Offally Delicious

Pig ears, smoked tripe, chicken neck, and braised gizzards. As I scanned the items in the deli fridge at the Chinese supermarket on Walker St., it became obvious very quickly that I wouldn’t be finding roasted turkey much less any American cheese. To my delight the fridge was chock-full of all the bits, pieces, odds, and ends that never make it into deli counters at American supermarkets. Even duck tongues made an appearance.

In recent years, with chefs like Chris Cosentino popularizing all things offal, eating a plate of spicy honeycomb tripe at David Chang’s Momofuku has become a sorta right-of-passage in the ‘cool’ kids club in the foodie world. Now that offal has become a mainstay at fine-dining establishments everywhere, when do you think we’ll start seeing it at our local grocery stores?

Vertical Farming Gets...Stung?

It's been terribly hard to keep this a secret, but now it's finally out: Sting has acquired the movie rights to the Vertical Farm Book!  Check out Deadline, where the news broke first.

Basically, wherever the first vertical farm gets built, Sting has first dibs at making a documentary about it.  Who knows, with Newark chomping at the bit, he might not have to wait long.  

Also check out the Rainforest Fund, which he and wife Trudie founded.

BP Spill and VF

I hope we’re all still outraged over the BP oil spill.  I hope that those people out there who call this the Age of Indifference are wrong.  I hope this catastrophe doesn’t get forgotten in all the miscellaneous hoop-la. 

If you watched President Obama’s speech last week, you were probably left a little bewildered.  What exactly is the plan?  This oil accident is profoundly devastating to local economies which rely on a non-oil-laden ocean; hopefully, BP will recoup them for current and projected future losses.  But this oil spill affects us all.

I have to admit, part of me is concerned that this is a spill from which the world will never recover.  I thought how ironic it would be if this were the end of man; no atomic bomb, no massive sea level rise (by the way, what’s the deal with Al Gore?), no meteor; just an accident from capitalism as usual.  But then I looked at a world map: Earth is BIG.  It will recover; however, whether we’re fit to stick around is another matter. 

What's in a Twinkie?

The people over at GOOD have tipped me off to a fantastic photo project done by Dwight Eschliman: "37 Or So Ingredients," a visual tour of what it takes to make a Twinkie.  I can't claim immunity to the sweet, sweet spongy deliciousness of Twinkies, or to most of the other Hostess deserts.  But these pictures will at least make me think twice.

Also, it's worth noting how insane it is that there's a company bringing in over two and a half billion dollars in revenue in a given year, who markets and sells products which do nothing but increase the waistline and the blood pressure of the country.  I really don't think I'm going out on much of a limb with this one: The world would be a better place if Twinkies didn't exist.

Thoughts? 

CNN Highlights Hydroponics

Watch the whole video to see our friends at the Science Barge and Lee Mandell of Boswyck Farms.

I think it's time hydroponics has a serious PR makeover. Anyone want to help me?

It's Happening in Newark

This is very big news.

Last Monday, a group of government officials and businessmen gathered to hear a proposal for bringing vertical farming to the Garden State.  In attendance were Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Stefan Pryor and City Councilman Donald Payne, Jr, along with leaders from the Greater Newark Conservancy and Brick City Development Corporation, among other groups.  Dan Albert and Peter Greaves of Weber Thompson presented their site-specific project, which was inspired by their original Eco-Laboratory drawings, and the room sparkled at each change of the slide, as, one by one, the guests all fell for vertical farming.

After the presentation, Councilman Payne proclaimed, "This is something that should happen here," to which Deputy Mayor Pryor answered, "Absolutely.  I agree." 

Here It Is, the Book

First of all, everyone should pre-order their copy of Dr. Despommier's upcoming book. October 12th is the release date listed on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, so I assume you'd get your copies right around the middle of that month. I bet that everyone has a special niece or uncle or sister or grandpa who would love this book, so maybe pre-ordering a couple copies is a good move.

Can't wait to hear what people have to say once it drops.

All Apologies

Hello, loyal readers. The recent slack in blog posts will cease now. I can imagine that it's been difficult without someone keeping you up to date on all the goings-on around vertical farming, but I'm back, so here we go. Stringent chronology may be sacrificed as I recap the past month.