Every week The Feed interviews the movers, the shakers and the makers in the New Zealand food industry. Check out the interviews on The Feed Weekly podcast or in a Q&A format below. And if you’ve got a story to tell or an opinion to share, drop us a line at editor@thefeed.co.nz
News reaches us via Stuff that the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is about to start flogging jars of jam as part of her as yet unrealised lifestyle empire. We know this because various friends of Meghan have been posting pics on their social media accounts. The...
Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they crack open a jar but also something much, much smaller: their microbiomes. On the...
The final scene of Rachel Cusk's novel Transit depicts what is arguably the worst dinner party in all of literature. It takes place deep in the English countryside, far from the nearest town, on a foggy night that renders the surrounding country lanes effectively...
The people are excited. The people are very excited. Or at least that's what DB Breweries Senior Marketing Manager, Cormac van den Hoofdakker would have you believe. And what are you so excited about? You, my basic friend, are excited about the launch of White Claw in...
The history of farming is seeded with technological “big bang” moments that have changed the trajectory of whole industries and countries. Some – such as mechanisation, and the arrival of synthetic fertiliser and pesticides, have transformed agricultural economic and...
A press release from Foodstuffs wings its way into our inbox with some rather concerning news. The company that controls New World, PAK'n'SAVE, and Four Square are letting us know that olive oil is getting scarce and that means it's going to get pricey. Extreme...
Liquid gold – this description for olive oil is becoming more and more accurate every year. Prices of olive oil have skyrocketed in the last few years. Donald Montes from Taste of Greece has seen a 120% increase in prices in just one year. Increasing demand and...
The far-reaching consequences of climate change inevitably include the production of foods and beverages, including wine. In New Zealand, winemaking is an important business, with exports worth more than NZ$2 billion per year. Earlier studies have already suggested...
A new report from AUT (a summary of which can be read here) has found that chefs working in New Zealand and Australia suffer "significant financial hardship and mental health issues" with many considering leaving the profession in the near future. This doesn't include...
Chefs are in hot demand. “Chefs, chefs, chefs! Virtually impossible to find anyone,” lamented one Auckland restaurant owner recently. Australia is seeing a similar gap, with chefs ranked the eighth most in-demand occupation. Given this culinary skills shortage, we...
School meals are critical to child health. Research has shown that school meals can be more nutritious than meals from other sources, such as meals brought from home. A recent study that one of us conducted found the quality of school meals has steadily improved,...
The deep ocean, beyond 200 metres of depth, is the largest and one of the most complex environments on the planet. It covers 84% of the world’s ocean area and 98% of its volume – and it is home to a great diversity of species. Yet it remains among the least studied...
David Seymour, who increasingly appears to be the tail joyfully wagging the dog of our new coalition government, has called for the school meals program to be scrapped. Christopher Luxon, dutifully padding along behind his coalition partner, has said that it must...
The return on investing in universal school meals is clear. According to our new report, universal free school meals (breakfast and lunch for students regardless of income) have 2.5 to seven times the return in human health and economic benefits in comparable...
Exciting news from Southland (we don't type that every day) as Plant Research New Zealand renames the newest milling oat cultivar from PRL 12-10-2 to Gardyne in recognition of the outstanding generational contribution of the Gardyne family in Southland to the New...
Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a huge sweet tooth. I always have. My friend and fellow graduate student Andrew is equally afflicted, and living in Hershey, Pennsylvania – the “Chocolate Capital of the World” – doesn’t help either of us. But Andrew is...
Hot from Instagram, our quirky Best-of the cocktails and libations being slung and swung for Lovers Day. We recommend salting your rim as we feasted with our eyes only and didn't taste a damn one. It’s Valentine’s Day and later tonight, some people will be the winners...
The diet of early anthropoids – the ancestors of apes and monkeys – has long been debated. Did these early primates display behaviours and diets similar to modern species, or did they have much humbler beginnings? Research on early anthropoids has often suggested a...
Wander into just about any New Zealand bottle store, restaurant or supermarket and you could be forgiven for concluding that only seven grape varieties can grow on these islands: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and...
Have you ever looked down at your breakfast, lunch or dinner and considered where the various ingredients travelled from to reach your plate? A basic sandwich in New Zealand can easily represent five countries: an Australian wheat and Indian sesame seed roll, Danish...
You may or may not have noticed but we here at The Feed took a few weeks off over the Christmas period to spend quality time with our families, deep-fry some turkeys, gorge ourselves on expired tins of ham, drink litres and litres of off-brand Spanish brandy, and...