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18 votes
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Chefs are using fungus to transform food garbage into fancy, fully edible dishes
14 votes -
From animal protein without animals, dairy without cows, silk without worms, palm oil without deforestation, the options are endless
13 votes -
Why do so many recipes call for powdered sugar instead of regular sugar?
This is a question I've been wondering about for a while as a home baker and amateur food scientist. Why do recipes for whipped, fluffy desert components like whipped cream or buttercream icing...
This is a question I've been wondering about for a while as a home baker and amateur food scientist. Why do recipes for whipped, fluffy desert components like whipped cream or buttercream icing always seem to call for powdered sugar? If I want to add sugar to a something, why would I also want to add the anti-caking agent (usually starch I think) for powdered sugar as well? Is that starch actually something beneficial for a whipped desert? Because as far as I can tell, the only time powdered sugar makes sense is when it's dusted on top of something or incorporated into a desert that is being mixed by hand and doesn't have the shear of a mixer to dissolve or emulsify the granulated sugar. And I've never had any issues just using regular granulated sugar and honestly prefer it to powdered sugar for icings, whipped cream and the like. If a recipe calls for powdered sugar, but it's being combined with a mixer or beaters I just use regular sugar and the results are great.
Anyone have any thoughts or experience as to what I'm overlooking? Or is it just a hold over from a time when electric mixers weren't common and you needed a finer sugar to incorporate the sugar by hand?
18 votes -
The US government spends millions to open grocery stores in food deserts. The real test is their survival.
35 votes -
Chick-Fil-A hatches plans for streaming service as reality TV comes home to roost
17 votes -
This store only sells fake food
8 votes -
The banana apocalypse is coming. Can we stop it this time?
25 votes -
Modernist cuisine Bread School - free with email sign up
10 votes -
The baguette revolution: Banh Mi, Num Pang, and a Thai sandwich challenge
11 votes -
Young people should be banned from buying drinks with high levels of caffeine, say health and consumer groups in Denmark
35 votes -
Türkiye and Germany in spicy feud over doner kebab
23 votes -
A network of community activists in small towns and huge cities are helping get food to the people who most need it
17 votes -
A chemist explains the chemistry behind decaf coffee. Three methods strive to retain the bean's flavor while removing its caffeine.
13 votes -
Sam Altman's basic-income study is out. Here's what it found.
39 votes -
Pig transplant research yields pork safe for some with red meat allergy caused by lone star tick
20 votes -
Danish insect farm sets sights on feeding Europe's livestock – Enorm intends to produce more than 10,000 tonnes of insect meal and oil a year
23 votes -
Vegetarians only: Dietary surveillance prevents Muslim citizens in India from finding secure homes
30 votes -
‘Goldmine’ collection of wheat from 100 years ago may help feed the world, scientists say
25 votes -
Dozens were sickened with salmonella after drinking raw milk from a California farm
42 votes -
The struggle to contain, and eat, the invasive deer taking over Hawaii
36 votes -
Snapchill canned coffee recalled in US over fears of botulism
9 votes -
Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1,000 a month. A year later, nearly half of participants had housing.
37 votes -
The effect of therapeutic doses of culinary spices in metabolic syndrome
16 votes -
Danish researchers are exploring multiple uses for wind farms far out at sea, such as producing fresh seafood
10 votes -
The quick trick for softening canned chickpeas for silky-smooth hummus, stews, and more
33 votes -
Denmark has recalled several spicy ramen noodle products by South Korean company Samyang, claiming that the capsaicin levels in them could poison consumers
42 votes -
Recent French research indicates that certain food emulsifiers may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes
18 votes -
The food that makes you gay
27 votes -
Fast-food owners, squeezed customers test limit of value meal economy
32 votes -
Nearly 80% of Americans say fast food is now a luxury because it’s become so expensive
43 votes -
I ate the Subway Footlong Cookie so you don’t have to
22 votes -
‘Deny, denounce, delay’: the battle over the risk of ultra-processed foods
26 votes -
Swiss scientists invent a new type of chocolate using more of the cocoa plant, reducing need for additional sugars
31 votes -
Meet the Finnish biotech startup bringing a long lost mycoprotein to your plate – proprietary single-cell fungus-based protein was originally developed by local paper industry
5 votes -
Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix
15 votes -
French post office releases scratch-and-sniff baguette stamp
27 votes -
I gave up meat and gained so much more | A tale of one person's life, culture, and growing up
38 votes -
Seattle’s law mandating higher pay for food delivery workers is a case study in backfire economics
18 votes -
The economics of $15 salads
11 votes -
Bread, how did they make it? Part IV: Markets, merchants and the tax man
7 votes -
Behold, the $400 red pineapple
20 votes -
Cold brew coffee in three minutes using acoustic cavitation
20 votes -
Florida is the first state to ban lab grown meat - Ron DeSantis
37 votes -
Big farms are under pressure to address the problem of dying salmon in Norway's vast fish-farm industry
9 votes -
Why don't we do more food-based activism?
In the past few months I have been reading a lot about historical food culture. It's kind of amazing how much things have changed here in the US. Over the last century or so we have basically...
In the past few months I have been reading a lot about historical food culture. It's kind of amazing how much things have changed here in the US. Over the last century or so we have basically eliminated communal eating and massively changed the economics of prepared meals. At one point we had automats and cafeterias which skipped out on most of the "front of house" service and focused on serving large volumes of people to keep prices low. There were also diners, which are much different from what we consider to be a diner today; they were very small places that only prepared simple things that needed very little labor to prepare; things like hash browns, sandwiches, or pancakes, so the food was still very cheap. But because they were small, they were able to serve smaller markets that other restaurants were not able to capitalize on. Compare that to today, where diners are just restaurants that have 50s style decor.
But the thing I think is much more unusual is how rare we see food used in service of a message. It's something that has a long history across the globe. Most notably, religions operate food kitchens that help to bring poor people into their folds. Some religions actually have a built-in food culture that includes feeding your neighbors. It's really effective too; there's a small chain of restaurants where I live that has inexpensive food which has some bhuddist texts at the dining tables, and honestly it had me considering joining a religion for the first time. If I spoke Chinese they might have got me! Eating food requires a baseline of trust, so if you can get someone to eat at your restaurant you will bypass a lot of the caution that people approach the world with.
With that being said, why isn't food-based activism a lot more popular? I'm sure that it would work for much more than religion. A restaurant that acts as a messaging platform doesn't necessarily need to be funded by food sales, so they can undercut the competition on price and reach an even greater audience. Given the ways I have seen religions use food to further their means, I think that it could even go farther than changing people's minds about topics and actually motivate people to take action and join communities who are actually making real change. Food is both relatively inexpensive and it's something that everyone needs to survive, so it seems to me that food-based activism is the single largest missed opportunity for community organization.
20 votes -
On-demand nutrient production system for long-duration space missions
12 votes -
Ten times as much of this toxic pesticide could end up on your tomatoes and celery under a new US EPA proposal
29 votes -
Farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice in Vietnam
14 votes -
Cocoa price swings are the craziest since the 1970s
14 votes