Food News Today Transcripts for the week of April 2nd, 2012

Articles
April 06, 2012

Foraging in a food forest near you, the app that alters reality and how is food related to fashion?

We know food foraging is a huge trend, even in cities,  as well as gardening and harvesting honey on rooftops, but this latest news from Washington State will make just about every resident in Seattle, especially in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, overjoyed- a 2 acre public food forest (eventually 7 acres) is to be cultivated in the middle of the city.  Resident and even non residents will be able to pick fruit and more, from plants throughout the “forest”… for free.

Glenn Herlihy, helped create the park's initial design as a final project for a permaculture design class. Permaculture is a land management technique that aims to develop gardens modeled on natural ecosystems- translation? … natural fertilization from decaying vegetation will be used, and a variety of plants that all work together will be planted; plants that attract and deter insects will also be planted for natural pest management. Developers will use edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals to accomplish this.

But Seattle residents will have to wait until 2013 for the first harvest. The fruit trees and shrubs will take about 2 years to produce fruit. The land will be planted with apple trees, pears, plums, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, walnuts and hazelnuts, rosemary and much more. Designers are planning for overzealous pickers – and think there will be more than enough food growing to go around. 

The nearly 2 acre test zone is to be planted by the end of the year and if deemed successful by the city, the remaining 5 acres will be converted to food trees.  The hope is that the park will become a congregating area for the diverse residents of the neighborhood, a place where all ages and ethnicities can meet.

>And now from reality.. to an alternate reality… Blippar, a London based startup, has created an app that literally alters reality. Launched in the summer of 2011, Blippar aims to make the mobile advertising arena a bit more fun by taking the QR code to the next level.  The premise is simple, whenever you see the Blippar logo - whether on TV, in a newspaper, magazine, grocery product, or even on a billboard over the highway, you simply open the app, and point your device's camera in the direction of the ad.  You'll then see a number of cool features, which appear above the original advertisement or product on your phone. These features include digital apparitions such as buttons and controls that you can interact with on your screen, and games that you can play which blur the lines between what is real and what is digital.  So far, Blippar has worked with some of the biggest brands and media in the world -  including Unilever, Nestle, Heinz, Xbox, Samsung, Cadbury, Domino's and many more – so look for the blippar symbol on some of these products.  The Blippar app is free and is available on both Android and iOS.

>What’s your food style? If you know and care more about seasonal fashion trends than what growing this season, or think more about your outfits than you do about your meals – then you might just benefit from Lori Reamer, registered dietitian and longtime nutrition director of Canyon Ranch’s, new book, The Food That Fits.  She uses fashion theory to offer a foundation for creating healthy, sustainable, and individualized food choices and equates junky processed foods to the quality of an acrylic sweater.  She says why wear cashmere and eat junk – you want to put great quality clothes on your body so why not fill up with nutrient dense, healthy, high quality foods!  Her theory is not about low carb, or eliminating certain nutrients- but instead is focused on quality, seasonality, and freshness. She was inspired by her time at Canyon Ranch, where she observed that many of her nutrition clients were highly connected to their external appearance, with an obvious attention to quality -- they had great hair, jewelry, makeup and high-end clothing -- but were lost on the topic of good, healthy food. Many wouldn't consider wearing low-end acrylic, so why would they tolerate eating that way, much less making it a daily staple?  Food, after all, Lori says is the outfit that you wear every day.  So eating the right food is akin to wearing the right style -- both make us feel and look good.