By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Aug 23, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET I feel sometimes like I don’t post enough pictures of food I am about to eat.
Frankly, I don’t eat many meals that are that interesting or that others would probably want to know about.
But I want to fit in and had a friend of a friend send me a picture of a meal he found on Facebook recently of something someone somewhere was about to eat.
 He wasn’t sure of the entire backstory — only that someone was hungry and took a picture—but was able to download it and send to me to share so I could hit my food pic quota this month on Facebook.
By Saul Kaplan, on Mon Aug 19, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET Nooks and crannies are important to both English muffins and innovation.
I haven’t been able to get a picture of a lightly toasted Thomas’ English muffin with butter and strawberry preserves oozing into those marvelous nooks and crannies out of my head. Maybe it’s because I’m resisting the temptation while on one of my frequent short-lived diet and exercise delusions. More likely it’s because of a story that caught my eye last week about an executive who left the company (Bimbo Bakeries, I’m not kidding) that makes Thomas’ English Muffins to join the arch enemy, Hostess Brands. It seems that Bimbo is suing to prevent the executive from joining Hostess because they suspect he has absconded with and will divulge the secret of how to make English muffins with perfect nooks and crannies.
You heard right. The row is about protecting the trade secret for creating nooks and crannies in an English muffin. Bimbo claims there are only seven people who possess the trade secret and of course the executive leaving to make Twinkies is one of them. I find it hard to believe that only seven people have the know-how necessary to create great nooks and crannies. It sounds more like a marketing ploy. But what do I know. I thought it was just using a fork to split the muffin! Think about it. Samuel Bath Thomas left England headed for America in 1874 with a recipe for his muffin baked on hot griddles. Surely in over 135 years more than seven people have accumulated the know-how for nooks and crannies. And how are we to know if Samuel Thomas didn’t borrow the formula before heading for fame and fortune in America. Not to accuse Samuel Thomas of pilfering the recipe and starting an English muffin revolution but it does sound eerily similar to Samuel Slater escaping England with the trade secrets for the textile mill, which of course started the U.S. Industrial Revolution!
 No surprise that nooks and crannies are the secret to a great English muffin. Those air pockets allow for both perfect toasting and a natural repository for the aforementioned butter and jam. So Bimbo Bakery goes to incredible lengths to protect its know-how. Instead of recipes they use codebooks. Employees are on a need to know basis and only have access to the pages of the codebook necessary to complete their specific task. They are shielded from the information and people in departments working on other tasks. It doesn’t sound like a formula for innovation but then maybe Bimbo isn’t interested in innovation. Perhaps they are just obsessed with protecting the status quo for the nooks and crannies of English muffin making.
Nooks and crannies are also the secret to great innovation. Innovators thrive in nooks and crannies and refuse to stay in any silo barred from communicating across them. They know freely exploring nooks and crannies is the only way to get better faster. Nooks and crannies increase the surface area an innovator can expose to the best knowledge flows and new ideas. With more surface area comes greater exposure to and absorption of a broader range of ideas, experiences, and capabilities. A thoughtfully comprised network of unusual suspects increases an innovator’s surface area. Social media platforms are just nooks and crannies on steroids to an innovator.
Innovators also know that most important innovations emerge from the nooks and crannies between silos, disciplines, and industry sectors. It is by combining and recombining ideas and capabilities from across silos that innovators create new ways to deliver value. System solutions for the big social challenges of our time including education, health care, and energy, will only be found if we get more comfortable in the nooks and crannies between us. Pass the strawberry preserves.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET I have been an avid coffee drinker for three decades and when traveling I like to try different coffee shops and coffee brands.
What is my standard for determining if a new kind of coffee I haven’t tried before truly measures up?
Easy. …One simple test.
After the first deep gulp (or second sip) do I start to hear this song play in my head?
If the answer is “Yes,” the coffee brand has made the cut and gets placed alongside Cafe Buestelo, Heine Bros, Cafe Du Monde (which I relied on while studying for the bar exam) and other great coffees I favor.
If “no,” it gets filed alongside Sanka, Nescafe, Maxwell House and a few dozen others coffee brands that have tried but come up short for me personally.
By Liz Roach, on Wed Aug 7, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET  Smoke wafts from the barbecue pits, spreading an intoxicating scent over the picnic grounds. Thousands of people line up for pork and mutton sandwiches, drenching them in a signature sauce. A barbecue festival? Nope.
It’s one of the nation’s premier cook-outs: Fancy Farm. Described as “the world’s largest picnic,” the event is an annual fundraiser for St. Jerome’s Catholic Church, located in the small town of Fancy Farm (yes, it’s a real name), Kentucky. It’s also one of the biggest political events in the nation, featuring fiery speeches delivered by Kentucky’s top elected officials.
While political junkies relish the folksy punch lines and witty campaign signs, others avidly anticipate the fixings on offer. Those in-the-know arrive early to join the snaking line to the Knights of Columbus Hall, which contains a famous buffet. Featuring home-style cooked helpings of green beans, purple hull peas, potato salad, corn, more of that Western Kentucky-style barbecue, and a selection of cakes and pies, all of the dishes are grown and prepared by local community members.
With approximately 18,000 pounds of pork and mutton and hundreds of pounds of vegetables cooked up each year, preparing the food for Fancy Farm is a mammoth undertaking. Even the Food Network stopped by a few years ago to cover the festivities.
The lead-up events to Fancy Farm also provide an array of mouth-watering options. From the Marshall County Bean Supper and the Burgoo & Bluegrass dinner on the Democratic side to the Graves County Breakfast and “Night Before Fancy Farm” fried chicken dinner on the Republican side, both parties offer traditional Kentucky dishes to sate the crowds, along with a generous serving of rhetorical red meat.
For a taste of Fancy Farm, check out the photos below:
 The BBQ pits
By Greg Harris, on Wed Aug 7, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon Aug 5, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET As I enjoyed the mountain views and cool breeze off the lake I had to remind myself I was in Argentina, not Switzerland. St. Bernard’s walked along the sidewalk and the A-frame chalet style buildings kept tricking me into thinking that I was in a Swiss ski village with plans to hit the slopes. The surroundings aren’t the only thing in Bariloche that reminded me of Switzerland, the abundance of chocolate shops had me convinced that somehow I had wandered into a portal that had transported me to Europe.
 You could easily be in a small Swiss ski village rather than the Lakes District of Argentina
It seems the European immigrants that brought chocolate to Argentina were not traditionalists. The chocolate on offer at the many shops on Mitre Avenue were not of the Lindt variety, the combinations were creative and distinct. Chocolate bars included fruit, nuts, liqueurs and came in a wide array of shapes and sizes. Just window shopping and drooling over the truffles and bars was enjoyable, the beautiful packaging and delicious looking ice cream were enough to keep me occupied.
However, the real fun began when I used my broken Spanish to request a sample at the first shop I went into. When I was rewarded with a generous taste I decided that chocolate tasting was the best way I could think of to spend an afternoon. I spent hours wandering in and out of chocolate shops trying everything from chocolate fondue to chocolate ice cream. After consuming an entire meals worth of chocolate I finally chose my favorite and purchased a box to eat later when chocolate withdrawal inevitably kicked in.
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Erica & Matt Chua: Bariloche Chocolate
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 1, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Redefining being “overweight.”
When I was in college I had a “reducible hernia” in my lower left abdomen. I had a small protrusion that could be “pushed back in,” hence “reducible.” I would push it back in until I finally got the problem properly diagnosed and repaired. And I haven’t seemed to have a problem with it ever since.
Until this afternoon when I felt my stomach before playing basketball and my stomach is, well, I guess you could say it sort of protrudes. The main problem, however, is that it isn’t “reducible.” I can’t push it back in like I used to be able to do with the hernia in my youth.
This may just be a product of getting older or it may be a more dramatic tear….or something.
I can’t tell if I’m not pushing in the right place, or not pushing at the correct angle or perhaps not pushing hard enough. Whatever I do my stomach stays, more or less, slightly protruded and doesn’t appear to have anything it’s poking out of to be pushed back into.
But how is it my fault that I haven’t figured out yet how to put it–my stomach– back into its proper place. Until someone tells me otherwise, I’ve decided to conclude that I’m not really overweight but merely have a “temporarily irreducible and slightly herniated stomach” in my lower and upper abdomen on both sides.”
All I know is that this is a medical condition that isn’t a reflection of my lack of will power or discipline. And it’s probably just a minor flair up from my hernia repair 28 years ago. These repairs can’t last forever. This one is just a little more pronounced.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Oh, and don’t you dare ask me in my current medical condition to lift any heavy objects. I do remember that’s the last thing you ask someone with a small hernia (or even medium sized hernia–or larger) is to do heavy lifting —at least until they are fully recovered. ; )
By Liz Roach, on Wed Jul 24, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET Bearing heaving platters of sea island peas, roasted mountain trout, barbeque chicken and other vittles, waiters at the Whiskey Jar displayed a sampling of hospitality along with bottles of Foggy Ridge cider and Veritas Vineyards wines.
Slipping a bite of peach trifle into my mouth, I sighed and surveyed the spoils of supper. If this was a typical Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) dinner, I was prepared to sign up for a lifetime membership.
Many other ambrosial meals and adventures awaited at the SFA’s 2013 Summer Symposium in Richmond, Virginia. The non-profit organization, whose members consist of chefs, cookbook writers, and other luminaries from the food world, in addition to a good number of eating enthusiasts, fosters a fellowship like no other.
From June 20-22, 2013, members shared in finger-licking good multi-course feasts, cultural forays, and delightful company. Centered around the theme of “Women at Work,” the event put the spotlight on Richmond and its storied, delicious food culture.
Below are a few snapshots of the weekend that will give you an idea of the goodness that took place.
The opening night dinner took place at the Whiskey Jar in Charlottesville, VA
The glorious peach trifle at Whiskey Jar
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Liz Roach: Taste Adventure — Southern Foodways Alliance Summer Trip to Richmond, Virginia
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon Jul 15, 2013 at 12:30 PM ET Answering the questions we’re most often asked, every three weeks we’ll answer a FAQ to share what people want to know when they find out we’ve been traveling for over two years… LAST MONTH’S QUESTION: Will it be hard going home? NEXT MONTH’S QUESTION (on July 17): What are your biggest regrets of the trip? .
WHAT’S THE STRANGEST THING YOU’VE EATEN?
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HE SAID…
Food and strange don’t really mix any more. I’ve made it this far is because I’ve eaten whatever is available, by committing myself to eating whatever is served wherever I find myself hungry. For the most part I have known what I was eating, but when I’m hungry there isn’t much difference between chicken liver and hot pink pizza…it’s what’s for dinner. So…what is strange to eat? Dog? Not strange for some people, and yes, I’ve eaten dog. Raw horse meat? I can’t tell you enough wonderful things about horse sashimi (Basashi), it’s deee-licious! Raw bull testicles? Had it, but I’d prefer Rocky Mountain Oysters, thanks. Have a foot fetish? Well I sure don’t, I’ll pass the pig trotters and chicken feet to my cousins…they seem to like them. Are these things strange?
Japanese people and I look at animals very similarly…
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Erica and Matt Chua: World’s Strangest Foods
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon Jul 8, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET What did I most want to eat after almost eight months in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka? Some old-fashioned American fast food. OK, it’s not that I wanted fast food, it’s that the UAE offers such a wide selection of the stuff that got me. In the rush to “modernize” the UAE seems to have lost all sense of itself in a wash of North American craptacular foods. While we in the West try to limit our consumption with public health campaigns, taxes and regulations, the Middle East rejects such beliefs with each trans-fat filling station they build in the desert. Sadly, after so long on the “sub-continent” of Asia I too fell victim of, “taste over common sense”. Let’s take a food tour of the UAE…
It started with Tim Horton’s. Not really American, it’s a staple of our Northern Territories (AKA Canada), offering the cliche police staples of donuts and coffee. For me it was a welcome change from dosas for breakfast.
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Erica & Matt Chua: Eat Like An American
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