José Andrés, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has become the face of American disaster relief: Unlike the president, Homeland Security or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, José Andrés has no responsibility to respond to natural disasters, and yet the Washington celebrity chef has become a reliable presence in disaster zones, deploying his Chef Network to help feed thousands of displaced people. Andrés was among the first responders in Haiti and Houston, and now he and his crew from World Central Kitchen are on the ground in Puerto Rico, improvising ways to feed countless residents who are stranded without electricity, drinking water and food in the wake of Hurricane Maria. With little ability to speak with the outside world, Andrés has used his Twitter feed to keep followers updated on his progress in the U.S. territory.
A Battle to Save the World’s Favorite Treat: Chocolate: The trees of the International Cacao Collection grow here in an astonishing diversity of forms, bearing skinny cacao pods with scorpion-stinger protrusions, spherical green pods that could be mistaken for tomatillos, oblong pods with bumpy skin resembling that of the horned lizard — all in colors ranging from deep purple to bright yellow.
Slovenia’s Ana Ros on Japanese cuisine and gender equality among chefs: Early one September morning, Ana Ros, Slovenia’s most famous chef, is receiving a crash course in Japanese seafood at Tsukiji fish market. At one stall, she samples two kinds of sea urchin from Hokkaido, along with an assortment of shellfish that includes ishigakegai, a large cockle with a speckled auburn shell. As Ros lifts a slice of the clam from the plate, the fishmonger scoops up a few live specimens from a tank. The bivalves appear to dance as their long, tongue-like necks dart out and curl around their shells.
Food industry push to hide new enzyme ‘stinks to high heaven’ – activist: Activists have expressed alarm at a growing push by the food industry to hide new enzymes in everyday food products. Australia’s food regulator, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, is currently considering an industry application to use a new protein-glutaminase to process food.
Amazon Dealt a Distribution Blow: Amazon’s entry into the wine business looks like a giant blimp of doom for local wine shops. However, like the Hindenburg, it may have run into an unexpected snag. With its purchase last month of Whole Foods, Amazon seemed to have suddenly gained the ability to sell – and deliver – wine in most of the 42 states with a Whole Foods grocery store. Amazon has thrashed small independent retailers in many fields, but a successful strategy for selling wine had always been elusive for it because each state’s laws are different.
Ventoux — the next hot thing: Ventoux must be one of the southern French appellations that has changed most in the past 20 years. The name has shortened for a start, from a tentative Côtes du Ventoux to the proud single word, one that has such resonance for cyclists and armchair followers of the Tour de France. You can see the testing cone that is Mont Ventoux from miles around and the local vignerons make much of the cooling influence of this landmark, by far the highest mountain in western Provence.
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