Hasta La Ideas

by Michael Tyburski

Having already tackled British eating habits, we recently talked to
Jamie Oliver about his latest massive project reshaping how Americans view food from the ground up, starting with U.S. school menus. In this video, Oliver shares the motivation and tactics behind his revolution, along with the challenges of working on public policy.

While most casual fromage fans might not even know that a proper way to store cheese exists, a cheese-centric startup in Portland, Oregon developed a product specifically designed to help preserve and protect their favored food.

Formaticum makes their Cheese Paper with an outer layer of wax paper that allows the cheese to breathe. An inner plastic membrane guards against excess moisture, but is porous enough to allow oxygen exchange, creating a cave-like environment for prolonging the cheese’s shelf life. The difference, as the brand puts it, is “between eating vibrant and delicious cheese or dead and rotten cheese.”

A concept nicely in synch with the international
Slow Food movement, Formaticum prints the wraps with a map of small-batch farmers in the U.S., hoping to raise awareness about the many delicious cheeses produced domestically.

Each package of 15 contains 11″ x 14″ two-ply sheets—enough to wrap nearly 25 pounds of cheese—and retails for about $10. It sells throughout the U.S. at specialty stores, as well as online from Sur la Table or directly from Formaticum.

Which countries munch Doritos over Kale, and which stockpile canned beans over the bulk variety? Good posits the question in this infographic from The New York Times, which compares global eating habits. It comes as no surprise the U.S. is package-happy, from individually wrapped chocolates to styrofoam-ensconced takeout, while Spain and France run a close second. But China is the true winner of the container race, blowing its competition out of the water as the top fresh-food consumer.

Started just five years ago, Elita‘s event series has already become a Milan Design Week tradition. This year’;s headquarters, the historic Franco Parenti theater, beautifully restored by Michele de Lucchi will host several of the music and cultural happenings. Several more take place elsewhere around town, thanks to an ever-growing community network of clubs and venues such as Tunnel, Magazzini Generali and Plastic.

With an incredibly rich and interesting program that includes 50 performances and 40 speakers, CH selected some of our favorite and most relevant events, highlighted below.

The Institute of European Design will promote a series of workshops and events with their students, including the Italian Laptop Orchestra (a real orchestra of computers reinterpreting Italian pop music classics), a live fiction writing experiment, and Expolab, a journey through local food from Italy’s Lombardia region.

GQ magazine opens 13 April 2010 with the eclectic designer Fabio Novembre presenting his new book, accompanied by readings from actors Filippo Timi and Stefania Rocca, and a surprise celebrity DJ set. Entrance is free, but requires online registration.

Designer Marc Lloyd will present the new Citroën CS3 in a conference called “Anti Retro. A Journey Into Car Design” on 15 April 2010.

Entirely dedicated to “The Next Made in Italy,” on 17 April 2010 The Renaissance Link will present a series of events related to the New Italian Renaissance with Francesco Morace, Giovanni Lanzone and Giulio Iacchetti, among others.

Sunday 18 April 2010 will begin with a brunch and is the most experimental day with Next Continet Africa—a host of Senegalese artists living in Berlin will propose a Utopian pan-African society where the Afro is the official currency. Also that day, Rock the Islam tackles how music can develop a real dialogue with the Arab nations and Western countries, and at flea market Il Grande Circo delle Pulci, shoppers can look for design and fashion items.

And of course, there’s the music. Underground and experimental sounds play starring roles, but the schedule makes room for acoustic and dance music as well. Performances that we want to check out include a musical exhibition by Shepard Fairey, the Italian emerging project Luci della Centrale Elettrica, Pantha du Prince, Mouse on Mars from Germany, Jon Hopkins with visuals and music from the U.K., the Body Music Room by Kilohertz, talks and videos for the American composer Arthur Russell, a piano solo performance by Gonzales, and a remarkable DJ set by The Chemical Brothers.

Elita Design Week Music and Arts Festival runs from 13-18 April 2010.

CMYK Cocktail, presented by Tasteologie and Droog design, interprets color into alcohol and other goodies with an experimental mixology presentation this coming 28 March 2010.

Five mixologists and five designers will use the CMYK colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white) to create singular cocktails and accompanying treats at Droog’s Soho store, with proceeds from the event benefiting the Food Bank of New York.

Orson Salicetti of Apothéke, Mayur Subbarao of Dram Bar, Tomas Delos Reyes, Brian Sullivan of Method Lab Design and Mihir Desai will create the drinks. Designers Tobias Wong and curator Josee Lepage, Joshua Walton and James Tichenor, Renda Morton and Seymour Chwast will each present one of the drinks and how their representative color effects “how and what we consume.”

Guests will receive a limited edition, hand-screened CMYK gift bag. And no cocktail party is complete without an open bar. Visit Tasteologie to purchase tickets, which start at $60 each.