Cooking
Survey Reveals What Global Home Cooks Are Buying Under Quarantine
Researchers from the University of Antwerp surveyed 11,000 shoppers in 11 countries to find out how the pandemic has reshaped their cooking and eating habits. Customers in almost half of the countries surveyed reported buying fewer salty and sweet snacks, despite the fact that stress can increase cravings for these foods. The surveyed revealed that many home cooks are satisfying their cravings by baking more at home. Mostly women responded, stating that they have tried several new recipes and have been making more creative use of leftovers. Some reported that once they regain confidence in the food supply at their local supermarkets, they may go back to their old cooking and eating habits.
Consumption of meat, fish and alcohol remained largely unchanged during the pandemic, according to the survey. However, every country reported a higher consumption of fresh, canned and/or frozen fruit and vegetables, likely spurred on by health concerns related to the coronavirus. Countries surveyed included Australia, Belgium, Chile, Uganda, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Greece, Canada, Brazil and Ireland. The ongoing survey is currently expanding its reach to 25 countries, and new research results will be released at the end of June.
Want More Eggs? A Primer On Raising Backyard Chickens
If your local grocery store is rationing eggs or you just want to save some money, raising chickens could be a good move. Food writer Tamar Haspel has been raising backyard chickens for 10 years and shares some tips. First, consider the climate where you live. Chicken breeds that do well in cold weather usually don’t like the heat, and vice versa. Next, plan out a chicken coop. If your area gets cold in winter, consider putting it near a source of electricity so you can run a water heater. Above all, the coop should keep your chickens safe. Baby chicks grow quickly in six months, then begin competing for food, so the coop should give them ample space to keep squabbles to a minimum. Varmint-proof walls are also a necessity (1-inch chicken wire works), but don’t forget to the floor: sturdy wire mesh will prevent predators from digging into the coop from below.
The coop should also be convenient for you, so eggs can be collected and the feeder refilled quickly. Chicken poop breaks down easily, and if you use plenty of litter, you’ll only need to shovel out the coop about once a year.
Chickens typically lay eggs for about two years, but they can live for ten years. Keep in mind that at some point, your chickens may become dinner. But they are worthwhile for the eggs alone. A laying hen can lay a dozen eggs in about two weeks, and during that time hens will eat about three pounds or 80 cents’ worth of feed. So a dozen eggs is worth at least twice the cost of the feed. In places like Brooklyn, where egg prices are even higher, the eggs can be worth even more.
Documentary Reveals Salty Side of Mexican Food Icon Diana Kennedy
Diana Kennedy, widely regarded as one of the greatest living documenters of Mexican cuisine, now has her own documentary. The food icon is nearing a century of life at 97 years old, and has only now shown signs of slowing down. The documentary may be the last glimpse of Diana Kennedy in her true element, driving her stick-shift around Mexico and tending to her gardens. “I have planned only five [more] years, and nobody can say no,” Kennedy says in the film. “There’s a time, it’s like the caducidad, the date on your ingredients you buy, OK? They last so long.” The cookbook author has shaped the way Americans think about Mexican cooking throughout her entire life.
Like Restaurants, Some Food Retailers Now Require Reservations
With retail outlets reopening this summer, reservation platforms are offering new services to ease overcrowding and wait lines. The high-end restaurant reservation platform Tock will be enrolling several retailers in the coming weeks. Tock’s new tool lets customers reserve 15-minute increment slots for receiving or picking up retail products. This feature helped Tock enroll over 1,100 international restaurants since March, and Tock CEO Nick Kokonas said the platform currently handles about $2 million a day in sales for takeout and pickup orders. According to Kokonas, Tock has been contacted by “everyone from automobile dealerships to grocery stores to farms” to help with reopenings. One of its newest clients is a women’s apparel chain using the service for styling appointments.
OpenTable also unveiled their grocery tech solution, aiming to help businesses reduce wait lines and mitigate crowd control issues in stores. The company says the tool is available for grocery stores, major retailers and “restaurants turned pop-up markets.” At Resy, chief marketing officer Victoria Vaynberg says the company is rolling out front and backend tools such as its Automated Capacity Monitor, which allows restaurant managers to set an online limit on capacity in dining rooms to comply with local occupancy regulations. Another feature, the Open Date Alert, allows restaurants to notify subscribers of reopening dates for particular regions and restaurants. The Mobile Waitlist feature also lets guests join a live queue when in close proximity to a restaurant, which helps reduce crowding.
Hot Dogs Take Flight Under Quarantine
Hot dogs sales skyrocketed in March, according to data from data analytics firm IRI. Hot dog sales increased 123% in the week ending March 15, compared to the same week last year. Then sales increased 127% in the week ending March 22. As general consumer stockpiling slowed in April, sales fell slightly, but 2020 remains a banner year for hot dogs. Since early March at the start of the pandemic, sales have been at least 29% higher every week compared to the same weeks in 2019, according to IRI. Founder of 210 Analytics, Anne-Marie Roerink, explains that hot dogs offer several advantages to unemployed, cash-strapped consumers concerned with meat shortages: they are inexpensive, have a long shelf life, and make quick and easy meals, particularly for children no longer getting meals from school.
Plant-Based “Meat” Sales Are Soaring
U.S. consumers continue to develop a taste for plant-based proteins. During the four-week period from April 12 to May 9, sales of all plant-based meat substitutes were 35% higher than the four-week period ending January 18, according to consumer-analytics company Nielsen. The companies with the biggest increases are Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, manufacturers of a new generation of meat-like products made with plant proteins. Why are consumers buying more of these products? Nineteen-year-old William Thomas of Brookline, New Hampshire, says he’s eating plant-based foods because “I’d always been trying to block out a lot of what was going on behind the scenes of the meat industry, but I can’t ignore it forever.” Faizal Karmali, 45, of Brooklyn, turned to plant-based meat because “it uses much less water to grow a bunch of peas than it does to grow a cow,” and because he doesn’t want to stress the meat industry further.
The coronavirus has been hard on the U.S. meat industry, forcing dozens of slaughterhouses to close temporarily, but the plant-based food industry had already been growing prior to the pandemic. Consumers were seeking alternatives in both fast food restaurants and in grocery stores, and manufacturers of plant-based meat substitutes had already been ramping up production for increased sales this year. Impossible Foods products are now sold in more than 3,000 stores, up from fewer than 200 in January, and the company has increased its workforce to 653 full-time employees, up from 587 in January. Beyond Meat also reported net revenue of $97.1 million in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 141 percent over last year. Its products are now in 25,000 grocery stores nationwide, and the company recently expanded into China. “We were saying that by 2030, Beyond Meat could have a $1 billion in sales,” said Alexia Howard, senior analyst at food equity research firm Bernstein. “Now, we’re saying by the end of 2020.”
Restaurants
McDonald’s Distributes Reopening Requirements To Franchisees
Prior to reopening its restaurant, McDonald’s Corp. sent hundreds of its U.S. franchisees requirements for enforcing cleaning and social distancing rules. Changes to current procedures include mandates to clean digital kiosks after every order, clean bathrooms every half-hour, and either close public soda fountains or have a staff member monitor them. The company’s 59-page dine-in reopening guide also includes new equipment recommendations, such as a $310 automatic towel dispenser and a $718 touchless sink. The guide even mentions foot-pulls that let customers open bathroom doors without using their hands.
McDonald’s employees are required to wear masks and gloves, and according to the guide, face shields in any jurisdiction that requires them. According to hundreds of U.S. owners, the new expenses could create logistical problems, but McDonald’s management stated that it will wait for franchisees to be ready before reopening all 14,000 of its U.S. locations. Reopening will happen slowly in collaboration with local authorities, and so far only some U.S. locations have resumed dine-in service.
Peet’s Coffee Owner Planning $2.2 Billion IPO
JAB Holding, the investment firm behind Peet’s Coffee, Panera Bread, and Pret A Manger, is pursuing an initial public offering of its coffee business in an attempt to raise as much as $2.2 billion. According to Dealogic, it is the largest European IPO of 2020 and among the top three globally. JDE Peet’s owns Peet’s Coffee, Jacobs Coffee, Douwe Egberts, Senseo and Tassimo, all of which sell coffee at cafes and grocery stores. Around 80% of JDE Peet’s coffee is sold for at-home consumption, a market that investors are betting will be last for many months due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to research firm Nielsen, single-serve coffee sales at grocery stores increased 16% during the four weeks prior to May 2, while ground coffee sales increased 11%. To capitalize on the growing demand for at-home coffee, Pret A Manger recently launched a range of ground and whole-bean coffees to sell in stores and online.
Cafe chains, on the other hand, have taken a hit due to lockdowns. Starbucks Corp. announced that global same-store sales fell 10% in its second quarter. The company has begun reopening numerous U.S. stores exclusively for drive-through, delivery, and pickup sales. Peet’s has also started reopening stores for pick-up at the door.
Four Top Chefs Dish On The Future Of Restaurants
Four world-famous chefs, René Redzepi of Noma in Copenhagen, Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, Kwame Onwuachi of Kith/Kin in Washington D.C., and Jessica Koslow of Sqirl in Los Angeles, all sat down with Howie Kahn from the Wall Street Journal Magazine to discuss the future of restaurants in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
All agreed that widespread shutdowns have exposed deep-seated vulnerabilities in the independent restaurant business. The pandemic has also put the spotlight on restaurants as cornerstones of local food systems, economies, and communities. Barber imagined a future where those food systems evolved beyond the current farm-to-table relationship. Despite supplier challenges, Redzepi explained that his main focus is on re-connecting with the local community in whatever way is possible. Koslow asked, “how do we create community outside of our restaurant?” and Onwuachi speculated that takeout would eventually become a more accepted way of experiencing a restaurant at home, despite the challenges and limitations of a take-home box.
More Restaurants Enter The Grocery Business
Without a playbook, restaurants are taking several approaches to safe and profitable reopening. Most restaurants are considering thermal cameras and plexiglass as part of the plan, and many are stepping up their takeout game by selling groceries. New York restaurant Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria already has a built-in grocery store that’s becoming a model for other restaurants struggling to make it financially viable to reopen at reduced capacity. Fort Defiance bar and café in Red Hook, Brooklyn, recently remade itself into Fort Defiance General Store, and owner St. John Frizell has reduced the 42-seat dining room to just one or two tables inside as well as expanded outdoor seating.
Chef-owner Greg Baxtrom of Brooklyn’s Olmsted repurposed his private dining room into the Olmsted Trading Post, which now stocks around 120 grocery items. Many were served at Baxtrom’s restaurant and some are new products such as mushroom-growing kits. Café Cancale is another example in Chicago, where the dining room has become a new French market called Café Cancale Marche. The market features fresh seafood like shrimp and halibut as well as oyster-shucking kits and high-end pantry items rose vinegar and truffled Dijon mustard. Café Cancale Marche also sells martini kits from its neighboring bar, the Violet Hour.
New Bills Could Help Some Independent Restaurants
When it comes to the long-lasting financial effects of the coronavirus, independent restaurants are in a uniquely vulnerable position. Safety restrictions such as social distancing of six feet, limited-size gatherings, and wearing masks cut to heart of the dining business model as they restrict sales volume and compromise the enjoyment of eating out. Although Congress passed the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), it contains mandates that could hurt, rather than help, independent restaurants, which make up 70% of all U.S. restaurants and are defined as those that operate 20 or fewer locations under one name.
For relief, two restaurant lobby groups, the National Restaurant Association and the Independent Restaurant Coalition, have lobbied Congress for weeks. Their efforts have resulted in two new bills in the House, which could be voted on next week. One is the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which extends the period businesses can use their funds past the eight-week restriction the PPP demands and also eases restrictions on non-payroll use. The other bill, called Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed (the Restaurant Act), offers $120 million and targets small restaurants.
These bills offer a lifeline to owners of popular restaurants like Naomi Pomeroy, James Beard–Award winning chef at Beast in Portland, Oregon. The extra money and flexibility in using it, says Pomeroy, will allow her to re-invent her fine-dining bistro and allow her to weather the downturn until she “can start to really figure out a game plan that’s going to make sense and push us forward.”
Restaurant Industry Urges White House To Increase Financial Aid
Ten chefs and executives from chain restaurants like Burger King and upscale restaurants like Per Se met with President Trump and other cabinet members this week to seek increased economic aid for the nation’s 650,000 restaurants. The Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) promoted a stabilization fund for getting independent restaurants (those with less than 20 locations, accounting for about 70% of restaurants overall) back on their feet. Co-founder chef Tom Colicchio expects independent restaurants to earn only 20 to 30 percent of their usual income due to reopening restrictions and the public’s uncertainty about dining out again. “We’re opening up into a severely depressed market, and we need capital to kind of float the restaurants until business comes back,” Colicchio said.
According to the National Restaurant Association, the industry is expected to lose a staggering $240 billion in 2020. The group explained why the Paycheck Protection Program didn’t work for restaurants, yet after statistics were shared and strategies discussed, no firm commitments were made. “We’ve saved and we’ll continue to save the restaurant business,” said President Trump, “and ultimately we’ll be paid back many, many times.”
This Globetrotting Chef Thinks U.S. Restaurants Will Rebound
Chef Akira Back has high hopes for U.S. restaurants staying busy once reopened, even with social distancing practices in place. Back owns fine-dining restaurants all over the world, including spots in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Dubai, and he wants American chefs to know things will get better soon. The chef’s restaurants in Vietnam and South Korea recently reopened and are busier than ever with steady streams of customers eager to get back to dining out.
“Everybody asks me what I think about the industry,” Back said. “I honestly think it’s not going to be as bad as everyone is saying it will be. It’s bad for sure. A lot of restaurants will close. But I really think people are going to come out to restaurants,” he said. The chef’s industry friends in South Korea keep telling him that their restaurants are busy and customers are getting comfortable with social distancing in the dining room. “We’re human,” says Back. “We’re going to go out and eat.”
Architects Reconfigure Boston Dining Rooms, Release Design Plans
Acclaimed Boston restaurateurs Jody Adams, Jamie Bissonnette, and Ken Oringer participated in a case study with the MASS Design Group, an architecture firm that has previously designed socially distant dining rooms in Haiti and Liberia. MASS released a set of open source design plans that show restaurateurs how to reconfigure their dining rooms to comply with social distancing requirements. The diagrams depict the flow of staff, guests, food, and air, incorporating design ideas for key “exchange zones” such as delivery, storage, cooking, customer hand-off, and disposal. According to executive director, Michael Murphy, the goal of reconfiguration is to show how “restaurants can reclaim their role in the public realm.”
Uber In Talks to Buy GrubHub As Meal Delivery Soars
The top three U.S. restaurant food delivery services are DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats. Together, they dominate about 80 percent of the market, while Postmates, Caviar, and smaller third-party delivery companies make up the rest. While DoorDash is currently the market leader, #3 Uber has made an offer to buy #2 GrubHub, a merger that would dominate 55 percent of the market, leaving DoorDash with only about 35 percent of the market, according to research firm Wedbush Securities.
Shortly after the news of a possible merger broke, GrubHub stock soared 35 percent. Negotiations between the two companies may have been accelerated as a result of Uber’s ride-sharing business choking up due to decreased travel amid the coronavirus. Currently, UberEats is the company’s only service experiencing higher sales year-over-year with a 53 percent increase in the first quarter of 2020. Get the full story at The Wall Street Journal here (subscription required) or at CNN here.
Beverages
In Thailand, Strawberry Fanta Has Become The Preferred Spiritual Offering
Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country smaller than Texas, has become the fourth largest market for Fanta soft drinks–but not just because it tastes good. Many Thais buy Fanta to please the spirits. According to Bangkok bartender Vipop Jinapha, red strawberry flavored Fanta can help you convince the gods to grant your prayers.
Shrines and spirit houses dot the streets and countryside of the small Asian country, providing shelter for the animist spirits, whose traditional homes such as trees and fields are often destroyed by construction. Worshippers who want the spirits to answer their prayers leave bottles of strawberry Fanta as an offering at the shrines, straws at the ready. The red color is key, says Bangkok resident and nonprofit staffer Christina Krause. Many residents of Bangkok have family roots in China, where red is a lucky color, she explains. The color is also close to that of a more traditional sweet offering, nam ya thai thip, a mix of palm sugar and herbs. Red, sweet, and convenient, strawberry Fanta just happens to hit all the marks for worshippers. Plus, as Jinapha says, “It just tastes good.”
Climate Change Puts The Squeeze On French Wine
Merlot, one of the world’s most popular red wines, may be at risk of extinction. Warmer temperatures have been ripening the grapes faster, leaving them with additional sugars, which eventually affects the wine’s alcohol content, acidity level, and even its color. Scientists say Merlot will be the first traditional grape variety at risk due to climate change.
Bordeaux, France, is widely considered to be the world’s wine capital, accounting for 16% of all wines made worldwide, and about 60% of Bordeaux vineyards consist of Merlot grapes. France is also the largest international wine consumer, and the wine industry now rakes in 7.6 billion euros in exports while employing over half a million people and attracting 24 million visitors to France’s wine regions annually. To help preserve France’s vibrant wine culture far into the future, laboratories in Bordeaux are now experimenting with replacements for Merlot, new wines that can survive in a changing climate.
Since the 1980s, Bordeaux’s harvest has been occurring earlier and earlier, giving French wines higher levels of alcohol. Some French regions, like Champagne and Alsace in Northern France, have benefitted from these warmer temperatures. Winemakers in these regions report that, since 2017, droughts have actually helped reduce the amount of mildew on vines. However, as average temperatures are expected to soon rise by 2° to 4°C, other French winemakers are scrambling to adapt. To help, the Science Institute of Vine and Wine (ISVV) is researching grape varieties to see how they handle different temperatures and diseases. Likewise, the Laccave project has gathered experts from various French institutes and universities to measure how climate change is affecting vineyards across and to offer winemakers guidance on adapting to changing conditions.
Agriculture
USDA Announces $16 Billion In Direct Aid To Farmers
Farmers and ranchers can now start signing up for direct aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). The $16 billion in financial relief was approved by President Trump last Tuesday, along with $3 billion in commodity purchases that will go to food banks. The funds come from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities (Cares) Act passed by Congress in late March, and after hearing from ranchers, the USDA has increased its payment cap from $125,000 per individual to $250,000. Livestock producers who can apply for aid include those raising cattle, hogs, and sheep. Dairy farmers are also eligible as well as those growing corn, soybeans, cotton, barley, canola, sorghum, millet, sunflowers, oats, durum wheat, and hard red spring wheat. The USDA expects that payments may be issued to producers as soon as a week after signing up.
Attention Shoppers: Local Produce Now Available Online
As many small farmers pivot to e-commerce, more local produce is now offered for delivery in various regions of the country. In Chicago, for example, Green City Market has partnered with the app WhatsGood to deliver produce around Chicagoland. The Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op in Pennsylvania started its own home-delivery service for the Lancaster region, while Wildkale works with northeast regional farms in an online marketplace that delivers vegetables and fruits to areas of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and various New England states. Other farms and co-ops have gone national. New Jersey-based Misfits Market rescues organic produce that would otherwise be wasted and ships to 23 different states around the country. The Chef’s Garden in Ohio typically sells pristine produce to fine-dining restaurants such as The French Laundry in California and Restaurant Daniel in New York. But now Farmer Lee Jones sells his gorgeous vegetables and fruits direct to home cooks through his online store.
Regulations
Face Masks Now A Fixture In Restaurant Hospitality
When it comes to American dining, from fast food to fine dining, the face mask has become a standard part of the uniform. As federal, state, and local restrictions start to relax, dining rooms across the country are planning ways to maintain hospitality, and the mask has proven to be necessary to do so. Burger King executives are even reviewing mask designs to incorporate into the standard employee uniform.
The Inn at Little Washington, a Virginia restaurant with three Michelin stars, has ordered custom made masks in anticipation of a reopening. “People need to get out, obviously, and they don’t want to walk into an atmosphere that increases their anxiety,” said Patrick O’Connell, chef and proprietor of the restaurant.
Class Action Suit Against Traeger Grills Dismissed In Court
Months ago, Michael Yates and Norman Jones filed a class action suit against Traeger Pellet Grills, claiming the company’s barbecue wood pellets consist of cheap woods flavored with oils rather than the actual wood advertised on the bag. The proposed class action in Utah district court alleges that the company sells bags of apple, cherry, pecan, mesquite and hickory wood pellets, yet the pellets themselves contain less than 1/3 of the advertised wood, consisting primarily of oak and alder wood instead. According to Traeger, the company hasn’t changed its production process in 16 years, and its advertising claim simply states that the company uses “100% natural, food-grade hardwood” with small amounts of food-grade soybean oil as a lubricant.
Traeger representatives argued that the suit proved no actual damages under Utah law nor did it prove that the consumers took any loss by paying more than the product’s real market value. On May 1, U.S. District Court Judge Bruce Jenkins dismissed the suit entirely, concluding that it was premature to bring the case to court.
This favorable judgment joins others in the history of Traeger Pellet Grills, including a suit against the Traeger family of Mt. Angel, Oregon, who started and later sold the Traeger Pellet Grills company. Members of the Traeger family went on to make and promote other pellet grills with Dansons, LLC, manufacturer of Pit Boss and Louisiana pellet grills, and Traeger Pellet Grills settled with the Traeger family over improper use of intellectual property.
Undocumented Chefs Remain Ineligible For Financial Relief
Love it or hate it, the American restaurant industry relies on the labor of undocumented employees. A full 10% of the industry’s workforce, more than one million U.S. restaurant workers, are undocumented. As restaurants closed due to the coronavirus, most of these employees lost their jobs, and they do not qualify for federal financial relief funds.
California Governor Gavin Newsom decided to act. On April 15, Newsom approved $125 million in funds for undocumented immigrants living in the state who were affected by the pandemic. The emergency aid, partially funded by nonprofit organizations, is expected to provide one-time $500 cash grants for individual residents and $1,000 for families. Get the full story here at the Washington City Paper or here at the Los Angeles Times (subscription required).
School Lunch Programs Serve Families In Need, Despite USDA Restrictions
As a result of the coronavirus, more than 1 in 5 U.S. households became food insecure by the end of April (they did not have consistent access to affordable food to maintain health). In the same month, a record 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs. As part of the effort to help struggling families, California’s Education Department requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture make children’s parents eligible to pick up free school meals that would otherwise be provided during the school year. The USDA denied the request, claiming that they had no authority to reimburse school districts for meals given to adults.
Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, says that school nutrition programs were established by Congress to give students meals throughout the school year and, in select low-income districts, during the summer as well. The program stipulates that students must be at least 18 years of age, and must pay full price during the school year. According to Wilson, only Congress could make changes to the program. Congress did allow the USDA to increase funding for school meal programs but denied the reimbursement for meals picked up by adults.
In response, Jessica Bartholow, a policy advocate at the Western Center on Law and Poverty, says numerous school districts are already feeding student’s families. Crystal FitzSimons, director of school programs at the Food Research and Action Center, concurs, citing school districts in Massachusetts, Michigan and New York City that already give adults meals and cover costs. Both advocates claim that the school meal programs are vital and serve different families than those served by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In 2019, school nutrition programs served over 2.5 billion meals and snacks between March and June, accepting more than $5 billion in reimbursement from the USDA. With schools closed and students and staff sheltering at home, lunch programs now serve only a fraction of those meals. Yet schools are using fund balances and lines of credit to keep the programs going so that families in their districts remain fed. Read more here at The Washington Post.
Health
Sugary Drinks Increase Heart Disease Risk Among Women, New Study Shows
Women consuming one or more sugary drinks a day have a 19 percent greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease than those who don’t drink sugary drinks, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study examined 20 years of data from 106,178 women and found that heart disease risk varied among types of beverages. Surprisingly, the risk was 42 percent higher for those who drank one or more sugar-added fruit drinks daily, while it was 23 percent higher for those drinking soda everyday. Overall, the chance of needing heart surgery for clogged arteries was 26 percent higher for women who had drank one or more of any type sugary drink daily, and the same women were 21 percent more likely to have a stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. .
Here’s Why Drinking Tea Keeps Your Brain Healthy
Both green and black tea leaves are harvested from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. While both teas seem to have certain health benefits, the heating and drying process that creates green tea results in higher levels of compounds associated with improved brain function. A 2017 review of more than 100 studies found that green tea may help reduce anxiety and improve both memory and attention. Antioxidants are the most abundant beneficial compounds in tea, but the studies indicate that the amino acid L-theanine in combination with caffeine may be more closely linked to tea’s mental health benefits. Early studies also suggest that these compounds may help ward off depression and dementia.
Flavanols, another set of bioactive compounds in tea, have also been shown to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. While more rigorous studies are needed, many scientists agree that drinking tea certainly can’t hurt. Ask anyone from the UK, and they’ll agree, as even the ritual of afternoon tea offers a mental health break. According to the UK’s Tea Advisory Panel, average daily intake has now reached 100 million cups. Tea consumption is up in the US, too, from 12.7 ounces per person per year in 2007 to 14 ounces in 2019, according to United Nations data. As tea consumption continues to increase globally and in recognition of tea’s health benefits, the United Nations has designated May 21 as “International Tea Day.”
Science
Physicists Create Iridescent Chocolate That Shimmers Like a Rainbow
Samy Kamkar, the founder of internet security company Openpath, has been experimenting with a new kind of chocolate that has a mesmerizing appearance. Kamkar developed a 3-D model for casting with a saw-tooth pattern at its base. He then tempered his chocolate and pressurized it in a vacuum chamber (a step he isn’t sure is 100% necessary). Kamkar’s cast results in chocolate with numerous surface lines and edges that make diffracted light the most visible light, giving the chocolate an iridescent appearance. Harvard physics professor Dr. David A. Weitz claims that Kamkar’s saw-tooth pattern isn’t strictly necessary, as any uniform pattern of parallel lines spaced in proximity to the wavelength of light will create the iridescent effect.
Swiss researchers have also been working on iridescent chocolate for two and a half years. Some use the same technique as Kamkar and plan to bring the chocolate to market soon. Their obstacle, however, is convincing consumers that no artificial coloring or additives have been applied to the surface of the chocolate. “People think that there is a plastic foil on top, which is not the case,” says Patrick Rühs, a Zurich food scientist. For those interested in making chocolate that shimmers like a rainbow, Kamkar will soon release a video tutorial showing people how to make his iridescent chocolate at home.
Science Can Help You Brew A Better Cup of Coffee
Christopher H. Hendon teaches computational materials chemistry at the University of Oregon. Also known as “Mr. Coffee,” Hendon puts the wisdom of his profession to work at home. His goal is to produce a consistent taste in his single daily cup of coffee. Here are his tips:
*Freeze your beans to maintain freshness, then grind them in a burr grinder. The frozen beans will break into similarly sized chunks for even flavor extraction. Determine your grind setting by trial-and-error, changing it until you find the optimal setting for your brewing device. Finer grinds tend to work best for drip brewing, while coarser grinds work best for immersion brewing.
*Use a ratio of 60 grams of coffee to one liter of water, which works for both immersion brewing and drip brewing.
*For the most flavor extraction and foolproof brewing, choose a brewing device that fully immerses the beans in the water, such as a French press.
*Use soft tap water heated to a temperature just below boiling (195 to 205ºF), as recommended by the National Coffee Association, and brew for two to four minutes for French press or about five minutes for drip coffee.