Can an instruction book become art? In the case of Matthew Kenney’s new work, “PLANTLAB: Crafting the Future of Food,” the answer is a definitive yes.

PLANTLAB is the culmination of Kenney’s life work as an ambitious chef and restauranteur, though it seems a disservice to limit this man’s accomplishments to these basic labels. In the past twelve years, Kenney has authored several raw and plant-based cookbooks, opened an impressive number of high end restaurants worldwide, and established the professional culinary institution for plant-based learning. He is on a mission to “craft the future of food” by brining innovation, accessibility, art, and sustainable nutrition to plant-based cuisine. This new book embodies the purpose behind these ventures with over one hundred recipes told though a stunning display of photographs. It is a cookbook, photography collection, lifestyle guide, and memoir of the PLANTLAB empire. It is to be equally treasured and displayed as a piece of art, but also gently worn and splattered as a cherished cookbook.

After a prominent career in New York fine dining restaurants, Kenney transitioned his focus onto plant-based cuisine after gradually adopting a raw food diet. This way of eating made him feel at his optimal best, and he now stresses the environmental, nutritional, and ethical benefits to going plant-based. He knew it was possible to create refined dishes out of plants, but at the time, no one had made the leap. For over a decade, Kenney has utilized his classical culinary skills to break the rules and push experimentation to its limits, shocking the restaurant world with his accomplished dishes and revolutionizing the concept of vegan food.

Formerly perceived as bland and limited, Kenney proved the plant-based diet to be just as complex and elegant as traditional animal-based cooking. He has showcased this modern approach to vegan cuisine through his many restaurants and cafes around the world, making diners’ eyes roll with delight and swoon with pleasure. However, there is no need to make a reservation to experience Kenney’s nourishing art; the recipes in PLANTLAB are all inspired by his most popular restaurant menu items, so everyone can enjoy his creations at home.

“This book is literally for everyone, from seventeen to ninety years old, men, women, and the entire globe,” Kenney wrote. Although known for his sophisticated culinary style, Kenney assured that the recipes are accessible to the home cook, no formal culinary training required. He continued, “Anyone can benefit from and appreciate the plant-based lifestyle. I wrote this book to inspire others to appreciate the value in living a lifestyle supported by well-prepared plant-based cuisine.” For this reason, the book is organized into four sections, each progressing in technical skill and complexity: “Fundamentals,” “Advanced,” “Professional,” and “Future.”

Hearts of Palm Ceviche. Photo courtesy Adrian Mueller

Not to deter anyone from venturing to the latter chapters, Kenney states in the introduction that anyone can master the Professional and Future recipes; they just take more dedication and require some specialized kitchen equipment, such as a smoker or sous vide. Those limited by basic tools should gravitate toward the first two chapters; there are plenty of bold and unique recipes to satisfy the adventurous palate. Think mango cheesecake, heirloom tomato with almond ricotta, and butternut squash carpaccio. Move on to the Advanced chapter, and the reader will find the secrets to creating Kenney’s famous plant-based cheeses, from Vegetable Ash Cashew Cheese, to Spirulina Blue Cheese. Other standouts from the Advanced level include Pastrami Roasted Carrots, Porcini-Crusted Whole Cauliflower, and the Plant Food and Wine classic, the Plant Burger.

Kenney invites the committed home cook to delve into the Professional and Future chapters for the ultimate experimentation and reward. Expect techniques involving fermentation, smoking, long-term marinating, and the use of an ice cream maker and sous vide machine. Yes, these are complex dishes that demand precision and patience, but to Kenney, the end product is worth it. “My cooking is not always simple, and I don’t necessarily try to simplify it. Whatever it takes to make it the best it can be, I will passionately pursue that.” The Professional section includes favorites from the Miami-based, Asian-inspired, Arata pop-up, as well as pizzas from the New York City staple, Double Zero. Try the Chickpea Ramen, Eggplant Bun, Shaved Truffle Pizza, or Farro-Fennel Sausage Pizza for an exceptional culinary treat. Ready to take on the Future? The Chickpea Curry, Gianduja Cake with Hazelnut Sorbet, and Pavlova are well worth the dedicated time in the kitchen.

When asked which recipes he would choose to throw a multi-course dinner party, Kenney paired dishes from the Fundamentals to the Future. He suggested, “I would start by passing small bits of the Truffle Pizza. The first course would be Hearts of Palm Ceviche. I would follow that with Maitake Mushroom Panzanella, then Spicy Udon and finish with Acai Panna Cotta.”

As promised, PLANTLAB is “a feast for the senses.” Whether you navigate its glossy pages based on skill level, the deliciously gorgeous photographs, or the mouth-watering recipe descriptions, you will end up with a truly satisfying and refined plate of food.

Clear your weekend and your bookshelf to make room for this masterpiece, and join the revolution to craft the future of food. 

Find Tanya on Instagram and The Vegan Potluck Podcast. 

Related on EcoSalon

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DIY Vegan Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

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ColumnDo we have a food porn problem?

It was just another Wednesday night. I was craving dessert, and the only reasonable choice was some coconut milk and melted chocolate combination. (Note: coconut milk and chocolate are two things you will always find in my pantry – you never know when you will find yourself in a dessert crisis situation.) So I melted the two, poured the concoction into small glasses and threw them into the freezer for a quick mousse-like thing. Really, it was more like a thick chocolatey sorbet, which no one is going to complain about. A few chopped hazelnuts on top and it was, well… delicious.

First instinct: take a picture. Upload it to Instagram! Brag about that use of cardamom! And don’t forget the candied ginger you put in last minute.

Why is it that when we succeed in the kitchen we immediately whip out our phones?

I am the first person to admit that I have a serious problem (verging on extreme obsession) when it comes to photographing my food; but that doesn’t mean I don’t also find it annoying. Why is it that we can’t make a dish without documenting it for all of eternity?

Take a few minutes to peruse food blogs and you’ll quickly see that most of the popular ones are well-versed in the skills of food photography. I have nothing against this. If you understand the value of food, you understand the value of aesthetics, too, and most of the time the two go very much hand in hand. But here’s the problem: we’re so enthralled with the images that we could care less about the recipe.

When was the last time you picked up a cookbook or looked at a food blog that wasn’t image heavy? It’s called “food porn” for a reason: it’s selling you a lifestyle that may or may not be attainable in your 45 kitchen minutes every day. Because let’s be honest: you don’t have time to perfectly position that sprig of rosemary next to your handcrafted artisan silverware. You just want to eat.

We all like a little inspiration, but it often goes too far, and if you look at certain food magazines you start seeing a theme. Shot from up above. All white, hand-thrown plates. A jam jar carefully positioned in the corner. A bread crumb on the side.

Real cooking isn’t staged. It’s messy. And if you’re photographing – particularly on your own – you’re mixing in a bowl with one hand and trying to awkwardly hold your camera in the other, because god forbid you put a recipe on the internet without a photo of your hands in action taken with a shallow depth of field.

We love food photos, because in some way, it brings us together. It helps us share a moment with those that are far away. A coffee photo sent to a friend you wish you could have a live conversation with is almost as good as the real thing. But we have to find a balance. The balance between obsessively photographing all that we eat and uploading it at every second and enjoying food for food’s sake. It’s okay to eat without telling anyone about it. In fact, food can be an enjoyable experience even when not shared. If you factor in the global population, most people are just focused on putting enough food on the table, forget getting the right angle on their soy mocha craft-roasted cappuccino.

Here’s a challenge: stop taking food photos, just for one meal and one recipe. Focus on the moment. The essence of cooking. The company around you. The recipe and the photo can wait until later. For now, focus on the beautiful serendipity that comes from putting ingredients together and enjoying the result, without telling anyone about it.

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: A Critique of Our Obsession with Food Photos appeared first on EcoSalon.

The perfect complement for afternoon coffee or tea.

Put two Swedes who love to cook in a kitchen together and there will be an immediate discussion of what baked good needs to be concocted for afternoon coffee. After all, we don’t mess around with our coffee breaks, and a serious coffee break deserves a serious pastry. So we settled on mazariner.

Mazariner are the darling of Swedish cafes, a balance of buttery pastry and almond filling topped with a thin layer of icing; the type of thing you bite into and wonder where this food has been all of your life. They’re just fancy enough that you don’t keep them on hand at all times, but you don’t have to put them on a serving tray.

Made in small oval tart tins, they can seem daunting to make, but as it turns out, are easy enough that you don’t need to cruise to your local IKEA to track down the mass produced version – although they do have them if you’re in a Swedish food pinch.

Our recipe search started with a few Swedish cookbooks and a call to my mother who was immediately reciting the ingredients from a page she had ripped out of a Swedish magazine sometime in the late 80s – when you come across a good recipe, you hold on to it. Johanna, being a more skilled pastry “chef” than myself did a creative combination of the many versions, and we both decided that plain icing just wouldn’t suffice. Add a little orange juice and you have a real masterpiece.

Make a batch of these, brew a French press and it will almost be like you’re sitting at a cafe in Stockholm. Almost.

Mazariner

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 7 oz butter (almost 2 sticks)
• 2 cups regular flour
• ¼ cup sucanat or organic cane sugar
• 2 teaspoons whole cardamom (crushed in a mortar, or slightly ground in a coffee grinder)
• One small egg

Filling

• One cup blanched, ground almonds (can be replaced with almond meal)
• 2 bitter almonds (about 1 teaspoon almond extract, or more depending on how strong you want the taste)
• 2.5 oz butter
• ½ cup sucanat or organic cane sugar
• 3 small eggs

Icing:

• Juice from an orange
• ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Dough:

In a large wide bowl cream together butter, egg and sugar. With your hands, mix in flour – this can be done either in the bowl or directly on a clean counter top.

Crush the cardamom with a mortar and pestle as fine as you wish. If you don’t have a mortar or grinder, you can use pre-ground cardamom. Add it to the dough and blend well.

Let the dough sit in a cool place for at least 30 minutes to chill and harden.

Filling:

While the pastry dough rises, blanch the almonds by pouring boiling hot water over them and letting soak for a few minutes. They are ready when the skin slips off easily.

Skin all of the almonds and grind them into a fine meal in a food processor.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and set aside to cool.

Whisk the eggs together with sugar to a porous batter and add in almonds, almond extract (if you didn’t use bitter almonds) and butter. Stir together until well blended.

Grease small tartlet tins* (see illustration above) with butter. Line the molds with a thin layer of dough (about 1/8”) and fill them almost to the top with the almond mixture. If there is any leftover dough you can freeze it and use it some other time.

Bake in the oven at 400°F for about 15 minutes. The cakes should have got a slightly brown color on top. Let them cool a little before removing the cakes from the mold.

Icing:

While the mazariner bake, prepare the icing. In a small bowl add the confectioner’s sugar and drip in some orange juice. The icing should be a little thick but still easy to drizzle over the mazariner. Wait until the mazariner have cooled before icing them.

Serve the mazariner for an afternoon tea or coffee break, you’re sure to make some new friends if you pull these out.

*If you don’t have small single cake molds as described you can use mini muffin trays or similar forms. In Sweden, disposable aluminum forms are often used, but stay away from single-use containers and do the best with what you have. We always encourage creativity!

Illustrations by Johanna Kindvall

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ColumnWhat motivates us to share our culinary adventures.

When four different people, who don’t know each other, all send you the link to the same article, an article that poses the question “are your friends bombarding you with food porn?” you know you have a problem.

Been inundated with food photography lately? You are not alone.

As I sat down to the first impromptu backyard dinner of the season last night, the hostess stopped everyone from putting any food on their plates so that we could get a picture of the table first. I had my phone out (of course), because that tablecloth color went so well with the salad. Click. And that grilled asparagus… so green. Click. But for the sake of maintaining my sanity and living in the moment, I did not Instagram. You have to draw the line somewhere.

We love to document, in fact the human propensity to document is the backbone of historical records. We have experiences and we share them. These days, we simply live in an era where sharing photos has become particularly easy, maybe even too easy.

“Do you think more people take pictures of their animals or of food?” asked another friend at the dinner table. “Look at any picture on Facebook and it’s probably someone’s cat or their lunch. Why do I need to know what kind of grilled cheese sandwich you had? I don’t, but we all love to do it.”

It’s true. “Are you going to take a picture first?” is something I hear a lot when eating with friends. I have been known to switch plates and move someone’s glass out of the way just so the photo looks better. Why are we obsessed with food photography?

Food in art has been around for centuries, dating as far back as Ancient Egypt. While we’re no longer painting food scenes in tombs in the hopes that food will become available in the afterlife or committing time to painting still lifes with grapes in the Dutch style, we do love to whip out our DSLRs and iPhones and document the moment for the sake of prosperity.

Not only do we document however, we also consume.

Even a non food lover would have a difficult time not drooling over Instagram Foodies, a site dedicated to pulling together the best of the best in food photos taken with the popular photo sharing app. Ping! You just got a text, and didn’t your day just get a little better because it was a picture of a good dish someone thought you would like?

On a larger level, food magazines are more popular than ever; Food Network Magazine alone announced that it is increasing its ratebase for the seventh time since launching, increasing by another 50,000, to 1.45 million. Take a few minutes to browse the food section on Pinterest and you can easily become overwhelmed. And those food blogs aren’t just there because people write them; as a society we have become enthralled with learning about the behind-the-scenes of people’s kitchens.

“You can find out more, and more quickly, about the history and culture of a nation by looking at its food than in any other way. Food is a direct expression of a country’s spirit,” said food photographer Tessa Traeger.

We all have to eat, and food becomes our common ground. As journalist and academic Simran Sethi once said to me in an interview, “food is universal.”

That is a sentiment that the world of food photography has picked up on in recent times. If you have ever picked up your mother’s copy of Better Homes and Gardens or Betty Crocker you know full well that the pot roasts and casseroles of the 50s and 60s were less than appetizing, and certainly not indicative of a meal you would make at home on a Tuesday night. “In those days, the pictures looked as though they were taken from the top of a ladder, six or eight feet away. And the food was so artificially doctored up that it gave the profession a horrible name,” Photographer George De Gennaro, who began photographing food in the 1950s, once said in an interview.

But that is all changing. Because of the digital world, and easy access to cameras and photo sharing tools, food photography itself is becoming more democratized. Take a look at any food magazine that is on the newsstand right now. You’ll find the pages full of natural looking food, as if the photo was taken on your own kitchen table. A lot more styling goes into placing that knife and the bread crumbs accordingly, but food photos nowadays give us more than just a visual of the food. They make us feel that if we make that certain meal, we’ll also get the ambiance.

The farm table, the linen napkins, the candles in mason jars, the bouquet of lavender and rosemary tied with a piece of twine… our backyard dinner parties will be exactly the same.

It’s called food porn for a reason.

We lust after those moments, a certain lifestyle. Food photos are seductive because they let us forget about reality for a few minutes, the fact that most of us are throwing something together last minute in between one activity and another. We yearn for something slower. A put together meal. A memorable moment. The times that we break bread together as a community, sharing food and conversation. We share our food photos because food is what brings us together, and food allows us to have a connection with our larger social circles.

Food is at our core. As are our relationships. It’s no surprise then that the two go hand-in-hand. That we share our food photos because we’re sharing a moment, a glimpse into our everyday routine, no matter how styled it is. After all, if you’re stuck drinking a cup of coffee by yourself, teleporting a friend to join you is difficult. Texting them a well-framed photo of the rim of the cup and the handle is easy.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, Instagram Foodies, Anna Brones, Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Why Are We Food Porn Obsessed? appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnBecause sometimes ingredients are meant to go together.

To say that I am obsessed with sea salt could be an understatement. In fact I recently made a commitment to tweak any recipe that I come across to incorporate sea salt, because when it comes down to it, just like cardamom, food sounds sexier when there is sea salt involved.

Although sea salt and table salt have the same nutritional value, when it comes to taste, for adding flavor to many dishes, sea salt is superior and has become the darling of food lovers. It’s flakier, crunchier and has a larger surface area which means you need less of it to flavor your food.

Sea salt’s popularity is nothing new, it has been making the food trend lists for the past several years, but what we’re doing with it is. No longer a simple seasoning, it’s now the finishing touch to everything from your appetizer to your dessert. This much was clear to me when a couple of friends and I topped off a foodie-centric dinner [note to self: always put arugula on pizza] in San Francisco last fall with a panna gelato topped with olive oil and sea salt.

In a food induced haze I remember hearing something along the lines of “we should put sea salt on everything,” come out from someone’s mouth. The path to sea salt obsession is a very slippery slope. One minute you’re gingerly crushing some sea salt on to your salad and the next minute you’re putting it into cakes.

Somewhere in between the salad and the cake situation lies flavored salt making. Because nothing says, “I’m fancy and I love food,” like whipping out a small jar of homemade Sriracha Salt. Citrus Salt, Roasted Garlic Salt, Lemon Salt with Fennel and Chili… you can make just about any type of salt that your heart desires. Feeling extra crazy? You can even buy Merlot Infused Salt. All of which got me thinking about chocolate sea salt.

There’s no doubt that chocolate and sea salt is the food pairing du jour. Chocolate and sea salt bars grace the shelves of even chain supermarkets. Just type in “chocolate sea salt” into Google and see what happens. I can assure you that you won’t leave your computer for hours, and you’ll come out with a weird hunger pang and 18 recipes bookmarked in your “Food” folder. What you won’t find however is a recipe for chocolate sea salt itself.

If chocolate and sea salt are so good together, why is nobody combining them into one delectable seasoning? Someone should do something about that.

So I did. Because there’s nothing difficult about chopping up a bar of chocolate; that would probably make it into chapter 1 of Intro to Foodieism.

Enter an afternoon of chocolate sea salt brainstorming that resulted in asking, “do you think you can sprinkle chocolate sea salt on kale chips?” Laugh all you want, but let’s remember two things about cooking in the Foodie Underground kitchen:

1. We’re here because we love food. Chances are you love kale chips, sea salt and chocolate. Why not put them together?

2. This is not Julia Child’s kitchen. “Quick and classy” is my motto – if it can’t be done in under an hour, it’s probably not worth doing (macarons obviously being the exception).

Given that criteria, if you can whip up a batch of kale chips and douse them in chocolate sea salt you obviously should. Just like you should quickly blend together some hazelnut butter with sea salt, otherwise known as “homemade Nutella that will impress your friends.”

As I have quickly come to learn, sometimes the best way to come up with a recipe is to start with a problem. In this case: if you make Chocolate Sea Salt, what are you going to do with it? Yes, First World Problems are easily found in the kitchen.

The beauty of it is that Chocolate Sea Salt already combines the sweet and savory worlds, meaning that you can use it on pretty much anything. Sprinkle it atop Rosemary Walnut Scones? Yes. Raspberry Almond Tart? Yes. Arugula salad? Yes.

Chocolate Sea Salt might just be the foodie dream seasoning. Bottle it up and give some to your friends, because you’ll want to have some on stock from now on.

Chocolate Sea Salt

Ingredients

• 100% cacao, unsweetened baker’s chocolate
• Flaky sea salt

Directions

• Finely chop the chocolate.
• Combine equal parts chocolate and salt and store in an airtight container.

Rosemary Walnut Scones 

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (make this a gluten-free version with 1 1/4 cups all-purpose gluten free flour and 3/4 cup coconut flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled + cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup walnuts

Directions

• Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and rosemary. Add cold butter and mix together until it resembles coarse meal. [Easiest way to do this is in a food processor, but using your hands to do the job works just fine]
• Whisk egg in small bowl and pour half of it into a measuring cup. Add milk until you get 1/2 cup. Add to flour mixture and mix until dough forms large curds.
• Make two round balls and flatten on greased pan. Cut each round into eighths. Add a tablespoon of milk to other half of egg and brush over scones.
• Preheat over to 450F, bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with Chocolate Sea Salt and let cool.

Hazelnut Spread with Sea Salt (adapted from orginal recipe on The Kitchn)

Ingredients

• 1 cup roasted hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Chocolate Sea Salt
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons canola oil or hazelnut oil

Directions

• Put all ingredients in food processor and mix until a spreadable consistency – note that it may be slightly runny but will firm up when you put in refrigerator.
• Pour into an airtight container and store in refrigerator.

Raspberry Almond Tart

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups almond meal
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup raspberries

Directions

• Beat together eggs and sugar. Mix in dry ingredients. Melt butter and add to mixture.
• Pour batter into a greased 9.5 inch round baking pan.
• Evenly place raspberries on top of batter.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 F, or until golden brown.
• Let cool and sprinkle with Chocolate Sea Salt

That’s only the beginning. Chocolate Sea Salt on panna cotta? Yes. Chocolate Sea Salt on Coconut Ice Cream? Why not. I’ll let you take it from here.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Adventures With Chocolate and Sea Salt appeared first on EcoSalon.

10 photos to quell your chocolate cravings. 

When I discovered that breathable chocolate actually exists, I debated on tracking down a French friend so they could send some over. A whiff of chocolate that you can keep in your purse? That’s like having an instant pick me up right next to your cell phone and keys, and so much more chic than dragging around a semi-crushed Lindt bar. But then I realized how ridiculous I would seem carrying around a perfume vial of chocolate spray. No need to go full on crazy woman just yet.

Why are we chocolate obsessed? Get the dark stuff (because there really shouldn’t be any other kind) and you lower your blood pressure, you de-stress, and you become just generally happier, no wonder we crave it. Makes me want to track down a bar of dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt immediately. But if you’re like us and stuck at work for the day with no chocolate bar in sight, you can at least feed your craving with these chocolate photos.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

Hot Chocolate

Pain au Chocolat

Hot Chocolate and Cold Ice Cream Fondue

Nama Chocolate (Bitter)

The Best Chocolate Cake in the World

Chocolate Truffles

Dark Chocolate Dipped Bacon

Chocolate Diablo Cookie

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: César, Maggie Alhadeff, Sweet Spotter, azuki, William Lockie, Pinku Neko, Isabel, pat, Shelby Schuler, Scootfoodie

The post Foodspotting Friday: Chocolate Lovers Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

10 photos to inspire your citrus consumption this winter. 

Come the holiday season, I always have a box of satsumas. Yes, satsumas. Not mandarins or tangerines; satsumas. Because they’re easy to peel, seedless and perfect for holiday laziness. Plus the box they come in is perfect for eco-friendly wrapping of gifts.

Be it satsumas, oranges or grapefruits, we’re in high citrus season, and as we like to say, when life gives you lemons, take pictures.

Citrus Tart

Grapefruit Pie

Satsumas 

Orange Basil Popsicle

Grilled Grapefruit Tart

Orange Yogurt Smoothie

Bruleed Grapefruit

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Satsuma Sorbet

Lemon Cream Tart 

Images: Mama’s Gotta Bake, LUNCH, sonyaka, menn, Emily, michelle tedjakusuma, Pinku Neko, Chase Aaron, 추영, melba castillo, VincenteSF

The post Foodspotting Friday: Crazy for Citrus appeared first on EcoSalon.

Need dessert inspiration? Feed your sweet tooth craving with macarons.

If you hadn’t noticed, macarons are the dessert du jour, and with good reason. They’re colorful, petite, French, and unlike cupcakes, classy. Yeah, I said it.

If it’s apricot and blackberry, mocha or caramel fleur de sel, the hundreds – ok, maybe even thousands – of flavors, means there’s one for everyone. So for today’s Foodspotting Friday, here’s to sweet, multicolored inspiration.

Ladurée, Paris

La Belle Miette, Melbourne

Gosselin Philippe, Paris

Botega Louie Restaurant and Gourmet Market, Los Angeles 

LuxBite, South Yarra

Yauatcha, London

Eleven Madison Park Restaurant, New York City

Patisserie 46, Minneapolis

Pastelería Calafate

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: alexis, Alex & Katherine, Soraya Darabi, Little Miss Local, Growler Eats, almostalwaysravenous, ToastMaster, Terry, TeaJay, Cesar

The post Foodspotting Friday: The Glorious Macaron appeared first on EcoSalon.

Brunch photos to inspire weekend cooking.

Heading into the weekend we all look forward to one thing: brunch. We love spending lackadaisical Saturday and Sunday mornings with friends, a French press and a full spread of delicious food in front of us. Whether it’s cooking up a breakfast storm at home (bacon cups anyone?) or going out, brunch is one of our favorite meals.

Need your own inspiration for enjoying all the food your weekend could potentially bring? Here’s our favorite brunch food porn from Foodspotting.

Blueberry Pancakes @ Clinton Street Baking Co

Bread Pudding @ Tartine Bakery

Crepes @ Ti Couz Creperie

Huevos rancheros @ Fly Trap Restaurant

Croque Madame @ Petite Abeille

Beignets @ Wild Grape

Hash With Eggs Sunnyside Up And Greens @ Gilead Cafe

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: chris connolly, Jeff, Visivo, A Sutanto, Seoung, Soraya Darabi, Knappst3r, Sasha Rae

The post Foodspotting Friday: The Brunch Special appeared first on EcoSalon.

Food porn in the way of sweet potato fries.

In Foodspotting Friday we like to bring you some of the best of the best in food photos from our favorite app, Foodspotting. Yeah, yeah, we’re completely and utterly food porn obsessed, but you’re right here with us reading this post, which means you’re seeking out some culinary inspiration as well.

To mark the first official day of fall, we thought it was only fitting to feature one of our favorite (and seasonal) foods ever: the sweet potato fry. If you’re not tempted to find the nearest restaurant that serves them and order up a batch after looking at these photos, you might want to go and get your pulse checked to see if you’re still alive.

Liba Falafel Truck, San Francisco, California

Square Burger, McKinney, Texas

Laniakea Dining Room, Honolulu, Hawaii

Green Eggs Cafe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mother’s, Brooklyn, New York 

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: Little Miss Local, Mel N. Noms the Word, JKat, Shao, Nicole

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