1 August 2022 Dark kitchens on the go / luxe food truck meet deliveroo – food delivery that FINISHES cooking food outside people’s houses. The food is partially cooked at a central facility and then finished in these vans. Naturally, some suburban residents are unhappy, but others less so, takes the sogginess out of takeaway. … Continue reading 3or5 mobile dark kitchens, beans, food systems for policymakers, Small Foundation
3or5 Cold Chain Federation, warehouses, evidence gap in food systems
7 September 2022 According to the Cold Chain Federation’s Annual report for 2022: total volume of UK cold stores is 40,860,853m3 (35 Wembley stadiums). Wholesale energy costs have increased 183% between 2016-2022. So quite terrible for businesses for refrigeration during that heatwave bit and extra pressure during ye olde pandemic times. Much of the industry … Continue reading 3or5 Cold Chain Federation, warehouses, evidence gap in food systems
Children Always Come Home
Winning entry for The Salam Award's 2022 competition! The story follows a woman who is (not quite) at the end of her journey through the various difficulties of running a shoe store during (not quite) the end of the world. Ghosts of family members, dying technology, and lost shoes make appearances. Read here
3or5 Rashomon, solar boom, ageing cells, poor cocoa farmers
1 July 2021 The Rashomon Effect: Great short video (<6 minutes) explaining how events can be recalled in contradictory ways by well-meaning but ultimately subjective witnesses. The latter half is most relevant to us in explaining the value of including multiple perspectives in an analysis and the difference between ambiguity and unanimity in decision making … Continue reading 3or5 Rashomon, solar boom, ageing cells, poor cocoa farmers
3or5 on solutionism, food monopoly, bloodthirsty locusts
16 July 2021 Optimism, pessimism, and solutionism: some of the ideas in this essay are relevant with how we discuss approaching food system problems (I disagree with the ultimate conclusion on fundamentally being solutionists). America’s food monopolies: LONGREAD. American, but I think the point on market coverage and power is good. And good balance and … Continue reading 3or5 on solutionism, food monopoly, bloodthirsty locusts
3or5 on fisheries vs wind, dancing with systems, toolkits
30 July 2021 UK fisheries and offshore wind in competition - comments by the NFFO on the net zero ambitions. Tradeoffs! Also, doom. And we haven’t even got to the salmon that are melting. Dancing with systems - LONG-READ - Donella Meadows summarizes fourteen points of general “systems wisdom” she absorbed while modeling complex systems and … Continue reading 3or5 on fisheries vs wind, dancing with systems, toolkits
3or5 on juice, infrastructure, dark convenience
5 August 2021 Juice isn't worth the squeeze: Despite a brief uptick in fruit juice sales last year (Vitamin C for immunity, more time for breakfast), the category has the same long-term decline as sugary cereals. Big Beverage has responded to customers’ aversion to “-ose” ingredients by shifting away from sweet drinks and toward seltzers, … Continue reading 3or5 on juice, infrastructure, dark convenience
3or5 on WhatsApp trade, carbon myopia, undersea cables
16 August 2021 WhatsApp mango importing OR how to get around US trade imports: LONG READ (extremely worth it). I love absolutely EVERYTHING about this. It's about how WhatsApp is being used by dedicated people in the US to import the GREATEST FRUIT IN THE UNIVERSE. Basically, the fun of sidestepping normal logistics. Can also … Continue reading 3or5 on WhatsApp trade, carbon myopia, undersea cables
3or5 on UK warehouses, shipping, food demand, more cables
8 September 2022 Second post on warehouses, connected with a previous post on last mile startups! Record-breaking warehouse construction in the UK happening. The UK will have to increase warehouse space to meet with demands, BUT, labour shortages all around. Major mega-shed NIMBYism slated for the future. Serious international investor interest as well, given the … Continue reading 3or5 on UK warehouses, shipping, food demand, more cables
3or5 on human cost of chickens, disappeared objects, cables
11 November 2022 Human cost of chicken processing with a focus on the US (13 minute watch) - good to see the regulatory and institutional environments and overlaps (and where they don’t) – would be interesting to see/do this for different places or multi-country chains. e.g. what things/chemicals are included for FOOD safety but not … Continue reading 3or5 on human cost of chickens, disappeared objects, cables
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