food – Page 16 – Designverb!

Category: food

Fizzy Fruit: Fruits with a pop!

January 18, 2007

In the past few years, there have been tons of companies trying to find the next big snack for kids that are actually healthy. Well, for my taste, “Fizzy Fruit” just might be this next big thing!!!

“Fizzy Fruit â€” whole grapes or slices of apples or pineapples carbonated in a secret process with the same carbon dioxide that’s in soft drinks but without added sugar.”

Yup, it’s giving healthy fruits that pop much like in PopRocks, a fresh sparkling apple cider, or a nice bubbly Bellini. Personally I get that snap in a nice crisp cold grape, but this only guarantees that pop in a fizz format now.

I have not actually tried FizzyFruit yet, but I first heard about carbonated fruit at PopTech! when Chef Homaru Cantus of Moto Restaurant in Chicago showed us how he used carbonated oranges to squeeze fresh orange soda for customers right in front of them.

Another great find by the BookofJoe along with a “how to” for making this carbonated fruit yourself ;). Pretty simple.

steps:
1. Place dry ice in cooler.
2. Place fruit of your choice in cool, but NOT touching the dry ice.
3. Close the cooler and let it sit overnight.
4. Enjoy your carbonated fruit!

USAtoday article.(article after the jump)

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POM Teas

December 28, 2006

I just treated myself to a refreshing glass of POM Juice Tea (Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea to be exact). Besides the zesty taste I’d like to point out the simple and sustainable container, which is shaped like a glass cup! Yup, it’s that simple. You pop off the top, and enjoy it like a fresh glass of juice. Better yet is that you can add it to your shelf for reuse. It’s a good thickness glass which I like more than most of the glass cups I have anyways. If your more of a herbs person, the cap pops back on airtight. Extra points for POM, their wonderful juices, and now their sweet sustainable glass containers!

Robin Hood Restaurants

December 27, 2006

What a kick-butt idea!!!

“These pay-as-you-can cafes have missions that are unapologetically altruisticâ€”call it serving up fare Robin Hood style. “Our philosophy is that everyone, regardless of economic status, deserves the chance to eat healthy, organic food while being treated with dignity,” explains Brad Birky, who opened SAME with his wife, Libby, in October. Customers who have no money are encouraged to exchange an hour of service â€” sweep, wash the dishes, weed the organic garden â€” for a meal. Likewise, guests who have money are encouraged to leave a little extra to offset the meals of those who have less to give. “We’re a hand up, not a hand out,” says One World owner Denise Cerreta, who prides herself on the fact that everyone can afford a meal at her cafÃ©.

The cafÃ©s’ business models have won fans among the city’s well-to-do residents, many of whom regularly dine there. At One World, patrons have given Cerreta a car, bought new dishes, arranged to professionally clean her carpets, supplied new tile for the restaurant bathrooms, and donated property for an organic garden and funded a new irrigation system for it. Last week, a gentleman left a $50 bill next to an empty bowl of soup at SAME. Since opening, one man has regularly come in and left money on the counter without eating, stating “I was blessed today so I though I’d pass it on.” He’s homeless.” via TIME.

I’ve always been a fan of exchanging ones time for another rather than diving into money talks. This probably occurred when I had to pay a lawyer recently, but I did continue this trend when my friend needed a design for his CD album. I knew he had little money, so I said I’d do it for free in exchange for his time down the road. I spent 15-20 hours designing the cover for him, and in exchange he said he’d give me a free concert (you know who ya are 😉 ). Buh yeah to to community driven ideas!(much like my thoughts on search engines)

SAME (SoAllMayEat.org) was inspired by another cafe, OneWorldEverybodyEats.com, for this great initiative.

Sugar Dragons

December 21, 2006

Neatorama links us to a great video of a street vendor in China creating sugar animal lollipops by hand. I’ve seen this many times in in person, but it still fascinates me to see it over an over again. This reminds me that if you can spark someones attention through the creation of your art it’ll make the buying and product experience more thrilling than just buying an end product like most objects are sold today.

TerraCycle Inc.

December 8, 2006

Wow! What an amazing story, idea, and kick-butt revolutionary company. Terracycle delivers the most eco-friendly consumer product in big box retail shelves made entirely by garbage, yet with a higher quality than most competitors and at a lower price! So, how they they do it? They use garbage!!! Founder Tom Szaky(23 yrs old when he founded TerraCycle and a freshmen Princeton dropout), explains, they get paid to take garbage away and they get paid to sell their new products. Their main product is a liquid worm poop fertilizer which is created by feeding red worms organic waste in return for their castings which get mixed with water to create a rich organic fertilizer that’s proven to be better than MiricleGro or various other competitors which are chemically driven rather than organic.(or as they claim, “The proof is in the poop!”)

Now with a great product came the task of packaging it. When they first started up, they had no money to purchase fresh bottles, hence another innovation…they ran around town collecting used soda bottles, cleaned them, added labels, and used that! They saved tons of money this way and also did something new in the product world; every single bottle was different, be it an old Pepsi bottle, Coke, Water, Sprite, etc. Their spray tops are even extras that have been dumped by manufacturers of other spray-on products and even the boxes that the plant-food is shipped in are misprinted rejects from major companies. Yup, it’s garbage made into huge profits at its best!

TerraCycle is a definite company to watch out for in our sustainably driven world. I’ve seen many companies re-use recycled goods, but I’ve never seen one come out with a product that can be used again, cost less, and is better than competiing products. They also have a pretty cool name tag concept to get kids pumped about recycling. Watch that video here.

For a deep read into TerraCycles company dig into their websites video and stories, this detailed article at Inc.com, or for a quick view, watch the YouTube video above.

More pics after the jump.

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Derren Brown: Mind Control

November 28, 2006

derren brown

Does your environment persuade the way that you think, act, and create? Absolutely yes! Watch this video of mind control magician Derren Brown manipulate some advertising creatives in a little test. Believe the video or not, I’m a huge believer that everything affects who you are; what you eat, read, watch, listen to, and especially the people and environments that surround you. After watching the video, watch the other great videos, books, and observations then question how everything around you influences and creates who you are.

I’m constantly coming up with definitions for a designer, but I never thought I’d say a magician, but I’m adding this to the list since magicians are masters of human observations and directions. As a designer, we have to understand how people perceive products, graphics, materials, instructions, sounds, time, spaces, etc. We create stories to consumers, viewers, and observers. As designers we are psychologists of human behaviors, marketers, advertisers, creators of direction and communications, and a bit of everything else.

Dig deep into Derrens websites here and here and get inspired, educated, and entertained about the human mind and more about ourselves.

Pittsburgh

October 31, 2006

I made a quick visit to Pittsburgh recently and found it to be a little hidden jewel bound for a boom in growth, a nice variety of food (though maybe not in the sushi department), tons of sports fans(tons!), big hills, many bars, a few great museums, and an eclectic crowd of students though they seemed to stay on the campus side of the city. The cost of living is low, and many developments seemed to be popping up. I originally thought the industrial town would be smoggy, but not much smog was to be seen. The locals were friendly, though I have this weird feeling if you did not watch football (Steelers) they would give you a grin.

The town is filled with fleets of commercial businesses in the health care, financial, and retail departments, and a spoof of tech companies crawling in. My journey was short, but a nice glimpse of a town I’d never known about besides the many movies that take place there. One local I spoke to said there were 3 things to do in Pittsburgh: Eat, Drink, and watch Sports. I have my own thoughts but I’ll just post up a few pics after the jump…

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Pop!Tech2006: extras

October 26, 2006

Pop!Tech 2006 was an amazing brain safari filled with big ideas, great conversations, and a gathering of curious open minded people from all disciplines and places. I’d usually post tons of pics and detailed descriptions, but other guru bloggers have done this timing favor, a very detailed textual blog by Ethan Zukerman, or a more visual dose by core77. Hopefully they’ll post all of the webcast lecture online much like TEDtalks soon. Pictured above is Rodrigo and Gabriela rockin out the house!!!

Read those blogs for the full details, and hit up Flickr for some images, otherwise, I’m going to post my experience outside of all the great lectures after the jump with a bunch of pics:
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PopTech2006: Dangerous Ideas

October 18, 2006

I’m zippin off to the PopTech Conference in Camden Maine for an amazing idea gathering. I’ve heard it’s very comparable to GEL or TED and based on the line-up of speakers, I can see why. If you think your missing out…not at all because all the freakin speakers will be webcast LIVE here!!!

Here’s a partial list of speakers that I’m familiar with though the unknowns are the ones that usually captivate me:

– Chris Anderson: Long Tail, Editor and Chief of Wired Magazine.
– Stewart Brand: Long Now Foundation and Global Business Network.
– Blaine Brownell: Architect, sustainable building advisor, and materials researcher.
– Homaro Cantu: Chef, Scientist, Artist.
– Richard Dawkins: The world’s most influential thinker on evolutionary biology
– Brian Eno: musical legend, innovator, visual artist, and pop icon.
– Juan Enriquez: Futurist, author of As the Future Catches You
and The Untied States of America.
– Ze Frank: This dudes amazzzingly funny.
– Kevin Kelly: Technology Visionary. Has a great blog as well.
– Bruce Streling: Futurist, science fiction author, jounalist and critic.
– Craig Venter: Dedicated to human genomic research.
– Will Wright: Creative force behind the groundbreaking Sims franchises and Spore!!.

To make up for the week, some goodies:
– spider on a bill.
– Real money is magnetic!
– Interesting discussion about Emotional Design and Cultures.
– Jumpcut– online video editor(Yahoo bought recently)
– Chris Angel: levitation trick revealed!

Sushi Pillows!

October 17, 2006

Sushi Pillows!!! Yuuuuummm!!!(I’m drooling) As much as I LOVE sushi, I’d go crazy if I had a few of these in my room and probably munch on them in my sleep, otherwise, I love the details in these oh so oishii pillows. I wished they had sashimi pillows and soy sauce blankets with green wasabi sheets to bunch up into balls! Maybe textured dark green sheets to roll yourself into a sleeping seaweed body roll! Look out for sushi costumes for the upcoming halloween! more pics after the jump…

via byCindyandMel

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