Food News: Cereal With Oat Milk Will Save Us From the Food Industry
The newsletter that isn't planning to charge you surge pricing to read it, though that's not not an option...
hi hi,
As I was finishing this newsletter, my apartment was filled with the scent of cinnamon sugar challah. It’s been about 2 months since I last had the chance to bake challah, because of all of our apartment issues, and I’ve missed it deeply.
Making challah has been something I’ve done occasionally over the past few years, until last fall. I found a whole new depth of comfort when making challah, especially when I’m making it to share with others.
I don’t take it for granted. Having access to all of the ingredients and the ability to bring them back to a functioning kitchen where I am able to make food for leisure and ritual and sustenance.
I don’t take it for granted. Having the security of knowing my friends are in their homes and that they still will be when I can drive to them after work to say hi and bring them a loaf.
Every day the horrors of the world persist.
Apparently so do I.
So do we.
I hope you’re also able to find time to create moments of comfort for yourself this weekend.
-k
What I’ve Read
If you can’t access any of the article links due to paywalls, please email oyveyitskay@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to share them with you. Many of the sources I typically reference offer the option to create a free account to access content.
Kellogg's CEO says cash-strapped families should eat cereal for dinner to save money - According to the USDA, in 2022 consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food—the highest percentage in 30 years. But don’t worry, Gary Pilnick, Chairman and CEO of Kellogg is convinced he has the solution; if you’re strapped for cash, or what Pilnick refers to as a “consumer under pressure,” just eat cereal with milk and fruit! I’m sure it has nothing to do with Pilnick’s desire to preserve his financial interests and responsibility to shareholders. In response, many people on the internet have offered their own solution; eating the rich! Part of a complete breakfast.
Is oat milk unhealthy? That’s the wrong question. - A nuanced article that shares information on food without making sweeping declarations of that food as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy? Wild! The author, Benji Jones, does a good job of debunking some common misconceptions about plant milks by presenting evidence-based nutrition and environmental sustainability information. Jones also mentions how his personal preferences influence his food choices without fearmongering or shaming.
No, Wendy's says it isn't planning to introduce surge pricing - During a February earnings call Kirk Tanner, Wendy’s president and CEO, discussed “more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings, along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling,” and it came off sounding a lot like they wanted to implement surge pricing. Apparently, this was all a big misunderstanding of corporate speak—Tanner did not use the phrase surge pricing—and was actually a reference to a $20 million investment to equip Wendy’s restaurants with fully digital menus that can change dynamically with the use of AI. This story blew up and the surge-pricing assumption was widely reported by most media outlets. It isn’t that hard to believe that a major fast food chain would implement predatory business practices like surge pricing because we see it from other companies like Uber, theme parks, and airlines. Wendy’s put out a brief statement addressing the erroneous coverage.
FTC, states challenge Kroger’s $25 billion grocery merger with Albertsons - The U.S. federal government says Kroger acquiring Albertsons is anticompetitive and poses a threat to grocery shoppers and thousands of grocery store workers. And the FTC is suing to block the “supermarket mega merger”. Big Grocery says um, actually blocking this will harm consumers and workers, you silly goose government. More specifically, Politico quotes a Kroger spokesperson as saying, “The FTC’s decision makes it more likely that America’s consumers will see higher food prices and fewer grocery stores at a time when communities across the country are already facing high inflation and food deserts”. For me, this reads like a threat more than a rational argument for giving Kroger and Albertsons the green light. Grocers are already responsible for high inflation, passing on costs to the public while raking in billions, and treating their employees poorly and now they’re saying that if they can’t consolidate further and control 13% of the U.S. grocery industry the already shitty situation the public faces will apparently get even shittier. But if anyone could control “food deserts” and high inflation costs, wouldn’t it be the grocers who have quite literally created “food deserts” and control the costs of groceries?
The animal agriculture industry, US universities, and the obstruction of climate understanding and policy - I dream of what scientific—especially food, nutrition, and sustainability—research would be without the influence of corporate interests. This new research paper details the US animal agricultural industry's response to the 2006 publication of “Livestock’s Long Shadow” by the UN FAO, which called out the livestock sector’s contribution to human activity-related climate change. The researchers reviewed a variety of materials and created a set of 20 yes or no questions to systematically analyze, “the relationship between university experts and industry groups.” The main findings can be broadly categorized as the animal ag industry’s response to the “Livestock’s Long Shadow” publication. The researchers discuss the “corporate capture of academic institutions”—focused primarily on meat industry mouthpieces Dr. Frank Mitloehner (UC Davis), the self-proclaimed Greenhouse Gas Guru, and Kimberly Stackhouse-Lawson (who studied with Mitloehner at UC Davis).
How the food industry exerts influence I: food and nutrition professionals (potato industry) - Marion Nestle is known for calling out corporate influence and industry manipulation of nutrition science. Her book Unsavory Truth provides a deep dive into this issue. This week Nestle has been doing an interesting series on her blog, Food Politics, each post discusses one area of industry-funded studies and publications. She covered the study I linked in the above bullet point in addition to materials produced with conflicts of interest from the potato, pork, beef, and infant formula industries.
Vegan Cheese Brand Sparks Debate With Commercial Featuring Beef Burger - Did you know that you don’t have to be vegan to buy, order, or eat animal dairy-free cheese? Daiya, a well-known dairy-free cheese brand established in 2007 collaborated with ad agency TDA Boulder to produce an ad using cow-beef burgers for the sake of explaining what virtually everyone already knows—animal eaters can eat animal-free cheese, too. Stirring the pot seemed to be the entire point of this commercial, which includes a voiceover saying, “This might just be the most controversial commercial of all time.” If you say so, Daiya. Another of Daiya’s stated goals for using cow-beef is to be more inclusive of people who aren’t 100% plant-based. Considering normative global food options default to using animals or animal-derived ingredients, this argument positions people who are not 100% plant-based as an underserved consumer group or somehow excluded by the existence of animal-free cheeseburgers.