Priciest meal of all time 💵
ACHOO 🤧.. Excuse me... The best playdate coming up next quarter!
Good morning and happy 3rd day of summer. June 21st was the summer solstice (spoiler alert: we have a special quiz to celebrate this!) aka the longest day and shortest night in the Northern Hemisphere. If you, out of bravery, ambition or a lost drunken bet (can totally relate with you) were visiting the Arctic Circle this week then you were in luck! It was the only day of the year where you’d have experienced a continuous period of daylight for 24 hours.
Speaking of daylight, did you know that our body reacts by sneezing when it encounters too much of it? Medically this syndrome is called Autosomal-dominant Compulsive Helio Ophthalmic Outbursts, better known as ACHOO.
In the food world
The break up: Break ups aren’t always a bad thing. At least that’s the hope as Kelloggs announced its split into three publicly traded companies, focused on snacks, cereal, and plant-based foods. The split may seem like a move to give Tony the Tiger a playdate at the next quarterly earnings. But, it’s actually an acknowledgment by the company, best known for its cereals, that its snack business (which includes Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, and Pringles) is the real breadwinner and deserves more direct focus.
More snacks: With more people going hungry to the grocery store, the demand for snacks is still strong despite the current inflation. The global snack market is projected to reach $732.6 billion by 2026, up from 2020’s estimated $493.4 billion, causing a ramp up in the M&A activity. This was reflected by Mondelez, (the owner of brands like Oreo, Ritz, and Toblerone) who in their quest for more protein to balance out the carbs and sugar, acquired Clif Bar for $2.9 billion.
All you can eat Buffet: An anonymous bidder has shelled out a record $19 million (4X more than the previous record) for a private lunch with billionaire Warren Buffet at a steakhouse in New York City, as part of the 21st and final charity fundraiser. From all the topics that can be discussed, we suggest shying away from cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Shorter is better: After being constantly annoyed with its mispronunciation by the Starbucks barista, Kraft has decided to rename its macaroni product. Instead of it being called “Kraft Macaroni and Cheese” on the box and “Everyday staple” by high schoolers, their new name will be “Kraft Mac & Cheese” along with new logo and packaging update.
History of coffee
Something we never think of as a fruit… Not avocado, but an alkaloid called 1,3,7 trimethylxanthine, a tiny organic molecule known to most of us as caffeine. Call it a blessing, drug or a hook, you’ll never understand your relationship with it until you get off it. From morning grumpiness to desserts, coffee has changed everything. We recently heard an episode of the podcast Gastropod where they did a deep dive into the origins and history of coffee. Here are some of the fun facts:
Caffeine is developed in plants during their evolution, as an insecticide. The purpose is to weaken and discombobulate insects by killing their appetite. After all, hangry insects aren’t that friendly.
In the 1400s, coffee was often used by sufis and monks as a substitute for khat — a smokable leaf that, improved focus and devotion while praying. This early brew was called kawa.
The port of Mokka in Yemen was the center of coffee trade in the world and to prevent any copyright infringement, Yemenis decided to sell their beans roasted instead of green as they cannot germinate when planted. #worksmartnothard.
Europeans discovered coffee in the 1500s while traveling in Turkey and Arabia. However, as no Nespresso machine was handy, they found the taste quite unpleasant but loved the after effects.
Coffee was considered to be safer than room temperature water because the water had to be boiled first, killing a lot of what could make you sick.
The ballot box, that thing where you drop your votes, was popularized in coffee houses, because it provided an easy mechanism to collect debate results — something that was more common in coffee houses at that time instead of cool kids with their Macs, pretending to work.
So whether you drink coffee because it’s an un-admitted addiction or you consider yourself more in the monk category, we hope knowing these facts will make you look at your brew differently today!
Scan & go
Suck it!: One of the most popular condiments in the world is now finally getting its chance to be the center of attraction. Rather than being that weirdo who sucks on ketchup sachets, French’s ketchup wants you to be the weirdo that sucks on their new product — ketchup popsicles. These limited edition ketchup flavored ice pops called "Frenchsicle" are being given out for free at various pop up locations in Canada until June 24. Grab one quick!
Oh crab: We all know what to do when life gives us lemons…. Make lemonade. But what if life throws a curveball and gives us invasive crabs? New Hampshire's Tamworth Distilling has an answer in the form of Crab Trapper — a green crab-flavored whiskey distilled to find a use for the state's havoc wreaking green crab population. These 200ml limited edition bottles retail for $65 and are available on their website.
Cooking tips
Always make sure to keep a trash can within arm’s reach for all those failed cooking experiments and waste. Yogurt containers fulfill this role quite well.
Peel tomatoes with ease! Cut an X in the top, and then blanch in a pot of hot water for 15 to 30 seconds and cool it down. The skin will fall right off as easily as clothes in an X-rated film.
Quite like Warren Buffett’s investment in Apple, investing in a kitchen scale will give heaping benefits in your kitchen tool portfolio.
Quiz (Starting a drumroll 🥁)
Fun fact: Alaska is the only US state that can be typed using just one line of the qwerty keyboard. So for our quiz this week, we have our very own twisted version of Wordle. Can you think of food or drink items (4 letters or longer) that can be typed using ONLY one line of the qwerty keyboard? Submit your answers and check out the 5 we were able to come up with. Happy guessing!
Did you know?
Ice cream soda (float) was invented by Robert McKay Green in 1874 out of necessity. On a hot summer day when he ran out of ice, he used the next best thing he had — vanilla ice cream — to cool his soda, making it an instant hit.
During World War II and prior to the air fryer being invented, the American Fat Salvage Committee urged housewives to donate excess fat from cooking to the army for creating explosives.
Pufferfish is a famous Japanese delicacy that could be fatal if not prepared correctly. Chefs need to secure a license before being cleared to serve this dish. I wonder which brave person would volunteer to do a taste test!
Pride and tested recipes
June is Pride Month and brands all over the world are celebrating it. Burger King for one, launched a new burger in its Austrian stores called “Pride Whopper” with two equal buns — either two top buns or two bottom buns — to promote equal love, equal rights, and most importantly, to remind us to treat each other with respect and peace.
We want to echo that sentiment and share a few dessert recipes which we hope would invoke the same message. Do check these out!
Rainbow cheesecake: colorfully layered cheesecake to brighten up any party, especially if you’re celebrating Pride month.
Rainbow layer cake : layer cake frosted with rich dark chocolate frosting, making the bright and vivid cake layers pop out.
Rainbow jello squares: The jiggliest, most colorful and whimsical treat of all!
While this simmers…
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