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Robyn’s Corner #4

Robyn’s Corner #4

Challenge Updates Italian with Duolingo: Still on track for daily practice, but my two kids and a friend are way ahead of me. Am going to experiment with a few YouTube Italian conversation sessions. Just experiment. Am going to Italy this month and still feel...

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Robyn’s Corner #3

Robyn’s Corner #3

Challenge Updates: February is half gone and I’ve done one sketch a day and kept on Duolingo for Italian. So far, holding steady. A Most Unlikely Twitter Account:The Museum of English Rural Living Tweeted what might seem a shocking image on Valentine’s Day. The Tweet...

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Robyn’s Corner #2

Robyn’s Corner #2

January Challenges: Restart Italian Lessons on Duolingo. So far 1458 points, compared to my son’s 5780 points for Portuguese and daughter’s 1201 points for French. But, hey, my son is highly motivated since he married a Brazilian woman and my daughter has only just...

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Robyn’s Corner

Robyn’s Corner

1.)Food+City has done its share of conferences and events, so why wouldn’t you do one for fun, real fun. Our family (Metcalfe’s) is crazy about running, food, maps, travel, and prime numbers, it seems. But it is always up for dry, sarcastic humor. Even dark,...

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Grocery Stores: The IoT of Food

Grocery Stores: The IoT of Food

They know where you are in the store. They know what shelf you’re looking at. They know which product’s ingredient label you’re reading. And now, thanks to hidden cameras, sensors, beacons, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and our own mobile phones, stores — and the brands they carry — can respond to your actions with instant coupons, flash sales and other enticements to buy. Brick-and-mortar stores are going digital.

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Markets Go It Alone

Markets Go It Alone

The buzzword for today’s brick-and-mortar retailer is “frictionless.” It refers to a shopping experience where customers can come and go with ease. It means not waiting in lines and never having to take cash or a credit card out of your wallet. Sounds dreamy, right?...

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How They’re Watching Us

How They’re Watching Us

In the early days, retail stores tracked customers via turnstiles. After turnstiles, some stores turned to electronic beams, while others used light sources to count traffic in aisles. These days, our favorites stores have much more detailed information about us and our shopping habits and preferences. Find out how they get it.

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Best Before… Who Knows?

Best Before… Who Knows?

Some foods seem never to go bad. Just about anything sold in a box or a can is likely to have a long shelf life. But fresh ingredients — produce, dairy, meats — are ticking clocks: weeks, days or even hours from spoiling and becoming part of the 400 pounds of food each American wastes each year. Fortunately, prolonging shelf life is an endeavor brimming with innovation these days. Read on to learn about some of the newest techniques for keeping food fresh — from farm to fork.

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Protecting Provisions

Protecting Provisions

Food packaging has been around as long as people have traded goods in markets. How else are you going to schlep that wine home across the desert? Given all that’s new in packaging and shelf-life technology, we’re taking a look back to some golden oldies, from skins...

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The Freshest Leafy Greens

The Freshest Leafy Greens

Lettuce is a cool-weather crop. It likes pleasant days and chilly nights. But that ideal temperature range doesn’t exist in most places for more than a few weeks at a time. Most leafy greens grow in California or Arizona and travel a long way to your store. Unless your store is growing its own lettuce in high-tech containers and selling just-picked salad greens the same day. Read about the store that’s become its own supplier.

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Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water

When you think of lobster, you probably think of Maine — its cold waters are the perfect breeding ground for the buttery crustacean. Despite lobster’s success, Maine’s fishing industry is working hard to diversify its catch, and new aquaculture methods are a big piece of the puzzle. From small-scale scallop growers to an international salmon-farming corporation, the newest generation of Maine’s seafood producers is moving beyond the lobster claw.

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Startup Spotlight: Bento Picnic

Startup Spotlight: Bento Picnic

It’s not easy or cheap to open a restaurant in a growing city. Entrepreneurs must come up with creative ways to realize their dreams of a traditional storefront restaurant. We caught up with Leanne Valenti, founder of 2016 Food+City Challenge Prize participant Bento Picnic, to find out how she did it.

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