Editors' Blog

Here at FSD we've got a lot of opinions. The Editors' Blog is a place where we get to speak our minds. Check back often for posts from Paul King, Becky Schilling, Lindsey Ramsey and Peter Romeo on the foodservice topics of the day.

In Defense of Surimi
A trip to Alaska makes Paul King a surimi defender.
02-21-2013

Earlier this month, I traveled to the Aleutian Islands of Unalaska and Akutan with several other editors as part of a media tour hosted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers. We got a chance to see the processing of pollock into fillets, as well as the harvesting of the pollock roe and the making of fish meal from pollock by-products.

The scope of the operations we saw was impressive—tons of fish per day are cleaned, filleted and processed, either into frozen blocks that one day become the fish fillet sandwiches sold in quick-serve...

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The Great Space Race
We’re on the hunt for the most awe-inspiring foodservice locations.
02-14-2013

I think I experienced my first jaw-dropping moment covering the non-commercial industry when, early in my tenure here at FoodService Director, I got the chance to tour the then-new New York Times cafeteria, run by Restaurant Associates. What made that space great was it’s location, on the 14th floor in the middle of New York City, with floor-to-ceiling windows letting in a ton of natural light. The servery itself is modern with clean lines that all help showcase the beautiful food the café serves. That experience showed me that there is more to creating a great...

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Did the USDA Learn from Last Year’s Ill Feelings Over New School Regs?
This time around, the USDA has provided alternatives and asked for help deciding which option will work best.
02-07-2013

Perhaps the USDA learned something from the release of last year’s new meal pattern regulations.

Last week the organization released its latest set of proposed regulations for school food. These rules affect competitive foods and snacks. Reading through the regs I was pleased to see that the USDA, in several cases, has offered alternative proposals for specific requirements. The organization has asked for child nutrition professionals to comment on which option would be a better fit.

That’s a nice departure from last year’s regs, when alternatives were not...

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North! To Alaska
Editor Paul King prepares for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
02-04-2013

A trip to Alaska has been on my bucket list for a number of years now. I have traveled to several of our nation’s wilderness areas during my life and marveled at the beauty and power of nature. I have found both adrenaline-pumping excitement and calming serenity within the borders of such places as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Shenandoah national parks. To me, Alaska represents a last frontier of sorts.

Well, I’ve finally gotten my wish. But it comes with a caveat. It will be in the middle of winter. I travel to the Aleutian Islands this week on a tour sponsored by the...

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Firsthand Foodservice Experience
A sudden illness gave Lindsey Ramsey a rare opportunity to sample hospital food as a patient.
01-31-2013

In my five years at FoodService Director, I’ve visited many operations to see the sights and taste the food. Mostly, I’ve visited college campuses where my sense memory from my time in college still informed my opinion of the food. The same could be said of the few schools I’ve visited. But I have never been a patient in a hospital until last week, so I felt it was my duty as an editor to report on the food I was served while there.

I was there as a result of a bad sinus infection that spread to my eye, so despite a swollen-shut blinker I was perfectly...

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