Fast Food Archives - Page 25 of 36

14 Food Gifts for Everyone on Your List

Posted on19/12/202230/11/2022Author

Each year our staff and contributors round up their best gift ideas for cooks, eaters, and the kitchen-curious. Read on for the best food gifts that are sure to please even the pickiest eaters.

Gifting is a minefield. Oft have I given someone a book that they’ve already read or a piece of clothing that elicits a “…cute. Thanks.” But food gifts? No one will ever say, “Do you have a gift receipt? I simply have too much chocolate.” Read on for the best food gift ideas for everyone on your list.

If you live in Taiwan and can eat tropical fruit ripe and out of hand, lucky you. For the rest of us, the next best thing is this staff obsession—Yun Hai’s delectable bags of dried green and Irwin mango, guava, wax apple, and pineapple.

A foolproof gift-giving tactic: Give them something they like, but jumbo-sized. (See: 3 lb. Maldon sea salt tub, giant chocolate pig.) This XL tin of Spanish potato chips dwarfs a gallon paint bucket and can be used for storage—or to house a potted plant—once emptied of its salty, crunchy contents .

Bonilla a la Vista Patatas Fritas

It’s a great year for large-format Spanish snacks. Presented on a ham stand and served with a magnum of cava, this whole leg of Serrano ham is the centerpiece of a holiday party that I would very much like to be invited to. Cradled in my lap and paired with sherry, a sharp Opinel, and Netflix, it’s the solo New Year’s Eve of my dreams.

Trade partners with 60 respected roasters around the country, from Sightglass in San Francisco to Joe Coffee in New York, which means every month they will send your lucky recipient a bag of beans that is customized to their specific wants and needs. They’ve got light roasts and dark roasts, single-origins and blends, coffee for Espresso Esmes and Pour-Over Panchos. Trade is like a diner where there are 300 things on the menu, but all of them are oddly good.

If Trade is the Greek diner of coffee subscriptions, Yes Plz is the Soup Nazi. Each week they release a new, limited-edition blend—and that’s what you get, whether you like it or not. But chances are you’ll like it. The founders’ resumes read like a Who’s Who of the West Coast craft coffee world, so you’re in good hands. Get this subscription box for the coffee lover who likes to be bullied a little.

Yes Plz Coffee Subscription

A selection of gifts for coffee lovers: a Moccamaster, Boon Boona beans, ceramic mugs, and a Flair espresso maker

23 Highly Caffeinated Gifts for Coffee Lovers

Beans, burr grinders, mugs, and everything else you need for the perfect brew.

These bright, juicy vinegars from Kosterina have shaken me out of my rut salad dressing (the crushed tangerine is especially good paired with a squirt of Dijon), but they’re so vibrant that you may find yourself using them to spike your seltzer. Get the three-bottle sampler, and pair it with some extra virgin olive oil for a just-add-salad gift set.

Crushed Fruit Vinegar Trio

For the home cook who sometimes needs a shortcut (so…all of us), Omsom seasoning packets provide the foundational flavors for classic Asian dishes like Korean bulgogi and Thai larb. Give the gift of easy weeknight dinners with their best seller set, ideal for harried parents, tired college students, and anyone else who appreciates maximal flavors with minimal effort.

Gin and mayo is a terrific combo, if you think about it; name a better 11 pm dinner than a martini and fries with aioli. Even though this mayo from Amsterdam only contains 2% gin, it’s enough to add a noticeable tang. Like Zaanse mayo, a beloved Dutch brand, it comes in a fetching tube; keep it in your purse for mayo emergencies.

A Midwinter Night’s Dram is a holiday season release from Utah’s High West Distillery featuring their signature rye aged in port barrels. But if you’re not a whiskey head, all you need to know is that it tastes like plum pudding drizzled with caramel. A real treat.

High West A Midwinter Night’s Dram Rye

Sibeiho co-founder Holly Ong told me her mom is slightly mortified by the name of her company, which roughly translates to “fucking good” in Hokkien. Holly’s mom, allow me to say that the name is accurate. Caramelized shallots, lime juice, and a touch of shrimp paste temper the heat in the Boomz Sambal, while the AF Chili Chunka Sambal leans more garlicky and tangy.

andSons, a second generation chocolate shop in California, did a very smart thing in hiring Sandy Tran, formerly the pastry chef at the French Laundry. Her flavors are dynamite; I tried the fall collection, which featured an apple cider-caramel bonbon and a pan de muerto-inspired milk chocolate truffle with orange blossom and fennel pollen. Their holiday gift boxes arrive in graphic

Amazon Ends Food Delivery Trial in India

Posted on07/12/202230/11/2022Author

Amazon is restructuring its India operations with the announcement that it is shuttering its food delivery service, Amazon Food, in the region after Dec. 29.

In a statement sent to PYMNTS, the eCommerce giant said it would no longer be operating the food delivery business after trialing the service in the city of Bengaluru since May 2020.

According to a company spokesperson, the decision to close the service was made “as part of [Amazon’s] annual operating planning review process.”

“We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing these programs in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners,” the spokesperson said.

With this decision to dissolve its test food delivery business, Amazon will be missing out on a growing trend of food delivery consumers.

A September PYMNTS report, “The 2022 Restaurant Digital Divide: Food Aggregators Find Their Footing In Q2,” found that food delivery is an in-demand service in the US. In fact, 91% of meals are bought for delivery through food aggregating apps, such as DoorDash.

And with 47% of food aggregator app users utilizing digital tools during their last restaurant visit, there is room to grow if Amazon was to consider testing a food delivery service in the future.

Read more: Amazon to Lay Off 10,000 Employees

Amazon has been restructuring its corporate staff as well as reevaluating its global businesses, announcing Nov. 14 that the company was looking to lay off approximately 10,000 employees this month, the first and largest such move in the company’s history.

How Consumers Pay Online With Stored Credentials
Convenience drives some consumers to store their payment credentials with merchants, while security concerns give other customers pause. For “How We Pay Digitally: Stored Credentials Edition,” a collaboration with Amazon Web Services, PYMNTS surveyed 2,102 US consumers to analyze consumers’ dilemma and reveal how merchants can win over holdouts.

Lab-grown food is no way to nourish the planet | Food

Posted on01/12/202230/11/2022Author

I agree with George Monbiot that it is essential that we curb the continuous expansion of industrial agriculture into precious ecosystems if Earth’s life-support systems are to survive. What concerns me is Monbiot’s solution (Embrace what may be the most important green technology ever. It could save us all, November 24). Close to despair at the failure of the world to take effective measures to curb this destruction, Monbiot is turning to technical fixes, such as precision fermentation, which can produce food without photosynthesis, practically from thin water. This means that 1,700 times less land is required to produce protein than in the world’s most efficient agricultural system.

But this hi-tech solution presents dangers. Even though Monbiot says that he would like poor countries all over the world to install fermentation tanks under local control, this seems unlikely. The technology, developed under corporate control, has been patented. Corporations driven by profits are unlikely to democratize control, and the technology is likely to be used by them to extend their reach over the natural world.

The only real hope comes from creating a massive global movement of climate activists, youth movements, traditional peasant movements, Indigenous activists and others. They have shown that it is possible to build resilient local food systems while protecting the ecosystem.

A sudden transition to the large-scale global production of cheap food by a tech fix could threaten the livelihoods of traditional communities when their knowledge is needed more than ever. While precision fermentation may have a supplementary role to play, it must be monitored and placed under public control. If not, it could do more harm than good.
Sue Branford
Clann, Shropshire

Every time we have tried to simplify and rationalize the process of producing food, it has led to unforeseen and damaging consequences. Synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, crop and grass monocultures, intensive livestock farming, herbicide-ready crops, reliance on antibiotics: the list is long. The George Monbiot who has long argued passionately for the protection of the full complexity of the web of life knows all this. But here is another George Monbiot who seems to think we can solve all our problems simply by messing about with a few chemicals in a lab. George mark one – Eco George – has often argued strongly in favor of the precautionary principle. Perhaps he should have a word with the mark two version – Tech Bro George.
Richard Middleton
Crossmichael, Dumfries and Galloway

George Monbiot’s brave new world of precision fermentation evokes a dystopian future of mega factories churning out 1,001 varieties of artificial food. The fundamental problem with this technology is that, given a choice, few people would choose it. The future of food production will involve major changes to protect the environment. However, abolishing farmed and fished foods, and replacing them with factory-made substitutes could not work, at least in countries where people are free to choose what they eat. The kind of extremist solutions proposed by Monbiot would require either nightmare, Elon Musk-style capitalism or Chinese-style state control. Please at least leave us some choices in what and how we eat.
Ian Healey
Worthing, West Sussex