oy vey it's the end of march

scroll for photos of homemade pastry & a very happy dog!

This is not a super uplifting newsletter :)

Perhaps it’s a reflection of my state of mind these last couple weeks, or perhaps the reality we have to exist in fucking sucks. It’s wild to see the dichotomy between food industry publications focusing on market share, growth predictors, and profits while other headlines talk about the impending end of universal school lunch and areas in major cities where residents don’t have grocery stores.

Maybe you can find more hope in the following pieces of news than I did (optimists, feel free to comment below). Maybe you’re also already bummed about the world and want to scroll past the news I’ve curated to the section of ‘what i’m excited about’, I’m not judging.

Take what you need, friend.

what i’ve read

• DOJ investigates poultry companies over anticompetitive labor practices, WSJ reports
  Not a lawyer but my guess is most of these are “alleged” accusations because the top 4 meat/poultry businesses end up settling and paying out when cases arise rather than fix any of their issues.
  Link to articles under “antitrust” search on Food Politics

• Tracking the plant-based protein movement
  Ughhh no definition of “plant-based”, while this is usually lacking from articles it’s especially frustrating that they don’t define the term even when presenting survey results that asked people about plant-based products they’ve eaten. Also I did a double take when the article mentioned “two-thirds of consumers said they had eaten at least one plant-based meat product in the previous year”. Self-reported dietary intake data is not an accurate metric and also that feels like a really really really low threshold.
  Anyways, scroll down to the bottom of the article for a clickable timeline of company, product launch, and business action.

• U.S. plant-based food retail sales hit $7.4 billion, outpacing total retail sales, despite supply chain interruptions and pandemic restrictions creating widespread volatility in the food industry
  This report was commissioned by GFI and PBFA from SPINS and there is a loooot of data here, I’m sure we’ll be seeing it cited and the results overstated for years to come. The methodology section particularly caught my interest, especially the part where they exclude inherently plant-based foods like legumes and vegetables from the data set, though tofu and tempeh were included, and data collection could not include retail sales figures from major companies (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Costco). Understandably there are always limitations to data collection but as a vegan who knows many vegans who do the majority of their shopping at WF and TJs it’s curious. TBH I’m most shocked almond milk is still a leader in plant-based milks, personally I’m a soy milk stan and I think it’s under-appreciated.
  - - Marion Nestle also has a great roundup of plant-based info on her blog.

• GUEST ARTICLE: The terrifying truth: the addressable market at retail for plant-based meat offerings is not that big after all
  Terrifying? Lol calm down sir. I had to do a lot of Googling to try and understand this article (now I know what a presentist fallacy is) but if you’re into businessy economic acronyms you’ll probably enjoy it. I just don’t care that Beyond Meat is losing popularity or that “plant-based meat” is slowing down overall, I really don’t find these numbers or predictors interesting. We already know that our industrialized food system sucks and it ebbs and flows and big monopoly brands are not good for every day people or the planet. I like a Beyond burger as much as the next vegan, but consumption is not a radical solution and the staying power of a collective liberation movement can not be in the hands of a select group of overly funded animal-free food producers.
  - - This Marketing Dive article goes into more detail about messaging and strategies in the plant-based food quick service industry

• How the Home Pantry Got Cheffy
  We go into a bit of history of the crossover between food retail, grocery, D2C sales, and what the article calls “the fantasy of the American kitchen”. Interesting info to fill in some details about how food retail has come to be, but truthfully it’s elitist AF. They mention how American consumers want cheffy meals and turned their noses at Sara Lee in favor of Williams-Sonoma and Milk Bar without nuance. They fail to state that this is only telling of consumers with a certain amount of buying power and accompanying privileges. The ability to pick certain brands to obtain supposed social standing is not the reality for many Americans. I wish articles would dig into this nuance instead of generalizing the American consumer, American kitchens, or American pantries. Like seriously, just do a basic acknowledgement as to the demographics of the consumers these stories apply to. By not doing so we are further marginalizing people who don’t fit into these “American” standards; standards, which in our country’s history, are extremely cis, white, ableist, and wealthy and do not even attempt to address food insecurity or other inequities.

• Unilever commits to annual nutritional report
  A new move in the space. Maybe it’ll have an impact, probably it will just make Unilever look good with a portfolio of cleaned up nutrition facts panels. In this discussion of “healthfulness” we fail to mention that health is a spectrum and that historically many of nutrition studies and assessments of processed foods are funded by processed food brands or manufacturers and/or have an anti-fat bias when it comes to the metrics of health used.
  - - Danone is doing their own portfolio shake up, if you’re curious

• Finger-pointing ensues after Congress fails to extend universal school meals
  Because it doesn’t matter that universal school meals are set to expire this summer, it matters whose fault it is…right?! This article does a decent background on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the ridiculous partisan nature of feeding children.

• There are millions of acres of ‘failing’ rangelands, data shows
  We love FOIAs! Spoiler alert: study analysis found “livestock grazing is the primary culprit behind land degradation”. Would love to see this research used to advocate for the Land Back movement, reindiginization of land stewardship, and community food sovereignty.

• Chinatown is one of L.A.’s trendiest dining destinations. But residents don’t have a supermarket.
  LA foodies play cultural tourist in trendy Chinatown restaurants while area residents don’t have a full-service grocery store or good public transportation to get to one. The property developer who bought the space where a full-service grocery existed backed out on their promise to open a new market in that location.

• Is Michelle Wu America’s Food Justice Mayor?
  Mayor Wu recently formed 2 new city offices for food access and food production and is focusing efforts on historically Black neighborhoods in Boston. This article details more about her connection to small business entrepreneurship, family life, and some of the things she accomplished as a city councilor. If you really want to dig into Boston food justice checkout the 60 page Food Justice Agenda Wu’s office published in 2020.

what i’m excited about

Seeing people?! Dining out?! Doing things!?
(My social anxiety disagrees but we’re ignoring that for now while also maintaining masking and isolating after socializing until we test negative.)

I moved back to California from Boston 2 years ago this week (thanks IG memories for that reminder) in a COVID panic, desperate to not be stranded across the country with no family, no car, and no support system. This was a prudent move considering how the last couple years played out. But this also means I haven’t gotten to explore my new-ish home beyond a couple masked adventures or socially distant hikes. I’ve got some visits with friends coming up which means lots of vegan food tourism to and playing host in a place I currently call home.

Also, a retroactive exciting thing to share but I made hamantaschen last week for Purim (my favorite holiday), I even made all my fillings (poppyseed, apricot, s’mores) from scratch and they turned out delish!

kvetch sesh

Non-vegan restaurants that have vegan menus or labeled vegan options…I have questions.

1. Do you run your vegan menu or vegan options by an actual vegan?

2. Why do you only label main dishes? Are there no vegan drinks? No vegan appetizers? I already know a vegan dessert is too much to ask.

3. When you say “vegan” what level of vegan are we talking about? Like are we talking vegan down to subingredients (like not using sugar processed with bone-char) or vegan like we’re-pretty-sure-no-main-ingredient-in-this-dish-contains-animals. If it’s a dish that “can be made vegan” does that mean removing ingredients or do you have substitutions to round out the dish (and will I be surprised when the bill comes and I’m upcharged for these “customizations)?

4. If you say “plant-based” instead of “vegan” or use both interchangeably I have even more questions!!!

Earlier this week my partner and I sat down at the bar for happy hour (yay) at a restaurant we’ve been to for dinner a few times. Recently we saw their regular menu was updated to include a whole vegan section (yay) of entrees only (feh). The happy hour menu has zero vegan options or labeling.

We got micheladas (with a beer I know is vegan-friendly, yay), chips, guacamole, and salsas. We asked for no cheese on the guacamole (easily done, yay) and we dig in. But I side eye one of the salsas that looks green and creamy and so I ask if it has crema in it, I’m told yes. Bummer, and also a waste of one of the options I’ve already ordered and will be paying for. Without a lifetime of lactose-intolerance training me for this very moment, I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But crema is milk and that’s a pretty major allergen to not disclose. Especially for a restaurant that is aware enough to have vegan cheese and some vegan labeling

Really, this personal anecdote is just here so I can wonder into the void about why restaurants bother adding a half-assed vegan menu?

Like if you’re already going to the effort of crafting vegan dishes and labeling your menu, what makes you completely ignore appetizers, drinks, and desserts? I’m torn between being excited to see a restaurant add vegan options and being frustrated seeing them give up halfway. Better labeling on menus paired with staff education aren’t huge asks and these steps serve way more than vegans; people with food allergies or those who adhere to religious diets would also be better served with additional clarity and effort.

If you or someone you know owns a food service business and wants a brutally honest vegan to give their menu a once-over I will gladly step up to the task!

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wow you read my entire newsletter, thank you! here’s a Ginny photo, it’s like a reward.

have questions? want to suggest an article for my next newsletter? care to tell me how adorable ginny is or how delicious my hamantaschen look?

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