Added 8 July, 2013
No longer just a special-diet staple, top chefs are using nut milk in dishes from breakfast to dinner. Almond milk, which is popular among the juice-cleanse crowd, is leading the charge of these concoctions, which are generally made by pureeing nuts with water and sometimes flavoring, such as vanilla, sugar or trendier sweeteners like agave nectar...
Added 8 July, 2013
Haussmann Famille, part of French wine house Chateaux En Bordeaux, has launched what it claims is the world's first cola-flavored wine. Rouge Sucette is a red wine with 9-percent alcohol created from grapes and added aromas. It's being distributed to supermarkets throughout France. Pauline Lacombe, marketing director for Hausmann Famille, said the...
Added 3 July, 2013
The newly opened Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi has a Camel Milk Mixologist who is crafting beverages with freshly muddled ingredients infused with locally-sourced camel milk. "Camel milk has only recently been introduced to the main-stream consumer," said Mijana restaurant manager Hasan Al Masri. Camel milk chocolate is currently being made in Austria...
Added 2 July, 2013
The Coca-Cola Company is market testing Coke Life in Argentina, a new formula that uses stevia instead corn syrup. Stevia is a natural sweetener from the herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family, native to subtropical and tropical regions of South America that is well-known to Argentinians. Coke Life has half the calories of regular Coke and is...
Added 29 June, 2013
Transparency has been a huge by-word in the trends world for some time now. But how do you take advantage of this trend when you run a sushi restaurant? Robert Ruiz, chef of two-unit Harney Sushi in San Diego and Oceanside, Calif. Ruiz uses edible ink to print the QR codes on rice wafers he serves with sushi. Customers with smartphones can follow...
Added 28 June, 2013
In Brazil, demonstrations against huge spending on football while many of the country's citizens lack basic services are attracting hundreds of thousands of protesters. Against this backdrop, Champagne Taittinger has just announced that is has secured "official Champagne" status for its namesake brand at next year's FIFA World Cup football...
Added 28 June, 2013
Bitcoin is getting another real-life boost at the Pembury Tavern in Hackney, east London, as well as its sister pubs in Cambridge, Norwich and Peterborough, all of which are now accepting the virtual currency. Pub founder Stephen Early, a former computer scientist, created a Bitcoin payment system that is now in use at the pubs. The bar staff...
Added 26 June, 2013
Despite recent economic wobbles and political shake-ups, Australian consumers continue to spend more when eating out than those in the US, Japan, France or the UK. When adjusted to US dollars, Australians spent an average of US$8.81 when eating out during the first quarter this year, a 4.4 percent rise on this time last year. In contrast the...
Added 25 June, 2013
Created for passengers of Virgin Trains, the high-speed rail lines around England, this latest brand extension for Virgin shows how more and more brands are seeing themselves as "lifestyle" brands, ones that offer a host of products and services that cater to their customers' sensibilities. Named "Tilting Ale," this Virgin beer is fully alcoholic...
Added 24 June, 2013
Shark fin soup is an expensive delicacy that has long been a staple of high-end weddings and other events in China. But thanks to a new eco-awareness, the brutal capture and "finning" of live sharks that are then thrown back in the ocean to die is on the wane. And shark fin soup is becoming more of a shame than a way of showing-off. And businesses...