Your Monday Food Reading

I recently re-found my link stash, and came across this recipe for perfect hard-boiled eggs. I have to admit, I’ve been loving this “recipe” since before this blog existed, because it just works. No green lines. No rubbery whites. Just tasty, tasty eggs. Just remember that fresher is worse-r for hard-boiled eggs, ok?

So, back in 2010, I was just as interested in baked French toast as I am now. but I never managed to make this one. I wonder if I should.

If Big Food Buys Your Favorite “Natural” Food Brand, Will You Trust It? I’ve wondered that for a long time, particularly with regard to Unilever and Ben and Jerry’s so many years ago. (Note, they are not mentioned in the article.) In general, I feel like much of the folks who buy food were already suspicious of these bigger brands, and so rarely bought them anyway. Thus leaving plenty of people to say, “Yes. I’ll still trust it.” Which, frankly, is not what I see much in the beer community.

But, as I learned while researching the Ben & Jerry’s/New Belgium Brewing collaboration, sometimes very good things can come of going bigger. This New York Times piece from August argues “the Social Mission of Ben & Jerry’s Survived Being Gobbled Up” by Unilever. When I read Fast Company’s 2012 piece on the merger, two quotes from the Unilever-appointed C.E.O., Yves Couette, really stuck out. First, “he envisioned Ben & Jerry’s to be ‘a grain of sand in the eye of Unilever’. Secondly, and dear to my sustainability-loving heart, “the best way to spread Ben & Jerry’s enlightened ethic throughout the business world was to make the company successful.”

I do wonder how often it ends up with good things and how often it ends up being a bunch of bullshit. What do you guys think?

Finally, let me just remind you that you too can make five dozen cookies from one batch.