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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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As Pushback against Bottled Water Grows, Four Companies Offer Flavorful Alternatives

The age of bottled water may soon come to an end — or at least plateau.

Last week the Wall Street Journal published a piece that called the future of the bottled water industry into question. The “why” is obvious: Driven by images of waste-choked ocean life, plus government and corporate initiatives to eliminate single-use plastic straw use, consumers are looking for alternatives to the most popular bottled beverage in the U.S. And the industry is already feeling it: U.S. bottled water sales are expected to grow by only 6.7 percent this year —  the smallest increase this decade.

What wasn’t so clear from the piece, however, is what commercially viable alternatives are out there. To combat the downturn in sales, bottled water companies are scrambling to create a better bottle, either by promoting plans to switch to 100 percent recycled plastic, or leveraging new materials like cardboard containers (à la cafeteria milk) and glass. But boxed water and glass bottles are expensive and delicate, and we’re years away from a 100 percent recycled plastic bottle.

While eco-conscious consumers can certainly fill up a reusable water bottle instead of buying a plastic one, that doesn’t satisfy the growing demand for flavored seltzers and “healthy” mineral waters. It’s hard to find a replacement for bottled options that give options for carbonation and flavor add-ins — but a few disrupters in the market are working on it. Here are four companies trying to shake up how you hydrate, sustainably:

Image credit: Ted Eytan under creative common license

PepsiCo’s Drinkfinity + SodaStream

Back in August PepsiCo announced plans to acquire SodaStream, makers of the popular countertop carbonation system. The initial investment in the device has a relatively high monetary and environmental cost (it is, after all, made of plastic), it pays off in the long run since you theoretically don’t won’t be buying any more single-use plastic bottles.

This move came just a few months after the beverage giant launched DrinkFinity, a system which lets you flavor your water with special pods that go into a PepsiCo reusable drink “vessel.” Chris tested them out and determined that the taste was actually pretty good — and the reusable bottle could help keep plastic out of the waste stream. Bonus: you can recycle the flavor pods by mailing them in.

Of course, PepsiCo also owns bottled water company Aquafina and recently launched Bubly, a flavored seltzer which comes in cans and bottles — both of which put a lot of single-use plastic on shelves. But with SodaStream and Drinkfinity the company is offering (more) sustainable options for bottled water lovers, even ones who like flavor and fizz with their H20.

 

Photo: rOcean.

rOcean’s sleek home device 

On the surface, rOcean’s countertop device sounds a lot like a SodaStream: both appliances flavor and carbonate water. But as Richard Gunther wrote on the Spoon a few months ago, rOcean has two advantages: it hooks up directly to your tap, and also allows consumers to fill the flavor cartridges with their own preferred flavorings (though they’re still reliant on rOcean’s proprietary water filters and CO2 cartridges).

Despite these value-adds, rOcean has yet to prove that they can deliver. The company’s first round of pre-orders is expected to ship this month, so we’ll see if rOcean can follow through on its promise to help you save time, money, and the oceans.

 

Photo: Mitte

Mitte’s mineral water appliance

Flavor and carbonation are all well and good, but what about the distinct minerality that makes bottled water taste like it came straight from a mountain stream? Mitte is breaking mineral water out of the bottle. The Berlin-based company has a countertop device which lets you distill and create your own custom mineralized water at home, using replaceable cartridges.

As with the SodaStream and rOcean, Mitte’s appliance isn’t waste-free: its device is made of plastic, and I couldn’t find details about whether or not its cartridges were recyclable. But it’s a heck of a lot better than grabbing a bottle of Fiji every day on your way to the gym. The company has also reportedly been in conversations with appliance makers like LG and Whirlpool, exploring ways to integrate their product directly into refrigerators or kitchen sinks, which could cut down on the waste and space requirements.

Mitte won the Startup Showcase at our first Smart Kitchen Summit Europe this June and raised $10.6 million in August. Early Kickstarter backers will receive their Mitte units in June 2019.

 

Bevi’s customizeable water machine

Bevi makes a smart beverage device which hooks up to a tap and dispenses purified, sparkling, and flavored H20 with varying levels of sweetness. Designed to be installed in public areas like schools, gyms, cafeterias, and offices, the company’s core mission is to reduce plastic water bottle use.

When covering Bevi’s machine earlier this year, Jenn Marston mused on a future in which Bevi (or Bevi-like) machines were everywhere from fast food joints to Starbucks to gas stations, offering consumers a near-omnipresent alternative to fridges filled with plastic bottles.

 

But will they replace plastic water bottles?

Of course, while these companies are all working to make it easy to skip out on plastic water bottles, there’s one huge hurdle they may never overcome: convenience. It may be easy, even fun, to tap a few buttons and create a custom water blend to fill up your reusable bottle — but it will never be quite as quick or easy as grabbing a bottle of Evian from your fridge or a gas station fridge. Until it is, these solutions will have a hard time getting rid of plastic water bottles for good.

Binge Netflix’s The Final Table While Bingeing on Leftovers

We aren’t big into football in my house. But we are big into food shows. And yesterday, the Albrechts, filled with delicious Thanksgiving leftovers (pumpkin pie for breakfast FTW!), sat on the couch in sweatpants and binged our new obsession: Netflix’s The Final Table.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the show, you’re familiar with the concept: teams of world-class chefs compete in a stadium to earn a seat amongst master chefs at… the final table, yada yada. But there are some tweaks to the tired food competition formula that make this show bingeworthy.

First, it is beautifully shot and produced. It’s almost like Iron Chef by way of Chef’s Table. Cameras on wires float above the action like a sporting event. Expertly crafted film vignettes provide backstories of the contestants as well as the prerequisite slow-motion shots of them preparing meals at their restaurants.

Each week, the remaining contestants “visit” a new country and cook a meal using that nation’s ingredients and style. Judges are actually from that country and are a mix of celebrities (often ones starring in other Netflix shows) for the first part of the weekly competition. The bottom three teams from that portion of the show then must cook for a famous chef from that region, who decides who must leave.

What really sets the show apart from other cooking competitions are the contestants, who work in teams of two for most of the season. Some teams are friends who have worked together and it’s this camaraderie that becomes compelling.

In most cooking shows, the chef contestants work alone and typically “aren’t there to make friends,” as the old trope goes. But when they are working with friends, the sum is greater than the parts, and an almost third entity is conjured up out of their collaboration. They form a bond and communicate without speaking, performing a controlled, chaotic dance around fire, whipping up eye-popping dishes in under an hour.

They don’t always work well together or agree (which sinks them), but it’s fun watching teams advance and learn to work and collaborate better as they get to know each other in the kitchen.

I had the pleasure of talking with Eli Holzman, Founder and CEO of Intellectual Property, the production company behind Project Foodie, at our recent Smart Kitchen Summit. We talked about what it takes to make cooking/food shows that stand out in a world packed with so much content. A winning formula right now, anyway, seems to be… kindness.

That may seem odd and not very technically innovative, but watching The Final Table reminded me of what I like so much about The Great British Baking Show (the latest season of which, IMHO, is the best season yet). People work together and speak to each other respectfully. Judges are there to provide constructive feedback, not destroy contestants — and you can see which master chefs are interested in not just critiquing, but teaching.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a Netflix-sized budget and cinematographers who make dishes pop off the screen.

The show isn’t perfect. It could benefit from more diversity in the contestant lineup, the actor/model/former footballer judges don’t provide that much insight, and there is a weird thing where the show reuses the same two audience reaction shots for each episode.

But these issues don’t distract from the overall artistry and addictiveness of the show. If you’re still on the couch, comatose from all that good gravy, fire up The Final Table, and settle in. You’ll be in front of your TV for a while.

Oscar Mayer and Tyson Jump Into the “Is it a Sandwich” Debate

The debate over what makes a sandwich a sandwich is a tried and true one. And while we all may have our own personal breaded hill on which we’ll die, two food giants jumped into the fray recently to re-ignite the debate just in time for family bickering gatherings at Thanksgiving.

First up is Oscar Mayer which declared earlier this week that hot dogs are a sandwich. As you turn green and potentially hulk out with rage, it’s just that type of reaction that Oscar Mayer seems to be, err, relishing.

As part of it’s bold, divisive proclamation, Oscar Mayer doubled down and practically said “Come at me, bro!” as the company taunted people on twitter set up a hotline for those riled up to call and argue about it. (The hotline was only open for 24 hours).

Of course, you have to take this sort of corporate rabble rousing with 420 mg of salt. This is, after all the company that released “Bacoin,” the bitcoin knock-off earlier this year.

While I don’t agree with Oscar Mayer’s take, at least a hot dog comes wrapped with bread on either side. Jimmy Dean, a division of Tyson Foods, just decided to chuck that notion altogether with its bit or corporate stuntery.

In a blog post yesterday, Tyson announced the launch of Jimmy Dean Delights Egg’wich. Think of it as a triple-layered-package of protein. This vegan nightmare has turkey sausage nestled between two slices of… egg frittatas.

The blog post goes on to petition Merriam-Webster to update their definition of sandwich, but honestly that feels like a step too far and just joking the joke at that point. We get it, Tyson.

Both bits of corporate tomfoolery were in advance of yesterday’s National Sandwich Day, a real thing, btw, and were meant to drum up some free PR. So well played, giant meat corporations, well played. Your move, Subway.

The Look Cook Book is Like the Airplane Safety Card of Recipes

I have this thing where I always read the safety card on airplanes. Hopefully I’ll never have to open the emergency door, but at least I won’t forget how, thanks to the clear design and wordless instruction.

The airplane safety card is actually a good way to think of the Look Cook Book, which recently launched a Kickstarter campaign. The Look Cook Book uses high design and “culturally neutral” iconography to create “universally readable” recipes almost without words that is easily readable from one to two meters away.

Recipes include “Fancy Scrambled Eggs,” “Red Lentil Dahl,” and “Apple Cinnamon and Nutmeg Crumble.” According to the campaign info, each recipe has been created so they can be made for $1.50 per portion. You can preview a PDF of the book here.

The book is also being turned into an interactive cookbook app that you can swipe through and will even include built-in tappable timers.

The campaign, which launched on September 4, is looking to raise $5,487. A pledge of £12 (~$16 USD) gets you a paperback version of the book, while a pledge of £15 (~$20) gets you the paperback and digital versions of the Look Cook Book.

With 55 days left in its campaign, we’ll just have to wait and see if the Look Cook Book will takeoff.

Coworking Space Meets Healthy Supper Club at Hall in Boston

Here’s a riddle for you: What do you get when you cross a community center, a coworking space, and a healthy café?

Answer: Hall, a 2,400 square foot space in Boston’s Back Bay with tables, chairs, and desks which serves as a workspace during the day and transforms into a meeting space and dinner club at night. Albert Nichols founded Hall out of his apartment in 2015. He wanted to create a space where busy professionals could come together, meet new people, and talk about their days over a healthy meal, without having to spend all their money at restaurants. Sort of like roommate dinners, but for adult-y adults (read: no floor sitting or boxed macaroni cheese).

Meals are available Sunday through Thursday from 4:30pm until closing time at 10pm. The rotating menu, developed and prepared by two staff chefs, includes dishes like Vegan Pad Thai and Ginger Miso Salmon. Each night they offer two meal options: a “Light Option” that’s vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free; and a “Hearty Option” which features meat. All meals are vegetable-centric and can be eaten at the Hall or taken home.

A few of Hall’s meal options.

In addition to meals five days a week, Hall offers many of typical coworking spot amenities: coffee, fast Wi-Fi, a variety of cushy seating options, and networking opportunities. It also offers a weekly agenda with events like Fireside Chats featuring community members and Town Hall meetings.

Hall has two membership tiers: $350/month, the “All Access” membership will give you access to Hall during open hours (6am-10pm Mon-Fri, 6am-6pm Sat and Sun), with coffee, meals, and networking events included. The “Home Base” membership includes access to the Hall and networking events, plus the option to pay $9 for a meal and $3 for coffee.

As of late, coworking spaces have been embracing new angles and offering new amenities to attract the growing number of remote workers. In addition to more traditional models like WeWork, companies gearing coworking areas towards women, the tech community, and social justice. A few months ago Jenn Marsten wrote about how posh restaurants are turning their dining rooms into coworking spaces during lunch hours — though most have abbreviated hours.

I myself work out of a coworking space in Seattle which, for a comparable monthly fee to the Hall, gives me a floating desk, free coffee, wifi, and access to community events. The place does its job of giving me a workplace that’s not my studio apartment — but now that I know about Hall, I’m really wishing I also got healthy dinners. For nights when I’m too busy/tired to cook, the option to snag a home-cooked meal on my way out of the office is a lot more tempting than a microwave dinner or the hefty delivery pricetag. Plus, having meals would incentivize me to stay longer and get some work done over supper — or hang with my fellow coworkers — instead of heading home to eat on the couch.

Many coworking spots — my own included — offer occasional free meals or drinks to members for networking events. However, the emphasis on community and co-dining makes Hall unique. At a time where remote work and freelancing is becoming more the norm, the opportunity to work in a space that provides a communal, supportive vibe is a valuable one. And the fact that Pad Thai is included doesn’t hurt.

Two New Programs Bring Bees to Your Backyard

Somehow, I have found myself on the apiary beat here at The Spoon. This despite my turning into a flailing, cowering wildman at the sight (or buzz) of one. Regardless of my grade school-level fear of getting stung, I recognize how important bees are to our food system, which is why it’s exciting to see two new ways people can bring beehives to their own backyards.

You’ve probably heard the buzz on bees by now: Seventy out of every 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees. In the U.S., bees pollinate 130 agricultural plants, and bee pollination is worth more than $9 billion to U.S. agriculture. And, oh yeah, bees are dying off. Where the U.S. once had six million bee colonies in the 1960s, we now have less than 3 million.

So bees need to make a comeback. To help, MOM’s Organic Market in Maryland is selling a starter beehive. Food Dive reports that the local grocery chain has partnered with Richland Honey Bees to sell a queen bee and nucleus hive (a hive in a box). The starter kits are available online, cost $185 and Maryland residents can pick theirs up at one of four local MOM’s shops there.

If you’re looking for an even more low-tech solution to starting up a beehive, head over to Amazon and pick up Turn This Book Into a Beehive. It’s written by Lynn Brunelle, who used to be a writer for Bill Nye the Science Guy, and is filled with facts and activities about bees. But the big selling point, as the title spells out, is that you can turn it into a beehive by tearing out perforated pages, rolling them up and enclosing them in the book’s jacket and hanging it outside.

While this paper-based solution may not be as high-tech as the Nectar hive sensors, it seems like a good way to assist the pollination process in your own backyard, especially as we head into vegetable gardening season.

Of course, if you are interested in getting more into beekeeping, you should check with your local laws to ensure that your city allows it.

Turning a book into a beehive has turned into my next weekend family project. Thankfully I’ll have my grade school son there to help me get over my elementary fears.

Cannabis Edibles Market Is Riding High — For Now

If you have ever had a pot brownie (and we’re not saying you have), more likely than not you don’t remember it as an especially pleasant ingestion experience. The brownie probably tasted bad, was from dubious sources, and might have even been given to you by an unwashed person at a house/frat party.

But today the edibles game has completely changed. Thanks to legalization and technological advances, edibles now come in a huge variety; users can choose not only how they want to ingest their weed, but also its strain and strength. And their popularity is exploding.

According to Arcview Market Research via Forbes, consumers in California purchased $180 million worth of cannabis-infused food and drinks last year, which amounted to 10% of the state’s total marijuana sales. Per BDS Analytics and Green Market report, that percentage rose to 18% in February 2018. And there doesn’t seem to be any sign of slowing.

Edibles are becoming commonplace and democratized. They are no longer a means to an end; consumers want to enjoy the consumption experience itself, not just the resulting high. They also have a wider appeal than smoking marijuana, since they’re less conspicuous to consume and don’t have the same harmful effects on your lungs.

Advances in technology enable edible makers to tweak things like the concentration of THC (the psychoactive element in cannabis) and CBD (the relaxing element) in their goods to produce the desired effect. Cannapreneurs (trademark The Spoon) can now also infuse a really wide variety of goods with marijuana, from gourmet sweets like gummy bears and truffles to stouts and IPAs. There are even marijuana-infused sodas and lattes with cannabis (think of the latte art possibilities!).

Source: Wikimedia

Edibles’ growing appeal is, obviously, a direct result of marijuana’s march towards legalization. So far, nine states plus Washington D.C. have legalized recreational weed for those 21+. This means more open access to cannabis, so producers can not only openly source marijuana, but also select the exact strain they want. As marijuana’s legalization spreads, the stigma that surrounds it is starting to decrease. It’s no longer a drug of hippies or high school dropouts; in fact, millennials increasingly view marijuana as a safer form of relaxation than alcohol.

Of course, there are still some very real obstacles standing in the way of the marijuana industry. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has openly said that he wants to exert federal law that criminalizes marijuana, superseding individual state laws which have legalized the drug. If he goes forward with this, it would have a huge impact on the marijuana — and, hence, the edibles — market. There are different opinions on whether or not this news has affected investments in cannabis/cannabinoids: some sources say investors aren’t spooked, others disagree. We’ll have to wait and see if lawmakers will go the way of former Republican House Speaker John Boehner, whose thinking on marijuana has “evolved.”

While these challenges might make things difficult or unsteady for the marijuana industry going forward, within the industry the edibles market is still booming. The Specialty Food Association named cannabis edibles as one of the top 10 food trends of 2018. In Colorado, BDS Analytics reported that edible sales jumped 67% between February 2016 and February 2017.

Venture Capitalists and Big Food are noticing the growth in this sector and starting to invest in cannabis tech and edibles. Just last week Palo Alto-based marijuana edibles company Plus Products closed a roughly $6 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Serruya Private Equity and Navy Capital, only the latter of which identifies itself as a specific cannabis investment fund.

The edibles market may be in a precarious situation until marijuana is legalized on a federal level, but for now its popularity is riding high.

Food Tech News Roundup: GM Hops, Food Delivery Mergers & Meat MRI’s

Happy weekend. This was a big week for food tech news, with funding updates from Instacart and Impossible Foods, and big partnership announcements from Innit/Chef’d and Kenwood/Drop. But there were also a bunch of smaller stories that caught our eye, even if we didn’t have time to write a post about them. So we rounded them up in one place for you! Put an egg on something and eat it while skimming through our roundup of this week’s food tech news stories.

Report: Postmates and DoorDash mull over merger 

Sources told Recode that Postmates and DoorDash, two food delivery giants, have discussed a possible merger at least once over the past year. This move would be a bid to gain advantage over competitors like GrubHub and UberEats in the hotly-contested food delivery war.

These murmurings come only a month after DoorDash secured $535 million in funding, which they said they would use to expand operations (and maybe invest in robots?). As of now there’s no deal, but this wouldn’t be such a bad idea. The food delivery sector is just too crowded — if these competitors could pull off a merger and optimize their service, I say go for it.

Photo: Pixabay

Unilever wants to turn plastic waste into food safe packaging

Unilever announced this week that it’s starting a new initiative to recycle polyethylene terephthalate resin, which is commonly used in clothing, food and drink packaging, and engineering projects. They want to turn any of their products made with PET resin, including ones that are colored, into transparent, food safe packaging. The consumer goods giant is partnering with recycling tech startup Ioniqa and Indorama Ventures, the world’s largest producer of PET resin, on the project.

It’s an interesting time in the world of food packaging. Various groups, including NASA and the military, are trying to make it lighter, safer, and more resilient. This initiative from Unilever might make it more environmentally friendly, as well. But it’s got a long way to go; currently, 91% of plastic waste isn’t recycled. With a massive company like Unilever behind it, this project might be able to reduce that statistic significantly. 

Credit-TECAL-GIM-UEx.jpg

MRIs can qualify meat taste without touching them

Researchers at the University of Extremadura in Spain have found a way to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the same technology used in hospitals to look inside our bodies, to measure the taste properties of whole loins and hams — without touching them.

The technology uses non-invasive magnets and radio waves to take images of the meat, which is then run through a computer vision algorithm. Scientists can use the images and readings they see to make predictions on the quality of the meat, including its fat content, color, and salt content, without having to damage a pricey Iberico ham.

This research indicates another approach to food safety monitoring and quality control, which is a fast-growing market full of startups like Mimica and FoodLogiQ.

 

Would brewers replace hops with GMO yeast?

Hold on to your IPAs: A team of chemists and geneticists in California have developed a genetically modified yeast that can mimic the flavor and aroma of hops. To make it, they spliced DNA from mint and basil plants into the genes of brewing yeast, which gave the yeast a grapefruit-like flavor typical of the Cascade hop.

By swapping out hops for GM yeast, brewers could have greater control over their product, reduce the costs of beer-brewing, and reduce environmental impact. As might be expected, craft brewers aren’t eager to replace hops with GM yeast — they feel it takes some of the art out of brewing. But we’re seeing more and more intersections of beer and tech, from IoT-powered beer tracking systems to beer publishing systems for at-home brewers.

 

Photo: AgVend

AgVend raises $1.75M in seed funding

Last week ag-commerce startup AgVend raised $1.75 million in seed funding. The round was led by Drew Oetting at 8VC, with participation from Green Bay Ventures, Seahawk Capital, The House Fund, and others.

Agvend is a digital commerce platform which lets farmers compare prices and purchase ag services and inputs. With AgVend, farmers can order a specific fertilizer and have it delivered (via AgVend’s partners) the same day or take advantage of flash sales promotions, without ever leaving their farm. The startup launched at the beginning of 2018 and now covers states across the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, with plans to expand later this year.

This year has been a big one for agtech startups. In the last few months indoor farming company Agrilyst and peer-to-peer farming network WeFarm also closed fundraising rounds. Agtech is definitely a growing market, and one to keep an eye on.

Food Tech News Roundup: DIY Food Printers, Salad Analytics, Ramen Robots

It’s time for your weekly dose of food tech news! This is when we take a look at some of the stories from the week which intrigued us and put them all in one convenient place.

This week we’ve got stories about lab-grown meat, DIY 3D bioprinter building, and sushi-serving robots. Get yourself a big mug of coffee and settle in for a read.

Lab-grown meat company Wild Type gets a funding boost

Cultured meat company Wild Type raised $3.5 million this week in a seed round led by firm Spark Capital with participation by Root Ventures, Mission Bay Capital, and other investors.

Wild Type is yet another player in the growing field of clean meat, along with startups like Memphis Meats, Mosa Meats, and Supermeat. Startup Finless Foods is also using cellular agriculture to culture fish in a lab, though they’re focused on bluefin tuna while Wild Type is working on salmon.

Wild Type hopes to use its new capital to speed up the development of its cultured salmon, increasing manufacturing capabilities while lowering costs. Their first product will be minced salmon meat intended for use in sushi, but they hope to eventually develop an animal-free lox and salmon filets.

 

 

Image: Adam Feinberg, HardwareX

Carnegie Mellon bioprinter could democratize 3D printing

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) recently developed a low-cost 3D bioprinter and are publishing the designs as open source so that anyone can build their own.

The researchers were able to cut costs by applying a syringe-based large volume extruder onto a standard desktop 3D printer (you have one at home, right?), essentially DIY-ing a 3D bioprinter. Bioprinters typically start at $10K to $20K and can cost up to $200K, but this MacGuyvered one can be built for under $500. It’s also easier to modify than a traditional 3D bioprinter.

Though the CMU team’s original research centers around organ tissue printing for transplants, their instructional abstract notes that these homemade bioprinters can perform “a wide range of 3D printing applications, including bioprinting, embedded printing, and food printing.” As we’ve covered on The Spoon before, 3D food printing is a massively underexplored area of food tech. Maybe these (relatively) affordable bioprinters will change that and make 3D food printing more accessible.

 

Image: Yoshikazu Tsuno, AFP via Mashable

Ramen-serving robots invade Seattle

Plenty USA will launch the new version of their AI-powered, Japan-made robot, dubbed ‘SOTA,’ in Seattle next month. The robot will premiere at JUNKICHI, a robota izakaya restaurant scheduled to open on April 15th in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

SOTA sits atop restaurant tables and uses AI to recognize diners’ faces. It is meant to facilitate communication between customers and servers, though it seems like having a table-bound robot as the middleman would make communication more confusing, if anything. Users can also use the SOTA app to make the robot speak, having guided conversations while they snack on hot pots and grilled meats.

This will be the North American launch for SOTA, but the robot is already a regular fixture at an izakaya restaurant in Japan. (They’e begun their integration into restaurants in America, as well.) According to Market Insider, the restaurant reported a 10% jump in sales since it started using SOTA, and the robot is a popular attraction for dinners. We’ll have to wait and see if it has the same success in an American market.

P.S. Keep an eye out for The Spoon team to make a field trip and interact with these robots ourselves! And eat some sushi, of course.

 

Beer gets high

For those who hate to choose between their vices, there’s a new product for you. Keith Villa, the inventor of Blue Moon beer has partnered with Ebbu, a company that works with marijuana compounds, to launch a THC-infused, non-alcoholic beer in Colorado this fall. The brew is designed to have the marijuana hit the drinker at the same rate as if they were consuming a beer.

The team plans to develop a wheat beer, a light beer, and a stout. The product will launch in Colorado, but producers want to eventually sell it in all states where marijuana is legal.

Other brewers, such as Lagunitas, have infused beer with CBD, a cannabanoid which does not produce any hallucinatory effects. However, this Colorado-based brew will be the first to incorporate THC, which is what gives marijuana users the trademark “high.” Its success (or lack thereof) will speak to how flexible Americans are willing to get with their cannabis consumption.

 

SweetGreen harnesses analytics to inform its new menu

Earlier this week, fast-casual salad chain SweetGreen made a major menu chance. At first glance, it seemed that all they had done was tweak their offerings — but it’s the why, not the what, that’s so interesting.

SweetGreen’s menu changes were apparently a direct result of tech-driven insights. The company recently told Bloomberg that they now use blockchain to track their produce, and also to inform their app (which they launched in 2013). Through the app they collect customer analytics to determine which salads to keep, which to introduce, and which to take off their menu, all of which led to their new menu — the first major menu change in 10 years.

This change is an indicator of how fast casual joints, like Eatsa, are integrating tech into their service models to distinguish themselves from the competition. They’re also harnessing platforms like Toast and Ingest.ai to help run restaurant operations for efficiently and increase revenue. Which all goes to say that this restaurant market is one that will likely see a lot of growth and change — in salad toppings and beyond.

 

The Stone Notebook for Chefs is Water Proof and Grease Proof

For my money, paper is still the best way to take notes. But if you’re a chef concocting your next big creation, the kitchen is a dangerous place for paper. Water splashes or grease smudges can turn notes into illegible junk.

Bookblock is set to change all that with the new Stone notebook, the pages of which, the company says, are resistant to both water and grease. So chefs can jot down notes about recipes or whatever without fearing that an errant spill or splash will ruin all their work.

What wizardry can achieve all of this? Surprisingly, it’s a very low-tech solution; one that’s also in the name of the product. The pages of the Stone are made from — stone. According to the press release:

“Offcuts taken from limestone quarries, that would otherwise go to waste, are churned up to a fine powder and turned into paper. The result is a material that’s completely immune to water and grease. Butter, wine, and oil can simply be wiped off with no stain left on the pages or smudging of the ink, making it a paper born to survive the kitchen.”

The Stone also features handy conversion charts, perforated pages, a pen holder, and magnets to keep the book in place on steel kitchen surfaces.

While we haven’t gotten our hands on one, it supposedly works just like a regular notebook. Chefs can still use their Sharpie or other favorite pens with abandon and without fear of losing any information.

Bookblock says that Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing and Pierre Koffmann are already using the notebook. Everyday kitchen cooks will be able to purchase the Stone through Kickstarter starting on March 26th. where early bird backers can pick one up for £14 ($19.75) for the first two days, and after that it will be £18 ($25.39). If the Stone lives up to its promise, they’ll get my money.

Bone Broth’s $103M Funding Shows Food Supplements Are A Hot Industry

How would you like to have your bone broth and drink it too?

Ancient Nutrition, a company best known for its bone broth-based protein supplement powder, just snagged a $103 million investment. The funding round was led by private equity firm VMG partners along with Hillhouse Capital and Iconiq Capital. It also included participation from over 100 current and former players in craft food companies such as Noosa Yogurt, The Honest Company, and Stone Brewing.

Ancient Nutrition’s new boost in funding shows that the market for supplements—especially ones that are “natural”—is still booming. The company’s main product is powdered bone broth, a trending meal supplement (which is essentially broth) sipped by health fiends and hipsters alike. Bone broth has particular appeal to people on the ketogenic diet, who believe that we should be eating more like our ancestors: high fat, lots of protein, and minimal carbs. The rising popularity of this and other low-carb diets, such as the paleo diet, have led to a higher demand for protein supplements.

Ancient Nutrition also offers bone broth-derived supplements such as protein powder, which comes in flavors like “French Vanilla” and “Greens.” These can be used in your post-workout smoothies or as a meal replacement, which is another category that has been on the rise lately thanks to veteran Soylent and startups like Bear Squeeze and Ample.

Ancient Nutrition has a serious health food pedigree. Co-founder Jordan Rubin started Canadian dietary supplement and probiotic company Atrium Innovations, which was acquired by Nestlé last year for $2.3 billion. He then took his natural products know-how to start Ancient Nutrition in 2016 alongside Josh Axe, the man behind the popular health & fitness website Dr.Axe.

This funding indicates a strong consumer market for health supplements, especially ones derived from natural products instead of chemicals. Throw the words “superfood” and “whole food” in there, and Ancient Nutrition is capitalizing on three consumer trends: natural, unprocessed foods, miracle health ingredients, and low-carb, high-protein diets. Plus they’ve got convenience going for them; by turning bone broth from a beverage that takes hours to cook into an instant, portable supplement, they’ve made it uber accessible.

Ancient Nutrition plans to use their funds to develop new healthy lifestyle products like fungi, probiotics, and essential oils, presumably all of which will come in French Vanilla.

We Tried The Impossible Burger, And It Was…

On a rainy day in Seattle, Mike Wolf and I set off on a mission. We were going to sample the much-hyped Impossible burger. As a vegetarian who hasn’t tried a beef burger in 4 years or so, I was pretty psyched to sink my teeth into one of these look-alikes. But would it be everything I dreamed of?


Look at all of that excitement!

First off, a little background about Impossible Foods: the Silicon Valley-based millennial darling trying to make meat alternatives that are as good as the real thing. Their plant-based burgers are sweeping the country by storm, garnering a mega Instagram following and pretty favorable reviews. While the patties were originally available at only a few trendy restaurants, they’re now on menus in a lot of major cities.

Impossible patties contain wheat protein, coconut oil, potato protein and their ace in the hole: heme. An iron-containing compound found in blood, heme is what gives red meat that rich, umami taste. Impossible Foods’ scientists have found a way to extract heme from plants, which they hope will give their burgers a magic meatiness missing in so many veggie burgers.

Unlike plant-based burger competitor Beyond Meat, which is sold in grocery stores across the country and online, Impossible burgers are only available in restaurants. They premiered on the menu at celebrity chef’s restaurant Momofuku Nishi in 2016 and have since expanded to restaurants around the country. This business model might change, though, as their website hinted that they do have retail plans in the pipeline.

An Impossible burger, ready to go on the flat top.

So did it live up to expectations? Mostly. The Impossible burger is definitely good: it’s savory, has a good texture, and even has that umami flavor that comes from red meat. I suppose that’s thanks to the heme, which is also what makes the Impossible burger “bleed” when cooked rare.


Don’t worry, we washed our hands first.

Sadly, ours was very well-done, so we couldn’t test the bleed. But that’s alright. The burger was still juicy, despite a seared, caramelized exterior. I was surprised by how much it reminded me of burgers of yore, and I even tasted a distinct animal-like funkiness (thanks, heme!). It wasn’t quite as chubby and rosy-tinted as the photos on their website, but it still beat my expectations. I didn’t even add ketchup, and I always add ketchup.

I also appreciated how fatty it was, chiefly thanks to coconut oil. Impossible isn’t trying to make a health-food burger—just one that tastes as good as meat. In fact, their patty has comparable levels of protein, iron and fat to an 80/20 beef burger, though it doesn’t contain cholesterol. This makes sense if they’re targeting a wide, flexitarian audience, instead of a health-conscious vegan one.

Of course, there’s the possibility that my perspective was skewed since I haven’t had beef in a few years. So Mike Wolf took a bite of each to compare and contrast.


The true taste test. 

We got cheese on our burgers and, according to Mike, there wasn’t a huge difference between the two patties. In fact, if you topped your burger with bold flavors like blue cheese, special sauce, and pickles, you might not even notice that you weren’t chomping into a quarter pound of cow flesh.

The Impossible burger also had a delicious taste of self-righteousness. We all know that meat isn’t exactly great for the environment and that we should probably be reducing our beef consumption. Impossible’s website claims that by replacing one meat burger with one of their wheat protein-based patties, you’ll spare 75 square feet of land for wildlife, save water equivalent to a 10-minute shower, and spare 18 driving-miles worth of greenhouse gases.

Now for the downsides: Most notably, the Impossible burger is expensive. It cost an extra $4 to replace a beef patty with an Impossible one, at least at the restaurant we went to. That put the beef burger at $5.99 plus tax, and the Impossible burger at $9.99. Customize it with cheese and a topping or two, and things start to add up. It’s not a huge difference, but if they’re aiming to nab flexitarians price could be a big deciding factor.

In the end, I really enjoyed my Impossible burger experience. In fact, if someone suggests a burger night, I would go out of my way to find a spot that serves their patties (they have a map for that). Now if they could get started on making plant-based pulled pork, it would be much appreciated.