(2009-02-26) Brooklyn Artisanal Food

Article on the Local Food/Artisanal Food/Slow Food movement in Brooklyn Ny. Bits of Barter, CoOp and Street Vendor elements. "We're not sure how a Micro Batch chocolate factory is supposed to run," Rick Mast said. "We're going take our time and let it evolve." As Michael Mast, 29, said, "SlowGrowth, Slow Design, Slow Food. Slow, but without being flaky."

May'2010: Video about Mast Brothers Chocolate.

Jul'2012: Colby Cosh on Artisanal Chocolate and Social Revolution. I don’t know much about the Mast Brothers and I haven’t sampled their product. But I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the Pre-Raphaelite facial hair isn’t a total coincidence. In the 19th century, William Morris preached a social revolution in which exploitative “useless toil” would be replaced by “useful work”. He dreamt of a world that would reject shoddy mass-produced goods in favour of objects made with care and craftsmanship. Any business that sells “Artisanal” goods, whether the goods be curtains or crumpets, is essentially quoting Morris and referring to his promise. (Arts And Crafts) We don’t think of the decline in bricks-and-mortar retailing as part of a transition to a post-Service Economy, but that is exactly what it is... I quote one of Marshall McLuhan’s maxims a lot when I’m talking to people about the future of print media: “New media turn old media into art forms.” But the rule is really generalizable to the whole economy: art (and BullShit) is what is left over after you have automated everything you can.