Merchants of Cool - How Teens run the Economy

They are the merchants of cool: creators and sellers of popular culture who have made teenagers the hottest consumer demographic in America. But are they simply reflecting teen desires or have they begun to manufacture those desires in a bid to secure this lucrative market? And have they gone too far in their attempts to reach the hearts--and wallets--of America's youth?

Take a closer look at the complex world of selling "cool" in a Frontline documentary. Click here to watch ->

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Ageless 70 years old woman

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Breast is best. Shopping vouchers rewarding breastfeeding in UK

In the UK new mothers are to be offered up to £200 in shopping vouchers to encourage them to breastfeed their babies. 
The pilot scheme is targeting deprived areas in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. To qualify for the full reward, the women will have to breastfeed until their babies are six months old. 
Critics say the money would be better spent helping those mothers who have difficulties feeding their newborns.

Tesco: ugly and misshapen fruit and veg will go on special offer

Wonky carrots and blemished apples thown away by supermarkets will be put on special offer as Tesco plans to 'educate' public that it is good food.

Misshapen fruit and vegetables which are thrown away by supermarkets will be put on special offer and the public need to be "educated" that it is good food, Tesco has said. 

Matt Simister, the group food sourcing director at Tesco, said that British customers "always pick the cream of the crop" when they shop leaving "old, ugly and misshapen" produce to go to waste.

Japan's amazing lunchboxes

Making a packed lunch for your children to take to school is a chore performed by parents around the world. 
But in Japan, it is not just the taste and healthiness of the meal that is important - but how it looks. 
The country's ancient emphasis on food presentation has been transformed into a trend for character bento - packed lunches made to look like pandas, teddy bears or even real people. 
The BBC's Tokyo correspondent Roland Buerk has been finding out more.



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How To Make A Traditional Full English Breakfast

Traditional Full English Breakfast Recipe. Gail and Jill, of the Blacksmith's Café in Hastings, guide us through the ritual of making the perfect fried breakfast. Savour our Traditional Full English Breakfast recipe.

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The Mushroom Hunters

Every fall, Chemult, Ore., swells with pickers and buyers who flock to the forests to look for the prized matsutake mushroom.



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Salmonella in Spices Prompts Changes in Farming

IDUKKI, India — Spices grown in the mist-shrouded Western Ghats here have fueled wars, fortunes and even the discovery of continents, and for thousands of years farmers harvested them in the same traditional ways. Until now. 

Science has revealed what ancient kings and sultans never knew: instead of improving health, spices sometimes make people very sick, so Indian government officials are quietly pushing some of the most far-reaching changes ever in the way farmers here pick, dry and thresh their rich bounty. 

China thirsty for wine

Tom Brook profiles a documentary in the market for distributors at Cannes that examines China’s growing interest in fine French wines. China’s economic ascendancy has created a thirst for luxury goods – and produced a bubble in wine prices. But whereas the buyers of the most expensive wines in the West tend to be investors, the Chinese are buying them to drink. 

Directors David Roach and Warwick Ross’ film Red Obsession examines the effect of China’s new wealth on the wine industry in Bordeaux, on domestic drinking habits and on China’s perception abroad.



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Changes in fish market that may change your diet

Fish are getting more expensive, but they do not all move at the same speed

IT IS a good time to be a fisherman. The global fish-price index of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) hit a record high in May. Changing consumer diets, particularly in China, explain much of the sustained upward movement. High oil prices, which increase the cost of fishing and transportation, also add to the price of putting fish on the table.

Not all fish are created equal, however.

Why We're Always Hungry

We're a country of people who never stop eating. The freedom to eat anytime and anywhere is convenient, but it also means you may be mindlessly inhaling hundreds of extra calories without even realizing it.

By Liz Welch

When I was growing up, in the 1970s, my mother used to joke that our car had a mind of its own. Every time we drove near the Carvel store in town, it would mysteriously guide us to the parking lot. "I can't control the car! It wants ice cream!" my mom would say as she pretended to struggle with the steering wheel. Mom loved her soft-serve, but we didn't stop there often. Ice cream was a treat we had only once in a while.

Diabetes warning over soft drinks

People should consume fewer sugar-sweetened soft drinks, say European scientists

Drinking one or more cans of sugary soft drinks a day is linked to an increased risk of diabetes in later life, a study suggests. 

A can a day raises the relative risk of diabetes by about a fifth, compared with one can a month or under, say European scientists.

Is culinary tourism the next big thing in Crete?

In the wake of the ongoing economic crisis, the Greek island is using its tradition of fresh local produce to make tourism the driving force towards recovery.



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Why do criminals smuggle garlic?

Sweden has issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of illegally importing 10m euros (£8m) worth of garlic into the EU via Norway. Why would criminals do that? 

 
Swedish state prosecutors claim to have cracked one of Europe's more seemingly strange, if lucrative, smuggling rings.

They say two British men are believed to have made millions of euros smuggling Chinese garlic from Norway into Sweden.

Calorie Detective

With the help of a science lab, the filmmaker Casey Neistat finds that calorie listings on food labels can be highly inaccurate.


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Gulf gets a taste for luxury foods

Thousands of food producers are in the United Arab Emirates this week, looking to get their goods on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus.

Food imports into the Gulf are expected to double by 2020, making it an important market in the face of sluggish economies elsewhere.



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Dirt cuisine: are you adventurous enough to taste?

Adventurous diners can enjoy a menu made with soil, if they so wish, at a Tokyo restaurant normally specialising in seafood. 

For the last three weeks, chef Toshio Tanabe has been serving 'dirt cuisine' to customers, saying he's trying to reflect nature's life in his food. The menu includes soil soup and potato balls with soil sauce and costs around £70

Unhappy Customers Sue Subway Over One Inch

Some so-called "footlong" subs only measure 11 inches.

In this week's episode of "people who have too much time and money on their hands," two men from New Jersey have filed a lawsuit against Subway, claiming that the sandwich shop's "footlong" sandwiches are only 11 inches and thus, the men are being ripped off.

How long was your last Subway footlong?

Half of all food is wasted

Up to half of the world's food is wasted due to inefficient production in poorer countries and over-fussy consumers in the rich world, says a new report from the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Listen to the report (1 min 23 s):

Report:

The world has limited resources and a growing population. By the end of this century there could be three billion extra mouths to feed. So wasting food, this new report says, is a tragedy that should not continue. The study says changing the way consumers in the rich world reject less-than-perfect-looking vegetables in the shops, and eat large quantities of meat - which requires a lot of resources to bring to market - could have an impact.