P i s t a c h i o

Bejing Noodle No. 9 at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

Via We Heart and DesignYouTrust

Below, how the resto sees itself.

Designed by Swiss knife-maker Victorinox who also now do fashion, fragrance and travel gear.

via Lovely Package

Designer: Marcel Buerkle, Johanesburg on Behance Network

via LovelyPackage

Via EatMeDaily.com

Prepare [or join in] for a decade of transparent packaging that shows as much of its stuff as it can.

The market wants to see, look and believe.

It’s never been more important to be true as well as beautiful.

Woolworth's Brand from South Africa

[via Lovely Package]

If you’re British, you grew up on Marmite, so you get it. Vegemite is Australia’s equivalent. Your mum would put in on your toast in the morning or in butter sandwiches to take to school. It’s made of yeast and malt extract and loaded with vitamins. And if you’re new to it as an adult, it tastes wretched.

Although, for you foodies, vegemite has umami properties, like sundried tomatoes, Worcestershire and Asian fish sauce, but that’s a post for another day.

Today’s is all about how to make a dog’s breakfast out of brand loyalty, starring Vegemite, as Australian as kangaroo, and Kraft, who decided to add cream cheese to it, which was fine, if only they’d stopped there.

Kraft held a naming contest for the new product and out of 48,000 entries, the company chose iSnack 2.0, with its eye on a younger market segment, and what a sorry decision that was.

Cathy Wilcox, Sydney Morning Herald

“The entire internet has gone into snark meltdown,” says Ruth Brown on Crikey.com.au. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Helen Razer writes, “Aligning a breakfast spread with a portable media device makes as much sense as employing a bikini model to sell cabbages.”

By the end of the day, influenced by senior marketing executives from other companies. iSnack 2.0 was pulled, but not before a lot of fun was had by all.

The day’s best might be called,  “What would Hitler do?”
[Thanks @wheelyweb]

Truth in packaging

via

via Reuben Miller

Virgin Air wants to be the first to “put absinthe in the air.”

To do that, the airline wants to serve a cocktail made from the mythic, 19th century liqueur that brings to mind Parisian café society, bohemians, artists, and English decadents like Oscar Wilde, a fan.

Like the ritual pouring of Moroccan mint tea — in a long, slim, stream by a practiced hand — absinthe is served in an alluring way.

To sweeten the liqueur’s herby bitterness, a sugar cube is place on a special, usually ornate and perforated spoon, which allows the liqueur to flow into, over and through the sugar cube, and dribble sweetly into the glass.

Watch all that romantic imagery circle the bowl as Virgin’s marketers reveal their concoction,  “The Mile High,” made with absinthe, Sprite and a wedge of lemon.

Now that’s just sad.

If anything screams for a sexy new martini or a cosmo or mohito knock-off, it’s absinthe.

Understandably, convenience has to be factored in. Flight attendants have to serve this drink through turbulence from those clackity aisle carts.

Still, in the dubious age of the bar chef, Virgin marketers could have done a lot better, with simple syrup as a mix, say. Dead easy. And elegant.

That’s what they’re going for, right?

Great find this morning.

Sorry for the opening advert to the Tostito video [like it's even my fault], except for the partial tag line that I’m going to rip off.

That’s it — the post title.

Thanks for sending me there, Matt Jennings, terroirist and Prince of Porc. That’s what they call him for being the Boston winner of Cochon555. [Could Toronto please sign up for this? We can certainly kick some charcuterie butt.]

Can business to be smart all the time?

Calling all food-makers. Give it a shot. The markets are saying simplicity is flying off the shelves.

Additives industry, don’t know what to tell you.

Take your R&D in another direction?