Chef Andy Ricker, owner of Portland’s famed Pok Pok restaurant, provides this breakdown of culinary delights in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I need to go to Asia:

What do you think? What kind of good meals have you had in Thailand?

Further proof that it’s not what you do, but how you do it, check out the showmanship involved in this vid:

Thoughts?

14 Foods That Won’t Make You Fat!

Avocado

avocado

Avocados are chock full of monounsaturated fats. An avocado contains about 20 grams of monounsaturated fat, which helps control blood sugar spikes that trigger fat storage.

Green Beans

green beans

Beans Beans the magical fruit the more you eat the more you….well….you know….so beans are high in fiber, vegetables in general help decrease the fat stored inside your body cavity around your organs. Visceral fat is more hazardous to your health than the fat found under your skin.

Bananas

bananas

A banana makes a great snack at 100 calories. Bananas are rich in potassium and low in fat, but are quite filling.

Citrus Fruits

citrus fruits

Citrus fruits can help burn fat more efficiently. Thy are known to actually “program” the liver to burn fat.

Pistachios

Pistachios

Pistachios have the least calories of all nuts, and they’re rich in fiber and healthy unsaturated fats. Pistachios are a great health snack choice not just because they’re delicious but also because cracking them open takes time, and the discarded shells provide a reminder as to how much you’ve wolfed down already!

Blueberries

blueberries

Blueberries help reduce fat and can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease…how come? Because they’re high in antioxidants.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon can help regulate blood sugar, which then prevents blood sugar surges that may cause fat to accumulate.

Green Tea

Green tea field

Green tea is known to easily stem off weight gain and burn fat.

Olive Oil

olive oil

A monounsaturated fat such as olive oil helps reduce body fat. Eating olive oil is all about controling your calories and replace unhealthy fats such as butter or cheese with healthy fats like olive oil. Substituting butter with oil for instance or a regular basis should yield noticeable results.

Green Veggies

green vegetables

Low in calories and high in nutrients and soluble fiber. An excellent addition to the diet of anyone looking to lose fat.

Salmon

salmon sashimi

Salmon is a great source of protein and it’s packed with essential omega-3 fatty acids, which help sustain muscle growth and lower cholesterol.

Almonds

almonds

Are a fantastic source of protein and fiber, almonds are high in monounsaturated fat and vitamin E, which work together to lower cholesterol. Eat just a palm full (10-12 per day) and you’re good to go!

Dark Chocolate

dark chocolate

Depending on the %…dark chocolate is normally low in sugar. We also also we get a brain boost from dark chocolate since it helps to reduce the production of the stress hormones…which in turn helps to reduce fat accumulation!

Flaxseed

flax seeds

The omega-3 fatty acids in flaxseed help with digestion, preventing insulin spikes which are known to cause fat storage. Flaxseed is a common source for omega-3 which is crucial to brain and overall health.

This animation, created for the RSA/Nominet Trust film competition, is based on Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” talk given at the RSA. The short film uses a mixture of stop-motion and compositing.

Check it out:

“Food Rules” by Michael Pollan – RSA/Nominet Trust competition from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

Click here to vote for this animation in the RSA/Nominet Trust film competition.

What do you think?

Celebrity English chef Jamie Oliver has apparently found the rare master tapes to Joy Division and New Order recordings while digging up the basement of a new Manchester restaurant.

The new restaurant is being built in what was once a bank, and evidently, a haul of tapes, guns, gold and jewelry have been found (with an estimated value of is £1.1 million!). Oliver has since given everything found in the basement to city authorities.

Pretty wild.

Think there are any undiscovered tunes in there?

Montreal’s Laurier BBQ is cutting whatever ties they might have had with Gordon Ramsay. There was quite a big fuss made when it was reported that Ramsay had “bought” the old Outremont chicken house, but as was clear from any visit to the restaurant, the English chef had very little to do with its reopening.

Well, the Montreal Gazette is now reporting that Ramsay’s name will be removed from the restaurant by the end of the week. Here’s what owner Danny Lavy had to say:

If there’s anything I like more than eating and cooking, it’s reading about food and all its spin off industries, discoveries and issues.

Here are some recent food articles that we enjoyed:

Chipotle Is Apple

Slate makes the case that the burrito chain is revolutionizing food and turning into a fast food version of Apple. The question, however, is why it doesn’t get more respect?

The Subway Falafel Sandwich and the Americanization of Ethnic Food
Good Lifestyle takes a peak at the arrival of the Falafel into Subway stores, and explores the acceptance of ethnic foods into the American mainstream.

Fracking Could Ruin New York’s Organic Food Industry
The ever vigilant Tree Hugger reports that fracking could affect hundreds of farms in New York. Can it destroy that stat’s organic food industry?

What Happens In Your Body When You Eat Ramen And Gatorade
A video from TEDxManhattan 2011 Fellow Stefani Bardin shows what happens in your body when you eat processed foods, and what happens when you eat homemade versions of similar foods. Try to watch this on an empty stomach…

Any other cool food-related stories we missed? Let us know. Sharing is caring!

If numbers are hard for you to visualize, check out this graphic display of the amount of sugar in food. The amounts shown for Snapple and ice cream, in particular, are really eye-opening.

Recently, the case has been made that sugar should be regulated like alcohol. The argument stems from a paper published by the Nature Publishing Group, which argues that:

Government imposed regulations on the marketing of alcohol to young people have been quite effective, but there is no such approach to sugar-laden products. Even so, the city of San Francisco, California, recently banned the inclusion of toys with unhealthy meals such as some types of fast food. A limit — or, ideally, ban — on television commercials for products with added sugars could further protect children’s health.

To start, [the Food and Drug Administration] should consider removing fructose from the Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) list, which allows food manufacturers to add unlimited amounts to any food. Opponents will argue that other nutrients on the GRAS list, such as iron and vitamins A and D, can also be toxic when over-consumed. However, unlike sugar, these substances have no abuse potential. Removal from the GRAS list would send a powerful signal to the European Food Safety Authority and the rest of the world.

What do you think?

Buy Your Breast Milk Online…errrr

Apparently breast milk has been sold through various breast milk banks (this is news to me) for decades for about $30 per Liter. Now apparently the new craze or fad or whatever you wanna call it….mothers everywhere have been trying to sell it through a website called Only the Breast.

Breast Milk Pumping

The reason for all this? Some women produce more milk than needed by their children and some…well not enough…so why not sell to those who need it and those who need can now get it! With this online service now selling milk at 40% of the previous $30 per liter price. Only issue here is there is no screening of the breast milk…it’s all based on the honour system…doesn’t sound too appealing if you ask me….what about all the DNS and blood work? What are the risks here?

Well at the end of the day…it’s a body fluid, it’s not regulated and not illegal. But consuming anonymous breast milk can lead to exposure to HIV for instance.

Breast Milk Pump

Would you buy breast milk from an anonymous source online for your baby? What if you were desperate?

Fastcodesign.com has been highlighting the work of Brock Davis, who takes humdrum objects and turns them into something altogether more interesting. Check out these food-related “sculptures”:

What do you think?