The Juicy Bits
Short and sweet today! With all the holiday partying, December was a slow food news month. But McDonald's did open a new spinoff restaurant to compete with Starbucks. Scientists also introduced a computer model that adds chemical measurements to a wine's "terroir." 'Bout time. And one of 2023's great mysteries has finally been solved: Astronaut Frank Rubio did not eat the first tomato grown in space. He misplaced it. Or, rather, a lack of gravity did. Happy New Year!
—Dave Joachim
Restaurants
McDonald's Opens CosMc’s, A New Drive-Thru Restaurant
Image Source: Ashok Selvam
McDonald's is hoping to capture some Starbucks magic. Its new spinoff restaurant, CosMc's, is a drive-thru-only cafe featuring customizable sweet coffee and tea drinks, sodas, slushies, and soft serve ice cream, as well as cookies, snacks, and a few egg sandwiches. Berry Hibiscus Sour-Ade, Turmeric Spiced Latte, or Popping Pear Slush, anyone? Want dragonfruit with that? How about pretzel bites with hot mustard or ranch dip on the side? Full menu here. The first CosMc's location opened in December in the Chicago suburbs and plans are afoot to open nine more locations in Texas later this year. What's with the name? CosMc was a robot-surfer-alien character that Mickey D's introduced back in the 1980s. In the space age of the 2020s, what's old is new again.
Beverages
New Computer Model Defines Wine Terroir With Chemical Data
Image Source: AFP
"Terroir" is part soil, part microclimate, part winemaking method, and part marketing. A new computer model aims to clarify the muddy concept with objective measurements. Alex Pouget from the University of Geneva, and Stephanie Marchand from Bordeaux's Institute of Vine and Wine Science, began with a database of 80 wines of various vintages from seven chateaus, each with a unique chemical signature determined by gas chromatography. The researchers created an algorithm that spots patterns and groups wines into distinct clusters matching their geographic location. Essentially, the algorithm reveals the meaning of "terroir" in chemical detail, confirming what vintners have been claiming for centuries. Industry experts also hope the computer model will help root out fraud among expensive wines.
Agriculture
How America’s Taste For Chicken And Cheese Is Depleting Groundwater
Image Source: Rory Doyle
The average American's consumption of both chicken and cheese has doubled since the 1980s. To produce these foods, several states are now using more water than they receive each year, according to data from the World Resources Institute. For example, the roughly 1 billion chickens raised in Arkansas at any given time now account for more than half the state’s water use, resulting in aquifer decreases that are among the country's most severe. Idaho produces more than 1 billion pounds of cheese a year, requiring 6 million acres of irrigated land to grow alfalfa to feed the cows that supply the milk. As a result, 79% of Idaho's aquifer-monitoring wells have hit record lows. Around the country, water aquifers are not refilling fast enough to meet demand for chicken and cheese, and experts have yet to find workable solution. I suppose a rain dance is out of the question.
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Last Bite
The First Tomato Grown In Space Goes Missing For 8 Months
Image Source: NASA
Last March, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio grew a red robin tomato on the International Space Station, a giant leap forward for plant-kind. Rubio also completed the longest single spaceflight for an American astronaut, 371 days. But when Rubio returned to Earth in September, there was a blemish on his legacy: He lost the tomato. "I was pretty confident that I Velcroed it where I was supposed to Velcro it, and then I came back and it was gone," said Rubio. Did it just float away? Did he dare to eat the first tomato grown in space, and with it, reams of valuable scientific research? Luckily, he was exonerated by Major Jasmin Moghbeli, a NASA crew member currently aboard the space station. “We found the tomato,” said Moghbeli. Whew—the OG space tomato is safe. What will astronauts grow next?
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