What do popcorn, spaghetti, fennel and noodles all have in common? They're this week's food & design news. From fashion collabs, to innovative design tools, street foraging and potentially poisonous popcorn snacks, we've rounded up some of our most interesting finds.
Bronze fennel: a sidewalk ingredient that's been hiding in plain sight
"Fennel is in the umbel family, which includes carrots and coriander. Unlike Florence fennel, bronze fennel – Foeniculum vulgare purpureum – will not form a bulb. A lesser-known variety, it doesn’t quite make a regular appearance in grocery stores or even farmers’ markets. However, it’s actually pretty available – you’ve probably seen it growing wild by the roadside, and you can buy seeds and potted plants at nurseries. Its culinary uses abound." (source: The Guardian)
Cup Noodle: The Fork
Momofuku Ando from Nissin Foods Group is the mastermind behind the famous Cup Noodle design, after "he saw Americans taking his previous invention, the chicken noodle, breaking it in half, putting it in a cup instead of a bowl and eating it with a fork instead of chopsticks. This is what’s said to have inspired him to create Nissin’s Cup Noodle: a design that can be enjoyed by people all over the world. Almost exactly 48 years later, Nissin is releasing a fork in collaboration with design studio nendo, that’s been specifically designed for that exact purpose."
Designed with specific angles to make the user experience the best possible, this fork needs to be the next thing on your ktichen-ware-to-get list for those lazy Sunday evenings.
Watch the instructional video here.
"Dinner's Ready" for GCDS x BARILLA
The film was made by Nadia Lee Cohen starring Sophia Loren. "Inspired by the 1960’s technicolor back lots from the films of Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock, the film moves through red brick streets, gritty subways, dark jazz clubs, and paradise beach highways, depicting a day in the life of a cornucopia of cast members, all on their way to a once in a lifetime meal."
‘Forever Chemicals’ Are in Your Popcorn—and Your Blood
Did you know? "Food packaging can contain a group of chemicals called PFAS, which have been linked to immune, thyroid, kidney, and reproductive health problems. Next time you pick up a pizza from your favorite pizzeria and toss the box in your front seat, think about why the grease doesn’t saturate through the cardboard onto your upholstery. Or when you hear popcorn bursting in a bag in your microwave, consider why the oil doesn’t ooze out and the paper doesn’t burst into flames, even when some kernels turn black."