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Treat Day Friday | A new weekly series
This post is part of a new weekly series we’ll start posting every Friday featuring the best posts of the week we’ve read about food, life hacks, the sharing economy and travel.
Food
Cooking is my escape, the place where I can make things better - Diana Henry, award-winning cookery writer, recalls a life inspired by food, from spag bol and nouvelle cuisine to the ‘quiet joy’ of home-cooked food. Such a great read!
Strawberry Frowzen Yogurt - Great recipe by Ana Novais, the blogger behind Petiscos & Miminhos. Extra light, easy to prepare and just perfect for sunny days.
Family weekend - Diana of In The Mood for Food blog writes about a rustic family weekend in Azeitão, near Lisbon, Portugal, and shares a fantastic baked apples in pastry recipe.
Aubergine and Avocado on a Pizza: It’s that Kind of Day! - Yolène of Creme de Citron blog shares a spicy, fresh and summery pizza recipe.
Life Hacks
Seth Godin on Building a Daily Practice & Not Waiting For Moods - Seth Godin reinforces lessons from Yoda. “You can’t TRY to do things, you must simply DO them”
No rules in this game - A must read post by Derek Sivers. Great advice for musicians/entrepreneurs, but read it even if you aren’t a musician/entrepreneur. You won’t regret!
The Sharing Economy
Mais Oui, We Share - Great report by By Ariane Conrad about Ouishare Fest, a 3 day Festival about the Collaborative Economy. We weren’t present, but we wished we were!
New York Can Fight Airbnb and Uber, But the Share Economy Is Here to Stay Good read about Airbnb, Uber and the future of the sharing economy.
Travel
48 hours in Lisbon: In Search Of Coffee, Tiles and Sun - The title says it all! Great post by Anna Brones.
Twenty reasons to visit Lisbon- Shaney Hudson explores a city of stunning vistas.
A quirky campaign video for London - How much do you love London? Probably not much as this couple.
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In honour of Food Revolution Day: 8 food bloggers you should follow
Today’s the second annual Food Revolution Day organised by the one and only Jamie Oliver. In 2012 Jamie instituted Food Revolution Day to bring real food, food education and cooking skills to the masses. In honour of FRD and because this day is all about real food and sharing knowledge, we combed through our reading list to find a collection of food blogs that stand for real & good food. So here’s to good food, better food education & keeping cooking skills alive. Check our list of 8 food bloggers and food revolutionaries you should follow.The list is in no particular order of preference.
1. Izy Hossack - Top with cinnamon
Who? Uber talented 17-year old avid baker, food blogger and author of Top With Cinammon. Izy learned much of what she knows in the kitchen from her italian mom. She loves baking, cooking, crafts and fashion but also likes pointing out that she is a complete computer and chemistry nerd.
Where? London, UK
Why you should read her blog? Izy blogs recipes and stories on the weekends. Izy is incredibly talented and she’s only 17-years old. Her quite unique writing style grabs readers by talking to them directly like a close friend. She’s witty and funny, plus Izy takes awesome pics… and the most AMAZING animated gifs ever…that will make your mouth water. Literally!
3 of our favourite posts:
2 ingredient Healthy Pancakes (gluten, grain and dairy free, no added sugar).
White chocolate peppermint mocha cookies (4 ingredients, no bake, 15 minutes)
Follow Izy on Twitter and visit her blog
2. Sanda Paigamo - Little Upside Down Cake
Who? Sanda describes herself as a math nerd. After years working in IT, she realised she wanted to pursuit a new life. Something else started commanding her attention… organic food and food photography, so in 2011 she left her IT job and started teaching herself photography. Later, she completed several photography courses and workshops with photographers and stylists she really admires. Today, she works at home.
Where? She’s from Bosnia but lives in Lisbon, Portugal
Why you should read her blog? Sanda shares simple, elegant recipes and stunning photos. Her writing is thoughtful and locates each recipe within a framework of place, colour and mood. Little Upside Down cake is a true pleasure to read.
3 of our favourite posts:
For old, new and future friends
Rainy weekend and chocolate gluten free cake
Follow Sanda on Twitter and visit her blog
3. Imen McDonnell - {farmette}
Who? American expat living in rural Ireland. Imen grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in a former life worked in TV, film and advertising production in New York City, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. But one day she met an Irish Farmer, fell in love and then…her life changed. Now she’s living in an eighteenth century farmhouse, in rural Ireland.
Where? Limerick, Ireland
Why you should read her blog? If you’ve ever dreamed of visiting Ireland, or of living on a farm, you’re going to love her blog. But {farmette} is more than just a blog where you can find delicious recipes. Imen McDonnell’s chronicles of cooking, eating and harvesting will make you travel to the beautiful Irish countryside without leaving your chair. Seriously.
3 of our favourite posts:
Irish ale battered fish chickpea chips
Follow Imen on Twitter and visit her blog
4. Emma Gardner -Poires Au Chocolate
Who? Emma describes herself as a baker, blogger and medieval literature geek. She started her blog Poires Au Chocolate at the age of 19, when she was studying English at Oxford University. She has now graduated from Oxford, and has studied pâtisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in London, a leading Culinary School renowned worldwide.
Where? Oxford, England
Why you should read her blog? Beautifully documented recipes for desserts and baking. From pastries, to decorated cakes, to ice creams, Emma’s passion for creative and irresistible desserts is simply infectious and will make you crave for sweets.
3 of our favourite posts:
Follow Emma on Twitter and visit her blog.
5. Regula Ysewijn - miss foodwise
Who? Regula is a Belgian graphic designer and photographer. She started her food blog ‘Miss Foodwise’ to celebrate everything there is to know about British food and culture. She has a passion for vintage British cookery books and a weakness for dainty floral tea cups.
Where? She’s from Belgium but lives in the UK.
Why you should read her blog? Regula celebrates all things British with traditional British recipes, products and super interesting accounts of British food history. Plus, her photos are stunning!
3 of our favourite posts:
Mussels with belgian fries for Food Revolution day
Vegan Chocolate beetroot and walnut cake
Bramley apple and blackberry pie
Follow Regula on Twitter and visit her blog
6. Mimi Thorisson - Manger
Who? Mimi has lived almost everywhere— Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Reykjavik and Paris. She and her husband always dreamed of living a country life, and their dream recently came true. They currently live in one of the most beautiful parts of Médoc, France.
Where? Médoc, France
Why you should read her blog? Mimi’s blog is full of delicious looking recipes inspired by the Médoc countryside. Mimi’s dishes are all at once rustic, elegant and bold, and all the mouth watering, richly-colored photographs are taken by her husband Oddur Thorisson.
3 of our favourite posts:
Veal liver with caramelised shallots and balsamic vinegar
Chocolate torte a la crème de marron (chestnut cream)
Follow Mimi on Facebook and visit her blog
7. Šárka Babická - Cook your dream
Who? London based freelance food, lifestyle and travel photographer, living in London since 2008. Sarka’s dream is to travel around the world with her boyfriend, taste local food and drinks and capture the beauty of everyday life, people and food on her camera. Cook your dream is her creative outlet, a place where she shares all her love for food and photography.
Where? Grew up in Prague, Czech Republic, but lives in London.
Why you should read her blog? She has an uncanny minimalist approach to food styling – a wooden board here, a rustic tea towel there. Plus, her photographs are truly gorgeous. Sarka also documents her various travels on camera, bringing her readers striking photos that make you travel around the World without leaving your chair.
3 of our favourite posts:
Cocoa brownies and happy easter
Wedding picnic in Tuscany Italy
Rhubarb and almond panna cotta for Food Revolution day
Follow Šárka on Twitter and visit her blog.
8. Emily Von Euw - Rawsome Vegan
Who?Emily is 19 and has been blissfully vegan for over two years. On her blog – This Rawsome Vegan Life – she shares her own recipes and experiences in the raw food lifestyle. Her motto is EAT RAW. LIVE LONG. BE SEXY.
Where? British Columbia, Canada
Why you should read her blog? Fascinating raw vegan food blog featuring creative recipes, stunning photos and a few AMAZING gifs. Emily also shares insights into veganism and raw foodism, and helpful resources about the lifestyle, but you don’t even have to be vegan to fully appreciate her blog.
3 of our favourite posts:
Deep dish chocolate peanut butter ice cream cake
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We are a LeWeb London Startup Competition Finalist
Looks like we’re going to be at the beautiful Central Hall Westminster, London, next month.
We are proud and humbled to announce that we are a LeWeb London Startup Competition Finalist. We are one of the 16 selected startups which will have the opportunity to pitch on-stage June 5, 2013. See you there!
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“People who love to eat are always the best people.” – Julia Child
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72 hours exploring London’s Foodie scene
London’s food scene is more exciting—and varied—than ever.
Stroll through London’s foodie scene from Foodzai on Vimeo.
Once upon a time, eating out was simple and let’s say it as it is: it was kind of boring. There were restaurants where you’d sit, eat, drink and pay. And there were dinner parties hosted by friends, where you’d bring a bottle of wine and talk about politics, football and sex scandals with people you didn’t always know. And that was it. But luckily the World changed.
Two weekends ago we flew to London to explore the local Foodie scene and during 72 hours we found out that London has become a genuinely exciting playground for foodies. I lived in London from 2008 to 2009 and it was a nice surprise to see that the city has put the fun factor back into eating. The food scene just keeps getting better and better and I would even dare to say it’s more exciting- and varied- than ever. From street food markets to a vibrant supper club scene, there’s an entire new alternative world to the traditional restaurant scene (which is also pretty damn good).
The supper clubs scene is a particularly interesting trend on the rise. In case you’ve been living under a rock and never heard of supper clubs, these are basically temporary restaurants often held in people’s homes or sometimes in pop-up venues. For some reason London seems to be the World’s supper clubs Capital. No one is exactly sure why London supper clubs started getting so trendy in late 2008. Probably the Financial meltdown contributed, but maybe it’s because of the fact that London is more multicultural than ever with signs of a more open society. Or maybe Londoners have been travelling a lot to Cuba lately to dance the Cuban rumba (a wave of paladares, private restaurants began blooming under Castro). Who knows?!
A phenomenal vietnamese dinner at Leluu Supper Club
Our 72 hours journey in London started on a Friday and for dinner we went to a vietnamese supper club called Leluu, created by British-Vietnamese Uyen Luu, one of the pioneers of the supper club movement in London. We knew we had to visit the place as we’ve heard really great things about it and we love Uyen’s story. She always enjoyed eating and cooking and thought it would be nice to make people more aware of vietnamese cuisine. Inspired by her trips to Italy where she would go to osterias, restaurants in people’s homes in the mountains. So she thought it would be great to do something like that in London where she could share food with her friends and with strangers. Uyen has a really beautiful place where she lives and works (she’s a Photographer and Food Stylist) and where she uses her studio to host Leluu.
So, we arrived at Leluu around 7:45 pm and me and André were sat with other people just like at a friend’s dinner party. First thing we noticed was that it was probably the most professional set up of any supper club we’ve been. There were about 26 people dining and we ended sharing our table with two friendly swedish girls. It was great night out with plenty of laughter, great company and outstanding food. I remember we had delicious stuff like Banh Cuon (rice flour rolls stuffed with ground pork and onion), Bun Bo Hue (Oxtail and pig’s trotter noodle soup with fragrant lemongrass, beef, banana blossom and hot mint) and more exotic stuff like Lemongrass Frogs Legs. Probably the best vietnamese food I’ve ever tried! The opportunity to meet and dine with complete strangers has got to be one of the most coolest aspects of a supper club and an advantage over any restaurant we can think of. Plus there’s a friendly egalitarianism connecting the supper club owner and guests, which is quite refreshing when compared with the typical stolid hierarchy we usually find even in neighbourhood restaurants.
What does a Transport Planning & Traffic Engineer, a Neuroscientist, a Computational Biologist and an Entrepreneur & Wine Bar owner have in common?
During our last 48 hours in London we met home chefs and supper club owners full of energy and ideas. People like Cristina, an italian girl from Turin who decided to start her own supper club called Merenda Sinoira because she missed Nothern Italian Piedmontese food in London. Rita started Let’s Go In For Dinner because her friends kept saying her her cooking skills were great and she felt that starting her own home restaurant would be a great way to share her passion for cooking. When she has time she also has another venture with a friend baking delicious cakes using natural alternatives to sugar to sell at local farmer’s markets. Tiffany who describes herself as “scientist by day, food adventurer by night” is from Arizona, USA, but has lived in the UK for 7 years and has a thing for mexican food and ended creating Supper at Tiffany’s to share her love of mexican food and culture. Silvio, a Milan born wine lover & entrepreneur who owns and runs a fantastic wine bar in East London, hosts usually once per month with two friends The Italian Supper Club. Obsessed with the quality of their ingredients and food they serve, all the friendly folks we met started their supper clubs for fun and with the purpose of sharing food that inspires them.
A secret paradise for foodies in London: Maltby Street Market
Food markets are one of the best things in London. Whether you’re looking for bargains or gourmet ingredients, London’s specialist food markets cater to all tastes and they are a great place not only to get your food shopping done, but also to grab a bite.
When you talk about food markets, Borough Market, in Southwark, Central London, is a haven for food lovers from around the World. Borough market is great, you can find there from the traditional fruit to vegetables, meat and fish, cheese, beer, wine, chocolate, bread, cakes and ice cream.
But times at this market are changing as it’s getting way too overpriced & packed with tourists so we ended going to a secret spot away from the crowds and tourists. Borough Market is like the Chelsea FC of food markets and may get all the attention, but nearby Maltby Street hosts Maltby Street Market now christened The Ropewalk, a fabulous food market where we found out that the indie food spirit is flourishing.
Tucked away under the railway arches in a corner of Bermondsey near Tower Bridge, this was the last place we’d expect to find a gourmet food mecca. But that’s exactly what makes it so charming. Every Saturday and Sunday this market brings together some of London’s finest artisan food and drink producers. At The Ropewalk we found a little paradise with an incredibly rich combination of stalls, under-arch shops, pop-up bars and intimate bistros. It’s a lot more smaller than Borough Market, and definitely more laid-back and personal. There we found food offerings that include incredibly delicious home smoked pastrami sandwiches from Monty’s Deli, spectacular french tarts from Poppy Smadja, spanish jamon from Tozino tapas bar, tasty peri peri chicken sandwiches from African Volcano, amazing gin cocktails at the pop-up Sparrow bar put on by London gin distillers Little Bird Gin and so much more awesome food traders. It’s just the perfect place to hangout on a sunny Saturday or Sunday lunchtime.
Post by Miguel Ferreira
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What happens when we decide to do something unexpected?
Ask not what awesome food and awesome people can do for you, ask what you can do for awesome food and awesome people.
Do you remember when John F.Kennedy said this? Well, you’re right. He actually never said it and yup we just made it up. But this fake quote ended inspiring us to do something crazy and fun.
We decided to book tickets and travel to London this weekend. We’ll be in London with a simple mission: during 72 hours we’ll be exploring the city seeking out foodies (perfect strangers) and collecting real stories in unexpected places, always having food as a universal language. Let’s see what happens. Something fawesome might happen. Stay tunned!
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Lessons from our Seedcamp Experience
Pitch Perfection comes with a lot of (public) trial and error
On the first day of Seedcamp Lisbon we spent the entire afternoon rehearsing our pitches. We were separated into two groups, half with Carlos and the other half with Philipp, in a very open and relaxed environment. But soon we realized, in a simple rehearsal session, who were the teams with best chances of being picked by Seedcamp for the investment round. You could see some teams were really well prepared with very polished pitches. And they had kick-ass ideas (with traction). At least in our group half of the teams had to redo all their pitch. We had no problems - in previous months we already had pitched in several public events. And although those were crappy pitches we finally discovered the right formula and therefore we just had to fine-tune our pitch. We used storytelling to reinforce all the strengths, vision, market trends and our team soul. Fun fact: We showed nothing about revenues or costs.
On the next day all teams arrived early and started pitching at 10am. Good atmosphere and a room packed with local mentors and other well-known guys from the european tech scene. All teams had improved their presentations massively. I was confident and it went very well, with no mistakes or omissions. Reactions on Twitter have made it worth all the efforts we made to prepare this pitch. “Great product”, “Disruptive,” “Beautiful presentation”, “Flawless” were some of the snappy tweets. But remember: the pitch is important but not conclusive. It’s just a first step to inspire people to believe in your idea.
Until you prove it you will continue to be the crazy guy
In the afternoon we had mentoring sessions and our brains started burning. Seedcamp assigned groups of mentors to talk with each team. Each session usually had 3 mentors per team. Most of the mentors were friendly and liked our vision. Only two of them were quite aggressive. These people are tough. They have a lot of experience in building companies and investing in startups. Mentors were there to help us but sometimes we had to put the pitch mode on again. Because even with numbers, today’s facts and tomorrow’s trends, people’s brains tend to deny something disruptive. As I said in our pitch: not even Paul Graham (Y Combinator) believed inAirbnb but now consumers love them ($501M in 2011). There’s no other way of proving our vision: we have to prove it with CUSTOMERS.
A good contact comes unexpectedly
In the last slot of the mentoring sessions, mentors could choose which startups they wanted to talk to. And here came the best surprise of the day. One of the most top-profiled mentors came to chat with us. Loved the idea, saw something huge and we were tuned in terms of vision. We talked several times during the following days with funding as a topic in the background.
This ended up being the most important contact we had until now. Ever! This was definitely one of the highlights of Seedcamp for us.
B2B- an investors trend?
After a long long day we went to the Seedcamp “family dinner”. Everyone was exhausted but it was time to relax. A few drinks and great company made it a very enjoyable dinner.
At the end we were not chosen and I had the feeling that Seedcamp was giving preference to B2B ideas. Everything seemed to follow that pattern. Including the fact that from the 20 startups selected the one with more traction was actually B2C oriented… and those guys weren’t chosen as well. Nothing against that, perhaps that’s just the current strategy of Seedcamp. Those guys see hundreds of startups per year, so they have a very keen nose for market trends.
Nonetheless, the startups chosen fully deserved it and totally nailed it at Seedcamp Lisbon. They have the potential to change something in the World and make a lot of money.
Seize the moment and remember: you’re on the TOP 20
I was impressed with the overall quality of the Startups selected… I would say that from the 20 startups at least 8 of them will be kicking ass in the near future. When the teams were pitching I remember I saw someone tweeting: “I would be a very bad VC, I would invest in all these startups.” They were that good!
The experience was amazing, especially because it was an eye-opener. As Tony Hsieh says: “don’t be cocky, there’s always someone better than you.” Seedcamp gives a boost to any global mindset. In addition, it gives you the opportunity to contact investors and entrepreneurs from all around the world, a lot of quite influential guys.
If your startup is selected for Seedcamp remember: you can not predict when and from where good things will come. But also have in mind that at the end of the day it’s all about execution… and CUSTOMERS. That’s what matters to your startup and to the World.
Post by André Jordão
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Holy macaroni, Foodzai was selected for Seedcamp Lisbon!
This week we are excited to announce that we were one of the 20 european startups to be selected to join Seedcamp Lisbon. This is going be an intensive program and a hell of a great opportunity to spread and improve our ideas with the help of a group of awesome mentors.
What an honour! Looking forward to meeting everyone.
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Simple things in life we couldn’t agree more.
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Our definition of good design
We’re working hard to launch our beta 2.0 version of Foodzai. Every time we brainstorm and get tempted to add more features and things start getting kind of messy we always remember this awesome quote from Don Draper (Yup, we are Mad Men fans!).
This brilliantly sums up everything we believe and it always helps us refocus. At Foodzai we always try to focus on good design. The kind of design that actually solves problems and improves peoples lives, not the kind of design that only looks pretty. So yes, let’s make Foodzai simple, but significant shall we?
