not in the plant kingdom, but when it comes to ethical eating, they are almost indistinguishable from plants. Oyster farms account for 95 percent of all oyster consumption and have a minimal negative impact on their ecosystems; there are even nonprofit projects devoted to cultivating oysters as a way to improve water quality. Since so many oysters are farmed, there’s little danger of overfishing. No forests are cleared for oysters, no fertilizer is needed, and no grain goes to waste to feed them—they have a diet of plankton, which is about as close to the bottom of the food chain as you can get. Oyster cultivation also avoids many of the negative side effects of plant agriculture: There are no bees needed to pollinate oysters, no pesticides required to kill off other insects, and for the most part, oyster farms operate without the collateral damage of accidentally killing other animals during harvesting.

Moreover, since oysters don’t have a central nervous system, they’re unlikely to experience pain in a way resembling ours—unlike a pig or a herring or even a lobster.

- Via Christopher Cox of Slate

New Contributing Chef!

Chef Joe Wittenbrook, the renowned owner of the Culinary Salon in San Francisco, is now contributing recipes to the book!

Chef Joe has served in numerous high profile culinary positions in San Francisco’s culinary scene including Chef de partie at the exclusive Huntington Hotel; private Chef for the Swiss Consulate; Chef de cuisine at the Mansion on Sutter Street; and Executive Chef at the San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center. He returned to the California Culinary Academy in 2002 as a Chef Instructor where he taught Basic Skills, Garde Manger and European Cuisine.

Some of his recipes include:

• Roasted Eggplant and Mint Salad With or Without Shredded Salami 
• Farro with Tomato, Capers and Tuna or Olives 
• Butterfly Pasta with Fresh Peas, Green Onions, and With or Without Proscuitto 
• Borscht (Ukranian Soup) 
• Tuscan Bean Soup

We’re excited to have him on board!