The Feed: March 13, 2013

The Feed is my weekly round up of interesting food-related stories from newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

Lucky Peach: “The End of the World as We Know It,” An Interview with Michael Pollan by Rachel Khong. Just about a month before the release of his new book, Cooked, Pollan drops in on the apocalypse-themed issue of Lucky Peach (#6) to talk about the unsustainable course of our industrial food system. It’s classic Pollan, an interesting read that, among other things, takes an amusing swipe at molecular gastronomy.

The Hidden List: “Scouts Honor.” It’s Girl Scout cookie season and The Hidden List has a cool pie chart, er cookie chart I suppose, showing which varieties of cookies are the most popular as represented by segments of the relevant cookies. I’ve already eaten my box of Samoas but have held off opening my Do-Si-Dos.

Washington Post: “Can Orgeat Become Essential?” by Jason Wilson. I’ve heard of orgeat, but until reading Wilson’s nicely researched article about the almond, rose water and orange blossom cocktail syrup (complete with a recipe), I couldn’t have told you a thing about it. In particular, he discusses the syrup’s role in the Japanese Cocktail as instrumental in transforming cocktails from their basic early 19th century form to their more “evolved” state today. He also mentions David Wondrich’s book, Imbibe, which I’m (slowly) reading at present.

New York Times: “He Won’t Upstage His Food,” by Jeff Gordinier. Gordinier profiles Chef Andrew Carmellini, set to soon open Lafayette, a new French restaurant in NoHo just a block from his other recent venture I visited last year, The Library at the Public. Not on the menu: sous vide cooking.

The Daily Mail: “How sushi can make you FAT: It will shock skinny celebs who swear by it, but sushi can have more calories than a Big Mac and fries,” by Juliette Kellow. Although it may seem like a healthy fish lunch, Kellow dissects how a typical sushi meal is actually loaded with processed carbs, sugar, salt and really very little fish. I love Kellow’s comment that picking up sushi for lunch is as common as having a cheese and pickle sandwich. How very British.

Forbes: “7 Benefits Of Quinoa: The Supergrain Of The Future,” by Julie Wilcox. After the alarm raised earlier this year about the impact of the global demand for quinoa, it’s nice to be reminded why it’s so popular in the first place: it’s really good for you. Like incredibly good.