by David Burn | May 4, 2005 | Food & Beverage, Literature
The International Herald Tribune reports that Parisian doctors are perplexed by the runaway success in the United States of the best-selling advice book “French Women Don’t Get Fat.”
“Oh, but they do!” said Dr. France Bellisle, a prominent obesity researcher here. “I work in a nutrition department where we see lots of people who are overweight. And I can tell you that French women are getting obese – and some massively obese – these days.”
In France, as in much of the world, the culprit is changing eating habits, experts said, as France’s powerful culture of traditional meals has given way to the pressures of modern life. The French now eat fewer formal meals than they did just a decade ago and they snack more.
The average Frech meal has decreased in length from an hour and 22 mintes in 1978 to just 38 minutes today.
Not surprisingly, food companies say that France is one of the most promising international markets for prepared items like frozen pizza, as well as for outlets like McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, both of which are planning to open dozens of new stores in the country this year.
by David Burn | Jan 15, 2005 | Advertising, Film, Food & Beverage, Nebraska
“Virginia Madsen’s character (Maya) has a radiant paean to wine: she leans forward in her chair, has a soft light on her face and proceeds to share her passion for wine, how it is expressive of the place from which it came, how the tastes move her, and how it changes over time in the glass and in the bottle. Honestly, any wine marketing budget for TV should just clip this soliloquy since it will intrigue and possibly convert the most stubborn of beer drinkers.” –Dr. Vino
My homeboy, Alexander Payne, has a new movie out. Sideways is his first feature that ventures beyond Omaha for a setting. About Schmidt takes place partly in Denver, while Election and Citizen Ruth are solidly set in eastern Nebraska. Place is still critical to Payne’s cinematic style, however. The place in this new film is wine country. The lead character, Miles (Paul Giamatti) is a wine snob and didactic talk about wine dominates several scenes in the film.
How guys relate to women is the other territory this film explores. And it ain’t pretty. One of the more riveting scenes in the film is when Stephanie (Sandra Oh) savagely beats Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) with her motorcycle helmet for his infidelity and lying, while Miles looks helplessly on.
by David Burn | Dec 24, 2004 | Food & Beverage, Place
Yesterday was a trip down memory lane for me. We started the morning in Lancaster, PA, where I spent four years pursuing my higher education and a serious beer buzz. Then, we headed to South Street in Philadelphia (I used to live at 6th + Locust) for a cheese steak at Jim’s. The steak was good, but that’s not where I’m going with this.
It took us 5.5 hours to drive from South Street to Smithtown, on Long Island. The drive typically takes 2.5 hours, maybe three. On the way, Darby asked me if I would ever consider living in this region again. Given that I have recently applied for jobs in New Jersey and New York, the inquiry was more than rhetorical.
Early in the journey, I said, “Sure, if the opportunity was right.” A couple hours later, still inching towards New York, I revised my thinking.
by David Burn | Oct 28, 2004 | Chicago, Food & Beverage
I believe in word-of-mouth advertising. I also believe in neighborhood joints that prove themselves worthy of such beliefs. Bistro Campagne, a French country restaurant in Lincoln Square (the original is in Evanston), gives a neighbor ample reason to believe. This place has perfect service, and I find that hard to come by anymore. Plus, the food is great and the environment is as comfortable as your living room. I’ve been there twice now, and count myself fortunate.
by David Burn | Sep 28, 2004 | Food & Beverage, The Environment
Founded in 1986, in direct response to the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Rome’s famous Piazza di Spagna, the Slow Food movement–dedicated to supporting traditional ways of growing, producing and preparing food–is today gaining traction with people around the world. According to this excellent article in The Nation, Slow Food offers a kind of pleasure-loving environmentalism that does not reject consumption per se but the homogenization and high-speed frenzy of chain-store, fast-food life.
by David Burn | Mar 14, 2004 | Advertising, Art, Chicago, Food & Beverage
Our Saturday consisted of a forty year retrospective of Lee Bontecou’s imaginative, inspired work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, wine flights at Bin 36 in Marina City, and exquisite food and drink care of Mexican master, author and star of his own show, Rick Bayless and the wonderful Frontera Grill staff. We’ve been meaning to attend the MCA for a while now. We sort of stumbled upon Bin 36, the modernist wine bar in the lobby of House of Blues Hotel. Frontera was a celebration of my new job–Senior Writer at Slack Barshinger, a prominent b-to-b agency on N. Michigan Avenue with eBay, Underwriters Lab, AC Nielsen, Dean Foods, Harris Bank, American Dairy Products Institute, Tellabs, Smurfit-Stone, Silgan Containers, and Tetra Pak (among others) for clients.
