Monkey Picked Coconuts - An Ethical Scandal
For years, the coconut aisle has traded on a halo of tropical purity, hydration, wellness, plant-based goodness. But behind some Thai coconut products sits a practice feeling wildly out of step with 2026 ethics and that is forced monkey labour. According to Foodfacts, pig-tailed macaques are still being captured, chained, and trained to harvest coconuts in parts of Thailand, despite repeated assurances the practice has ended - monkey picked coconuts.
13 minutes ago1 min read
Australia 2025 = Provenance, Plant-Forward Eating, and the New Food Identity War
Australia is ending 2025 in full identity-rebuild mode, and food is the battlefield. According to new social and search data from Pureprofile and Quilt.AI, Australian consumers are loudly declaring the future belongs to them, their producers, their ingredients, their provenance lanes, with 81% of trending sentiment fixated on "Australian-made" goods and the cultural comfort of eating from their own backyard.
23 hours ago1 min read
Ajinomoto’s Atlr.72 Drops in Singapore Filled with Solein Air-Protein
Italy has its UNESCO cuisine moment, but Japan just slid in with something arguably more disruptive in the form of a dessert made from air. Ajinomoto’s conscious brand Atlr.72 has officially launched Mochelie, a mochi-filled almond tart powered by Solein, the world’s first commercial “protein from air.” It's just hit Singapore shelves in three flavours, and yes, it’s still a pastry, with a carbon footprint reading more like a rounding error.
2 days ago1 min read