If you went shopping for a strip sirloin recently at your local Giant or Stop ‘N Shop and couldn’t tell the difference between choice and select meats, you’re not alone. A few weeks ago, the supermarkets’ corporate parent, Ahold USA, rolled out a new label for all its beef packages that doesn’t distinguish between the juicy cuts and the not-so-juicy cuts, a practice that saves them money but confuses the heck out of consumers — and violates USDA standards. Ahold chalked the new labels up to a “brilliant” but flawed marketing idea and promised to go back to the old ones.
Consumer demand for natural sweeteners like stevia is projected to grow 5 percent per year until 2017, even though nobody really seems to know what fake sugar does to the body. Coke and Pepsi are, of course, planning to cash in: both brands are releasing stevia-infused soda that will come in green cans. How planet-friendly.
I’m not a big fan of Uber, but this food delivery startup that’s charging more for takeout during lunch and dinner hours is making me hate surge pricing even more.
The newly released 2014 Global Hunger Index brings a rare piece of good news: The number of hungry people in developing countries declined 39 percent from 1990 to 2014, with enormous gains made by India and China. Another bit of good news: American college kids are eating fruits and veggies.
Incredible: tomatoes won’t lose their flavor if they’re refrigerated, provided you leave them out for a day before eating.
California Governor Jerry Brown is taking a swing at areas without easy access to affordable and nutritious food, commonly called food deserts. Last month he signed a group of bills aimed at promoting the “farm to fork” movement that’s working to bridge the gap between California’s 80,000-odd farms and ranches and the state’s underserved communities. Meanwhile Dan Barber’s farm-to-table restaurants aren’t actually helping local farmers.
Here’s a great inside look at what life is like for some immigrant workers in America’s more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants.
The USDA just set aside $31.5 million in grants for programs that are trying to make it easier for families on food stamps to afford farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. It’s a pittance, but a welcome one.
Voters in Colorado and Oregon get to decide whether they want genetically modified food products to carry GMO labels. It’s not a simple issue, but as I’ve said before, one statewide “yes” vote will be a step towards greater transparency in more important issues.
While the GMO measure doesn’t extend to restaurants (if you can call fast food joints “restaurants”), McDonald’s is hoping that owning up to its heavy use of GMO crops will improve its image. (Highly doubtful: Thanks to its new transparency campaign, consumers have learned that McDonald’s chicken nuggets are cooked in an anti-foaming agent.)
Cocktail lists at highbrow restaurants are getting longer and crazier (care for a bacon and egg martini?). But anecdotal evidence suggests more than a few bartenders are getting in over their heads.
Finally, tea-drinking Brits (meaning all of them) still cannot agree on the proper way to pour a cup of tea. According to George Orwell, who had no fewer than 11 rules for making his “perfect cup,” it’s tea first then milk. Science says he’s wrong, but the Queen supposedly puts her milk in last, too.