This Week in Tech at the Treehouse
What we did last week:
- Optimized API for speed and updated several of the APIs as we beta test version 1.2 of our iPhone client
- Moved our API codebase to the latest version of Goliath, and made it easy to update in the future
- Built an admin app that makes it easy to add and edit individual sources
- Added CSV import to the admin app, so a Foodtree admin can bulk upload sources
- Built JQuery Mobile version of foodtree.com, so you can see source profiles and their connections through your mobile browser. The list of sources is sorted by your geolocation
What you can expect when you wake up on Tuesday, August 30:
- Initial functionality for our Store Locator Map product, which includes the ability for a user to create a map for a food source of where you can find their foods
- A new landing page for Local Food Shift, a site built for our customer in Boulder, Colorado. It will begin to integrate their existing site, eatlocalguide.com into its permanent home at localfoodshift.com
- Completed beta testing of 1.2 of our iPhone app and submission to Apple. This is a major update, which includes commenting, the ability to follow other users, foods and sources, improved social sharing, and “add” functionality that makes it easy for early-adopter food geeks to use outside of the farmers market, as well as some UX/UI tweaks. This version will also roll-out Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.
- Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto added to communities on foodtree.com
- A couple more tweaks at Local Food Shift, including improved UI around adding sources to favorites and nicer pins on the maps.
Towards a Visual Identity for Food
Inspired by efforts to create a common visual language, especially The Noun Project and the work of Gerd Arntz on Isotype, we’ve begun work on food icons. Working in collaboration with the team at Industrial Brand, we have a starter set of icons for some common food sources and types of foods. We are releasing all of these icons with a Creative Commons By Attribution License, so if you are interested in the icons, just let me know in the comments. Over time, we aim to create icons for all of the food source types and food types in our database at Foodtree. For more background on our thinking about open food standards, see our list of food and source types (yaml files), please visit our Github repository. We also have all of the icons available in the reverse, with the icon as a knockout of white negative space in a black square.
First, some common food sources.
This group we think of as “origin” sources:
Farm
Urban Farm
Greenhouse
Fish Boat
Garden (we’re currently using it for both personal garden and community garden, but will likely become just the personal version)
Drinking Fountain
Next a couple of “Middlemen.” These actually fall into a category that is a subtype of Processors, known as Beverage Processors.
Winery
Brewery
This group are “Retailers.” These food sources usually fall into a “where-to-buy” or “where-to-eat” classification.
Restaurant
Food Truck (a subtype of Restaurant)
Coffee Shop (another restaurant subtype)
Grocer
Farmers Market (a subtype of Grocer. Ideally there would be two source types related to farmers markets- this one and another as a subtype of “direct sale,” which includes CSAs and U-picks, would also include farmers’ market– owned by farmers.)
Alcohol Retail (admittedly not a great sounding name, but we use just one icon to cover its subtypes: Wine Shop, Liquor Store and Beer Depot)
Now for a few food types:
Meat
Fish
Shellfish
And finally, association. Associations aren’t a food source type, but they play an important role in the food system. They are what economist Michael Shulman refers to as food-system capacity builders. Groups like non-profit organizations, food policy councils, etc.
New Visual Identity for Foodtree
What I like about the identity is that it is anchored in the past, as you mentioned with reference to the homesteading movement, but also the logo’s own reference to the tractor badges of yore. It is important to note that our food system hasn’t necessarily had more sustainable methods in the “past.” The opportunity lies in the merger of an understanding of historical lessons, great advancements in soil and natural science, and a fundamental desire to work in harmony with nature. Our food system is certainly complex and Foodtree wants to use technology (mobile and internet communication) to make the complex information easily digestible so we can all eat better.
I also love it’s basis and reference to vintage tractor badges. Like this one of a Fordson Dexta.
But one of my favorites has to be of the tractor I grew up driving with my grandfather. The classic Farmall Tractor from International Harvester.
And it’s distinctive badge:
An interesting follow-up to the exploding watermelon story I posted about last week. Just in case you were wondering, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency coordinates over 350 recalls each year. In the month of may, they have publicly reported over 14 recalls including salmonella grape tomatoes and listeria salami. Generally, it is only the Class I (eat this and you may die) recalls that get publicly announced. So, unless you are diligently browsing the oh so user friendly CFIA website, you can’t be sure how much stuff you ate that “will most likely lead to short-term or non-life threatening health problems (Class II) or will not likely result in any undesirable health effects (Class III).” nIt’s not any better in the US, with 28 public recalls so far this month, including cheese, chives and more of those dangerous grape tomatoes. (Maybe you DO want to know when tomatoes are in season?)
Remember the egg recall that happened last summer? There were more eggs recalled than the total population of the US. Here’s a quick infographic we put together about the egg recall:
The solution proffered by a high-priced consultant paid to study China’s food system? Well, it’s one that he probably uses to feed himself and his family, ““You want to cut to the bottom line?” Mr. Morehouse adds. “Buy your produce from somebody that you know and trust and has a track record.”
Exploding watermelons? Canadians say ‘no thanks’ to Chinese food imports – The Globe and Mail.
Chinas Latest Food Scandal: Exploding Watermelons
I go to a coffee shop around the corner from my office a couple of times a week for a coffee and a bagel. It’s often enough that I can order the usual and the owner gave Derek and I a “treat” the other day. A couple of small slices of watermelon. It’s May and there certainly aren’t any watermelons in season in Vancouver. But, as food-aware as I may be, I also believe it is rude to refuse food offered in kindness. So I ate the not-very-delicious watermelon and said thank-you.
Seeing this story about another chemical scheme to boost profits and make whole foods like fruit more like their manufactured counterparts makes me wish I hadn’t eaten the watermelon.
Chinas Latest Food Scandal: Exploding Watermelons – China Real Time Report – WSJ.
But it also reminds me of the watermelon I’ll be paying a princely sum for later this summer. Sure, I won’t be eating much watermelon, but it will be a delicious treat. And, I’ll have peace of mind knowing its provenance.
Glen Valley Organic Farm: Watermelons and the Price of Local Food.
