Happy bday! 🎁

About Amazon's lawsuit, reasons for pie shrinkage, business class bananas and meals for a great night sleep!

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Mar 03, 2023

Good morning. When you wash your hands today, make sure you sing “Happy Birthday” extra loud — we turned one! For nostalgia’s sake, let’s all read an excerpt from our first-ever newsletter.

“Wheat prices have soared 22% in the month of February. Russia and Ukraine account for 26% of the global wheat supply which has come under heavy stress with the ongoing war.”
Update: Wheat is still unaffordable with the revenue from this free newsletter.

And while we do not believe in gifts, sharing Simmer with your friends will give them the confidence to complain about under-seasoned food and egg prices after reading just two editions.

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Poll

We couldn’t snag a piñata to smash for our birthday, but this is a great equivalent to kick off all the fun stuff coming your way. We wanted to know… apart from our clipart logo, what is it about Simmer that you particularly enjoy?

In the food world

🐮 Big milk

The new FDA proposal has brought relief among plant-based drink producers and confusion among cows. Plant-based milk alternatives like soy, almond, oat, and whatever Starbucks uses to justify its overpriced latte, can continue to use the word "milk" in their labeling… as long as they keep the plant source upfront. Dairy producers have previously been crying over split milk and pushing the FDA to classify these non-dairy alternatives as beverages.

🐴 Donkey-ing around

Raise your hand if you ordered from Amazon last week. Okay, that's all of you. The online retailer is facing a lawsuit for selling products meant for human consumption that contain donkey meat — it’s illegal in California. This started when a Californian resident found that her dietary supplements contained gelatine nigra or donkey-hide gelatin, while the bottle claimed that they were made from “100% pure natural herbs.”

🍌 Perfectly ripe

Even as air travelers go into their flights expecting their meals to be disappointing, it's still possible to be let down. This was seen as one business class passenger on a Japan Airways flight was “greatly underwhelmed” after being served only a single banana as the vegan meal. But business class comes with its perks and the passenger did acknowledge that it was “one of the one best bananas” he’d eaten recently.

🁀 Wrong turn

Self-revelation — we’re lazy and like to order cheap pizza when there’s nothing else to do. However, this is slowly changing. Domino’s Pizza said that its U.S. delivery business has taken a hit because more consumers are cooking at home to save some dough.

During their Q4 earnings call, the global pizza chain trimmed its outlook for coming years as it expects delivery sales to remain depressed as consumers feel as squeezed as having to sit in the middle seat of an airline.

What caused the decline?

The hand-tossed king did gangbusters during the height of the pandemic as more diners stayed home and ordered in, but this year is a different story. Pizza sales have leveled off and Domino’s expects consumers to continue eating at home given weaknesses in the broader economy.

The chain also wrestled with a shortage of pizza delivery drivers last year, hurting their revenue as customers stared at their pizza tracker for frustratingly long times. Rising fuel and car maintenance costs also didn’t make things easier.

Talking numbers

U.S. same-store sales for Domino’s for the three months ended Jan. 1 were 0.9%, below the expected 4% and revenue was $1.39 billion, below the expected $1.44 billion. Domino’s also lowered its guidance on new restaurant openings globally.

It’s no wonder their share prices are hurting — more than getting a slice of pizza, burn the roof of your mouth. The company’s shares fell $40.60, or 12%, to $307.86.

What next?

Domino’s is pushing its lower-cost pickup business. This pivot isn’t because they miss seeing your pretty faces at the store, but it’s their only choice. Carryout now makes up for around half of their orders. The company has even run promotions offering customers a $3 tip to pick up their pizza themselves.

The chain has made it their thing to be anti-delivery apps, reflected by their procurement of 800 electric vehicles to provide to U.S. outlets to help with recruiting drivers who don’t want to use their own cars to practice burnouts.

Cooking tips

Avoid grinding coffee beans in a blender. The uneven grinding turns some of the beans into a fine powder that has the TSA security clearance to make its way into the cup, ruining the brew.
While making flatbread, knead the dough in Greek yogurt instead of water. Along with enhancing the flavor, it also increases the protein content of the meal.
Allow your baked goods to cool completely before decorating or frosting. The frosting on a hot cake will disappear faster than a snowman in July.

Quiz

We scoured through the internet and as strange as a single banana meal sounds, it’s not the worst. The meal below was served to an actual customer by an airline and it makes being hungry, sound delicious. Can you identify which airline was this cod with spinach and pulses served on while flying over the Atlantic?

*Answer at the bottom.

Sleep Boosting Meals

The market for sleep-inducing products is waking up with Post Consumer Brands’ new cereal called Sweet Dreams! Containing ingredients that are meant to support melatonin production, it's a bedtime snack designed for some serious zzz's. If that’s something up your alley, here are some other sleep-boosting meal ideas:

Pumpkin Seed Granola: Pumpkin seeds reign supreme as a source of magnesium — a mineral that plays an important role in muscle relaxation and sleep support.
Kale and Cherry Salad: Tart cherries increase melatonin levels, which help increase the duration and quality of sleep you get every night.
Red Quinoa with Pistachios: Pistachios contain over 200,000 nanograms per gram (ng/g) of melatonin compared to 1.54 ng/g in one egg 🤯

Did you know?

Today is National Irish Whiskey Day, chosen to coincide with the birthday of a Scottish dude named John Jameson — who in 1786, moved to Ireland to manage a whiskey distillery that he ended up owning and renaming to Jameson.

It has grown into a whiskey powerhouse and is the number one Irish whiskey worldwide. John treated his employees so well that they forgave his micromanaging and even got their own emblem — the barrel-men — on Jameson bottles.

While this simmers…

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