snacktime

Hey Now–Growling for Pringles

What is the music playing in the background of the Pringles “crop circle” commercial for their new multigrain flavor? Sure sounds like Shut Up Foodies’ favorite band The Growlers!! Even if it is not, TGIF and you should all listen to the Growlers as much as possible. These brave young men are all about summer.

UPDATE: Turns out this song is by The Cloud Room, who are friends and neighbors of ours! Sorry dudes, and congrats on the commercial.

They are even good sideways.

Oh and remember “multigrain” doesn’t mean “whole grain.”

Would You Like One Scoop of Jesus or Two?

Quote from the 4,000 word story in the Times about Humphrey Slocumbe ice cream:

Leah Rosenberg, an artist and a pastry chef, says, “The first time I tasted Jesus Juice sorbet, I felt like someone, at long last, understood me.”

Funnily enough, her art (above) kind of looks like ice cream–the review even says “It looks good enough to eat!”

So You Want To Be a Farmworker…

Oh sure, it seems like a lot of fun, raising chickens in the city and growing vegetables on the roof, but admit it–deep down inside you’ve always wanted to take your authenticity to the next level and be a real farmworker. Now, thanks to the United Farmworkers, you can! They’ve launched a brilliant new website: Take Our Jobs, which gives you the opportunity to not only return to the land, but possibly take employment away from a pesky undocumented worker. Epic win!

All you have to do is fill out an application. As the website says:

Farm workers are ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field, we will use our knowledge and staff to help connect the unemployed with farm employers. Just fill out the form to the right and continue on to the request for job application.

There’s a brief job description:

Job may include using hand tools such as knives, hoes, shovels, etc. Duties may include tilling the soil, transplanting, weeding, thinning, picking, cutting, sorting & packing of harvested produce. May set up & operate irrigation equip. Work is performed outside in all weather conditions (Summertime 90+ degree weather) & is physically demanding requiring workers to bend, stoop, lift & carry up to 50 lbs on a regular basis.

Sign up today!

–Snacktime (I spotted this on Civil Eats, a terrific website; Stephen Colbert, who is the national spokesperson for the campaign, will be highlighting it on his show July 8th)

The Hunger

The NYT writes about a study today that suggests (the sample was only 20 people) metabolic factors affect decision-making–in short, hungry people take bigger risks. As one person pointed out in the comments, it seems to make evolutionary sense. If you’re full, no need to chase after that scary woolly mammoth or hike into unknown territory. If you’re hungry, it might seem worthwhile.

I was intrigued that the Times chose to frame their discussion of the findings in terms of  wealthy finance-industry players, writing, “Maybe what Wall Street’s risk-loving bankers really need is a better diet.” They even had a picture of a fat cat!

Really, New York Times? Exactly how hungry do you think people on Wall Street are? I’m guessing: Not at all. Is there any evidence at all that rich folks are hungry, other than maybe those on diets? The Times is all hahah, maybe we can blame the financial meltdown on this! It’s so telling to me that they didn’t think that perhaps hunger made the victims of Wall Street more vulnerable to the hucksterism and shady dealings of sub-prime predators.

The study itself used purchasing lottery tickets as its measure of risk-taking behavior. The subjects who were hungry chose riskier odds. Hmm, who plays the lottery in real life? It is disproportionately people with lower incomes. A Carnegie-Mellon study found that (surprise), those with fewer resources are more desperate for changes in their circumstances and find the concept of a lottery appealing, because, in theory, anyone can win.

We know the brain needs food. That’s why school lunch programs and making sure children eat breakfast are so important. That’s why we support NYC’s free meal program for children under 18. That’s why we were dismayed to read today that so many states and municipalities are cutting such programs, especially during a time of economic crisis. Because we are a lot more worried about kids going hungry than we are about bankers missing a meal.

–Snacktime

The Sandwich Murders

The food world is so bloodthirsty lately! Many of my San Francisco friends are fans of Ike’s Place, a sandwich joint in the Castro. Ike’s Place is currently dealing with some neighbors attempting to shut the business down–Eater has devoted no less than eight posts on the topic. The court date is tomorrow! But the Eater coverage pales in comparison to this guy, who breathlessly blogged:

I feel like this is San Francisco’s OJ Simpson Trial.  If the food bloggers were the jurors, Ike’s would get off, bloody baguette and all.

Uh, wow.  He also says he has never even been there! However, I almost forgive him for comparing the closing of  a sandwich shop to the slaughter of two people, because he pointed us to the fantastic comments on this vegansaurus post.  The original poster is very gung ho, issuing a rallying cry for people to support Ike’s Place, but his readers are more interested in discussing karma (mean people work at Ike’s) and the fact that someone PhotoShopped Keanu Reeves into the photo above. Yeah, I don’t get it either.–Snacktime

PS Ike’s does have twenty vegan sandwiches! Impressive.