The Juicy BitsAugust and September flew by so fast I had to roll them into a double issue! If you were on vacation in late summer, here's some food news you may have missed:
California Restaurants Receive Three New Stars in Latest Michelin Guide
More Restaurants Set Table Time Limits To Get More Butts In Seats
America's Farmers Cite Evidence That Biosolids Have Poisoned Their Soil With "Forever Chemicals"
Makers Of Pringles And Snickers Merge In $36 Billion Deal, Creating Snack Company Behemoth
Older Adults Do Not Benefit From Moderate Drinking, Large Study Finds
Eating Red And Processed Meat Linked To Diabetes Risk, Study Suggests
Food Inflation Returns To Pre-Pandemic Levels
BBQ Expert Finds Best Texas-Style Joints Outside Of Texas
Banned South Korean Ramen Noodles Return To Denmark
Check out more recent headlines below!
—Dave Joachim
PS. As always, links go to reliable news sources WITHOUT a paywall.
It's the summer of Intellectual Property Wars: Who owns the döner kebab? Turkey and Germany are duking that one out; and in the US, Maryland and Delaware are fighting over who owns the Orange Crush cocktail. Meanwhile, former Frito-Lay employee Richard Montañez has been claiming for decades that he invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Frito-Lay says no way, so Montañez just sued the company. For a Hollywood take on that story, check out the Oscar-nominated film Flamin' Hot. In more consequential news, the FDA has banned brominated vegetable oil, a common stabilizer in citrus soft drinks, over health concerns. Companies have one year to remove it from products. Also, Boar's Head added 7 million more pounds to its nationwide recall of deli meat. Check your sliced ham before chomping down on that summer sub/hoagie/hero/po'boy/grinder/sandwich. Elsewhere in the meat world, James Beard Award-nominated BBQ chefs in Texas are revealing their smoking secrets, and fried chicken sandwiches are now on more restaurant menus than burgers. Huh. Guess the Chick-Fil-A affect runs deep. Finally, if you're curious about what Olympic athletes are noshing on in Paris, Eater has the inside scoop.
—Dave Joachim
The DigestThis news squirrels were on vacation last month. So welcome to our very first double issue! Here are highlights from last month's food news:
Seafood Chain Red Lobster Closes 99 Stores And Files for Bankruptcy Protection
Materials Scientists Explains Why We Like Beer Cold And Sake Hot
New Periodic Table Of Food Documents Biochemistry Of 1500 International Foods
40-Year Study Finds That Americans Now Consume More Cannabis Than Alcohol On A Daily Basis
Oreo-Maker Mondelez Fined $366 Million For Rigging European Markets
Alabama And Florida Ban The Sale Of Lab-Grown Meat
Did You Know That You Can Hear The Temperature Of Water?
Also, Jasper White, the influential chef and mentor who redefined New England cooking at his restaurants Jasper's and Summer Shack, passed away last month. Food & Wine has some key remembrances. And RIP chef Marcel Desaulniers, the inventor of Death by Chocolate cake, and celebrated New York City chef James Kent, both of whom passed away this month. Peace and love to their families.
For the rest of this month's food news, see below.
—Dave Joachim
I've dreamed of Smell-O-Vision ever since watching television food commercials as a kid. Now it's a reality! McDonald's' new European marketing campaign features billboards that emit the smell of the chain's iconic French fries. I may need to travel to the Netherlands to experience it! I'd also like to head to Ireland to see how beverage pros are dealing with the country's new requirement to put cancer warning labels on all forms of alcohol. What a buzzkill! Maybe I'll stay local and head to Florida, where Michelin kingmakers have recently awarded 26 of the state's restaurants with coveted stars. Problem is, I'll never get a table. Computer bots and scalpers are now eating up the most sought-after high-end restaurant reservations. I suppose I could go to New Orleans instead and sample the Insectarium museum's new cicada tasting menu. On second thought, it might make more sense to just buy some canned wine and call it a day. Scientists have finally figured out how to prevent the dreaded "rotten egg smell" in canned wine, so it shouldn't taste too bad. Two cheers for science! —Dave Joachim
Tired of seeing high food prices? So is the Federal Trade Commission. A recent FTC investigation found that major grocery chains began price gouging during the pandemic and have kept prices unnecessarily high ever since. Go FTC! Strong-arm those fat cats into making everyday food affordable again! Or maybe you're tired of your old cookbooks? Find some inspiration in this spring's crop of new cooking titles, featuring everything from tropical island food to dishes made with bourbon. Here's one ingredient you may not have considered cooking with: ants! A team of San Diego food scientists can help light the way with their recent discovery that black ants contain bright, lemony aroma compounds; chicatana ants bring fatty, nutty, roasted flavors to foods; and weaver ants contain sweet, caramel-like flavor compounds. Perhaps you prefer good-old pork chops and bacon? If so, you'll love the cooking of Janaína Torres, who was just named the World's Best Female Chef. Torres runs A Casa do Porco restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil, a temple of appreciation for all things porcine. Finally, if you're looking to improve your own powers of flavor perception, you may want to undergo sommelier training. Scientists have found that learning to taste and describe various types of wine reshapes the brain's chemosensory acuity. Who knew? Pardon me while I pour a glass of pinot to improve my brain function! —Dave Joachim
Let's play a game. Here's a quick quiz on this month's food news. Answers (and links) below.
Q1: Which cooking oil has the highest smoke point?
Q2: Which ice cream flavor fell from #1 in the US to not even breaking the top 10?
Q3: Does coffee grow in California?
Q4: Does red wine have heart-protective effects?
Q5: Will cell-cultured meat hit grocery stores soon?
Q6: How many Irish and UK restaurants did Michelin award stars to recently?
Q7: How many years old is the Roman egg that scientists recently discovered still has liquid inside?
A1: Algae oil A2: Chocolate chip A3: Yes A4: No A5: No A6: 25 A7: 1700
Thank you for playing. Also, RIP Bob Moore (founder of Bob's Red Mill natural food products) and David Bouley (influential chef of nouvelle cuisine at Montrachet and Bouley), two leading lights of the food world.
If you discovered $1.6 million worth of inventory missing from your business, how would you break the news to your boss? That's what a sommelier at La Tour d'Argent, one of France's most historic restaurants, grappled with last month upon discovering that 83 rare bottles were unaccounted for in the wine cellar. Elsewhere in the restaurant world, Mexican food can now be found at 1 in 10 US restaurants, according to a new Pew Research Center study. Who doesn't love a taco? Just watch what you wash it down with: another study from Columbia University found that popular brands of bottled water contain nearly 250,000 potentially harmful nanoplastics per liter. Yikes. Those bottled waters include PepsiCo brands, which were recently pulled from the shelves of France's largest grocery chain due to, not health concerns, but price gouging. It seems even the French government is now tired of rising food prices. Thankfully, there's still one food item that sells for less than its actual cost: Kobe beef croquettes. Yep. You can buy a box of A5 Kobe beef for only $18.20. You'll just have to wait 43 years to receive it.
—Dave Joachim
Short and sweet today! With all the holiday partying, December was a slow food news month. But McDonald's did open a new spinoff restaurant to compete with Starbucks. Scientists also introduced a computer model that adds chemical measurements to a wine's "terroir." 'Bout time. And one of 2023's great mysteries has finally been solved: Astronaut Frank Rubio did not eat the first tomato grown in space. He misplaced it. Or, rather, a lack of gravity did. Happy New Year!
—Dave Joachim
Before we get into this month's issue, here's what didn't make the cut: Saveur magazine is coming back in print! That's good news for food lovers. Also, here's a twisted tale of rare Japanese Kit Kats worth $250,000 that were hijacked en route in a whole new level of porch piracy. What did make the cut? Yes, there are shiny new lists of Michelin-star restaurants in big US cities, the year's best new cocktail bars, best new cookbooks, and best new restaurants that Michelin didn't visit. But among the listicles you may have missed that a cookbook, Prison Ramen, is one of the most banned books in America. That Wisconsin has declared the Brandy Old Fashioned to be its official state cocktail. That half the country has shifted plant hardiness zones, according to the USDA. And that pasta and rice may actually be healthier when eaten as leftovers. Guess the food world still has a few surprises up its sleeves. Happy Holidays! —Dave Joachim
Move aside umami. Ammonium is now the sixth basic taste, according to new research published in the journal Nature Communications. Those findings have yet to be widely recognized, but elsewhere in the food world, there is a new kid on the block that's 100% verified: Pepper X. This chile pepper is now the world's hottest, dethroning the Carolina Reaper with up to 3 times the tongue-scorching heat. Ouch. There's also a new World's Best Bar, a fun place called Sips in Barcelona, and in Atlanta, you'll find five new Michelin-star restaurants. What else is new? This year's winners of prestigious culinary awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. But some things never change. Like Carolina whole hog BBQ. Fourth-generation pitmaster Sam Jones shows you how it's done in this detailed video. And since today is All Souls' Day and Día de los Muertos (another thing that never changes), my condolences to the friends and family of Food Network star chef Michael Chiarello, who passed recently from a mysterious anaphylactic shock. Rest in peace Chef. —Dave Joachim
