Food

Did you know that plantains contain more starches than any other type of carbohydrate? A 1-cup serving of sliced cooked plantains holds 48 grams of carbohydrates, mostly from starches, sugars and fiber. With 22.9 grams of starches, 21.6 grams of sugars and 3.5 grams of fiber, plantains are a great source of fiber, potassium and vitamins A and C. Not withstanding that, Plantain can provide a number of health benefits and reduce the risk of certain diseases. Read full article here

The food biotech industry is soaring, with a market size of over $23 billion USD and predicted to almost double by 2025. With increasing food demand and environmental pressures, genetic engineering and cellular agriculture are emerging as promising solutions to create robust and climate-resilient crops, and reduce animal-based food production. However, regulation and public acceptance of such technologies varies greatly across countries, with the EU having stricter measures in place than the US. It’s time for public and policymakers to come together to agree on a coordinated approach to use technology to solve global challenges. Read full article here

Public institutions such as prisons, schools, and hospitals could be the driving force of a global shift towards veganism, according to a team of researchers. Their report proposes that if 20% of global meat sales were replaced with plant-based alternatives, an impressive 8 million square kilometres of land currently used for livestock farming could be repurposed for climate-positive projects. By introducing mandates for public institutions to serve more vegan options, the alternative protein sector would be able to scale up and reduce its costs, allowing the public to adopt the trend. Read full article here

Move aside Dom Perignon, the real inventor of champagne was an English knight. Every time you crack open a bottle of champagne, you can thank Sir Kenelm Digby. He was a real 17th-century Renaissance Man with diverse intellectual interests, including wine and bottle-making. Not only did he pioneer the classical method for making champagne, but he also invented the iconic champagne bottle shape. Read full article here

Can’t take the heat from your Sriracha sauce? Sriracha is refreshing compared to what Kelly Joel Myers ate at the World’s Hottest Pepper Eating Contest. The contest features 10 rounds of increasingly spicier chilli peppers. However, after those 10 rounds, there was a tie, and they needed three tiebreakers to end the heat-fueled battle. The last tiebreaker featured the infamous Carolina Reaper and the Dragon’s Breath pepper, which have 1.64 million Scoville heat units (SVU) and 2.28 million SVU, respectively. For comparison, the cayenne pepper has 40,000 SVU. Read full article here

Hainanese chicken rice is a celebrated Singaporean boiled chicken and rice dish, and Ted Ross sees it as a symbol of the struggle between minorities in the US and cultural appropriation. Chicken rice isn’t alone in this regard, but Ross resonated with it as someone who married Asian women. He wants to help end systemic racism but sees his personal quest to cook authentic chicken rice as possible cultural appropriation. While he talked with non-white chefs to get their perspectives, he was left as confused as he was before. Read full article here

Many celebrities have either represented tequila brands or launched one themselves. But why? It seems like they’ve found a trick: the tequilas that they promote are sweetened with 100% pure blue agave, which makes them taste way better than entry-level mixtos. One of the celebrities that have launched their own brands is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. While the actor-wrestler’s brand Teremana Añejo seemed like an overnight success, it actually took a while to launch; Johnson studied how to make high-quality tequila for a decade before he launched the brand. Read full article here