Food Week September 27, 2024

Welcome to Food Week September 27, 2024. Our thoughts are with the folks dealing with the reality and aftermath of Helene. A lot on a lot of things, particularly the changing retail landscape and the uncertain future of food policy and supply. Plus snark and puns and more. Enjoy.

MACRO

• Post pandemic economic growth even higher than previously estimated. And almost everyone got inflation wrong; here is a narrative about that.

• The upcoming election could have profound impacts on food policy and by extension the entire food supply. The omnibus 2024 farm bill deadline is Monday but polarization prevents passage so resolution will be pushed back until next Congress. And an article on how much the food supply depends on immigrant labor of all kinds. And tariffs aren’t the answer.

• Pictures from Oktoberfest.

RETAIL AND CONSUMER

• Info-graphic showing how much consolidation already exists with grocery stores. Here are a list of the best supermarkets. There isn’t much overlap between the biggest and the best.

• One of the biggest, Aldi, continues to blow up and is now starting workers at a $23/hour wage.

• Learn about the various costs above manufacturing, distribution and marketing that go into the cost of getting a product on a shelf.

• Store label now represents 19% of retail grocery sales. You may find this shocking but this survey shows that Walmart has lower prices than Whole Foods on almost all basic food items.

• A rebuttal on the concept of increased retailer margin as a source of inflation. But not really compelling, due to lack of specifics. And those chains are mostly moving away from pharmacies, leading to 2300 pharmacy closures in 2024 so far and increasing gaps in availability.

• Trader Joe’s trying to avoid bargaining with union.

RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE

• If possible, the restaurant industry has become more dog eat dog since the pandemic. If you are too old or too slow, you lose.

• An interview with my second favorite chef (after my son) the charming and talented Brooke Williamson.

• Helene was so bad multiple Waffle Houses closed.

• McDonald’s touch screens were supposed to reduce labor but instead improved operations.

• Eataly at sea? Man overgorged!

• The chicken nugget is terrible and really not that healthy. And children love them.

FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

• Dock workers in Atlantic and Gulf ports about to walk off job.

• Stupid tourists. Japan has a rice shortage and sushi eating foreigners are a main contributor. But there’s too much milk in China, for domestic reasons.

• Brittany’s mussels farms are being ravaged by invasive crab. (While they solve this, here are some ways to prepare your mussels.)

• Boar’s Head death total hits 10. Lawsuits have begun, this one for $10,000,000.

• Olive oil has gotten so expensive that more and more fraudulent – and sometimes dangerous – product is coming on the market.

• Pepsico now able to convert steam from potato chip frying into potable drinking water.

• Dark Chocolate without the chocolate, from Nestle.

DRINK CORNER

• The worst beers in the world, according to Beer Advocate. You will recognize many of them. And England is considering down-sizing the pint for health reasons.

• Bars have had to improve their well spirits as consumers tastes have gotten more picky. And how many shots are there in a liquor bottle?

• We’ve written before extolling Spanish vermouth. Here is a Preparado recipe.

• You are pouring champagne wrong, you rube. And why you might choose boxed wine and not be rube.

• Underrated Tequila cocktails. And the Harvard cocktail, a surprising source of controversy.

FOOD WEEK August 9 LAGNIAPPE

• Guess what flavor is Juicy Fruit supposed to be. Alien life form not an acceptable answer.

• The history of how we understand the gut and how much farther we have to go. In the meantime, severe obesity is on the rise. Sugar is usually the culprit. But ultra-processed foods aren’t much better.

• Trying to understand PFAs – forever chemicals – and what they do to our bodies. And here is information on how they transfer into packaging and into us. Canadian scientists may have a solution.

• Along the same lines, heavy metals pose a risk to metabolic function. An info-graphic on the use of pro-biotics for detoxification.

• What foods you should have on hand for an emergency

• Kraft Heinz innovates steakhouse butter.

• Using banana peels as an ingredient.

• A paean to chuck roast.