BMB Geek Club

the changing consumer

Following on from a previous post on the democratisation of information some interesting stats here on how the consumer is changing.

- Source TGI (click on the image to see a bigger version)

the more rational stuff about increased internet usage and trust is no huge surprise but the correlation between these increases and the belief that brands should be ethical is interesting. the information is only going to become more available to more people and will ultimately mean that businesses need to be even more transparent and ethical.

Wrighty

200 calories from highest to lowest weight

this is what 200 calories of celery looks like, all 1425 grams of it:

and here is 200 calories of canola oil:

See some of the places in between here

I think that this is an example of both your run of the mill internet oddity and a symbol of something important that is coming in food.  Surely it is only a matter of time before digital technology starts to influence our interface with food retail in profound ways.  From helping us plan and balance our diets, to helping us eat locally or seasonally, it seems a smallish step for either online food retail or in store scanners to help us have a deeper, more informed and richer relationship to food.   

Gentiles eating more and more kosher

apparently the implicit naturalness and quality standards of kosher  food laws are attracting more and more non jews.    Which definitely tells us something.   Non jews eat kosher

Trans Fat

My first ever exposure to  trans fatty acids was through a song by Lamb in the late 90s Last.fm link .  Little did I know that trans fat weren't just a funny name for a whispy ambient song but the latest nutritional devil incarnate.  You might know them as hydrogenated fats and their job is to combat product rancidity (yum yum). But they don't do much good to us.  Seewikipedia entry

Anyway  new york city bans trans fats.  But so often it goes N.Y. > U.S. > us.