Fried flowers and Low-Carb Mexican 🌸
The best place to start your day with Chinese tea, prison food, Australian coffee and AI-developed wine
Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place to start your day with Chinese tea, prison food, Australian coffee and AI-developed wine
Hi there!
There must be something wrong in the relationship between food and public events (or in my Google search workflow).
A few days ago, during the Paris Fashion Week, the Louvre Museum hosted a stellar dinner - le Grand Dîner du Louvre - with lots of well dressed celebs. It was a success: it collected 1,4 million euros for the museum.
"Dîner" means "Dinner" so I expected to easily find anyone who communicated the menu by cheffe Anne-Sophie Pic, that delighted about 350 people. Nor the Louvre, nor Pic herself.
It's such a pity when food is such an undervalued aspect - while an overpriced accessory - in something called "dinner".
If Paris disappointed me, Beijing means certitude: the National People’s Congress with its iconic tea-ladies it's always there.
That's why they earned the picture spot in today's newsletter. 谢谢!
Piero
Picture: Hostesses prepare tea for delegates before the plenary session for National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
✹Pablo Neruda, poet. What would he think about these Lemon Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms (★recipe)?
Recipes of hope
Sepideh Gholian, an Iranian political prisoner, documents her experiences and resistance against the regime through this "cookbook". It features recipes like pumpkin pie dedicated to fellow activist (and Nobel Prize) Narges Mohammadi, and date crumble for Fatima Muthanna. What to say? Her work illuminates the harsh realities of imprisonment under the Iranian government, while also highlighting acts of solidarity and resilience within the prison, amidst a context of political suppression and limited freedoms.
The Evin Prison Bakers' Club. Surviving Iran's Most Notorious Prisons in 16 Recipes by Sepideh Gholian
→ Shortplot: 🇮🇷 🥮 📚 🕊️
A damn fine cup of coffee
So, Noma, the culinary powerhouse, started brewing their own coffee. It it not just a gimmick; it is a statement. They always wanted to control every aspect of the dining experience, from the foraged ingredients to the final cup.
And I must admit that, when I had dinner there I was astonished by the quality of the coffee: I had two or three cups served in a well-thought clay cup.
This attention to detail reflects a growing trend in the specialty coffee world, a shift towards treating coffee less as a commodity and more as a crafted experience (Speaking of crafted experiences, according to the Top 100 Best Coffee Shops, Toby's Estate in Sydney, Australia, holds the title of the world's best).
The journey from bean to cup is complex, as exemplified by Noma's exploration of coffee production in Colombia. It's a reminder that coffee, like wine, deserves to be appreciated for the labor and artistry behind it.
We need to move away from the idea of cheap coffee and recognize the value of sustainable practices, fair wages for farmers, and the meticulous process that goes into producing a truly exceptional cup. Just as we wouldn't expect a fine wine to be mass-produced and sold at rock-bottom prices, we should extend the same respect to coffee. Treating coffee as a premium product ensures a better future for everyone involved in its production, from the farmers in the fields to the baristas crafting your morning brew.
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AI made its way to vineyards. Here's how the technology is helping make your wine
Sarah Parvini / AP
In vineyards, AI is used in tractors to map rows, gather data on crop health, and enable autonomous driving for tasks like spraying and irrigation, contributing to "precision farming." Additionally, AI helps in analyzing vineyard conditions to predict yields, detect diseases, and optimize resource use, assisting farmers in making informed decisions and improving efficiency. Wow!
Welcome to the Zero Sum Era. Now How Do We Get Out
Damien Cave / The New York Times
A zero-sum game is a situation where one person's gain is equivalent to another person's loss, so the net change in wealth or benefit is zero. Imagine baking a single pie. If two people want the pie, and one person eats a larger slice, the other person automatically gets a smaller slice. There's a limited amount of pie, so one person's gain (more pie) directly results in the other person's loss (less pie). Ok, then: what if that is the zeitgeist of the world we live now? Where the win-win framework has gone?
