Food Week March 27 – April 2, 2023

Welcome to Food Week March 27 – April 2. New stuff and old stuff. New – olive oil coffee, carbon sequestration farming, low profits for meat and insane profits for eggs. Old – the emperor of dumplings, the difference between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon, meatballs and fruitcake and, of course, the April Fools joke. Enjoy!

MACRO

• Inflation cools, stock rally.

• Crazy weather in the Midwest.

• Italy bans lab-grown meat and other protein innovations in the name of national heritage.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Prices may be moderating but not for sugar. The commodity’s price impacts thousand of products.

• Cal-Maine, the nation’s largest egg producer, sold 1% more eggs in Q4 and made 109% more profit. That’s normal. Egg purchases fell by 6% in January and 4% in February YOY due to high prices. Things should improve after Easter rush but haven’t yet.

• COVID adjustments to SNAP payments stopping, will raise food insecurity nationally.

• Overall meat consumption is about the same but consumers are altering patterns and choices in the face of inflation. As a result, meat producer profitability struggles with feed costs and price elasticity.

• Aldi plays an April Fools joke and announces it going vegan. Portions of twitter aren’t amused. A review of some other food-related April Fools cunning stunts.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• As mentioned, Starbucks all in with adding olive oil in coffee. Some reviews.

• The emperor of dumplings dies at 96 in Taiwan.

• Felipe Rojas-Lombardi was the man who brought tapas – and other innovations – to the US. But he is almost unknown.

• McDonald’s apparently thinks that the way to motivate 16 and 17 year old’s is ice cream.

• Highest, deepest, farthest restaurant experiences.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Natural gas explosion kills 7 in suburban Philly chocolate factory.

• USDA to help farmers with carbon sequestration.

• The battle over over WOTUS – Waters of the United States – rule implementation of the Clean Water Act. Executive branch, Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA on one side, politicians and industry on the other.

• Coming from a state next to you: Meat. New legislation allows states to recognize each others inspection regimes and and make it suffice for sale.

FOOD WEEK MARCH 27 LAGNIAPPE

• How here’s something I haven’t tried before: Wooly mammoth meatballs. This is the result of meat cultivation from frozen remains. Speaking of old food, a 106 year old fruitcake. I wonder how many times it was re-gifted?

• I wonder what the Venn diagram is between people concerned about food waste and people who eat leftovers. Probably not alot of intersection. Anyway, here is someone trying to bring it all together.

• Stoves are bad, refrigerators are good. Got it.

• And, once again, the difference between Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey.

• All things Easter.