The food track started on day 5, and I was in absolute heaven. From barbecue to Iron Chefs to the world’s largest cheeseboard, day 5 was full of discussion on food culture, food future and food production.
The Community, Culture & Science of Barbecue
First stop of the day was at the Texas A&M University House to learn about the culture and processes of Texas barbecue. This was one of my favorite panels, especially since it follows the topic of one of my recent school projects.
This panel came complete with real cuts of beef and pork that the panelists used to demonstrate differences in meat grades and butchering. The USDA, which handles meat grading, uses camera technology to scan cuts of beef ribeye for fat marbling to determine the grade of the meat. Prime has the most fat marbling and is the top grade, choice has moderate marbling and select has the least.
USDA grades are only used for marketing the meat, and meat processors actually have to pay the USDA to grade their meat. Otherwise, the USDA just inspects the meat to ensure it’s adequate for consumption, and that process is funded by taxes.
Variations in the cut of ribs were also shown, including the different muscles, bones and other anatomical structures.
A looping video featuring shots of barbecue cooking and being served played throughout the panel, led by food author Jess Pryles. Needless to say, the crowd was hungry by the end of the panel.
Lucky for us, free barbecue samples from Southside Market in Bastrop and Elgin were served after the panel.
Meet the kitchen of the future: Trends in food tech
After grabbing my sample of brisket and sausage, I hopped over to the JW Marriott to see Iron Chef Cat Cora on a panel discussing the future of tech in food.
The discussion ranged from robots in professional kitchens to IoT blenders that know what kind of post-workout smoothie you should have. This area of tech is in its fledgling, experimental years, however, so it’s still unknown what the next “microwave” will be.
Striking a balance between tech that makes cooking quicker, easier, healthier and better while still leaving the feel of creating and cooking traditionally was also mentioned as an important direction for the food tech industry.
Cora was a big proponent of smartphone connectivity with food tech, saying that having commercial fridges or ovens that could alert restaurant owners of faulty parts before they completely ruin the appliance or the contents within them could save restaurants thousands.
I asked Cora what happens to the thousands of people employed by the restaurant industry once robots enter the kitchen. See that video here.
World’s Longest Cheeseboard
Hundreds of cheeses lined a room in the JW Marriott, all from Wisconsin — the fourth largest producer of cheese in the world if it was its own country. The line to get in was about as long as the line for Steve Huffman.
It was great to see some rare and exotic cheeses, and apparently Wisconsin Cheese’s Twitter game is pretty strong.
Sony Wow Studio
Next, I made my way to the Sony Wow Studio to check out some of Sony’s new tech. We were immediately greeted my a small robot dog named Aibo. The bot responded to touch on its head, chin and back, and could even perform tricks like high fives and shakes.
Sometimes, Aibo was a little camera shy or sassy and wouldn’t respond. But that’s the ways of a puppy, so I’ll assume that was purposeful and not errors in the tech. We also got to mess with some responsive AR drawing apps that let you draw right on the table.
Stay tuned for my wrap-up post of the whole SXSW experience, the trends I saw across my panels and final takeaways.