CBS News: “Staggering” need: COVID-19 has led to rising levels in food insecurity across the U.S.. “A June report by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University found that food insecurity had doubled overall and tripled among families with children due to the pandemic, relying on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.”
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‘My kids are starving’: Food banks and pantries see explosive demand in North Carolina as pandemic continues (CNBC)
CNBC: ‘My kids are starving’: Food banks and pantries see explosive demand in North Carolina as pandemic continues. “One of the most terrifying points of 2020 for Christian Sullins was not when she was unemployed as a result of pregnancy complications following the birth of her son in January. It was not when she was working as a waitress serving customers in March as the coronavirus pandemic began to rip through the U.S. And it was not when she lost her job just two weeks after returning to work when North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued state-wide stay-at-home orders. No, the worst moment came when Sullins, a 32-year-old mother of two, ran out of food.”
Bon Appetit: I Miss Restaurants, So I Opened My Own…for a Chipmunk
Bon Appetit: I Miss Restaurants, So I Opened My Own…for a Chipmunk. “The aromatic broth of vegetable scraps, mushrooms, and scallions simmers on the stove. I place a twirl of noodles into a bamboo bowl, ladle in the steaming broth, add chopped shiitakes and bamboo shoots, then tweezer on a few sesame seeds for flavor and garnish. There is a diner already seated at my new ramen-ya, awaiting the artful balance I hope to have achieved. He sniffs, sips, and in one giant slurp, it’s gone—bowl and all. Sometimes this happens with chipmunks. Did I mention my food is tiny and my ‘restaurant’ is on the front steps of my porch?”
The City: Grandmas Keep Beloved Staten Island Restaurant Going, One Jar of Sauce at a Time
The City: Grandmas Keep Beloved Staten Island Restaurant Going, One Jar of Sauce at a Time. “When COVID-19 overtook New York City, restaurant owner Joe Scaravella didn’t think twice about closing Enoteca Maria, one of Staten Island’s most beloved eateries. He decided the chefs — a rotating posse of grandmas with roots from around the world — were too vulnerable. ‘They’re in their sixties, seventies, eighties,’ said Scaravella. ‘They can’t participate in this staying-open experiment.’ But after months of only serving meals to essential workers on weekends, some of the nonnas — Italian for ‘grandmothers’ — are finally back in the kitchen part-time.”
New York Times: H.B.C.U. Homecomings Are Canceled, but Students and Alumni Will Feast Anyway
New York Times: H.B.C.U. Homecomings Are Canceled, but Students and Alumni Will Feast Anyway. “This year, many homecoming festivities have been canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the energy of game day never dissipates. Memories of tailgating sustain many graduates of H.B.C.U.s, and brunch, which has become the new cornerstone of homecoming celebrations, will be a virtual affair for 2020.”
PR Newswire: Kroger Launches Chefbot, a First-of-Its-Kind AI Twitter Tool that Delivers Personalized Recipe Recommendations Based on Ingredients Already in Users’ Kitchens (PRESS RELEASE)
PR Newswire: Kroger Launches Chefbot, a First-of-Its-Kind AI Twitter Tool that Delivers Personalized Recipe Recommendations Based on Ingredients Already in Users’ Kitchens (PRESS RELEASE). “Developed in partnership with integrated creative and media agency 360i, and technology partners Coffee Labs and Clarifai, Kroger’s Chefbot offers an innovative and user-friendly conversational solution for breaking away from mundane mealtime routines and unwanted at-home food waste—common challenges for many as families continue to enjoy more meals together at home. Chefbot’s AI analyzes photographs to recognize nearly 2,000 ingredients, unlocking 20,000 Kroger recipes for users to cook.”
Phys .org: Men less likely to see food as national security issue amid pandemic
Phys .org: Men less likely to see food as national security issue amid pandemic. “On average, men not only showed less empathy toward temporary agricultural laborers, known as H-2A guest workers, but also were less likely to see food supply and production as issues of national security, according to a study led by a Washington State University researcher. This particular finding relating to gender stood out from the rest of the study’s results. The survey was conducted before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Wall Street Journal: Food Crisis Grows Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Wall Street Journal: Food Crisis Grows Amid Coronavirus Pandemic. “The pandemic has doubled the number of people who are acutely food insecure, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the United Nations World Food Programme, from 135 million people in 2019 to 270 million. Food aid will be at a record, he said, hopefully reaching some 138 million people globally with food and cash assistance, topping a previous peak after the Iraq war.”
WRAL: Craving an NC State Fair biscuit? Cary church behind fair’s ‘original country ham biscuit’ offers virtual class
WRAL: Craving an NC State Fair biscuit? Cary church behind fair’s ‘original country ham biscuit’ offers virtual class. “If the 2020 N.C. State Fair had gone on as planned this year, First United Methodist Church of Cary members would be celebrating 105 years of whipping up biscuits from scratch, drawing thousands to their spot for the flaky treats. For more than a century, church members have made the biscuits by hand — as many as 4,500 in a day — and serving them up with ham or on their own. Proceeds from the booth go towards missions projects. State officials canceled the fair in July because of the ongoing pandemic. It would have opened Oct. 15.”
InDaily: Zonfrillo’s $1.25m SA-funded Indigenous food database “launched”
InDaily: Zonfrillo’s $1.25m SA-funded Indigenous food database “launched”. “Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo’s controversial Orana Foundation is hailing the delivery of a ‘final Milestone Report’ to the South Australian Government for its $1.25 million taxpayer-funded Indigenous Food Database – although it’s unclear when or even if the resource will become publicly available.”
Claudio Velez, The Tamale Guy, Heads Home From Hospital After Long Coronavirus Fight: ‘Thank You Everyone!’ (Block Club Chicago)
Block Club Chicago: Claudio Velez, The Tamale Guy, Heads Home From Hospital After Long Coronavirus Fight: ‘Thank You Everyone!’. “After more than a month in the hospital battling coronavirus, Chicago’s beloved ‘Tamale Guy’ Claudio Velez was released from Rush Hospital on Thursday and is heading home. In a video posted to his restaurant’s social media pages, Velez is seen waving as the doctors and nurses who treated him starting in late August applaud.”
New York Times: Pandemic Baking Just Got Weirder
New York Times: Pandemic Baking Just Got Weirder. “Back in March, when isolation and homebound boredom were novelties, many Americans fashioned themselves into folksy sourdough bakers. Come June, making bread loaves, cookies and cakes took on new urgency, as professionals banded together to raise funds for organizations that support and defend Black lives. All the while, many artists and amateur bakers had been creating confections at home, not out of practicality or as part of a campaign, but for art’s sake. Their cakes, which draw on the absurdist Jell-O mold tradition of 1950s homemakers and revel in gross-out palettes, reflect ideas about gender, power and respectability.”
EurekAlert: SUTD researchers develop simple method to 3D print milk products
EurekAlert: SUTD researchers develop simple method to 3D print milk products. “Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) developed a method to perform direct ink writing (DIW) 3D printing of milk-based products at room temperature, while maintaining its temperature sensitive nutrients.”
Horizon: Post-coronavirus, how can we achieve food justice?
Horizon: Post-coronavirus, how can we achieve food justice?. “The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the global food system and emphasised its structural inequity – from unequal food distribution to workers in the system going hungry. Experts are calling for a reimagining of the way we produce and distribute food so that everyone can access quality food. Despite producing more food by volume than humanity has to date, millions of people remain food insecure. Agriculture is also a major contributor to environmental degradation and climate change.”
BNN Bloomberg: Kosher Crisis Hits $19 Billion Market With Rabbis Stuck at Home
BNN Bloomberg: Kosher Crisis Hits $19 Billion Market With Rabbis Stuck at Home. “There’s a lot more to the kosher food industry than Hebrew National hot dogs and Manischewitz wine. Kosher food was a $19.1 billion industry in 2018, according to Allied Market Research, which projects it will grow to $25.6 billion by 2026…. While China doesn’t have many Jews, it’s nonetheless an important part of the kosher food industry: Chinese factories produce canned fruit and other packaged goods and also play a critical role in the production of artificial flavorings, amino acids, and other ingredients that make their way into the diets of observant Jews.”