Danone 'enterprise a mission' status will help drive shareholder value, CEO insists

Danone's push on healthier and environmentally-friendly products will only be shown to have worked if the value of the French giant's shares rises, its CEO has insisted.

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Low-Cost Comfort Cooking

Sometimes leftovers are just so good they'll hug your insides. Read up on how to pull together some black pepper chicken rice in no time.

Mom’s Black Pepper Chicken Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 Large yellow onion, diced
• 1 Leek, sliced into quarter moons
• 2 cups Vinegar
• 2 cups Water
• 3 tbsp. Sugar
• 1 Carrot, sliced into half moons
• 1 Leftover rotisserie chicken, whole
• 2 cups Jasmine rice
• 2 tbsp. Black pepper
• 3 tbsp. Neutral oil (e.g. canola, avocado)
• Salt to taste
• Fresh herbs you have laying around

Instructions:

1. Bring the vinegar, water, and sugar to a boil. Add the sliced carrots and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside to add later.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Add the onions and leeks, adding pinches of salt as they sauté. Cook for another 5 or so minutes.
3. Add the chicken to the pot along with 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid reduces by half (to 4 cups). Keep tasting to monitor salt level.
4. Add the black pepper and rice. Boil and simmer again, cooking the rice per instructions. When the rice is finished cooking, let it rest for 10 minutes. Remove the large parts of bone from the rice and fluff with a fork.
5. Strain the carrots, and reuse the pickling brine as you see fit. Add carrots to the pot.
6. Add salt and herbs to taste and hot sauce for a kick of heat. Serves 4.
7. All raw cutting scraps from vegetables and the chicken bones can be repurposed into a stock by boiling with salt, pepper, and whatever suits your taste.

Created with GEICO.

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A Healthy But Scrappy Way To Reuse Leftovers

Chef JJ Johnson, and a few special guests, combine yesterday’s steak dinner, the odds and ends of a CSA box, and a spicy peanut butter sauce to create an entirely new dish.

Spicy Peanut Steak & Veggie Skewers

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. Peanut butter
• ¼ tbsp. Chili oil or flakes
• 1 tsp. Cumin
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• Leftover CSA veggies, cut into 1” slices
• Leftover skirt steak, cut into chunks
• High smoke point oil or blend, such as olive and grapeseed
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• Sesame seeds to garnish

Instructions:

1. Soak bamboo skewers in water for 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the chili oil or flakes, garlic, peanut butter, cumin, and juices from the leftover steak in a medium sized bowl until combined.
3. Marinate the meat and veggies in the sauce for 3 hours in the fridge, or simply brush on while grilling if you’re pressed for time.
4. Prepare charcoal grill or preheat a cast iron pan over high heat. Remove the marinated veggies, threading each onto skewers. Coat with oil and then sauce if not marinated.
5. Season the skewers with salt and grill for about 3 minutes on each side, turning with tongs once browned and caramelized.
6. Reserve any leftover peanut sauce for dipping or later use!

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China 'keen to encourage foreign investment in meat - and plant-based'

The Chinese government is reportedly keen to encourage foreign investment to develop certain food sectors.

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Chicken, Pineapple, and Bell Pepper Skewers Recipe

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating

Ingredients

for the marinade:
⅓ cup|85 ml soy sauce
3 tablespoons|30 grams dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon cornstarch

for the skewers:
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 pound|450 grams)
8 ounces|225 grams pineapple, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Directions

1. Make the marinade: Add the soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, and 1 cup|250 ml water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water to make a slurry. Whisk the slurry in the marinade and cook until thick, about 1 minute more. Cool completely.
2. Marinate the chicken: Reserve ¼ cup|60 ml of the marinade. Place the chicken in a ziplock bag with the remaining marinade and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Grill the skewers: Light a grill. Thread 3 pieces each chicken, bell pepper, red onion, and pineapple on bamboo skewers, alternating between each as you thread. Season with salt and pepper and brush all over with the reserved marinade. Grill, turning as needed, until the chicken and pineapple are charred and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the sesame seeds.

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Ebro Foods sets up Middle East "hub", mulls Egypt disposal

Spain-based rice and pasta major Ebro Foods has announced plans to make changes to its operations in the Middle East.

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Loss-making Italian hams firm Kipre gets new private-equity owner

Italian charcuterie supplier Kipre has slashed its debt pile with a new private-equity owner and a fresh deal with its creditors.

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New products - Upfield unveils Flora Plant block butter; General Mills rolls out Packed energy bars; Kraft Heinz palm-oil free hazelnut spread, Heinz by Nature hit Canada

This week's batch of new products includes launches from General Mills, Nestle, Kraft Heinz and a collaboration between Migros and Innovopro.

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LiveKindly forms plant-based ready-meals partnership with Ospelt

The LiveKindly Collective, an investor-backed group of plant-based start-ups, has teamed up with a private-label manufacturer in Europe for ready-meals.

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JBS buys plant in US for beef products

Brazilian meat group JBS, one of the largest in the sector worldwide, has acquired another processing facility in the US.

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Whip Up An Indulgent Dessert Using Kitchen Scraps

This dessert creation takes your ingredients and breathes new life into them. Simple, cost effective, and a labor of love. Time for some ice cream pie.

Salted Coffee Caramel Ice Cream Pie

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 ½ cup cookie crumbs (can use stale cookies here), crushed
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
• Kosher salt to taste

Caramel

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Flake sea salt

Filling

• ¾ cup egg whites (5-6 large eggs)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups heavy cream
• ¼ cup spent coffee grounds

Serving Size: 8-12 slices

Instructions

1. Combine coffee grounds with cream in a bowl. Refrigerate to allow flavors to infuse. Mix the cookie crust (cookies, butter, salt) and form into a pie pan. Chill in the fridge. Make the caramel sauce (butter, sugar) and chill.
2. Whisk egg whites into meringue over a simple double boiler. Transfer to a stand mixer if you have and whip until stiff. Strain the coffee from cream and whip to medium peaks, as well.
3. Fold the meringue and cream together to complete the filling. Spoon into chilled pie shell and streak with caramel sauce. Freeze overnight.
4. Remove pie from the freezer and it’s ready. Use a hot knife to slice cleanly and drizzle leftover caramel over plated slices.

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An Elegant, At-Home Leftover Makeover

Fricassee en croute! A dish so simple, yet so fancy at the same time. Read below for how Adrienne pulls this dish together with some salmon and leftover goods.

Salmon Fricassee En Croute

Ingredients:

• 2 portions of cooked, skin-on salmon
• 1 tbsp. Unsalted butter (for sautéeing)
• 1 Leek, diced
• ½ cup Celery, diced (1 large rib)
• 1 cup Carrots, peeled & sliced (2 med.)
• 2 cups Water
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Puff pastry (can substitute crescent or pizza dough)
• 3 tbsp. Unsalted butter (for sauce)
• ¼ cup Flour
• 2 cups Milk (can substitute half and half or non-dairy milk)
• A pinch of allspice (can substitute nutmeg or cloves)
• 2 cups Leftover cooked potatoes
• 8-10 dill stems, chopped (can substitute with parsley or cilantro)

Instructions:

1. Peel the skin off of cooked salmon, scrape clean, and place on a towel-lined plate. Chill in the fridge. Meanwhile, cut or break the salmon flesh into 1-inch pieces. Chill in the fridge.
2. Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Melt the 1 tbsp. of butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat and add the leeks. Sweat until softened and translucent around the edges. Add the celery and carrot to the pan, stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add water to the pan, turn the heat up to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Cook the vegetables for 10 minutes and then turn the heat off, letting the pan cool to room temp while you make the bechamel.
4. Melt the 3 tbsp. of butter over low heat in a sauce pot. Whisk in the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Little by little, add the milk into the pot while whisking. Continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and there are no lumps.
5. Bring to a simmer and add the allspice. Whisk in the liquid from your vegetables (drizzled from the pot, no need to strain). Cook on low for 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened enough to coat a spoon. Season with salt and pepper and cool for 5 minutes.
6. Fold the cooked veggies and potatoes into the sauce, along with dill or herbs. Taste and adjust seasoning while able before covering with pastry.
7. Take the salmon and pastry out of the fridge. Divide the salmon among 10 ramekins and spoon the veg mixture over until about ¾ full. Unfold the pastry and roll out to smooth creases.
8. Cut squares that are large enough to overlap the rim of ramekins. Place the ramekins on a foil-lined sheet tray. Top each with pastry (egg wash optional), make a few cuts to vent steam, and place in the oven.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until dough is puffed and golden brown and the filling bubbles through the vents.

Salmon Skin Chicharrones

Instructions:

1. While the ramekins are baking, place a small pan over medium heat and add enough oil to reach about ¼ inches deep.
2. Take the cleaned skin out of the fridge and pat dry.
3. When the oil shimmers and begins to smoke, carefully add one piece of skin. Fry until puffed and crispy.
4. Turn the skin over, using tongs if necessary, and immediately remove to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining skin.
5. Season lightly with salt while still hot and serve with the soup en croute.

Created with GEICO.

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Dominos Will No Longer Reward 'Nice Karens' With Free Pizza

Over the weekend, an Australian anti-masker and conspiracy theorist went the wrong kind of viral when she filmed herself berating the workers at a Bunnings Warehouse hardware store. The woman, who has since been identified as Kerry Nash, filmed employees as she accused them of "discriminating against [her], as a woman" by requiring masks in the store, and said that she would "have them sued" if they made her wear one. 

Nash was arrested for her behavior (despite yelling at the officer that he didn't have the right to do that), and became known as #BunningsKaren on social media. Nash also became the latest example during a pandemic that has brought the Karens out in force, as (mostly) white women have been filmed being absolute ballbags to everyone from Starbucks baristas to supermarket employees to teenagers eating berries in a city park. 

Whether despite the fact that #BunningsKaren trended in the Southern Hemisphere all weekend or because of it, the Australian and New Zealand divisions of Domino's Pizza decided that it was time to show their appreciation to the "nice" Karens, presumably the ones who can go out in public without spitting on a 16-year-old ice cream scooper, or those who don't go off on an essential worker when they politely ask her to cover her scream-hole. And with this "nice Karen" promotion, Domino's said that it would give free pizzas to at least 100 women named Karen who hadn't caused some kind of incident this summer. 

"It's a tough time to be a Karen. Karen the nurse, Karen the teacher, Karen the mum, Karen the neighbour, Karen the mask wearer––we're all in this together, but a vocal minority who believe laws and rules don't abide to them have given the name 'Karen' a bad rap this year," the chain wrote. "At Domino's, we know there's plenty of Australians named Karen that aren't, well, 'Karens.'" 

Domino's probably thought it was being clever and jumping on a #meme with the promotion, and it almost definitely didn't expect the almost immediate backlash that it received. "The whole idea around 'karen’s' [sic] is showing how these entitled privileged white women use their skin and status as power of others less fortunate than them," one person responded on Twitter. "[Now] they know that they can get their way just by being an 'attacked' white woman." Another added that the chain had "completely missed an opportunity" to help low-income families, the homeless community, or others who were "actually going through a tough time" because of the pandemic. 

But presumably after scrolling through its mentions, Domino's New Zealand changed its mind on Thursday and has ended the promotion. "Our post came off the back of a number of situations in Victoria, Australia which received international media coverage, including in New Zealand. A person who decided they didn’t have to follow the mandate and wear a mask and took it out on retail workers; a person who breached a COVID-19 checkpoint, potentially endangering others; a person who was bored walking in her neighbourhood," it wrote on Facebook. 

"These examples were widely known, and publicly commented on [including] Bunnings “Karen” [...] We wanted to bring a smile to customers who are doing the right thing... In New Zealand, because it lacked this important context, people interpreted this in a different way than we intended. We appreciate how this has happened and have listened—we’ve removed this post." (As of this writing, the "nice Karen" promo is still active through Domino's Australia.) 

Although it's no longer accepting new entries, Domino's New Zealand still plans to pay up. In the Facebook comments, it said that it would be "reaching out shortly" to those who had already registered for a free pie. That's probably for the best—God knows somebody would ask to speak to a manager. 

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Cell-based meat start-up New Age Meats secures additional funding

US cell-based firm New Age Meats has secured additional investment just six months after raising $2.7m in seed funding from a consortium of investors.

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Yet more impairment charges at Kraft Heinz, H1 sales rise

Kraft Heinz today (30 July) booked a fresh set of impairment charges alongside a set of half-year results that included higher sales and underlying earnings.

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Kellogg lifts FY sales, earnings forecasts

The US-based cereal and snacks major has raised its forecasts for its organic net sales, adjusted operating profit and underlying EPS in 2020.

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Mexico's Grupo Herdez to sell off tuna assets

Mexico-based food major Grupo Herdez has revealed plans for the partial divestment of seafood assets to unnamed buyers.

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Teenage Ice Cream Shop Employees Are Getting Harassed By Anti-Maskers

The conversation has raged on for months as to whether or not we should be covering our faces, which materials are the most effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19, whether the masks that medical professionals were already wearing for hours a day will randomly suffocate you, and what wildly misinterpreted Constitutional excerpts are "at stake" every time you're asked to wear a mask to buy peanut butter at a Trader Joe's. (To reiterate, experts and medical professionals pretty much unanimously agree that we should all be wearing masks in public in the middle of a deadly global pandemic.) 

Many of those debates stay on social media (Twitter was already a hellhole for years), but more and more of those arguments seem to be manifested as screaming at a 16-year-old with a stack of waffle cones. 

Ice cream shops have become ground zero for mask debates, with troubling regularity and particularly harrowing experiences for their young employees. On Saturday, the teenage staff at the Front Porch in Springlake, Michigan were verbally abused by four groups of customers who didn't want to wear masks in the store, and a fifth group was so awful that the shop's owner had to call the police. 

Kelly Larson told MLive that she thought that people wouldn't be surprised by the Front Porch's mask requirements at this point, and she also hoped that everyone would be slightly nicer to her teenage workers. 

“I’ve got to speak up not only for my kids but all of these kids, that’s who our frontline workers are in Grand Haven," she said. "They need a lot more respect and love from us than they’ve been getting.”

In a followup Facebook post, she wrote that she doesn't see masks as a political statement; she sees them as a way to help her business, her employees, and her community "see the other side" of the pandemic. "These aren't our rules but we are mandated by the health department to follow them," she continued. "If you want to make a statement, call our elected officials or better yet call the governor's office. Start a peaceful protest. But to yell at teenagers in an ice cream store and make them cry is not a way to promote change." 

And again, this isn't an isolated event. Here are several other incidents that involved maladjusted adults taking out their frustrations on teenage ice cream shop employees. Here's just a sampling:

May 8: Polar Cave Ice Cream Parlour (Mashpee, Massachusetts) 

On the day that Mark Lawrence reopened his ice cream shop for the season, he said his "A-Team" of workers—all between the ages of 15 and 20—had clocked in and were ready to go. Six of them were inside the shop and seven were outside, split between stations so they could take orders from parked cars, scoop ice cream, and field online orders. By the end of the night, the staff had been subjected to so much abuse that one 18-year-old girl quit. Lawrence told the Boston Globe that after "hours of F-bombs and slurs" she didn't even want to be paid or take her tips, she just wanted to dip out. In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Lawrence called that night "the lowest feeling I have ever felt" in almost two decades of running the shop.

June 29: Little Man Ice Cream (Denver, Colorado) 

Owner Paul Tamburello told 9News that he was "shocked" by the reactions that he'd seen from customers when they were told about the shop's mask policy. He said that one customer coughed all over the counter and toward others who were waiting to order, while another actually spat on one of his teenage workers. “I understand people’s choice not to wear a mask," he said. "I don’t understand them taking it up with a 16-year-old scooping ice cream. I just feel like that’s not the place to do that.”

June 29: Twist Ice Cream (Swartz Creek, Michigan) 

In a Facebook post, the shop warned that if customers continued to cause problems and harass its workers over its mask requirement, it would be forced to close its lobby for the rest of the season. "We cannot let our employees continue to be treated in this manner," the owners wrote. It repeated that request in an attached graphic that explained its assorted pandemic related policies. "We ask that you do not take your frustrations out on our employees," it explained. "These are kids and young adults trying to earn money for school, and in many cases, working to help out their families who have also been affected by job loss during these times." 

June 30: Mootown Creamery (Berea, Ohio) 

Owner Angela Brooks is clear: customers either have to wear a mask inside the store, or they have to wait outside for a (masked) staffer to take their order. You might've picked up on a theme here, so no, that approach hasn't been received well in Ohio, either. “We’ve had everything from customers stomping their feet, slamming the doors, screaming and yelling, cussing at the girls, calling them names, it’s been awful,” Brooks told WOIO. ("Does it feel good to make a 16-year-old girl cry in the bathroom? Or sob on her way home from work?" she wrote on Facebook. "Knock it off!!!!!!") 

"No one’s enjoying it, like no one thinks this is fun or anything," Mootown worker Eva Mihelich said. "Like, [COVID-19] ruined my senior year of high school and everything, so like the last thing I want is for someone to come in and yell at me and that I’m the problem." 

July 2: Coldstone Creamery (Leavenworth, Washington)

When the Coldstone staffers told a teenage girl that state law said they couldn't serve her unless she wore a face mask, she angrily left the store. Two hours later, her mother went back to screech at everyone behind the counter for enforcing the policy. A 21-year-old Coldstone employee defended her coworkers and was ultimately fired for it (although Coldstone later offered to re-hire her). The 'adult' in the scenario told KING5 that "leftists" had created a "hostile environment in Leavenworth" and that's why her kid didn't get a cup of Mud Pie Mojo or whatever. 

July 7: The North Pole (Chittenango, New York) 

A maskless woman and man were stopped at the counter by The North Pole's two teenage employees and told that they needed to cover their faces in order to be served. Instead of complying, the couple yelled at the girls before going on a lengthy rant about how they didn't need to wear masks or "need to believe" the World Health Organization. The workers closed the window to the ice cream stand, but the woman physically wrestled it back open so she could keep screaming at them. "It was honestly very scary for us," 18-year-old Tori Broniszewski told Syracuse.com. 

Two days later, another female customer berated the employees so aggressively that the police had to be called. "If you DON'T WANT TO WEAR A MASK, please just stay home, don’t purposely drive to my parlor to harass my girls," The North Pole's owner, Alexandria Ciotti, wrote on Facebook. "I don’t want to lose my staff because they are afraid to come to work. They mean so much to me."

July 15: Brickley's Ice Cream (Wakefield, Rhode Island) 

The owners of Brickley's Ice Cream made the decision to close their Wakefield location for the rest of the year after two men “argued with, swore at and verbal [sic] abused both our staff" after being told that they couldn't eat their ice cream inside the shop. When another customer stepped in, the two men started to threaten that person, too. "[T]hings almost came to blows," Brickley's wrote on Facebook. "This is unacceptable and is becoming unsafe for both our staff and customers. We have a limited and young staff at our Wakefield store and must keep them safe.”

July 20: Uhlman's Ice Cream (Westborough, Massachusetts) 

Kelly Donley, the manager at Uhlman's, told the MetroWest Daily News that she has had to call the shop's owner at least six times this summer to help de-escalate situations involving customers who have gotten aggressive over its mask policy. "The sad part is that these people are yelling and screaming at 16 and 17-year-old employees," she said. Last month, an Ohio family of five—including their young kids—all took turns shouting at the Ulhman's workers about "constitutional liberties." They eventually left after the owner threatened to call the cops.

---

It should go without saying, but for the love of god, don't do this. If you want ice cream but don't want to wear a mask, it's probably best for everyone if you just stay at home and place a GoPuff order. 

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Lemongrass Pork Skewers Recipe

Serves 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour plus overnight marination

Ingredients

1 pound|450 grams pork shoulder
3 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro stems
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 scallions, roughly chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, roughly chopped
1 medium shallot, roughly chopped
lime wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Place the pork on a plate and freeze for about 30 minutes to firm up while you make the marinade (this will make the pork easier to thinly slice).
2. Place the cilantro stems, canola oil, brown sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, granulated sugar, garlic, scallions, lemongrass, and shallot in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until almost smooth and set aside.
3. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and thinly slice against the grain. Add the pork slices to a ziplock bag along with the marinade. Coat the pork completely in the marinade and refrigerate overnight.
4. The next day, light a grill. Thread the pork tightly onto skewers and grill, turning once, until charred and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter with some lime wedges and drizzle with a bit more fish sauce.

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Nestle cuts organic growth guidance amid Covid-related restrictions

Nestlé has lowered its forecast for the company's growth in sales on an organic basis amid the volatility of trading against the backdrop of Covid-19.

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Nestle provides more solid guidance on organic sales

Nestlé has provided specific annual guidance for organic sales growth this morning (30 July) as it reported first-half results.

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Orsero strikes again to snap up remaining 50% of local peer Moncada

Italy-based fruit and vegetable supplier Gruppo Orsero has acquired the remaining 50% of the capital of a local peer that it does not already own.

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This Restaurant Defied State Shutdown Orders, But Now It's Closing For Good

On Mother's Day weekend, one Castle Rock, Colorado restaurant defied a statewide public health order and opened its doors to the kind of dine-in customers who didn't care about social distancing requirements, or about wearing face coverings when you're surrounded by strangers.

"OUR FREEDOM DOESN'T END WHERE YOUR FEAR BEGINS," C&C Coffee and Kitchen wrote on a sign that it taped to its front door. "IF YOU ARE SCARED STAY AT HOME! IF YOU ARE AFRAID TO BE WITHIN 6FT OF

ANOTHER PERSON DO NOT ENTER THIS BUSINESS! GOD BLESS AMERICA!" Fast forward two months, and the restaurant's customers are going to see another sign on its door, except this one will probably say "CLOSED." 

In a lengthy, self-pitying, Bible-quoting Facebook post, owners Jesse and April Arellano announced that C&C Coffee and Kitchen would be shutting its doors for good this weekend. "This is America, land of the free home of the brave, yet citizens are being treated as criminals, while criminals are praised," they wrote. "'Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!' (Isaiah 5:20 NKJV).

"Over and over we see that the numbers of covid are manipulated, skewed and incentivized. Over and over we see the Government chip away our rights, chip away at our choices, and chip away at our freedom. Using public health departments, even unelected ones to make decisions [...] With this being said, I am sad to say that we are choosing not to renew the lease at the Castle Rock store." (A second location, in Colorado Springs, will remain open.) 

It's probably accurate to say that the restaurant's Mother's Day defiance didn't exactly go as the Arellanos had hoped. "I'm so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right," April Arellano told Colorado Community Media on that Sunday. "We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks [...] and we were failing. We had to do something.”

After seeing the photographs and watching some of the couple's interviews, it seems like Colorado governor Jared Polis decided that he had to do something too. His version of 'something' turned out to be suspending the restaurant's business license for 30 days, ordering it to close for a month, and deeming it an immediate health hazard.

"I joined most Coloradans in our frustration watching videos of people illegally packed into restaurants and thinking about all the moms and grandmothers and aunts and everyone who was put at increased risk of dying from this horrible virus,” he said at the time. 

In their Facebook post, the Arellanos wrote that, if they had the chance to say something to Polis, they would tell him “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” But in addition to that out-of-context New Testament quote, they also filed a lawsuit against Polis, the entire State of Colorado, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the executive director of the CDPHE, and the Tri-County Health Department. 

According to Colorado Public Radio, the lawsuit alleged that the agencies' decision to temporarily close the restaurant was "unsupported by substantial evidence" and done not, you know, because of the global pandemic, but out of a "desire for revenge" against them. 

"The governor singled out our restaurant for summary license suspension and announced it during a press conference," they said in a statement. "That was just another example of the way the governor has misused the temporary powers the legislature granted to him in case of an emergency." 

The restaurant was allowed to reopen on June 14, but the couple claims that the business was no longer sustainable due to a combination of "all the restrictions" and kitchen staff that they described as "a problem." 

Their announcement was met with a mixed response from commenters. "I'm on your side of the aisle, but you were in the wrong," one person wrote. "And you should use scripture to learn and grow for yourself, not treat it like a weapon to point at others." And another added that they "expect sympathy, pity, and care when you couldn’t exercise the same for anyone else." 

Life comes at you fast, I guess. Sometimes, it just takes two months. 

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State Fairs Are Taking Butter Sculpting and Animal Auctions Online

For the first time since World War II, the State Fair of Texas—the country's longest-running and largest event of its kind—has been canceled, event organizers announced this month. Instead, the near-month-long event will resume September 2021. Likewise, the Minnesota State Fair—the country's second-largest, with 2.1 million attendees last year—has also been pushed back to next August.

In any given summer, states across the country would be readying their ferris wheels and livestock, and preparing buckets of batter for frying just about everything. But as COVID-19 cases continue to rise nationwide, state fair season has been as disrupted as every industry. State fairs are adapting, though, and in the midst of the pandemic, what does a state fair look like, if it hasn't been canceled outright?

Enthusiasts of state fair food won't be totally at a loss. Just as drive-in movie theaters and drive-in restaurants have seen a social distancing-inspired resurgence, state fairs are also leaning on drive-thru to sell food. The canceled Wisconsin State Fair is making "corn dogs and cheese curds as well as some more outrageous food offerings" available in a drive-thru format, per the Milwaukee Business Journal. (It's also selling its famous cream puffs through curbside pick-up and traveling trucks.) Through the Minnesota State Fair's Food Parade, people can get their fix of foot-long hot dogs, egg rolls on-a-stick, and funnel cake from the safety of their own cars. Other state and county fairs have rolled out similar food plans. 

Still, the experience of eating absurd state fair food (on a stick!) in the solace of a car, as opposed to crowded fairgrounds, certainly won't be the same as what fans know and love. "Bring an empty stomach and patience for a long wait," Milwaukee Magazine's Marla Hiller recently wrote, adding that "nothing will ever be able to replace the full Wisconsin State Fair experience." 

What of those state fair oddities that don't exactly translate to the drive-thru iteration, like the beloved tradition of sculpting butter? While the Ohio State Fair is canceled for 2020, the American Dairy Association Mideast has launched a DIY kit to make a butter cow at home, as Cleveland Scene reported yesterday. Using at least two pounds of butter and with instructions from butter sculptor Paul Brooke, people can participate in a new sculpting challenge to win a YETI cooler. And though the Minnesota State Fair is canceled, the butter-sculpted Princess Kay of the Milky Way is not: the fair will still livestream its creation, the New York Times reported last week. 

Even real animals are online now, too. In Colorado, the Pueblo County Fair has gone mostly virtual, which includes its livestock and animal auctions. According to the Bent County Democrat, county fair judges worked from home to inspect hundreds of videos for entries in categories like "market dairy breeding and showmanship" and hundreds of pictures of rabbits and chickens. Then, in a new move for the fair, it's taken its animal auctions online, along with those of a handful of other county fairs.

Despite the cancellations of the country's largest fairs, some events are continuing as planned—with COVID-related updates. Along with more hand washing stations, South Dakota's Sioux Empire Fair has prepared about "1 million doses of hand sanitizer" for its week-long event that starts this weekend, the Argus Leader reported. Though some vendors and judges pulled out of the fair due to health concerns, the event will still have shows, concerts, and a rodeo, running at about 80 percent of its usual, president and CEO Scott Wick told the paper. 

Given the size and scope of many state and county fairs, cancellations mean a big hit for local economies. Cal Expo announced plans to lay off at least half of its staff after the cancellation of the California State Fair; workers in Dallas are bracing for a financial hit without the influx of seasonal work; and the loss of the New York State Fair is adding to the stress of gig workers who are still reeling from the restrictions on theater, concerts, and events. Even politicians who rely on hopping through state fairs as campaign stops for mingling and being photographed mid-corn dog will be forced to shift their plans. 

There's still hope on the horizon, however. According to the countdown on the State Fair of Texas' website, next year's event is a mere 400-something days away. 

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Reckitt Benckiser insists infant-formula performance "reassuring" in H1

Reckitt Benckiser has reflected on the performance of its infant-formula business in the first half of 2020, when sales from the division fell.

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Ireland's Dawn Meats takes full control of Dunbia JV in UK

Ireland's Dawn Meats has taken full control of the UK joint venture it established with a Northern Ireland-based peer in 2017.

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UK's Gosh Food to build second manufacturing facility

Gosh Food, the UK vegan and allergen-free products manufacturer, has revealed capital expenditure plans.

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New products - General Mills rolls out Packed energy bars; Kraft Heinz palm-oil free hazelnut spread, Heinz by Nature hit Canada; Nestle's vegan Carnation 'milk', pea-protein bars

This week's batch of new products includes launches from General Mills, Nestle, Kraft Heinz and a collaboration between Migros and Innovopro.

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Pop star Shakira backs US nut snacks firm SkinnyDipped

SkinnyDipped, a US better-for-you nut snacks firm, has revealed that a well-known pop star has invested in the business.

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Lamb Weston sees improvement but warns of "fragile" demand

US-based frozen potato products manufacturer Lamb Weston has updated analysts on the level of demand from the re-emerging foodservice channel.

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Premier Foods not shaken by UK obesity plans

Premier Foods has reported first-quarter results and responded to the UK government's measures to cut obesity levels.

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New products - Kraft Heinz's palm-oil free hazelnut spread and Heinz by Nature hit Canada; Nestle's vegan Carnation 'milk' and pea-protein bars; Migros in chickpea yogurt launch

This week's batch of new products includes launches from Nestle, Kraft Heinz and a collaboration between Migros and Innovopro.

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Green Herb Mayonnaise Recipe

Makes ½ cup|125 ml
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes, plus overnight straining

Ingredients

3 ounces|80 grams cilantro leaves and stems (or any other green herb you prefer)
1 cup|250 ml canola oil
¾ teaspoons white vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg yolk

Directions

1. Blend the cilantro and oil in a high-powered blender until smooth. Place in a wet cheesecloth in a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, discard the solids, saving the oil. You should have about ½ cup|125 ml.

1. Place the vinegar, mustard, salt, and egg yolk in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the cilantro oil until emulsified. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

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UK National Food Strategy calls for minimum standards on food imports

A National Food Strategy for the UK has made recommendations to the Government in relation to imports resulting from future trade deals.

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LiveKindly appoints former 3G Capital, Kraft Heinz man David Knopf as CFO

The LiveKindly Collective, an investor-backed group of plant-based start-ups, has brought in a former Kraft Heinz executive as chief financial officer.

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UK food-to-go market may not recover for two years, Greencore CEO cautions

Private-label supplier Greencore today (28 July) gave its projection for the recovery of the UK food-to-go market, where sales have come under pressure from Covid-19.

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Barilla outlines investment in Harrys in France

Barilla, the Italy-based food group, has set out plans to invest further in its operations over the border in France.

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General Mills to increase third-party manufacturing as Covid-19 elevates demand

US food major General Mills plans to dish out more of its manufacturing to third parties to cater to increased demand from Covid-19.

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New products - Nestle churns out vegan Carnation 'milk' and pea-protein bars; Kraft Heinz unveils baby-food brand Heinz by Nature; Retailer Migros in chickpea yogurt link-up

This week's batch of new products includes launches from Nestle, Kraft Heinz and a collaboration between Migros and Innovopro.

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Greens, Eggs, and Bacon Recipe

Servings: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

8 ounces|225 grams kale
8 ounces|225 grams Swiss chard
12 ounces|340 grams bacon, thinly sliced
kosher salt, to taste
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ cup|23 grams roughly chopped dill
½ cup|23 grams roughly chopped parsley
1 lemon
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 large eggs
edible flowers, to garnish (optional)
toasted bread of choice, for serving

Directions

1. Remove the stems from the kale and Swiss chard. Roughly chop the leaves of each and thinly slice the stems.

2. Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3. Add the kale and Swiss chard stems to the skillet. Season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any bits from the bottom of the skillet, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the scallions and garlic and cook until fragrant and just soft, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the leaves and cook until just wilted, 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in the cooked bacon and the herbs. Zest in the lemon and squeeze in half of the juice. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Make 6 little wells in the greens and crack an egg into each well. Season the eggs with salt and pepper and lower the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny, 7 to 8 minutes. Squeeze over the juice of the remaining lemon half and garnish with edible flowers, if using. Serve with toasted bread.

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Brazilian meat-free firm Fazenda eyes UK, Germany after entering UAE

Brazilian meat-free start-up Fazenda Futuro has its eyes on expanding further into Europe after launching in new markets.

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Greencore enters deal for molasses unit, issues Q3 trading update

Greencore has announced this morning (28 July) it plans to sell its molasses business, and also issued a trading update.

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Fonterra expands in China with plans for R&D centre in Shanghai

Fonterra, the world's largest dairy cooperative, has detailed its expansion plans for a key Asian market in which it already has a presence.

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Nearly half of food manufacturers, grocers have plant-based teams - research

Research just out has revealed the percentage of food manufacturers and grocers that now have dedicated teams for plant-based products.

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Conagra Brands to spend big on expanding Ohio meat snacks facility

US food business Conagra Brands has announced plans to spend more than US$100m expanding one of its facilities.

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India's Britannia Industries to expand factory network

India-based food major Britannia Industries has announced large-scale capital expenditure plans in a post-results call with analysts.

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New products - Kraft Heinz unveils baby-food brand Heinz by Nature; Nestle to launch pea-protein bars; Retailer Migros links up with Israel's Innovopro for chickpea yogurt

This week's batch of new products includes launches from Nestle, Kraft Heinz and a collaboration between Migros and Innovopro.

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Old Paintings Reveal How Fruits and Vegetables Have Evolved Over the Centuries

Art historians have literally spent several hundred years poring over the dozens of symbols, allegories, and intentions in the three panels of The Garden of Earthly Delights, painted by Hieronymus Bosch sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. The triptych shows a blissed-out Adam and Eve in its first panel, an orgiastic tangle of assorted pleasures in the center, and a terrifying third scene that depicts a dark hellscape where humans are tortured and devoured whole by a bird-headed being (and at least one person ends up with a woodwind instrument in his ass). 

Weirdly, strawberries are so plentiful in the middle panel that one historian named the entire thing “Strawberry Plant,” while it was listed as "The Strawberry" in a late 16th-century inventory of Philip II of Spain's art collection. The meaning and importance of the strawberries—most of which are bigger than the naked humans trying to eat them—has been debated. But, size aside, a biologist and an art historian have agreed that Bosch did paint a pretty accurate 16th-century strawberry.

Ive De Smet, a plant biologist at VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology in Belgium, and David Vergauwen, a Belgian art history lecturer, have been studying the fruits and vegetables depicted in paintings and using those artworks to determine how plant-based foods have evolved over the course of hundreds, if not thousands, of years. They're calling this approach #ArtGenetics. 

"Plant-based food is lavishly depicted by thousands of artists throughout the ages and offers a vast and unique insight into the stunning evolution in shapes and colors of our modern-day groceries," they wrote in an article published in the journal Trends in Plant Science. "Capturing this information can demonstrate when and where particular varieties emerged, how common they were, and what correlation existed between food habits, trade routes, and newly conquered lands." 

It all started with a discussion about an oil painting in a St. Petersburg museum. The duo stared at Frans Snyders' Obststand (The Fruit Stall), trying to ID all of the fruits that were spilling out of the vendors' baskets. According to DW, Vergauwen pointed to one weird-looking melon and suggested that maybe that's what watermelons looked like at the artist's time, while De Smet suggested that maybe he was just crap at painting fruit.

Frans Snyders' "Allegory of the Earth." Photo by © Alinari Archives/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

 When Vergauwen said that Snyders was actually quite talented, they started to consider that paintings could be valuable resources for tracing how the appearances of fruits and vegetables have changed over the years.

"It's a bit of an out-of-control hobby for me," De Smet said. "We may have some of the genetic code for certain ancient plants, but often not well-preserved samples, so looking at art can help put these species on a time map and track down their evolution."

In their paper, the two write that paintings and sculptures can be considered the "world’s largest historical database" of fruits and veggies, as well as nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes. Examining artwork is also cheaper and more accessible than archaeological studies, and less reliant on context and language limitations than written descriptions in historical texts. ("How was an orange item described in the 10th century, since the word ‘orange’ to describe the color was only used from the 15th century onwards?" they write.) 

Some of the biggest challenges they've faced so far are just the low-res pictures in some museums' online catalogs, and the lack of fruit-and-veg-related keywords and search terms. As a result, they're asking the rest of us to share pictures of art "collected from [our] own trips to a museum, castle, or mansion" so they can build their own open-access database. 

No need to send your pics of Bosch's freakishly big strawberries: They seemed to have figured those out already. 

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Italian Fried Spinach Frittata Recipe

Makes 20
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups|200 grams grated parmesan cheese
½ cup|85 grams plain breadcrumbs
¼ cup|15 grams minced chives
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 (10-ounce|283 gram) package frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
7 large eggs, lightly beaten
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 ½ cups|625 ml vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the cheese, breadcrumbs, chives, salt, spinach, and eggs. Crank in some black pepper and set aside.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high. Working in batches, form 2 tablespoons worth of the egg mixture into small patties (about 2-inches wide) and carefully slide into the oil. Cook, flipping once, until browned all over, 2 ½ to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt.

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New products - Nestle to launch pea-protein bars in Europe; Swiss retailer Migros and Israel's Innovopro link up for chickpea yogurt launch

This week's batch of new products includes launches from Nestle and from Swiss retailer Migros, working in conjunction with Israeli food-tech start-up Innovopro.

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UK unveils plan to tackle "obesity time bomb"

Restrictions on advertising and promotions are among measures the UK has announced today (27 July) to fight obesity, moves the food industry have labelled "a punishing blow".

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Nestle to cut jobs in Germany amid production move to Poland

Nestlé plans to cut jobs in Germany as the Swiss food giant shift some production to another part of Europe.

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UK industry criticises mooted Government obesity measures

The industry association representing food manufacturers operating in the UK has hit out at the measures the country's government is said to be lining up to try to reduce obesity.

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Saputo to retire name of Australian cheese brand Coon

Canadian dairy business Saputo has said it is to retire the name of a cheese brand which is sold in Australia, which is deemed to be racially insensitive.

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Administrators appointed at UK banana business Winfresh

Winfresh, the UK-based banana supplier which counts many retailers amongst its customers, is facing an uncertain future.

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Hershey discusses challenges for Hallowe'en, market-share gains and e-commerce surge - H1 takeaways

Hershey has reported first-half results with some interesting commentary around market share and e-commerce as Simon Harvey assesses the key talking points.

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Good Catch owner Gathered Foods hires ex-Coke exec Christine Mei as CEO

Gathered Foods, the US-based owner of the Good Catch plant-based seafood brand, has appointed a former Coca-Cola executive as its new CEO.

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US pork processor Seaboard names Robert Steer CEO

Seaboard Corporation, the US pork processor, has named the person who will replace Steven Bresky, its CEO who died earlier this month.

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I Want This TikTok Grandma to Teach Me Everything About Food

Just as some people started baking bread or embroidering or trying out new hobbies as a hobby in itself, Lynn Davis and her son Tim were looking for a way to keep themselves busy when the pandemic hit the U.S. in March. Four months and 25 videos on YouTube later, Lynn is better known online as "Lynja" or @cookingwithlynja, whose cartoonish TikTok clips inspire fans on social media to say things like: "I would like for her to be my new grandma." With nearly 578,000 followers on TikTok and over 2,000 on YouTube, Lynja has built up a pretty solid following, becoming one of TikTok's most enjoyable new food stars.

"Cooking With Lynja" videos rely on pretty simple recipes: examples include fried rice, chocolate chip cookies, or copycat McDonald's French fries. But what sets them apart is their clever editing, and viewers often comment on both her editing and her scripts. In a video for "dirty water dawgs," for example, multiple Lynja cut-outs say "glizzy check" before dancing in front of the New York skyline and joking about getting water from the East River in which to cook your hot dogs. A video for homemade Dunkaroos is superimposed with a small Lynja, who pretends to dribble a basketball in front of a plate of cookies and comments on bigger Lynja's cartoonishly large biceps as she lifts a stand mixer onto the counter.

The videos all pack a lot into one minute, while also walking viewers clearly through a recipe, but above all, Cooking With Lynja videos feel extremely online, full of the quirky and self-referential quips people have come to love from series like "It's Alive." Reposted on Twitter, her videos have gotten hundreds of thousands of likes.

"I believe the videos became popular because I am an older person on an app where a large part of the audience is much younger than me," Lynn said. "I think people are surprised by the dichotomy of someone my age using pop culture references." How many grandmas do you know who understand what a glizzy is?

Though Tim—who has his own video production company—initially set out with the goal of making 30 videos in 30 days, the Cooking With Lynja project has continued on months later because Lynn and Tim enjoyed planning and taping them. "Once we finished the 30 days straight, we then started to make Cooking With Lynja videos more seriously," Lynn said. Though they continue to upload to YouTube, they're currently focusing on TikTok, where they upload a video every other day "with no plans to stop anytime soon." (Lynn's husband now also helps with production and support, she said.)

Despite TikTok's immediate association with Zoomers, "Boomers and grannies," as the New York Post once put it, often do well on the platform as they gain comparisons to beloved older relatives. For example, there's "Grandma Lill" (200,000 followers), who tries TikTok dances and talks about how much she wants a boyfriend, and "Old Man Steve" (1.3 million followers), who explains simple meals like English muffins with peach preserves.

While the title for TikTok's ultimate grandma might be contested, Lynja accepts it regardless. "I LOVE being referred to as a grandmother as I am a grandmother in real life," she said. "I’m honored when people ask me if I can be their grandmother."

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Easy Cherry Pie Recipe

Servings: 8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients

for the filling:
2 pounds|910 grams fresh cherries, pitted
1 cup|225 grams granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon, zested
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon demerara sugar

for the dough:
2 ¼ cups|350 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
18 tablespoons|258 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed
6 tablespoons|95 grams sour cream, plus more for serving

for the sweetened sour cream:
1 cup|220 grams sour cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Make the sweetened sour cream: In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, confectioners’ sugar, and lemon juice. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

2. Make the filling: Toss the cherries with the sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the cherries start to break down slightly and the mixture thickens, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and zest in the lemon. Cool completely.

3. Make the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt. Slowly add the butter and pulse, breaking it up into pea-sized crumbles. Add the sour cream and pulse until the dough begins to stick together. Gather the dough into one ball, then form into 2 discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Heat the oven to 375°F. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour. Roll out one piece of dough into a 12-inch circle. Gently lay the dough in the bottom of a 9-inch round pie pan, allowing the excess to hang over the edges. Pour in the filling.

5. Roll out the second piece of dough into a 12-inch circle and cut into 10 (1-inch) wide strips. Lay half of the strips horizontally across the pie, spacing them about ¾-inch apart. Fold every other strip back on itself and lay a new strip of crust vertically over the pie. Swap the folded and unfolded strips, adding one new vertical strip each time. Continue until one half of the pie is latticed, then lattice the second half of the pie using the same pattern. Trim the edges and firmly crimp to seal the pie.

6. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the egg wash over the crust and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake until the crust is golden and the cherries are bubbling, about 1 hour. Serve the pie warm with a dollop of the sweetened sour cream.

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UK government minister says obesity measures "imminent"

An announcement from the UK on fresh measures to tackle obesity is imminent, according to a government minister.

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Free-from meals maker Kirsty's seeks to double business with first production site

Kirsty's, a UK-based free-from ready-meals maker, is seeking to double the size of the business with its first production facility.

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UK's Euro Foods Brands buys The Food Doctor from William Jackson Food Group

UK healthier-for-you brand The Food Doctor has been sold by local bakery business William Jackson Food Group for an undisclosed sum.

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Shit On A Shingle Recipe

Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons|60 grams unsalted butter
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 4 ounces|100 grams plain dried and sliced beef, diced 
• 1 garlic clove, minced 
• 2 tablespoons|30 grams all-purpose flour 
• 1 ½ cups|354 ml whole milk 
• ½ cup|125 grams creme fraiche 
• 1 ½ teaspoons|6 grams hot sauce, plus more to serve
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme 
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons minced parsley, plus more for garnish
• 4 slices potato bread, cut into thirds 
• ¼ cup|60 ml white vinegar 

Directions

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Add the onion and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the dried beef and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook until thick, about 1 minute more. Slowly stir in the milk and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold in the creme fraiche, hot sauce, and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and keep warm.
2. Melt the remaining butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Add the bread and cook, flipping once, until golden on each side, 2 minutes. Remove the “shingles” and divide among four plates.
3. Bring the vinegar and 8 cups of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Crack the eggs into a medium bowl. Using a spoon, create a whirlpool in the saucepan. Drop an egg in and give the water another swirl. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, swirling the water after each addition. Poach for 2 ½ minutes, then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a plate and season with salt and pepper.
4. To serve, spoon the gravy over the “shingles” and top each with a poached egg, more thyme, and extra hot sauce. 

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Spam and Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe

Servings: 6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

3 tablespoons canola oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 (12-ounce|340 gram) can Spam, diced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
5.5 ounces|150 grams diced pineapple (about ¾ cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red chili, thinly sliced
3 cups|450 grams leftover cooked white rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
roughly chopped unsalted cashews, to garnish
cilantro leaves, to garnish
chili crisp or sriracha, to garnish
lime wedges, to serve

Directions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok over medium. Add the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

2. Wipe the wok clean and heat the remaining oil over medium-high. Add the spam and cook, tossing, until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the bell pepper and pineapple and cook until the pineapple is golden, 3 to 4 minutes more. Add the garlic and chili and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, then add the rice. Cook, tossing, until the rice is heated through, about 3 minutes. Add the reserved eggs, the soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions. Toss to combine, then divide among plates. Garnish with the cashews, cilantro leaves, and chili crisp. Serve with lime wedges.

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US heirloom chicken firm Cooks Venture in funding round

US-based chicken company Cooks Venture has announced further funding news just six months after being backed by a US food group.

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Fruit group Fresca hires ex-2 SIsters exec Martyn Fletcher as CEO

Fresca Group, a UK-based fruit and vegetable supplier, has hired a new chief executive as its existing CEO moves into new role.

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US dairy group Byrne reveals major expansion plans

US-based Byrne Dairy has revealed development plans for a production facility in the north east of the country.

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Shareholder group accuses Aryzta of employing "delaying tactics" over EGM date

A shareholder group agitating for change at Swiss-Irish bakery firm Aryzta has reacted after the date of the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) was pushed back.

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Kraft Heinz leads investment round in sweet protein firm Joywell Foods

Kraft Heinz has backed a protein ingredients firm in the US through its venture-capital fund, along with other investors.

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Bollywood couple set up India plant-based firm Imagine Meats

Imagine Meats, a start-up offering plant-based alternatives to meat, has been launched by two Bollywood actors.

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Rice producer Forbidden Foods to go public in Australia

Forbidden Foods, a producer of organic rice, plans to go public as it prepares to launch into another category.

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Perfect Day founders help launch animal-free ice-cream firm The Urgent Company

The owners of Perfect Day, the US animal-free dairy start-up, have helped launch an ice-cream business using the fledgling firm's ingredients.

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Beef firm American Foods Group acquires Calihan Pork Processors

American Foods Group, a US-based beef producer, has expanded its meat offering into pork via a deal for a local business.

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US seasonings business Olde Thompson snaps up local peer Gel Spice

Olde Thompson, a US provider of private-label and branded spices and seasonings, has acquired a local peer for an undisclosed sum.

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Giraffe Foods snaps up table sauces maker Lounsbury Foods

Giraffe Foods, a Canada-based private-label manufacturer, has bought a table sauces business in Toronto.

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Unilever shuts India plant amid Covid-19 infections

Unilever has closed a factory in a major market in Asia after staff at the facility tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

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Bars Are Serving Ridiculous $1 Menu Items to Stay Open During COVID Restrictions

On Friday, a new executive order from New York governor Andrew Cuomo went into effect, one that requires any bar or restaurant patron to buy some kind of food if they want to order alcohol. Additionally, the bar areas themselves can only be used by seated customers who are spaced at least six feet apart from each other or have some kind of physical barrier between them.

"As we continue our science-based phased reopening, the number of hospitalizations and our rate of positive tests remain steady and low," Cuomo said. "But we need to remember our success fighting this virus is a function of our own actions. Mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing—basic as they may seem—are critical to controlling the spread of this virus [...] We know the prescription and we know it works, we just need to be smart and do it."

Cuomo has expressed concern about bars throughout the state, and about the ability (or inability) of people who have been drinking to maintain adequate social distance. As a result of the new requirements, some establishments hurriedly expanded their menus, adding some cheap snacks so they can still serve drinks.

Harvey's Restaurant and Bar in Saratoga Springs was one of the first to find a $1 workaround. "In 1853, Chef George Crum created the first potato chip at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs," the bar posted on Facebook. "In 2020, Chef Adam Humphrey created the first Cuomo Chip at Harvey's Restaurant and Bar."

Over the weekend, the bar started offering $1 plates of "Cuomo chips"—literally just bowls of potato chips—to customers. When those ran out, it switched to mini pretzel bites and an elaborate $1 roasted beet and goat cheese flatbread. "It started as, not so much a joke, but at least to make light of the situation that we had another unexpected hurdle that we had to go through," Harvey's owner Matthew Bagley told CNN. (He pointed out that the bar does have an actual menu, too.)

Other joints quickly did the same. One North Syracuse restaurant is selling a variety of $1 “compliance” items, like a four-ounce cup of whipped cream. Lafayette Brewing Company in Buffalo changed its menu to include one piece of charcuterie meat, "just a few grapes," or nine French fries, but it has since swapped that out for a slightly more serious list of ultra-small plates.

The State Liquor Authority (SLA) typed out a detailed description of what it considers to be "food," a definition that varies depending on what kind of place is involved. For manufacturers like breweries, distilleries, and wineries, "food" includes sandwiches and soups, along with "food items intended to complement the tasting of alcoholic beverages [...] including but not limited to cheese, fruits, vegetables, chocolates, breads, mustards, and crackers." In bars and restaurants, "food" can be sandwiches, soups, or other fresh, frozen, processed, or precooked items.

Harvey's was initially warned by the SLA that straight-up snacks like crackers, chips, or nuts would not comply with the regulations unless they were also accompanied by a dip or sauce. But Rich Azzopardi, the governor's senior advisor, told the New York Post that $1 portion of chips would be acceptable, as long as the customer was seated when he or she ate them. The whole thing echoes pre-Prohibition laws that similarly required the serving of food with alcohol, which, at the time, resulted in some bars serving the same dusty, uneaten "Raines sandwich" to patrons over and over for up to a week.

This particular method of just inching over the requirements isn't limited to New York; on Monday, a popular post on the r/funny subreddit reportedly showed the menu from a restaurant in Pennsylvania that was trying to skirt a similar "food must accompany every alcohol order" requirement. It featured items like a 50-cent onion ring ("The only hoop you need to jump thru for this beer") and a 5-cent cheese puff ("They usually come in a pair but [Governor Tom] Wolf has the other one.")

Despite its impromptu $1 menu, Harvey's Bar swears that it isn't trying to be political, nor is it trying to find a loophole in the governor's requirements. "At no point has this business been lacking in compliance. We feel very strongly here that we have an obligation to do our utmost to protect our guests, and our staff," it wrote. "While the sudden regulations imposed on businesses are difficult to work with- it is our responsibility to work within the confines of these decisions. And if possible- with some levity [...] Our only concern is the well-being of our guests, and the livelihood of our staff."

And presumably, whether or not it has enough Cuomo chips to make it through the week.

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When It Comes to a Recipe, What’s in a Name?

Back in May, the response was swift when Milk Bar's Christina Tosi uploaded a video of what she called her "flaky bread." Instagram commenters quickly pointed out that the unleavened rounds were essentially South Asia's paratha by another name, while Tosi's recommendation to add scallions might also call to mind a riff on Chinese scallion pancakes. With neither mentioned in Tosi's description, critics on social media saw the dish as another food industry whitewashing gaffe. But this wasn't the first time "flaky bread" caused problems online.

In 2014, Bon Appétit posted a similar dish. Developed by Alison Roman, that "flaky bread" recipe was simple, accompanied by no context besides a quick prep tip in the headnote. As with Tosi's recipe, keen observers homed in on its similarity to paratha, and by May 2020, readers had begun weighing in with comments like: "Not a single mention of where this food comes from or the people that have been making it forever? This is literally just paratha." By June 2020, BA had changed the recipe's name to "Flaky Bread (Malawah)" and expanded its headnote to state that it was based on a Yemeni dish.

All over the world, different cultures have developed flaky rounds of dough—from paratha, to malawah, to cong you bing, and certainly more. That's something you'd never know from a name like "flaky bread," as accurate as it may be. Flaky bread can come from many cultures rich in culinary history; "flaky bread," meanwhile, suggests no culture in particular.

As the online recipe space grows more competitive, the names of a world's worth of dishes morph. Avgolemono becomes the New York Times' "egg lemon soup," "lemony egg soup with escarole," or "slow cooker creamy chicken soup with lemon, rice, and dill." Roti gains new life as "whole wheat balloon bread" or "Asian flat croissant," and "Korean rice bowls" are a longer, more Westernized way of saying bibimbap. "Spicy chocolate milk simmered chicken" becomes a new phrase for mole, and chana masala is revised as Alison Roman's "spiced chickpea stew with coconut and turmeric," which internet colloquialism transforms into just "The Stew." What's to be gained by changing a dish's name? But also, what's lost?

What we call a dish can either ground it in a particular culinary history, or it can remove a dish from that culture entirely. With translation comes a level of separation, as the idea of a dish's audience is shifted; calling roti a "balloon bread" or bibimbap a "rice bowl" is a choice to appeal to a specific sensibility. As platforms diversify their selection of recipes, each one is trying to sell you on dishes it assumes you don't already know how to make, and every online recipe aims to make an argument for why you should rely on it above all others. To make that case, food is packaged for "mainstream" consumption: Ideally, anyone should want to click on it.

As Eric Kim—the recipe developer and writer behind the "Table for One" column at Food52—works on his debut cookbook about Korean American food, he's been thinking about recipe names. Kim's book, currently scheduled for release in spring 2022, will be informed by his Korean background, Georgia upbringing, and his approach to pantry cooking. Writing through its recipes, some of which lean conventional and others that are entirely new, Kim finds himself repeatedly changing their names.

"It's such an interesting question because a lot of these dishes are traditional—traditional bulgogi, for instance, or traditional kalbi—and I almost don't want to call them that, but calling them 'soy-marinated short ribs' feels flattening or disregarding their inspiration. I feel like this is something I've grappled with as recipe author, but also as a food editor, for years," Kim told VICE. He's found welcome inspiration in Priya Krishna's Indian-ish, which uses names like "spinach and feta, cooked like saag paneer" to find the middle ground between innovation and tradition.

Writing recipes for the internet poses a particular challenge: Like every piece of content in the digital world, recipes must pull in readers through the quickest glance. Terms or names that are assumed to be unfamiliar might be replaced with something more widely recognizable and immediately comprehensible, and trending phrases get thrown in for the sake of appealing to what people are searching (think "bread without yeast" during the baking-crazed days of the pandemic). More and more, algorithms shape how content is presented online, and search engine optimization (SEO) dictates the best practices for giving a website a chance at ranking high in a Google search for a specific keyword. As UCLA professor Safiya Noble has explored in the book Algorithms of Oppression, even search engines can be subject to cultural bias in ways that privilege whiteness.

Casey Markee is the founder of Media Wyse and an SEO consultant who works exclusively in the food, DIY, and lifestyle space. Acknowledging that unconscious bias can play out in everything, he thinks that the renaming of recipes might be done to gain an advantage in the crowded food space. Anglicized names might have more visibility online due to less competition and more search interest for that particular term, he suggested. People creating recipes online may think: "My audience might not understand what this original name is, but maybe they understand the more English or Anglicized version here, and that's what I'm gonna focus on," he said. The idea of accessibility, however, should also prompt the question: accessible to whom?

On The Sofrito Project, blogger Reina Gascon-Lopez takes a different approach to food media's usual centering as she presents recipes for Puerto Rican dishes as well as what she grew up eating in Charleston. Puerto Rican dishes are named in Spanish, with English left in parentheses: "berenjena guisada (stewed eggplant)" or "asopao de gandules (pigeon pea rice stew)," for example. "I honestly try to stick with the traditional name for the recipes, particularly the Puerto Rican dishes," she told VICE, "because honestly... naming them something that would be more palatable for white mainstream media, I feel like that kind of takes away from the dish, at least in my opinion."

Anglicizing a recipe's name can be done out of a sense of making it "neutral" and therefore "mainstream," but as we know from the recent conversations around race in media and other industries, that version of objective neutrality is actually a stance centered on whiteness. The idea that a dish can be rendered culturally neutral still relies on the construction of a culture: one for whom "flaky bread" is assumed as more appealing and recognizable than its alternatives.

White, vaguely European-influenced food is positioned as such a default in modern American culture that it exists without being explicitly stated, as Navneet Alang deconstructed for Eater. "Only whiteness can deracinate and subsume the world of culinary influences into itself and yet remain unnamed," he wrote. With this guiding food media, figures like Alison Roman—who at the peak of Stew fame once described herself as coming from "no culture"—can then pick and profit from global culinary traditions without ever tying herself to one.

While white food culture can weave in and out of global inspirations and not lose anything, the reverse isn't true. Dishes from cultures outside the white American norm and the people who make them are made less visible, told they don't draw as many views, relegated to trend pieces, and subjected to quotas.

The appeasement of translation can seem like a self-fulfilling prophecy: If people aren't given the word "bibimbap," if it's called a "Korean rice bowl" instead, will the original term ever enter "mainstream" parlance? Food publications have the power to steer the conversation for readers and home cooks; suggesting that a dish's traditional name is too complicated or unfamiliar to include is a cop-out for platforms that dictate these trends.

"It all goes back to the othering of food, and readers are only as smart as the information they're given," said Rebecca Firkser, a freelance food writer and recipe developer. Since her official start in food media five years ago as an intern at PopSugar, which led to becoming culinary editor of the now-defunct Extra Crispy, Firkser thinks people have overall become more knowledgeable about food and cooking. "I do feel like readers are smarter; they're interested in the real dishes, and so, why do we bother dumbing it down for them?"

In their staff roles at large food publications, Firkser and Kim—who have worked together on recipes at Food52—told VICE that SEO has been a consideration in the recipe process. But according to Kim, Google is "a lot smarter than people realize," and its algorithm changes all the time. "You don't have to have to bludgeon the title with some straightforward whitewashed title just to get it to show up on Google," he said. Whether it's putting keyword phrases in different parts of the page or in the URL, "there are ways to do it without disintegrating the integrity of the actual title."

But naming a dish the way it's historically known and loved isn't a panacea, either, as tradition creates a tight box of expectations. As Gascon-Lopez pointed out, her Puerto Rican dishes have at times garnered responses that her recipe isn't how a commenter's family made it, or how they make the dish. She clarifies that even traditional recipes are her version, as dictated by the ingredients available to her in South Carolina. "I do find that there is a little bit of a line to walk when I call something by the traditional name, and I don't have something that's been in that dish for years," she said.

Thankfully, Gascon-Lopez's blog gives her flexibility. While she said it sounds "crazy" as a food blogger, she doesn't consider SEO very much. "I try to stay aware of how I need the recipe [to be] from the aspect of accessibility on the blog, and I try to keep it short and keep the title tight. But other than that, if it's in Spanish, it's going to be in Spanish," Gascon-Lopez said. "That's something that I'm willing to sacrifice to stay true to my style of cooking."

So what's the answer to fixing all of this? Multiple recipe developers told VICE that presenting a recipe online comes with a responsibility to do ample research. With constant cooking comes the ability to riff in the kitchen, but even still, said Firkser, a recipe developer should go the extra step, even if it seems like a dish just popped up in your head. The act of putting a recipe on a public platform implies authority, and while there's leeway for modification in individual cooking, the recipe itself is perceived as objective—the standard from which one can then diverge.

"Even if I independently was thinking like, What would be yummy to eat? A white bean and tomato soup with tiny pasta," Firkser said, "I would search the internet, search cookbooks, and see: Have other people have done this—white bean and tomato soup with tiny pasta? Oh, wow, looks like there is a dish, and it's called pasta fagioli and I'm going to acknowledge that."

At Food52, Kim takes a generalist approach, creating dishes like "beef short rib bourguignon with garlicky panko gremolata" and "chicken-fried steak katsu with milk gravy." When he cooks from cuisines outside his culture, Kim tries to be "as responsible as possible," he said, by citing inspirations and adding context in the headnote as to how he learned the techniques. "Coming from an academic perspective is a way to make sure you close the loops and honor every possible inspiration for a dish," he said, "and that's one way to make sure that you're avoiding any semblance of tokenization or appropriation."

With the racial inequity in food media, we frequently return to the question of who gets to profit from other cultures' foods; it is still often the case that globally inspired dishes are presented by white recipe developers. Following Bon Appétit's organizational reckoning over these exact issues, the publication has announced plans to not only address its pay disparities and lack of staffers of color, but also to re-envision its content to better address cultural biases. As part of this push into the future, the magazine's research director Joseph Hernandez announced in a newsletter last month that he would be working with Test Kitchen editors to "address many of these problems of authorship, appropriation, the white gaze, and erasure."

Referencing its past controversies regarding flaky bread, "white guy" kimchi, pho, and Filipino halo-halo, Hernandez wrote that BA "has been called out for appropriation, for decontextualizing recipes from non-white cultures, and for knighting 'experts' without considering if that person should, in fact, claim mastery of a cuisine that isn’t theirs." In response, "our team will be auditing previously published recipes and articles that may not have been thoroughly fact-checked or read for cultural sensitivity when originally authored," he announced. Addressing the most popular recipes first, the publication will add context and address past problems in editors' notes: "Do we give credit where it’s due? Did we properly credit our inspirations, or did we shoehorn in a trendy ingredient with no explanation?"

There's no clear-cut answer on how to handle recipe names, as each recipe developer has their own perspective. As tidy as it may seem for recipes to exclusively come from authors of that specific cultural background, no one person can stand-in for an entire culture's culinary history, and that approach is unrealistic in a media landscape in which there are many, many more writers than there are jobs. Further, that set of rules also ignores the ways culinary traditions meld both naturally and by force. Despite those constraints, we can at least push for more thoughtful and contextual approaches to recipe development—ones that respect the interplay between cultures, instead of stripping foods from their histories.

As recipe developers broaden the context they provide with dishes, home cooks can in turn become more conscious consumers if they choose to engage with that added knowledge. "I absolutely think it's the responsibility of the recipe developer to do that extra research, because it's only gonna help someone," Firkser said. "I don't think anyone's ever been bitten in the ass for doing the homework, right?"

Follow Bettina Makalintal on Twitter.

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