FERN’s Friday Feed: On hot stoves and hotter tempers
Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
Why people rage at recipes
Literary Hub
“At some point in recent human history (I’m guessing 2014), the web became almost entirely full of opinions that were: 1. Very angry 2. Extremely inconsequential 3. Written by people who think that there shouldn’t be anyone gay in Star Wars,” writes Geraldine DeRuiter. “Recipe sites are no different, though usually less focused on John Boyega and Oscar Isaac’s sexualities (mostly) (JUST LET THEM KISS, J. J. ABRAMS, YOU COWARD). Instead, they demand the person who put pureed peas in guacamole be put to death. These sites bring us together, they tear us apart, and off in some corner of the comments section someone is shouting, ‘I HATE OLIVES WITH PIMENTOS, THEY LOOK OBSCENE,’ and we know you do, Diane, but this recipe does not contain olives with pimentos.”
Can the sounds of a healthy reef help save coral?
The Guardian
“Underwater speakers that broadcast the hustle and bustle of thriving coral could bring life back to more damaged and degraded reefs that are in danger of becoming ocean graveyards, researchers say.” Ian Sample writes, “Scientists working off the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean found that coral larvae were up to seven times more likely to settle at a struggling reef where they played recordings of the snaps, groans, grunts and scratches that form the symphony of a healthy ecosystem. ‘We’re hoping this may be something we can combine with other efforts to put the good stuff back on the reef,’ said Nadège Aoki at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. ‘You could leave a speaker out for a certain amount of time and it could be attracting not just coral larvae but fish back to the reef.’”
Of course America fell for Liquid Death
The Atlantic
“When you think about it,” writes Jacob Stern, “the business of bottled water is pretty odd. What other industry produces billions in revenue selling something that almost everyone in America—with some notable and appalling exceptions—can get basically for free? Almost every brand claims in one way or another to be the purest or best-tasting or most luxurious, but very little distinguishes Poland Spring from Aquafina or Dasani or Evian. And then there is Liquid Death. The company sells its water in tallboy cans branded with its over-the-top name, more over-the-top melting-skull logo, and even more over-the-top slogan: ‘Murder your thirst.’”
Want a more sustainable meat? Try a python steak.
The Washington Post
“They’re scaly, fork-tongued and can measure upward of 20 feet long. Pythons may also be one of the most Earth-friendly meats to farm on the planet. A group of researchers studied two large python species over 12 months on farms in Thailand and Vietnam — where snake meat is considered a delicacy — and found that they were more efficient to raise than other livestock. Their research,” writes Rachel Pannett, “published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests that python farming could offer a solution to rising food insecurity around the globe, exacerbated by climate change. The researchers, who studied more than 4,600 pythons, found that both Burmese and reticulated pythons grew rapidly in their first year of life, and they required less food (in terms of what’s known as feed conversion: the amount of feed to produce a pound of meat) than other farmed products, including chicken, beef, pork, salmon — and even crickets.”
Why massive numbers of farmed salmon are dying
Time
“The popularity of farmed Atlantic salmon on dinner tables worldwide has been a disaster for the king of fish,” write Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins. “A new study determined that 865 million farmed salmon have died in mass die-offs in the last decade. The scientists blame the deaths on several factors, from ocean warming caused by climate change to the aquaculture industry’s overuse of antibiotics and pesticides and its aggressive attempts to increase production. Beyond the staggering number of dead fish, the findings raise questions about the future of growing salmon in cages on the ocean—and aquaculture in general.”