"listening" news and stories

Everyone loves to taste and smell and experience food. And rightly so; it can be a very visceral experience. But to me, it's just as enjoyable to hear about food. To hear someone describe a great meal can be almost as satisfying as eating it myself (with none of the calories). I love discovering different words and terms and metaphors to describe my food. I love hearing beer described as "woody" or "nutty" or "golden." And I love the actual sounds that food makes when you play with it - crackling, bubbling, snapping.

Hence, why I get so much of my food information from public radio. Sure, there are better sources - but it's the way I like to get my food news: in words and phrases as gorgeous and robust as the dishes they describe. If you squeeze your eyes shut and listen to cooks speak about their latest creations, it's quite lovely and relaxing.

Obviously, nothing beats sitting down at a restaurant with a great plate of food in front of you. But if I'm lying in bed on Sunday afternoon, I'll take a plate of public radio, thanks, soup on the side. And then I'll get full on seconds.

Source

A Swiss lab has created a system of sensors and microphones to help dieters keep track of what they eat. A report from The Wearable Computing Laboratory describes how an in-ear microphone (right) was used, with very high accuracy, to identify various foods based on what they sounded like as they were eaten. Other parts of the system include a collar to detect swallowing and hand sensors to detect "food intake related motions." The lab hopes that all of this automation will make it easier for people to keep track of what they eat, as opposed to having to manually take notes about everything they consume in a day.

[Via pasta and vinegar]