🥱The most boring day ever!
Remember April 11, 1954?
Good morning. A search engine known as True Knowledge, compiled the data and was able to determine that the most boring day in history occurred on April 11, 1954. They analyzed more than 300 million historical facts and discovered that April 11, 1954 was the most uneventful day of the 20th century. Japan winning the World Table Tennis Title over Sweden, was the biggest news of that day.
So (just finished yawning) our hope is to prevent today from the most boring day of the 21st century. We have a strong feeling that this newsletter will be biggest headline of the day!
Instagram algorithm: GenZ, new me!
Alexa, define the word “juxtaposition”: Writing an article that talks about the negative effects of the Instagram algorithm, while using Instagram to promote it. Such is the world we live in these days! In their ongoing quest to copy TikTok grab your attention, Instagram tightly controls the content that is showcased to their users.
What has changed?: Gone are the good old days when posts were displayed just chronologically. What a user’s feed now looks like depends on various factors, some of which are the user’s general interests, the timeliness and relevance of posts, the number of accounts the user follows, average time the user spends on Instagram…Phew!! Each time you open the app, the algorithm decides:
Which posts go to the top of the newsfeed, and in what order;
Which posts are featured on the Explore tab;
In which order Stories, Live videos, and Reels show up, in the feed.
Impact on creators?: Instagram probably knows more about your interests than your partner. In order to keep you glued to their infinite scrolling, Instagram curates the content based on the vast amount of data they have, to show you things that are trending in your areas of interest. This causes a situation of extremes, where a particular post either goes viral or becomes like the news on April 11th, 1954.
What should content creators do?: According to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, a cadence of 2 posts per week and 2 stories per day is ideal for growth. Along with that, accepting and adapting to the changes in the algorithm is necessary. But not at the cost of losing your identity - in short “you do you”. Create high quality content that makes you happy, be it a beautifully shot bts video or a new recipe. If you come across any Instagram coach, treat them like how you’d treat a call to renew the extended warranty on your vehicle. Seek help from other content creators instead.
How can you support your favorite creators?: Content creation is hard and the best way to support your favorite creator is by liking, commenting, sharing and saving (we wanted to come up with a jingle on this) their posts to help increase its potential reach. Much like the latest Shein (part of the $100b club this week!) collection, adding the creator account to your favorites, can ensure you do not miss out on their new posts. And finally, a simple message with words of encouragement goes a long way!
In the food world
God-Iv-a problem!: This will be soon be the start to the prayer to cure your chocolate obsession as Godiva is now taking its products to the frozen aisle! The premium chocolatier has partnered with Boardwalk Frozen Treats to develop a new line of ice cream pints! This includes seven different flavors, all inspired by Godiva’s most classic chocolates and flavor profiles such as:
Chocolate strawberry contains strawberry pieces, a dark chocolaty swirl and dark chocolate flakes.
Midnight swirl is a dark chocolate ice cream with a fudge swirl and dark chocolate flakes.
Caramel embrace features vanilla ice cream with a milk chocolate caramel swirl, as well as milk chocolate caramel cups.
Pepsi is releasing nitrogen-infused cola: First nitro beer, then nitro cold brew… What next? Feeling the need to jump on this bandwagon, Pepsi launched its own nitro equivalent this week - Nitro Pepsi. It is made using the softer, less water-soluble bubbles in nitrogen dioxide to fizz a new beverage. To keep up with current trends, we are planning to launch nitro haldi doodh (turmeric milk) once we get our funding approved.
Byte sized: Not to be left behind, Coca Cola will launch the latest version of its zero sugar classic in May - Coke Zero Byte. According to the company, it is supposed to taste like pixels (we are equally confused). According to their press release Coke Zero Byte, "brings the flavor of pixels to life in a beverage that transcends both the digital and physical realms." If such statements are a product of consuming this drink, then we are super stoked!
Recipe of the week: Balsamic glazed onions
by Dhaval @chefhusband1607
While deciding our recipe of the week, our criteria is simple. We want to showcase food from all over the world. Recipes, that are unique, fun and inspirational. At the same time, we wanted to showcase a myriad of talented cooks and introduce different cultures…. And when we cannot find any such recipe, we feature one of ours.
This recipe, like our clothing sense, is so basic that it uses only 5 ingredients, requires minimum prep and is ready within 30 mins. Check out this boring balsamic glazed onions with herbed ricotta cheese and candied walnuts!
Meal plan
You remember our claim at the beginning that this newsletter will be the biggest headline of today… Well, here is why. Simple but packed with a ton of flavor while being light on your wallet, this week’s meal plan will surely liven up your weeknight mood.
Cheesy hummus and veggie panini: Easy cheesy lemon squeezy. This is a comfy quick recipe for the busy workdays.
Raw vegan tacos: Cooking may feel boring sometimes but eating never does.
Enchilada bake: Vegan layers of corn tortilla, cashew paste, beans and salsa. Yum!
Did you know?
The colors of Campbell's Soup labels, red and white, come from the colors of the Cornell University football team. The taste is inspired by the weather in Ithaca, New York.
Americans ate over 68 quarts of popcorn per person last year. 90% of them were at an AMC near you!
More than 1 billion people throughout the world are actively involved in growing rice and 50% of all the world's rice is eaten within 8 miles of where it is grown.
Quiz
We are still drooling over the 7 Godiva ice cream flavors. For our quiz this week, we have listed 5 flavors. 4 of these are being made (in addition to the 3 already mentioned) by Godiva while ONE isn’t. Can you identify that? Do tell us which ice cream flavor would you like to see by replying to this email. We will try our best to let Godiva know!
Hazelnut crunch has a vanilla ice cream base, with a chocolaty hazelnut swirl and crunchy pieces of hazelnut brittle.
THC(turmeric honey chocolate) turmeric and honey vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate chips with crunchy candied lemon peel.
Mint medallion is comprised of a white mint ice cream, with fudge swirl and dark chocolate flakes.
Praline cone crunch is a chocolate flavor that comes with dipped waffle cone pieces, almond praline crunchies and chocolate ribbon.
Salted caramel brownie also has a chocolate base, and includes a salted caramel swirl with baked brownie pieces.
*Answer at the bottom
Cooking tips
Artichokes can be boiled, steamed, microwaved or sautéed. They can be eaten whole or added to other dishes. Our favorite is when it’s mixed with spinach and a whole lot of cheese in the form of a dip.
For your next viral ASMR, butter your bread before toasting. Switching the order of things results in a toast that's richer and crispier.
With avocados in short supply and costing a paycheck (see last week’s post), it’s imperative that they are not wasted! Avoid browning of the avocado by placing the fruit (yes, it’s still is a fruit) in lemon juice until ready for use.
Media watch
“Our newsletter’s value is not just in the interesting stuff we create, but also in the interesting stuff we curate”
- Tarun Sehgal, in an emotionally charged content planning phone call
AM - How the 🇺🇸 Dream Got Canned listen to the three part series about food, work and family, told through the history of the canned meat
Chefs reveal red flags you should look out for in restaurants. GROSS ALERT!
While this simmers…
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Answer
Given our engineering background, you could guess we made up the THC ice cream. Although, we would be the first in line to get one of those!