Food Week September 13, 2024

Welcome to Food Week September 13, 2024. Now with more pictures, better spelling and a lot things to wonder about: Salmonella in eggs, your retirement, the 5 second rule, your gut (size and contents), plastic cutting boards, cinnamon and whether you are on team ice water or the oppostition. And more. Enjoy!

MACRO

• Stocks continue to kill it but consumers are still a little jittery, especially about retirement.

• Maybe they’ll feel better when the Fed lowers interest rates half a point next week.

• Pretty big Salmonella recall from farm in Wisconsin. And the salmonella appears to be antibiotic -resistant.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• C&S says is ready to take over stores if the Kroger/Albertson’s merger goes through. However, for most of their history they have been a wholesaler, not an operator. ANd those are very different things. Also a deeper dive into greedflation at the grocery store.

• Costco has a new app that allows you to search a warehouse for inventory before you schlep over there.

• 7-Eleven parent uses Japanese law to avoid takeover.

• Campbell’s is going to take Soup of their company identity. I think this is a mistake as it makes then more relatable. But if you are trying to portray yourself as a corporate behemoth (which they are) it makes sense.

• Amazon to restart opening Fresh stores. But 22 remain empty…

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• Epic response to hotel guest who asked for a special cake, then wanted a breakdown of the costs: ‘Cost to DO cake £280. Cost NOT to DO cake £0’.

• Trendy neighborhood in DC is cleaning up the street side dining that COVID created.

• No, the 5 second rule isn’t based on anything scientific.

• Also the war over ice water at your table: the battle lines are drawn.

• How to dine in Portugal.

• A very old restaurant in a very working class neighborhood in Chicago turns 70.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Any social movement will have con-artists and apparently organic is no exception.

• Climate change may accelerate the spread of Se (salmonella enterica), one of the leading causes of food-borne illness.

• The USDA really dropped the ball on Boar’s Head. Plant to be closed.

• Regenerative agriculture gathers steam. FYI – Illinois is 30% corn fields.

• Plant based, fermented lab grown meat. From Switzerland.

DRINK CORNER

• LineLeap is an app that allows people to order drinks rather than waiting in line. I see it as functional at only the largest of venues. Frankly it seems like a way to extract money from the establishment like so many other ‘disrupter’ apps but that’s just my initial reaction.

• Overrated classic cocktails. In particular here -and I agree – is the equal parts Negroni. And the most expensive martini in the US is as ridiculous as you might guess.

• The Pink Gin is a very simple, very old cocktail. Also cocktail of the week: Llama Inn’s chilcano. Pisco is way underrated

• In a strange story, it was found that the picture of the founder of Brown-Forman was actually the super-imposed body of Frederick Douglass. It hung in the corporate lobby for years.

FOOD WEEK September 13 LAGNIAPPE

• There’s lots of lead in your cinnamon, maybe at dangerous levels.

• Green tea is really good for you, fighting obesity, heart disease and cancer. And blueberries will make you smarter.But are energy drinks dangerous? Doctor says yes.

• Parkinson’s linked to gut health. At the same time our guts keep getting bigger.

• Their not just for squirrels anymore. How to prepare acorns. And the world’s oldest cookbook.

• If you want micro-plastics in you body, continue to use that plastic cutting board. However, a new filtration system promises to remove 98% of forever chemicals from water.

• Coffee creamer is supposedly shelf stable but how long does it really last?

• Dangerous but amusing: hot dogs and pickles can amplify sounds when held against AM radio towers.