Welcome to Food Week April 19, 2024: A cavalcade of the bad and the weird. Gold mining with whey, post rapture tip claw back, bee thieves, vodka rage in Alberta, intermittent fasting coronaries, cooking oil from algae, ghost distilleries and dying micro-breweries, bird flu in cow’s milk, a TikTok ban. Thank God for gin. Enjoy.
MACRO
- TikTok likely to get banned next week.
- Even the CEO of Dow admits that plastic pollution is a huge problem. However science has come up with one solution (no pun intended.) A hydrogel that can remove microplastics from water.
- Florida’s Governor blocks restrictions on working in the heat because, well, of course he did.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- If you can’t beat ’em, copy ’em: Amazon trying to replicate top 20 items at Trader Joe’s.
- Federal trade Commission still warning against the Kroger Albertson’s merger.
- For the umpteenth time, Sell by, Use By and Best By are not expiration dates. Here is what they mean.
- Quaker Plant has so many recalls they just gave up and closed it.
- Many common ingredients in US snacks are banned in other countries. Illinois one of a few states looking at these closer, threatening your Skittles and Mountain Dew supply.
- If you have Blue Sky, you can follow Discontinued Foods! This week Dinersaurs Cereal.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- Crazy Religious lady leaves huge tips because of the coming of the rapture that is supposed to accompany the eclipse. Spoiler: didn’t happen. Now she wants her money back…
- Fine dining restaurants down-sizing the server model. Removes tips but likely removes servers as well.
- Fine dining is notoriously wasteful and unsustainable on several fronts. There is a glimmer hope though with oil derived from algae.
- Delivery apps have decided it is time to make money. And the fees have gone through the roof.
- The least trusted chain in America is Panera Bread. Also Dead Lobster?
- P.J. Clarkes keeps keeping on.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- A new wrinkle in California’s water wars: new ground water from the wet winter is being pumped out so fast it is causing ground to collapse.
- Wax on food is about to become a big thing.
- Thar be thieves. Thar be Bee thieves.
- Even organic watermelon and kale show high levels of pesticides.
- ‘Bird Flu in Cows’ is not something the dairy industry wants you to hear. But now it has been found in raw milk.
- Hydroponics are the key to year round crops
- Cinnamon! Now with lead. Just like Lunchables.
DRINK CORNER
- Telling the difference between Porters and Stouts. 12 essential beers for beginners to try. Although they better hurry up as more and more breweries are filing for bankruptcy.
- The 4 categories of Gin. Because it is better than vodka in most drinks. Even people in Alberta hate and deride cheap vodka. And you can make Taylor Swift’s favorite drink, the French Blonde.
- Unlike vodka, you don’t have finish wine after you open it. (Lucille Bluth reference) Here’s how long your wine will last. Using science to prove your wine’s bona fides.
- Building your home bar cart.
- Corn and water are the things that make Kentucky Bourbon special. Meanwhile, Scotland has ghost distilleries that are coming back.
FOOD WEEK APRIL 19 LAGNIAPPE
- Can intermittent fasting cause heart attacks?
- Several years back I had a chance to go to Montevideo and didn’t quote get there. I regret it more now that I learn that Bourdain thought it the world’s most underrated food city.
- A Hollywood restaurant themed around fast food nostalgia.
- Protein in avocados?
- You can actually use soap to clean cast iron as long as the soap doesn’t have lead. And clean your Keurig, you filthy so and so.
- If you want to get gold off of old motherboards, you could do worse than using leftover whey.