All Natural Fizz

You gotta love the family behind HOTLIPS SODA - they own five pizzerias! The Portland based, family owned and operated bottlers set their standards high in '05, creating maybe the best fruit sodas on the market today! Every bottle is made with vine-ripened, local fruit such as raspberries, cherries, blackberries, apples, pears and boysenberries.

"We use cane sugar, water and organic lemon juice; there are no added artificial flavors, colorings, or essences. Our soda is incredibly fresh, delicate, and very labor intensive to make. No one but us is crazy enough, in love enough, or daring enough to make something like it. Owner, HotLips

HotLips Soda

177th Tapping

This year marks the 177th tapping of the first barrel of beer celebrating Oktoberfest in Munich. What better way to celebrate than have the party last for weeks - this year September 18 - October 4.

Hofbräuhaus prides itself in being the most famous beer hall in the world. You can expect oompah bands, waitresses in traditional "Dirndls", homebrew beer in one-liter steins, and hearty Bavarian food such as veal sausage with sweet mustard, crackling pork roast and pretzels.

You can join in the celebrations and make yourself some hot baked pretzels. For My Hot Baked Pretzel Recipe.

images: hofbraeuhaus

Agropolis

Concept for a combined farm, restaurant and retail store. Is this a trend or the future of shopping and dining? Well, both. Concept was released last week at the Nordic Exceptional Trendshop in Denmark by the Agropolis Team.  

Their belief is - we can source our food in 90% less water, 80% less space, and 100% less pesticides to grow the world’s food supply. And, a place where food is not transported a single mile to reach the consumer. 

Although the technology is not new, their concept takes hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponic farming one step further by combining the farm within the retail store and restaurant is. Can you imagine going into your local grocery store and picking fresh fruits and vegetables grown right on premise? Sustainability taken one step further. Nutrients from fish in aquaculture tanks will feed the plants, and the store becomes an entire ecosystem. An on site restaurant also serves produce from the urban farm.

This notion is not new by the standards of many cultures of eating local and seasonal. There is a big movement today to eat local, with restaurant chefs leading the way. Chefs are very passionate about the location of their food source and even growing their own. Many of my colleagues/friends feel it's the only way. A prime example is friend, Chef Joseph Realmuto of Nick & Toni’s Restaurant in East Hampton, New York. This field-to-table way of cooking has been Nick & Toni's philosophy for years. 

Business, technology, farming and chefs - Agropolis is not just for the extreme environmentalists but also for those who simply enjoy fresh food. Looking forward to seeing this come to life.

images, Agropolis Farm

George Hirsch TV Segment: Chef Joe Realmuto - Nick & Toni's