The Behavioral Economics Diet: The Science of Killing a Bad Habit
Diets don’t work. Studies show that temporary fixes to old habits actually make people gain weight. Essentially, the dieter’s brain is trained to gorge when off the diet and inevitably the weight returns. Putting some skin in the game makes people more likely to accomplish their goal of stopping a bad habit.
How Air Pollution Is Doing More Than Killing Us
Emerging studies show that air pollution is linked to impaired judgement, mental health problems, poorer performance in school and most worryingly perhaps, higher levels of crime. These findings are all the more alarming, given that more than half of the world’s population now live in urban environments.
How Ultra-Processed Food Took Over Your Shopping Basket
Ultra-processed foods now account for more than half of all the calories eaten in the UK and US. These foods are convenient, affordable, highly profitable, strongly flavored, aggressively marketed. But is ultra-processed food making us ill and driving the global obesity crisis?
Carlsberg Beer, Niels Bohr, And The Infinite Pilsner Pipeline That Wasn’t
Carlsberg gifted Niels Bohr, the famous Danish physicist, a home complete with a pipeline that pumped fresh beer directly into his residence. It’s a great story and one that has been reported on by publications such as Forbes and The Guardian. The only problem with the story is that it isn’t entirely true.
First Came Better Beer. Now Craft Breweries Want To Be Better For The Planet
In the age of climate crisis, water’s role in craft beer is under increased scrutiny. Small breweries might make better beer, but large breweries are traditionally far more efficient with water usage — and are only getting better at pointing this out to sustainability-minded consumers.
Why Ban Dollar Stores?
Dollar-discount stores get the blame for “food deserts”—neighborhoods without supermarkets. It’s claimed, these stores drive out supermarkets with their low prices and saturate poor neighborhoods with junk food. But are dollar stores really to blame for bad diets?
The Strongest Predictor Of Men’s Well-Being Isn’t Family Or Health
The strongest predictor of men’s happiness and well-being is their job satisfaction, by a large margin—and the strongest predictor of job satisfaction is whether men feel they are making an impact on their companies’ success.
An Eco-Friendly, Plastics-Free Way For Supermarkets To Package Vegetables
A handful of supermarkets in Vietnam are attempting to move away from plastic. One of the most-pernicious, least-recycled/recyclable forms is the plastic film that food is often wrapped in. So supermarket chains including Lotte Mart, Saigon Co.op and Big C have started wrapping produce in banana leaves rather than plastic.
The Wonder Drug for Aging, Made From One of the Deadliest Toxins on Earth
Botox is derived from a toxin purified from Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that thrives and multiplies in faultily canned food. The botulinum toxin is so powerful that a tiny amount can suffocate a person by paralyzing the muscles used for breathing. That’s part of what protects Allergan’s $2.8 billion Botox empire.
The Frontier Couple Who Chose Death Over Life Apart
Artist Eric Bealer was living the remote, rugged good life in coastal Alaska with his wife, Pam, an MS sufferer, when they made a dramatic decision: to exit this world together, leaving behind precise instructions for whoever entered their cabin first.
How Artificial Intelligence Could Revolutionize Coffee
The coffee supply chain is rife with uncertainty, unfairness, and even corruption. Bext360 wants to change that. This video looks at how they’re using machine vision, artificial intelligence, and blockchain payments to bring the largest un-automated system in the world into the digital age.
What Does It Really Cost To Run A Restaurant?
Restaurants have notoriously slim margins. Irene Li, the chef and owner of Chinese-American restaurant Mei Mei in Boston, reveals just how slim they really are.
Can Kyoto’s Buddhist Cuisine Teach Us All To Eat Better?
From the Buddhist perspective, cooking is a form of spiritual practice that produces nourishment to prepare the body for hard work and meditation. Its goals are nothing less than permanent enlightenment, nirvana, the fundamental transformation of the human mind and society.
How The Mast Brothers Fooled The World Into Paying $10 A Bar For Crappy Hipster Chocolate
While customers can’t get enough of the company’s bearded, Brooklyn hipster founders, and their brilliantly marketed, $10 “bean to bar” chocolates, a term reserved for chocolate that has been produced entirely under the maker’s control, from the cocoa bean to the wrapped bar, chocolate experts have shunned them.
What Noma Did Next: How The ‘New Nordic’ Is Reshaping The Food World
In our time of climate crisis and inequality, as top chefs dream less of Michelin stars and more of changing the world, the New Nordic movement is reaching beyond haute cuisine into classrooms, supermarkets and parliaments.
How ‘Taco Friday’ Became A Swedish Tradition
Fredagsmys, or Cozy Friday, is a beloved Swedish tradition. Across the Scandinavian country, families stay home on Friday night, watch TV, and eat Tex-Mex-style tacos. This dinner choice is so common that, for most Swedes, Cozy Friday is also Taco Fredag, or Taco Friday.
The War On Coffee
Epicurean coffeehouses in the United States numbered in the hundreds in 1989, and in the tens of thousands by 2013. A lot of that is Starbucks, but not all. Roasters in Italy went from exporting twelve million kilograms of espresso in 1988 to more than a hundred and seventy million in 2015.
Human Anatomy Baked Into Polymer Desserts By QimmyShimmy
Singapore-based mixed media artist QimmyShimmy uses polymer clay to craft baby figures and sugary treats that blend fantasy and reality in interesting and often disturbing ways.
How To Eat Seafood Responsibly: A Guide From Chef Eric Ripert
In addition to responsibly sourcing fish, Eric Ripert stresses that seeking out freshness and using proper technique will help guarantee success with fish in the home kitchen. Here are a few ways he recommends keeping seafood cookery interesting, delicious, and sustainable.
How Eating Alone Is Radically Changing Our Diets
Eating alone has become a defining feature of modern life: the breakfasting commuter; the household members with conflicting schedules; the widower who receives few visitors.
Is The Second Farm Crisis Upon Us?
Farmers across the country are in a state of emergency with dairy and grain producers, new farmers, and farmers of color being hit the hardest. The term farm crisis is synonymous with the 1980s, when the bottom dropped out of the agricultural economy, sending thousands of farms into foreclosure and shuttering businesses.