Author Archives: Keith

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January 16, 2011

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Great brands and producers

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Sources of artisan food brand news

I am slowly building up a list of food blogs on the internet which cover artisan and local food brands. Here are some of those – if you have any suggestions would be great to get them from you.

http://nuttyfig.com/ – the blog of Susie Wyshak who offers marketing services to artisan food producers in California

http://www.corkbilly.com/ – Billy Lyons enjoys good local food and shares his finds here

http://somesaycocoa.wordpress.com/ – Gillian O’Leary comments on chocolate. And not Dairy Milk

UPDATE:

http://foodcurated.com/ – one of the best video blogs around and right on topic for me

http://caveagedblog.wordpress.com – An exploration of everything there is to know about cheese

http://www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com – All Cupcakes, all the time!

It’s a short list, hoping to make it longer 🙂

Keith

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January 15, 2011

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video interviews

Minh Tsai and the Good Bean

A recent video interviews from Liza de Guia – this time of a tofu advocate called Minh Tsai who founded Hodo Soy Beanery (Hoda means good bean) in California.

Turns out tofu is not meant to be flacid and tasteless – this is a well shot and edited piece which captures the passion behind the brand and educates viewers on how tofu should be made. You can see the full post from Liza here.

Keith

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January 11, 2011

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Foodspotting Gathering – Saturday 15th Jan @ 18.30 Zuni, Kilkenny

If you are using foodspotting (the food social network on iPhones or Android) or are curious about it come join a small group of us who are gathering on Saturday evening 15th January in Zuni Cafe in Kilkenny. It is part of the celebrations around the world of their 1st birthday 🙂

You can sign up here: www.meetup.com/FoodspottingDay2011/54390/ and if you are coming along please do let us know as Maria is doing Tapas for us and she needs to know the numbers. It is at 6.30 for an hour as they have a big group coming in at 8pm. Thanks to Paul Byrne in Zuni for supporting this.

This is a screenshot of the latest foodspottings around Kilkenny:

There is also a plan for a celebration in Galway – here is the link to that.

keith

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January 9, 2011

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Awards Winners

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Wonder would this be viable in Ireland? Next Big Small Brand contest

Liking this a lot. Came across it via a link from Liza de Guia’s post in the Huffington Post (I was picked up via an automated twitter search box as far as I can tell).

I already follow Liza because of her brilliant Food Curated video series and she has done the clips for the second annual Next Big Small Brand content which is coming up in Brooklyn Brewery on the 12th January. I now have a 2012 goal – get to the 3rd one.

What does it do: “offers enterprising individuals who show great culinary promise a chance to win all the ingredients needed to launch their brand into food superstardom.”

It is run by the Rooster Design Group and offers brand, marketing, PR and advertising prizes for the winner. Eric Child from www.kombuchabrooklyn.com was the winner in 2009.

Keith

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January 9, 2011

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Media Watch

Slight diversion – a guide to How to Find Real Food at the Supermarket

This is not an artisan food brand. But it is funny, and more or less on topic. In any space where passions run high (and they do in the artisan/local/real food debate) you have to pull back and have a laugh every so often 🙂

This is via a Huffington Post article by Darya Pino (her twitter account here) – thanks for sharing it Darya 🙂

keith

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January 9, 2011

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Media Watch

Artisan and Local Food Brands – Irish Media Watch No.1

Sunday Business Post 9th Jan – Chocolate Garden

A piece on the Carlow based Chocolate and Ice Cream brand which used the pop-up (ie temporary) shop concept successfully in two different locations before Christmas.

The above photo is one I took of their Kilkenny location for foodspotting, the second location was in Clearys in Dublin.

UPDATE: Sunday Business Post 9th Jan – Aine Hand Made Chocolate

Missed this one earlier – nestled into the Bizesize page of the Magazine was a piece on Anne Rudden’s Cavan based chocolate brand.

A timely reminder – because I enjoyed a surprisingly tasty Seville Orange bar from this range over Christmas. Surprising because I had managed to associate the brand with a sugar free range which I saw from them early on and had since then never bothered to try one. The Seville Orange is from the new range they launched Sept last year and you should absolutely try them for yourself.

Some of her chocolates are available online from her website – www.chocolates.ie

Irish Times Saturday 8th Jan – Petite Treats

A shout out in the Whats Hot listing for makers of vegan cupcakes – www.petitetreats.ie

They deliver their cupcakes – and a range of Muffins, Brownies and Wedding Cakes too. Beyond the limited vegan market in Ireland these will also appeal to anyone caring about “Dairy/lactose-free, Egg-free, Cholesterol-free, very low in saturated fat, sweetened with unrefined sugar and  maple syrup and made with non-hydrogenated oils”

Twitter and Facebook links for them.

Irish Times Saturday 8th Jan – Gold EV Olive Oil

A product produced in such a small scale that I cannot find a photo of it. Or a website for it or the health food store which makes it! The owners of Greystones based Natures Gold hand harvest olives in Catalonia and sell the resulting oil in their shop. Has to be gorgeous.

I will work on extending this in future – I need to monitor the websites of the Irish newspspers and also bring in the Irish blogs.

Keith

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January 6, 2011

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Packaging

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Artisan and local food packaging examples No.2

Joss Vodka

Glamorous, stylish, fashionable, relaxed. And award-winning (2010 San Francisco World Spirits Awards Double Gold Medal)

Check out the blog post from the designers. The vodka comes from Sòlas Distillery, an American craft distillery located in La Vista, Nebraska. Not sure where the name comes from but there is a Brian Magee mentioned as a co-founder.

via ffffound

Brie by Laura Berglund

A student concept from Laura Berglund which is an unusual and striking label design for a brie cheese – showing how the nutritional information can be accomodated front of pack without taking away from the design.

via lovelypackage.com

Made with Joy Lassi

A strong Indian influence which has a colourful impact.

The website for the brand is here.

via TheDieLine

Olive Oil by Alexandr Chernov

Does this work? I’m not sure – the font is relatively unreadable so it would defeat a quick scan in a store. But it does differentiate – and for artisan/local food brands that is important.

via LovelyPackage

Honey & Mackie’s Icecream Shop

Modern, authentic & kid fun. You can bet the designers in Wink must have enjoyed working on this.

via TheDieLine

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

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January 6, 2011

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3 small Kilkenny Food Events coming up – please come along

Not everything needs to be on the scale of the Savour Kilkenny festival – by definition local and good food celebration can be equally enjoyed with smaller gatherings.

There are 3 in the next 2 weeks (that I know about) and here are the details:

Sunday Evening 9th January, 19.30 – Vegetarian Kilkenny Monthly No Meat and Greet

This group was set up nearly 2 years ago by some of the Cartoon Saloon crew whose multi-national staff harbored an unnatural (for Ireland) number of vegetarians. I am not directly involved – just a willing participant along with my family – and we regularly get at least 30 people attending with an amazing variety of dishes coming from a number of ethnic backgrounds.

And with 2 regular vegans (me and one other) a lot of people take the time to cater for us which is really appreciated 🙂

More information on the Facebook Group

Monday Evening 10th January, 20.00 – Bring and Brew


James Swarbrick from Yum Cafe entertained myself and Ken McGuire yesterday morning and he has now decided to hold a Bring and Brew – where the Bring is coffee beans – whole or ground – and a coffee tasting will be had.

Venue is Yum Cafe.

Saturday Evening 15th January, 18.30 20.00 – Foodspotting Birthday Bash

There are a couple of us in Kilkenny using the foodspotting application (iPhone and Android) which allows you to share photos of good food with others.

They are one year old this month and a number of celebrations of that are being held around the world. For the fun of it we are holding our own in Kilkenny – Zuni are hosting and the finer details have to be worked out – but it won’t be a full dinner, more of a meetup in the front of Zuni. Coffee, nibbles and a sharing of what foodspotting is and can be used for. UPDATE – confirmed for 18.30

You can indicate your interest here.

That’s it for the moment – please let me know of anything else which I have missed and feel free to attend any or all of them – the more foodies the better 🙂

Keith

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January 2, 2011

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Awards Winners

BBC 2010 Food and Farming Awards

The BBC Food program is one of the few podcasts I listen to regularly and a recent piece on these Awards caught my attention. It focused on a new category for drinks (everything from smoothies and juices to beers and spirits) and featured interviews with the 3 shortlisted businesses.

The following are the 2 relevant winners from the awards (by relevant I mean food brands as opposed to restaurants etc). You can see the full listing here.

Best Food Producer: Alex Gooch Organics

“Over the next eight hours, with the World Service for company, Gooch, 28, makes his slow-fermented loaves — the ryes and sourdoughs, fruit and olive breads, focaccia and ciabatta — all with their own live yeast cultures, which bubble and burp away like small volcanoes, scenting the air with beery warmth. The different cultures not only leaven the breads but create their distinctive characteristics.”

Extract from www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article7137125.ece

Best Drinks Producer: Wye Valley Brewery

“Wye Valley Brewery is a family-run business dedicated to brewing the best cask-conditioned beer possible and championing pubs as important parts of local communities. We use only the finest quality raw materials – sourced locally wherever possible – and are proud to be recognised as the leading cask ale brewery in the county.”

Extract from their website www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk/brewery/index.html

keith

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January 1, 2011

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Marketing, Packaging

Irish Food Producers & Social Media: Tastefully Yours

Have just done an Irish FoodBase entry for this Waterford based brand (on the back of their Bridgestone Megabites award) and came across this on their Facebook page:

“We need a little help from our friends. We are in the process of creating a brand logo and new labels for our products. There are five different designs to choose from or we can pick individual components from any of them and come up with a final one. We would appreciate your comments.”

There were 7 comments left with some good informed assistance and they did appear to go with the overall opinions expressed for a clear favorite (which was the one in the top left).

Good simple use of Facebook to help crowdsource a decision.

Keith