NONFICTION

Are You Ready to Eat Meat Grown in a Lab?

At the laboratories of the Israeli company, Redefine Meat, which is using 3D printing to replicate the sensory experience of eating a steak.
By Bee Wilson

SQUARE FEET

Dining in the Street? As Restaurants Reopen, Seating Moves Outdoors

Cities are accelerating applications and waiving fees to allow alfresco dining, but the moves are disrupting neighborhoods and cutting much-needed tax revenue.

Sidewalk dining in East Hampton, N.Y. Local officials around the country are allowing eating establishments to expand onto patios and parking lots, and even city sidewalks and streets.
By Jane Margolies

As Travel Resumes, Wineries, Cooking Schools and Others Get Creative

Distilleries, cooking schools, wineries and food halls from California to South Minneapolis are adjusting to social distancing and hygiene in a new era of travel.

Flowers Vineyard in Sonoma County, Calif., is utilizing its outdoor space for a largely “touchless” experience.

One thing that the distilleries are well stocked in? Hand sanitizer. “We make our own … heck, we sell the stuff!” Mr. Erisman said. Transitioning to hand sanitizer production was a major initiative at Du Nord Craft Spirits, a microdistillery based in South Minneapolis and the first black-owned distillery in the United States. Run by a husband-and-wife team, Chris and Shanelle Montana, Du Nord produces vodka, gin and whiskey and has a cocktail room. The Montanas were starting to think about reopening midsummer when mass protests surrounding the death of George Floyd overtook the neighborhood. “We are very involved in the South Minneapolis community and we wanted to play our part,” said Shanelle Montana. “We were handing out hand sanitizer and water to the crowd.” As the protests continued, the Montanas began putting contingency plans in place, especially as violence increased. The warehouse space was broken into, but the resulting small fires were promptly extinguished by their sprinkler system. The cocktail room was spared — Ms. Montana believes that was because the employees wrote “black-owned business” on the space’s windows. Ms. Montana is heartened by the support they have received from the community in cleaning up and repurposing the warehouse as a temporary food pantry. Their next steps are to renovate the building. “We’re making sure that any space we have will be able to adapt to whatever Covid restrictions are required,” Ms. Montana said. Perhaps more pressing in their future plans is a commitment to reinvesting in their community and existing as a healing gathering space. “In some ways, we have a clean slate to reimagine what it could be.”

By Lauren Sloss