How Icelandic Yogurt Invaded America
priceonomics.com
priceonomics.com
Biggest insights are: Whole Foods essentially committed to a buy-in before they had the product, they took an Icelandic recipe, used 'mystery machines' about which they can't say anything because it's IP, and some more stuff on how Whole Foods is nicer than everyone else, that's as deep as it gets.
If this was Show HN: Contentmarketing done right, I would appreciate it more :)
I still don't like that the first impression a consumer has is that the yogurt is made with milk from Icelandic cows, while in reality it's American cows.
These days, they're almost all made in Asia[3]. we'd like to think there's a small workshop where there cranked out by hand by craftsman, but that's rare these days - almost mythological [4].
The marketing then yes, is trying to sell you on the dream, or "legacy". But it's all smoke and mirrors. We're all pretty intelligent to understand this, but we want to believe, and we allow ourselves that suspension of belief. That's what the marketing is selling you, and that's what you're buying. You can't scale up Icelandic yogurt from Iceland, to sell to the masses of a country that's many times larger.
[0] http://www.prologuecycling.com/interview-mario-cipollini-cip...
[2] http://www.campyonly.com/history.html
[3] http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2010/03/making-of-...
The point is that it's fantasy to think we can ALL reasonably buy an Italian bicycle, right now, even though demand may be great.
So instead we believe the myth of the Italian Bicycle For All by buying one with an Italian name, and perhaps with a sticker that says, "Fatto in Italia". The large Italian bicycle manufacturers may eve want to produce an all-Italian bike, but they can't - perhaps the technology they need isn't in their possession, or the techniques needed don't work scale well
It could even be a really good bicycle! But part of what I'm buying into is the myth that it's a really good, Italian Bicycle. For some reason, this is important to us humans, and we'll pay a premium even though the bicycle is made in the same factory, by the same workers as a bicycle that has labels from a domestic company.
So this, "Icelandic Yogurt" is just more marketable then calling it, "Icelandic-style Yogurt".
It's not a rare thing. Look in the ice cream isle for "Ice Cream", as well as "Frozen Dairy Dessert"[0]. Which one sounds better to you?
[0] http://consumerist.com/2012/09/11/new-breyers-recipes-when-i...
Of course this yogurt company is specifically seeking national distribution, and if the minimum viable batch size for their perishable, niche product is 5000 gallons that's probably best. But I'm still pleased that their milk (or yogurt) is not shipped here from Iceland for no discernible reason.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Quark.html
I also have no idea why they call it cheese. Quark is very far from cheese (the quark that is sold here is exactly the same as Skyr)
On another note, it is really annoying how every country has their own collection of dairy-based products which one cannot get anywhere else and one has to adapt recipies all the time. (It's also nice, because diversity, but still.)
edit: Looks like this year, finally, there will be skyr in Germany. Now to find a supplier..
I encourage people to try their hand at making yogurt. It's a little time consuming (proper prep, timing, temperature monitoring, cleanup), but otherwise easy and the result is so satisfying. For me, the cost is about the same (if using expensive milk at 2x the price of "normal" stuff), but again it's all about satisfaction.
It's partly about the value of understanding one's food, and partly that with only a little practice, it's difficult to find better tasting yogurt at the store.
- Buy a container of your favorite _plain_ yogurt and a gallon of milk,
- Boil the milk in a pan,
- Cool milk until it is warm (usual baby formula test - you can drop it on your forearm w/o hurt),
- Add the plain yogurt and stir well,
- Cover pan and put in a warm place, e.g., inside your unlit gas oven (pilot light should be running) and forget about it for 8-12 hours,
It will become thick tasty yogurt. Save some for the next batch.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDXWX0Q
I strain the yogurt down much thicker than even Greek yogurt sold in stores. It's great on a sandwich, as a mayo substitute, dressings etc. I have experimented with a number of different starters from commercial yogurts and each has a slightly different flavor. Homemade yogurt really is very good and worth a try.
Shouldn't this story be about Siggi's, then?
1) A large metal vat for the milk to ferment in.
2) Burlap bags that the fermented milk was drained into.
3) A large open top metal tub with wire racks on top, stored in a cooler.
The burlap bags were placed on the wire rack and the whey (mysa) allowed to drain from the bags for a couple of days. When the curds were almost free of whey, the Skyr was scooped from the bags and sold. Not exactly a high tech process.