Tasty Bites From Around The World March 06

Tasty Bites from Around the World

March 2006

In this section we bring you a selection of the food and beverage stories currently grabing the world headlines ..

First there was Robo Cop, now meet Robo Barman …..

A group of Dutch students have developed a robot that they say can pour the perfect pint of beer reports ananova.com

It takes one minute and 11 seconds for Hermann, one of five prototypes, to pour a beer. The Robo Barman can pull the perfect pint, but how does he match up when it comes to pulling the girls!
Students at the Technical University of Darmstadt say he is designed to pour the frothy German wheat beer at exactly the right angle.
Professor Thomas Weber set 23 science students the task of designing the robot and insisted they pay attention to "aesthetics" - meaning the beer had to have a head on it.

Weber set his students a £53 limit for construction expenses in the hope that Hermann might go into mass production.
"We don't want to compete with landlords," said Weber, "merely make their lives and those of their waiters easier."

Students Bar Drinking!

Students are ditching the stereotypes of being beer-drinking, kebab-eating health disaster zones - and are switching to more puritanical, clean-living lifestyles, according to a survey reported by the BBC.

These days students are more likely to be occupied with their reading glasses than their drinking glasses About one in four students is now teetotal, says National Union of Student Services - and among the rest of the student population there is a growing appetite for exercise facilities and healthy eating.
It contrasts sharply with the widespread image of students as beer-swilling layabouts given to late-morning lie-ins after long nights spent in smoky backstreet pubs.
As a sign of the times, NUS Services, which provides commercial support for student unions, is planning a new juice bar concept for student unions around the country.
And next month, the welfare section of the NUS will invite student unions to pledge to hold more events in alcohol-free venues - to encourage a wider range of students to take part in activities.
According to the s major annual survey of student lifestyle, there is a sharp decline in going to the pub.

The Unite survey, carried out by Mori, shows a 13 percentage point fall in students going to the pub as a leisure activity, compared to five years ago. The pub is now a minority activity, only 1% ahead of sport and exercise as a way of spending spare time.
Nick Emms of NUS Services says "Students expect a much wider range of social activities - and are more health conscious. They're more likely to use exercise facilities than the general population," he says.

As for day-time drinking - a time-honoured pursuit among many students of old - it's virtually disappeared, he says.
With young people more likely to hit the exercise bikes than the lager, student unions have been shedding their old-fashioned beer-drenched barn image.
The University of London Union, one of the biggest in the country, has turned one of its two traditional bars into a cafe-style area, with healthier food - and next month it will be made non-smoking.
The union, serving about 5,000 students a day, has its own private health club, with 60 exercise stations and a swimming pool.

This decline of "wet sales" - drink being sold across the bar - is a pattern visible throughout the country, says the president of Durham Student Union, Nick Pickles. This is partly financial, but it's also a change in youth culture.
At Durham, the student union bar has stopped selling real ale, says Mr Pickles, because there was no demand - and traditional pubs seem to have only a limited appeal for young drinkers.
This might mean that students are still drinking alcohol - but they're buying wine from supermarkets or going to bars rather than spending time in pubs, he says
When there have been so many headlines about binge drinking among the young, the changes in student boozing habits show another side of a more complicated story.
It´s orange juice without the vodka for today´s budding entrepenurs ! It raises the prospect of more American-style, healthy-living youngsters on campus. It's also not good news for the pub industry, which already has seen so many inner-city pubs boarded up.
And it's no longer the case that student trends can be dismissed as only reflecting a small, unrepresentative group.

Do you know a Superlandlord ?

First there was Supernanny who took control of the nation's little not so darlings! Now the production company behind the hit Channel Four TV show are on the hunt for a Superlandlord to fix the nation's most troublesome pubs!

Hmmm, time to use my X Ray Eyes to see just how much beer is left in that keg... UK Production company Ricochet has found a delightful mish mash of rundown pubs which now desperatly need to be reclaimed and restored to their former glory. And who will take on this mighty task. Well a champion landlord or landlady of course ..."Superlandlord must be a highly skilled, no nonsense individual, confident in all aspects of setting up and managing pubs, who is ready to take on Britain's worst boozers and the useless staff that run them" say the programme makers.

Does this sound like you... or do you know a UK based Superlandlord or lady? Call Jo Thornhill or Sophie Chandler 01273 224800….

Back to Top
© 2003-2005 Bars in Spain - All Rights Reserved