Welcome to Food Week May 2, 2025. Happy Derby Eve. While the Secretary of HHS talks about dyes, seed oils and ultra-processed foods, there is much more danger (with, you know, data) posed by forever chemicals, microplastics and Erythritol. Science schmience. Lots more here, some of it actually fun like Filipino hot dogs and a Mint Julep recipe. Enjoy.
MACRO
- Economists expected .04% growth in the first quarter. Instead the economy shrank.
- The term ‘supply shock‘ will soon be on everyone’s lips.
- Tariff war will cause administration to bail out farmers.
RETAIL AND CONSUMER
- Fact checking the President’s claims on prices. Almost everyone reacts to inflation
- Is Costco now for tariff prepping? And Amazon caves to hiding tariff costs in its prices.
- 200,000 cans of vegetables in Target private label recalled for an unidentified foreign object. Some other big recalls.
- Viral claim that Coca Cola was reporting workers to ICE hurts sales. An actual thing is that Coca Cola is the king of plastic waste.
- Will insect based dyes replace petroleum based dyes for foods? How will people feel about that?
RESTAURANTS AND FOODSERVICE
- After years of making their stores as inhospitable as possible, Starbucks wants you to come and stay. New CEO dealing with considerable budgetary strain, cause by lagging revenues, Much cooler, they created a drive-thru with a 3D printer.
- The end is nigh for Panera as it was in its glory days. It will close its remaining bakeries and, while the cost cutting direction is towards an IPO, one wonders how much value will be left.
- McDonald’s slide started with the eColi outbreak last year but the problems seem to be more structural.
- You pretty much stuff anything into a pierogi.
- Subway continues to contract, closing over 600 stores..
- Restaurant owner catching heat for confronting a man who didn’t tip. When asked, the customer said he didn’t feel like it.
- Old burger chains that didn’t make it
FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- Chobani’s founder Hamdi Ulukaya practicing backwards integration at scale, building dairies.
- Ethics aside, using farmland to create bio-fuels is going to drive the price of food up. Of course the higher levels of smog hasn’t stopped the administration from making it available all year.
- North Carolina going all authoritarian on agriculture.
- China’s 24 story swinescraper holding 1.2 million pigs. It sounds horrifying.
- Some FDA scientists reinstated after being laid off. USDA staff too.
- Climate change has Indian mango farmers in panic.
DRINKS
- Tepache – The Mexican fermented pineapple drink is awesome and easy. To quote Tom Petty, the waiting is the hardest part
- How long is your bourbon good for once you open it, Lucille?
- Elevated classic cocktails and a ham sammich.
- Why you need Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters.
- NYC cocktails. Like the Yankees running out of numbers, they are going to run out of neighborhoods.
- How to hold a wine glass, you philistine.
- The Mint Julep. You know, for Derby Day. The Road Less Travelled (NA). The Algonquin – mentioned in the above.
FOOD WEEK May 2 LAGNIAPPE
- Omnipresent phthalates or forever chemicals contributing to heart disease
- Even scarier, Erythritol and micro-plastics may impact blood vessels in the brain. And microplastics confuse pollinators.
- Apparently white meat chicken isn’t that great for you either. (Thighs are better and tastier, too.) You need to eat more sauerkraut. Perhaps this will help.
- Problematic cooking oils. Although too be fair it is mostly additives or processing that make seed oils unhealthy. Here’s some science.
- More on ultra-processed foods, with claims of thousands of deaths. Without doubting that they may be bad for you, these types of large scale test don’t separate for associated behaviors that may be as much or more at fault. Some sneakier UPFs.
- What is the healthiest vegetable? Watercress!
- Using science to make the perfect Cacio e Pepe.
- Ranking espresso beans.