July food news: editor's pick

Dalston Cola by The Treehouse Kitchen

In Igboland, Nigeria, elders bless Kola nuts with incantations as a ritual to make visitors feel welcome. In Dalston, London, food entrepreneurs Steve Wilson and Duncan O’Brien of The Treehouse Kitchen are revisiting Coca Cola’s original recipe, employing the same nuts for the new Dalston Cola.  

The pair’s cloudy take on the ever-popular drink uses organic Fairtrade ingredients sourced locally from Ridley Road Market, to deliver a zesty, natural-tasting version that’s low in sugar and carbonated by hand.

treehousekitchen.co.uk

Writer: Alex Moore

1722965117001

Chocolate Mill by Studio Wieki Somers and Rafael Mutter

During Art Basel, to celebrate the experimental methods of Gerrit Rietveld, a number of innovative Dutch designers were invited to join forces with artisans from the Basel region to develop design projects; the finishing touches of which would be exhibited live at Vitra Design Museum. By adapting a Swiss cheese slicer to shave delicate rosettes from a giant block of chocolate, Studio Wieki Somers and local chocolatier Rafael Mutter created the ‘Chocolate Mill.’ The design, based on African Bobo masks, has memories inserted into it like fossils, allowing one image to appear while another gets devoured.

www.wiekisomers.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Time Vodka by RUX Design

When asked by Time Vodka to design ‘not another vodka bottle,’ RUX began their assignment by deconstructing the traditional vodka bottle. It was decided that the neck, the cap and the large print on the label were features that had needlessly stood the test of time. A re-design combining the cap and neck sees the shoulders of the bottle pierced by a distinct spike (inspired by a clock’s hour hand) within which a spring-loaded measured pourer and closure device (inspired by the crown of a watch) regulates a precise pour.  Still only a prototype, we hope to see this behind bars soon.

ruxdesign.net

Writer: Alex Moore

Time Vodka by RUX Design

When asked by Time Vodka to design ‘not another vodka bottle,’ RUX began their assignment by deconstructing the traditional vodka bottle. It was decided that the neck, the cap and the large print on the label were features that had needlessly stood the test of time. A re-design combining the cap and neck sees the shoulders of the bottle pierced by a distinct spike (inspired by a clock’s hour hand) within which a spring-loaded measured pourer and closure device (inspired by the crown of a watch) regulates a precise pour.  Still only a prototype, we hope to see this behind bars soon.

ruxdesign.net

Writer: Alex Moore

Pirwi lazy susan

Since setting up shop back in 2007, Mexican design collective Pirwi has consistently used artisanal craftsmanship to modern ends. Among its new launches for this year comes a pair of rotating centrepieces by Cecilia Léon de la Barra, which take styling cues from informational pie charts and mathematical fractions, hence becoming the 'Lazy' Susan’s antithesis. Made from small pieces of birch plywood, each turntable (available in two sizes), is a little bit different.

www.pirwi.com

Writer: Pei-Ruh Keh

 

Album Vilmorin - The Vegetable Garden

With heritage vegetables very much in vogue, Taschen have published the pick of the bunch of botanic catalogues, ‘Album Vilmorin – The Vegetable Garden.’ At the time when Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie were the most important seed company in the world (1850-1895) they published ‘Album Vilmorin.  Les Plantes potagères,’ featuring forty-six magnificent colour plates of agro-botanic iconography. These heirloom illustrations have been reproduced, indexed and are accompanied by a detailed history and usage of each plant, providing a stunning resource for anyone interested in old varieties of fruit and veg.

www.taschen.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Album Vilmorin - The Vegetable Garden

With heritage vegetables very much in vogue, Taschen have published the pick of the bunch of botanic catalogues, ‘Album Vilmorin – The Vegetable Garden.’ At the time when Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie were the most important seed company in the world (1850-1895) they published ‘Album Vilmorin.  Les Plantes potagères,’ featuring forty-six magnificent colour plates of agro-botanic iconography. These heirloom illustrations have been reproduced, indexed and are accompanied by a detailed history and usage of each plant, providing a stunning resource for anyone interested in old varieties of fruit and veg.

www.taschen.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

John’s Jaguars on Valencia Street, San Francisco, has been converted into three new retail spaces, one of which is contemporary patisserie Craftsman and Wolves - the first outing for boutique hospitality group Outfit Generic.

Chef William Werner, previously executive pastry chef at Quince and then Tell Tale Preserve Company (which we awarded for it’s pastries and preserves in 2011) has devised an ever-changing menu.  Pastries, cakes, confections, confitures, desserts, and a small selection of savoury fare – created specifically for morning, lunch and evening - fill a twenty-foot Italian pastry cabinet. Werner’s cube cakes will be the main attraction but The Devil Inside, a foi gras and caramel filled chocolate cake, is bound to attract attention.

craftsman-wolves.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

John’s Jaguars on Valencia Street, San Francisco, has been converted into three new retail spaces, one of which is contemporary patisserie Craftsman and Wolves - the first outing for boutique hospitality group Outfit Generic.

Chef William Werner, previously executive pastry chef at Quince and then Tell Tale Preserve Company (which we awarded for it’s pastries and preserves in 2011) has devised an ever-changing menu.  Pastries, cakes, confections, confitures, desserts, and a small selection of savoury fare – created specifically for morning, lunch and evening - fill a twenty-foot Italian pastry cabinet. Werner’s cube cakes will be the main attraction but The Devil Inside, a foi gras and caramel filled chocolate cake, is bound to attract attention.

craftsman-wolves.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

John’s Jaguars on Valencia Street, San Francisco, has been converted into three new retail spaces, one of which is contemporary patisserie Craftsman and Wolves - the first outing for boutique hospitality group Outfit Generic.

Chef William Werner, previously executive pastry chef at Quince and then Tell Tale Preserve Company (which we awarded for it’s pastries and preserves in 2011) has devised an ever-changing menu.  Pastries, cakes, confections, confitures, desserts, and a small selection of savoury fare – created specifically for morning, lunch and evening - fill a twenty-foot Italian pastry cabinet. Werner’s cube cakes will be the main attraction but The Devil Inside, a foi gras and caramel filled chocolate cake, is bound to attract attention.

craftsman-wolves.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Craftsman and Wolves, San Francisco

John’s Jaguars on Valencia Street, San Francisco, has been converted into three new retail spaces, one of which is contemporary patisserie Craftsman and Wolves - the first outing for boutique hospitality group Outfit Generic.

Chef William Werner, previously executive pastry chef at Quince and then Tell Tale Preserve Company (which we awarded for it’s pastries and preserves in 2011) has devised an ever-changing menu.  Pastries, cakes, confections, confitures, desserts, and a small selection of savoury fare – created specifically for morning, lunch and evening - fill a twenty-foot Italian pastry cabinet. Werner’s cube cakes will be the main attraction but The Devil Inside, a foi gras and caramel filled chocolate cake, is bound to attract attention.

craftsman-wolves.com

Writer: Alex Moore

Italo Eataly

Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and a consortium of private investors are on a mission to provide a better train service between major Italian cities. Aside from whizzing you from A to B at 360 km/h, the new Italo trains offer an exclusive Eataly lunch delivered to your Poltrona Frau-designed leather seat. Three artisan Italoboxes (inspired by the Japanese bentobox); L’Orto (seasonal veg), Il Tagliere (cheeses and cured meats) and Il Gustoso (meat or fish), consisting of regional specialties, are revised every two weeks to stay in tune with the seasons.

www.eataly.it

Writer: Alex Moore

The Italo train

Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and a consortium of private investors are on a mission to provide a better train service between major Italian cities. Aside from whizzing you from A to B at 360 km/h, the new Italo trains offer an exclusive Eataly lunch delivered to your Poltrona Frau-designed leather seat. Three artisan Italoboxes (inspired by the Japanese bentobox); L’Orto (seasonal veg), Il Tagliere (cheeses and cured meats) and Il Gustoso (meat or fish), consisting of regional specialties, are revised every two weeks to stay in tune with the seasons.

www.eataly.it

Writer: Alex Moore

Anne-Sophie Pic Jams

Since childhood, Three Michelin Star French chef Anne-Sophie Pic has had a soft spot for homemade jams. Building on this affection, she has developed her own collection of fruit preserves - with a twist. Cooked with less sugar to keep the fruit fresh-tasting, Pic has paired each fruit with a spice or flavour enhancer. 'Think raspberry laced with coffee, apricot rounded out with a touch of amber beer, citrus fruits pepped up with juniper, or pineapple boosted by ginger,' elaborates the chef. Fraise Gariguette is the only jam in which the fruit is left unpaired, because by Pic’s reckoning, you can’t mess with a strawberry. 'What else would you want to add to such a precious and unique fruit?' she reasons. It’s not Pic’s first retail venture – she has packaged spices and co-created plates and knives, but you sense it’s the one closest to her heart.

pic-e-store.com

Writer: Marie Le Fort