Welcome to Food Week October 4, 2024. Well, the port strike threatened and people started hoarding… toilet paper. Other nonsensical things: a better for you donut, the Krabby Patty without crab, illegal bologna smugglers. food forming plastic eating bacteria, healthy ultra-processed foods and feeding human antibiotics to cows. And more. Enjoy!
MACRO
- September jobs report stronger than expected.
- The port strike could affect things like bananas … oops it is over.
- Cluster of human bird-flu in Missouri is a cause for concern.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- Publix named as the 5th best place to work in retail.
- Costco in under 10 minutes seems as unachievable to me as the 2 minute mile.
- It’s a pretty low bar to clear: Mondelez buys English ‘better for you’ donut maker.
- Just a quick run down on how raw milk can make you sick and why it isn’t any better for you.
- The way to get great cheese is to think of it as seasonal.
- The ten worst ultra-processed foods you can eat. But maybe some aren’t so bad. Maybe it is really inflammation. However, here are some healthy midnight snacks.
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- Panera seems determined to slowly erode its brand.
- Chicken Big Mac steps out of the shadows.
- I thought it was pretty cool that Wendy’s was doing a Krabby Patty The I found out it was just a hamburger.
- Starbucks looking to backwards integration to ensure coffee supply. They may need to to bring down prices: they are considered the least affordable coffee brand
- I was this many days old when I learned from this that making hamburgers ‘animal-style‘ means cooking the burger in mustard.
- Passengers stranded on plane treated to pizza by pilot.
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- It is bad enough that Cargill is feeding their cows antibiotics but when they are the types vital for human healthcare it makes it worse.
- Glyphosate approved in the Netherlands but not without some controversy.
- Hurricane Helene destroyed a large portion of the broiler farms in the Southeast. And a lot of other agricultural capacity too.
- A critical look at regenerative agriculture as a climate solution.
- A comparison between organic and non-organic produce from a health perspective. Interesting but not exactly a disinterested third party source.
- 700 pounds of illegal bologna seized at the border
DRINK CORNER
- The tequila business has been taken over by large conglomerates. Mezcal remains an industry of family owned businesses.
- The essential whiskey cocktails. And the platonic ideal of a whiskey sour. Or have a sidecar – one of the classics
- The best distilleries with restaurants. I might have added Journeyman.
- The difference between kolsch and pilsner.
- Last week it was shots in a bottle. This week we answer the question of how many beers are in a keg.
FOOD WEEK October 4 LAGNIAPPE
- Dubai checking in with Pistachio knafeh
- Al Capone’s favorite restaurant.
- How do different types of milk – animal, plant – impact the gut? Is the Keto diet safe from heart disease?
- Arizona HOA fines man for leaving free water out for people.
- A major source of PFAs are food packages. But maybe a bacteria to turn plastics into food?
- Microplastics in the body
