Welcome to Food Week May 1. Lotsa Beer and wacky stuff. Aubrey Plaza and milk, the cold pizza cocktail, abandoned piles of pasta and old school ingredients like Spam and Velveeta making non-ironic comebacks. It keeps our minds off of ten year-olds working the fryer in McDonald’s. Enjoy
MACRO
Strong job growth continues, again led by leisure and hospitality.
Lots of worry still about regional banks.
After decades of success, 2022 saw a significant increase in world hunger. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a key factor.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
Aubrey Plaza is the ‘it” girl of the moment and she is in ad mocking non-dairy milk.
The correlation between mental health and highly processed foods.
Is the print ad dead?
New York becomes first state to ban gas stoves in new construction. Others to follow.
Don’t let the proliferation of micro-beers fool you – beer is dominated by a couple of players. The biggest is InBev. And the World’s biggest biggest exporter is…Mexico. Modelo Especial is the number two brand in US by sales. And then there’s molecular beer printing.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
10 year-olds operating deep fryers sounds appalling. It happened, as well as 300 more incidences of underage labor, in McDonald’s in Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.
Subway can’t find a buyer.
Is dining-in at fast food doomed?
Cold pizza cocktail served at Double Chicken Please, named America’s best bar for 2023.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
To attract workers with housing and schools, companies like JBS are building company neighborhoods.
Agriculture remains the second largest source of greenhouse gasses. Here are 5 myths about beef production that circulate widely.
Drought in Texas costs the state 75% of production in peaches.
Drought, this time in Spain, is also pushing olive oil to a 26 year high in price.
FOOD WEEK MAY 1 LAGNIAPPE
Old school ingredients making a comeback.
Featured at the Museum of Failure is Jucero, Coke 2 and Olestra Pringles.
The origins of Texas BBQ.
The new king of England is an odd duck and has some strong opinions about food.
From farm worker to celebrity chef, with restaurant named best in world: Migrant Chef
Hundreds of pounds of pasta dumped by a creek in New Jersey. Who? Why? How was it sauced?