Mark Bittman TED Talk: What We Eat

The Significance Of Eating An Apple

I'd like to believe I am health conscious. And I wish the same upon others. I weigh the same that I did when I showed up in this country. That is no small achievement. Exercise, food and sleep are the basics you have to stay cognizant of. I am capable of going for long walks. And the primary motivator for me there is what I see, not the muscles I exercise, although those walks always lead to good nights of sleep. Similarly the apple for me is the good taste. I don't think of it as a prescription drug. As in, it is good for me, so I should eat it. I do freehand exercise. Long walks are for when I feel the strong urge to see. And the vastness of Queens speaks to that urge. Used to be The Bronx, but I took care of that weeks ago. I camped out at a friend's for a few weeks and walked all over The Bronx. Now Queens is the borough I have seen the least. And the borough is just so big, and most parts are far far away from train stations. I sleep plenty. I think that is key. For the past few weeks I have been eating a lot of uncooked food. There are people who eat out, they don't cook, they eat out. I have been experimenting with the cook as little as possible thing. But for me the fill in the blank has meant a lot of uncooked food. Like apples, for example. No, I don't eat it every day, not several times a day, not for meals. No. But the dependence on uncooked food means the apple has to be a ready snack. An apple can be a great snack. For one, it tastes so good. For me it is about the taste. It also is good for you. That's there. There must be something in the apple that you get an immediate boost, you get uplifted, you feel fresh. Maybe it reminds you of cold climates or something. You end up feeling fresh. Oranges are good too, as are carrots. And I grab cooked, packed vegetable dumplings from a nearby Chinese store. You put it in boiling water for a few minutes and they are ready to eat like instant noodles. And I get to put hot sauce all over it. There is no limit to how hot I can eat. Recently I cooked chicken curry into which I put a whole bunch of green chili, the Indian, hot kind. I have not cooked rice at home in months. There's a food cart a block away where I get some lamb over rice when I feel the urge, which might happen every few weeks. But rice has been displaced by whole wheat pita bread. When you eat it you feel like an Afghan.

FoodSpotting's Tech Has Been Stagnant

Image via WikipediaYesterday as I spotted this exotic Ecuadorian dish I realized I had not blogged about FoodSpotting in a while. I guess the service had some good news at the last Facebook conference (I have not yet seen the video). (The HTML5 Whimper At F8)

Is it just me or FoodSpotting has looked the same since its inception?

I feel like I am done spotting the Desi dishes and now I want to venture out and spot global dishes. My next dish to spot might be Afghan.

What I feel is lacking is when you spot a dish you should have the option to show up for an eatup that is in direct relation.

A Small, Historic EatUp

The critical mass might not be there yet. But it will get there. An eatup self-organized around a particular food type or restaurant. You meet people who are passionate or curious about a particular food type.
Image via CrunchBase
FoodSpotting should become social and become an excuse to meet people, strangers. It should become a little bit like Chatroulette. Only there is no video camera involved. And it is offline, it is real. It is local.

My FoodSpotting Photos Are Being Viewed
FoodSpotting API
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting
FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point

Or maybe even take it online. You get to video chat with people who are passionate about similar kinds of food, passionate or curious. I was not passionate about Ecuadorian food, but I was curious. That was a nice dinner.

Sean Parker's AirTime Could Net Him Tens Of Billions

San Gennaro Festival

San Gennaro Festival, Little Italy (1)
San Gennaro Festival, Little Italy (2)
San Gennaro Festival, Little Italy (3)
San Gennaro Festival, Little Italy (4)

Internet Week: Day 3: Taking It Easy

Image by lizstless via FlickrI am staying away from the Metropolitan Pavilion today.

Internet Week: Day 2

Instead I am going to these two events.

04:00 PM — 06:00 PM
Bar Basque, 839 Sixth Avenue, (Between 29th & 30th Streets)
Wine Tasting & Digital Curation Un-Panel

06:30 PM — 08:30 PM
Time & Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 8th floor
10 NYC Startups To Watch

Turning The Table Upside Down With Food

Cover of John LennonFood/Social = Physics, Coding = Mathematics
Project Noah: FoodSpotting's Sibling Company

Food has been a weapon for sexism for the longest time. You are a woman, you belong at home, you need to raise children, you need to be in the kitchen, you need to cook. Food.

Raising children is such a beautiful experience, John Lennon took five years out of his life to raise his son full time. But that same act can be used as a weapon of sexism. It has been.

You reject food, you reject children. You take a stand. That was one thread of feminist protests a few decades back. You don't marry.

Food/Social = Physics, Coding = Mathematics

Image via WikipediaEinstein, the most celebrated physicist in human history, my favorite Dead White Male, started out struggling with maths. Much later in life he liked to joke that he was still struggling with maths. Early memories die hard. The key mathematics that gave shape to the Relativity, he had to ask around for. A mathematician friend of his led him in that direction.

What Einstein started with was physics. It really bothered him that light rays bent near the sun and no one had bothered explaining why.

Coding is like mathematics. Social is the physics. And the buzz is not here yet beyond a very small circle right now, but food's day will come. If you think about it, food has a very, very special place in the social universe. Food is the crown jewel. By the time you get to the level of food, social becomes dazzling. It becomes like watching the night sky if you are fascinated by stars.

I got a glimpse of that dazzle when I attended the FoodSpotting/Whole Foods panel this morning at 95 E Houston. I was amazed by the venue. It seems like Google is not the only dog in town with an office building that occupies an entire block.

So I Had A Shake Shack Burger

The Most Popular Dish In New York: Shake Shack Burger, Madison Square Park

My FoodSpotting Day Hangover

Image via CrunchBaseFoodSpotting Day was January 15, and granted I celebrated it in two different cities, the celebrations have to stop at some point. But looks like my FoodSpotting Day hangover goes on. It is not like I have a new idea to share, but I do feel the urge to flesh out a few things I have suggested before.

The Most Popular Dish In New York: Shake Shack Burger, Madison Square Park
World FoodSpotting Day 2011: January 15: Photos

I am not the best person to talk about the food recommendations business, but I don't get the impression FoodSpotting is lacking for direction on that front. It is moving full speed ahead there.

A MeetUp Has Me Excited: Y + 30

I am going to a MeetUp tomorrow evening - well, I am going to a Lunar Year celebration with John Liu for this evening, we are trying to get the guy to show up for a February 28 Holi celebration in Astoria, I be pulling strings - but tomorrow, Tuesday, I am going to this MeetUp that I am unusually excited about. I guess at some level I am bummed I had never heard of the MeetUp before this month. Makes me feel like I have been out of the loop. But I found out about it during Social Media Week, and I am glad. (Social Media Week: The Best NY Tech MeetUp Ever)

I don't know what to expect. That is another reason I am a little on the edge. Will it be pitch dark? Will they throw bright light in my face? Will they make funny noises? Will they make us wear costumes? Or at least goggles? Is the venue some kind of a basement? It is called a Brooklyn Future MeetUp, but it is in Tribeca, the Jay-Z Tribeca. I love Brooklyn, it is the most residential of all boroughs, but Y+30 is a much better name in the first place.

• Brooklyn 30
• Y 30

on Feb 23rd - we are talking the future of food, register for the event at http://meetup.com/BLKNY30 

From Michael Pollan to molecular gastronomy, food bloggers to food
porn, celebrity chefs to rock star butchers, the world of eating has
changed remarkably in recent years. There’s never been a more exciting
time to be a food-lover, and yet we’re also increasingly concerned
about issues like food safety, sustainability, and health.

What will the food world look like in 30 years? Will traditional
restaurants still be around or we will be eating in a world of pop ups
and food trucks? Will scientists rule the kitchen?

We’ll talk to experts across the industry, including chef Michael
Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills,
marketing whizzes from Rooster Design Group, and writer and Food52
co-founder Amanda Hesser. (@amandahesser)

After the panel stay for demos by cocktail experts and chefs, tastings
by local producers, and cameos by some of the city’s cult food
vendors.

Looks like they will be feeding us too. We get to sample some food stuff. I am all for that. And what is food porn? What could that be?

I left this comment at Sam Lessin's Tumblr blog a few days back. (@lessin)

I am so looking forward to this, you won't believe. I am so surprised I was not even aware of this MeetUp's existence until the first week of February this year. Finding about this MeetUp has been one of my rewards for having attended Social Media Week events with abandon. http://technbiz.blogspot.com/2010/02/social-media-week-best-ny-tech-meetup.html

Wow. I am like wow. What a theme for a MeetUp. I like vision people, I like vision talk, I like talk about the future. I am such a huge fan of Esther Dyson, and it is because she is such a visionary. She is a remarkable woman in many other ways, but that is my primary reason to like her so much.

Y+30 is stretching it, it is hard enough to figure out what the landscape will look like one year from now, or five, 30 is eternity, but the year will roll around for sure, and the reward is not in ending up being accurate - I fully expect most of our predictions to fall flat on the face - but in making the effort itself. Those who think hard about the future live the present more fully.

I am so excited about this event, I fear I might miss it. I am feeling superstitious.

I am so glad you have Disqus integrated to your blog. Disqus is my idea of a micro blogging platform.

Another reward to me from Social Media Week has been Tumblr. I use Twitter to broadcast, Facebook to connect, and Buzz/Tumblr to listen. Glad to be following you on Tumblr.

Excited about tomorrow.

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