ICFF: Abel Partners - Tea Diver

I so loved Abel Partner's Tea Diver. Such a fun way to steep your tea!

3D Print Your Dinner

Evil geniuses/scientists at our alma mater strike again - this time pairing up with the FCI to use 3D printers to print edible forms too complex or small for regular humans to make. This particular ship is made of scallops and cheese. Mmmmm tiny spaceships.

via CBC

Sub-Studio 2010 Gift Guide: Gold

Sub-Studio 2010 Gift Guide: Brown

Hijos De Villa Pistol Reposado Tequila

Okay, so this isn't really new, but a friend gave me this Hijos De Villa Pistol Reposado Tequila set for my birthday last week, and I thought it was rather clever and funny for a bottle of alcohol. It's a shot of tequila!

Alex Creamer - NYC Spaghetti

This was way too awesome not to post about here - Alex Creamer, a student at the University of Central Lancashire designed the conceptual NYC Spaghetti packaging:

"I created this spaghetti packaging for a university project last year. The brief was to package one of 5 difficult items i.e. eggs, a rose, custard powder, spaghetti or marbles. I chose spaghetti. The spaghetti sits on a 3d model of the chrysler building that was modelled on CAD by my friend Ben Thorpe. And then modelled out of high density foam at uni. Creating a spaghetti model of the Chrysler building!"

My only critique of the packaging itself is that it would have been nice to have the spaghetti graphic run all the way to the bottom of the packaging (ie. complete the building), rather than starting only at the top half of the box.

Awesome work, Alex! Via the Dieline.

Nathalia Ponomareva

This has made the rounds already but I love it enough to post it here anyway - origami Green Berry Teabags by Nathalia Ponomareva (thank you Skazka for finding the link to her website!). How beautiful would this look in a clear teacup? As the tea infuses, the origami shape expands and becomes more full. I hope these hit the US market soon!

Jung You - Sweet Tear

Oh my gosh - I love this...Sweet Tear by Jung You. Jung You's description of the project is a little on the jaded side, but..."It's for every cup of coffee that is bitter like our lives. It's a tear of sweet consolation in these short precious moments."

Via Grijs.

Sub-Studio 2008 Gift Guide: Clear

Alright - I know clear isn't really a color, but it should be! This is the last of our gift guide installments...There lots of great designers out there making affordable goods (with a few exceptions!). We hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed bringing them to you and that you were able to find something for your special someone...Happy Friday and happy holidays!

Moto - Homaro Cantu's Process

A few interesting asides I came across while researching Moto - Chef Cantu is developing edible advertising! An excerpt from a Cnet interview:

Cnet: So edible ads will be a printed substance you can eat, like a wafer?
Cantu: Yeah. You open up a magazine, there's a small plastic thing in there, and you rip it open. It looks like a cheeseburger, tastes like a cheeseburger, it's made from all organic ingredients. In some cases it doesn't contain the ingredients that we would associate with that picture. But the key thing you've got to remember with edible ads is it's got to be an allergen-free substrate. If it's not, then you go do a peanut ad, and there's real peanuts in there, then somebody's going to die.

And, a little bit more about Chef Cantu's techniques, via I, Science.

A laser normally used in surgery or welding has been exploited by Cantu to create "insideout" food. Steaks are seared in the centre but become less well-done towards the edges. Laser-cooked bread rolls can be served alongside the edible menu, with crusts in the middle and soft dough outside.

The epicurean experimenter has been playing with ice as well as fire, creating several dishes that involve freezing by liquid nitrogen. One of Moto's desserts is created by filling a sphere with fruit juice and spinning it while applying liquid nitrogen to form a thin, frozen shell. Cantu is hoping that one day he will be able to inject helium into this shell and float it like a balloon in front of diners.

In case the helium trick doesn't work, Cantu's got a backup plan for levitating food, using superconductors and handheld ion particle guns. So far, he's managed to levitate salt and sugar but he eventually wants to make entire dishes fly around the restaurant.

Moto - Homaro Cantu

Above photo credit: Musings of a Fat Chick

Dinner at Chef Homaro Cantu's Moto was an interesting experience, to say the least. On our first night in Chicago, our VW group made its way to the Fulton River District, an area of Chicago that resembles NYC's meatpacking district - though the Fulton River District still seems as though it's used mainly for that purpose. Inside Moto, the decor was white with a few color accents, a background for the more striking appearance of the food to come.



Our meal began with chips and salsa - an edible menu being the chip. The menu was created with a standard inkjet printer, using edible paper and food-based inks, and read 20 items long...intimidating, to say the least!



The evening started quietly with some interesting tastes. Liquid center scallop and kalamata and feta were first. Followed by the liquefied greek salad - a shot of cucumber and tomato flavors distilled to a clear liquid, which was actually quite tasty. A nitro sushi roll and oil spill was next. The oil spill was a commentary on the state of ocean pollution, including an edible packing peanut, exxon edible paper and squid ink masquerading as crude oil. Biscuit creme brulee and ants on a log with foie gras passed without much interest. The next three were the start of the more diverse experiments. Seared buffalo hot wing flavored edible paper with the lime and mint syringe mojito complimented each other nicely.



Cuban missle crisis was the most interesting presentation of the night. A cuban sandwich in the form of a half-smoked cigar served on an ashtray. Fresh from the garden was a quail dish that was a nicely done conventional dish as was the smoked brisket and cornbread.



Following those was the roadkill of fowl which included pulled duck and ornaments of a mushroom brain and some blood colored dressing and marshmallow. The fajita and aromatic utensils were an interpretation of the form of the fajita. Peppers and onions were cooked into a small bouillon-like cube that was to be smeared with the beef. The coriander within the spiraling handle of the fork is tasted with the nose instead of the tongue.



The desserts lent themselves to a playful "under the sea" presentation as well as a reversal of conventions because there is less expectation of what desserts should look and taste like. Deserts of note were the jellyfish shaped coconut and ginger milk ball, and the delicious white coconut and peanut dessert (complete with pop rocks!).

My biggest criticism of the meal is that there was no way to see how the food was constructed. Having seen Chef Cantu on Iron Chef, I loved the different processes his team used to create the dishes. At Moto, the food is stripped of its larger narrative, leaving only the end product without relieving one's curiosity about how it's created. Would I go back? Maybe in a few years. Molecular gastronomy is a fascinating field and I support everything they are doing. But when it comes down to a good meal, our dinner at MK was more what I expected and I enjoyed my phenomenal bison steak and beer there, without a second thought. In the end, however, Moto was a great experience and it's something that I'm glad we were able to experience.

Photos of the meal at MOTO on our flickr

Edible

Antlix Lollipops, Toffee Scorpion Candy, Giant Toasted Ants...just a few of the tasty delights that you can find over at Edible. Beyond being exotic, I love the packaging and beautifully crafted products. Check out more images and products at my full post on Notcot.