Weekly roundup of great reads on food and wine #25

The Observer Food Monthly has a list of the 50 hottest places, people and trends in food. Like all lists there is bound to be disagreement as to what has not made it to this list. Nevertheless, this is full of information on all matters related to food, so make sure you bookmark it and keep it as a reference point.

Robert Parker, the influential wine critic has advised against buying wine as an investment. He pointed out that given the professional storage costs, slow appreciation and insurance costs, investment in wine is a tough and often fruitless endeavour. We do not necessarily agree with his 100 point system but agree that wine is there for enjoyment and not as an investment.

Tim Atkin writes about the en primeur system in Bordeaux. He says that the system, to sell wine years before it is bottled, is outmoded, outdated and out of touch with modern consumers. We fully agree. Ultimately consumers will decide, but it might actually start to make sense for Bordeaux wineries to get out of the system (Château Latour withdrew in 2012).

French chef Yannick Alleno has shown a new way of making sauces which he calls extractions. He has been working on this for over two years. The basic technique involves first ‘extracting’ liquids from ingredients.

This is in Italian but the graphic is easy to follow. It lists the 10 most starred female chefs in the world. The list includes Elena Arzak, Anne-Sophie Pic, Clare Smyth and Nadia Santini among others. The article also notes that for once, the numbers favour Italy. Out of 110 female Michelin star chefs, 47 are Italian.

We have come across a very interesting article about food allergies in Australia. Food scientists now believe that something is sabotaging our immune systems. Some of the reasons for the increase in allergies includes over-processed food, insufficient vitamin D and possibly our expanding waist-lines.

There is no question that the Hong Kong food scene is incredibly interesting. Here is a culinary guide to Hong Kong by Richard Vines who lived in the city and returned back to say that Hong Kong’s love of food has not changed since he moved there more than 30 years ago.

We all love chocolate. Here is a great interview with the head pastry chef at Astrid y Gaston in Lima, Peru. She showcases a desert which has many contrasts. It’s a thin dark chocolate sphere.

A high profile experiment in wasting nothing started a few days ago at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill restaurant in Greenwich Village.  The restaurant will turn into a pop-up called wastED, to run through the end of the month, with a menu of dishes devised from leftovers like stems, peelings, rinds and bones, by a roster of guest chefs who will change each evening. The subject of food waste, an environmental and economic problem, is starting to gain attention in the culinary world. This project therefore deserves all the attention it is getting.

There is a thought-provoking article (in Italian) about how the economic crisis has taken its toll on the Mediterranean diet of Italians. According to the article, the crisis has led Italians to decrease consumption of things which are basic to the Mediterranean diet such as extra-virgin olive oil, wine, fruit and vegetables, pasta and bread. Consumption of olive oil has decreased by 25% while fresh fruit and vegetable consumption has also gone down by 7%.

Massimo Bottura was recently in Canada. Here is an interview with Canadian chef Bob Gentile and the Italian chef. He says that the most important ingredient for him is his brain. We have to agree with him.

And to conclude, we leave you with a guide on Besançon. It is an interview with chef Raymond Blanc who will co-host Kew on a Plate from tomorrow on BBC2.