Assorted Articles about Covid-19 and Food

Thank you! Yes I prefer this as well.

It’s been harder and harder to ignore how bad this is really getting. I always used to allow myself wiggle room with food spending because I live so frugal in most other regards, but it’s really not the same anymore.

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As we’re not religious, we decided to tithe a percentage of our income to non-profit organizations whose missions we believe in and whose approaches we know and are comfortable with. We have set up monthly donations to some and then have others set aside for once or twice a year.

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My donations are all going towards removing the primary obstacle to proper federal leadership and relief funding.

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Ah, yes - there’s those donations, too.

(Edited to correct an egregious grammatical error.)

It’s the end of the buffet as we know it …

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/07/13/welcome-to-the-new-buffet-which-isnt-a-buffet-anymore/

"In Mid-City, a refrigerator stands on the sidewalk outside Little Amsterdam coffee shop. This is no ordinary sidewalk fridge — dank and empty, waiting to be picked up by sanitation services — but a community fridge: cold, clean and well-stocked with food.

Behind its frosty glass door is a wheel of Cacique queso fresco, a carton of eggs, squash, kale, Lunchables and half a gallon of milk. On its side, there’s a mural of a young man eating an apple, the words “Eat to Live” etched into his curly cropped hair.

The fridge, hosted by 40-year-old Little Amsterdam owner Joshua Mock, is part of a growing mutual aid network called Los Angeles Community Fridges that assists in setting up community-run, free-food fridges across the city, and offers resources and tips for people to do so themselves. These refrigerators are hosted and sustained by businesses, organizations and individuals, and supported through the network of more than 60 organizers across Los Angeles."

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"Since 22 June, New York City restaurants have been allowed to serve people again in outdoor settings, prompting sidewalks and car parking spaces to be dotted with tables and chairs. But the resumption of alfresco dining has led to people having unexpected rodent companions for their meals.

Giacomo Romano, who owns Ciccio, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan’s Soho, said rats from a nearby park have been harassing diners since the outdoor meals were permitted. “Last night, a customer had a baby rat running on his shoe, and I let you just imagine his reaction,” Romano told NBC."

"Americans have become accustomed to enjoying an extraordinary variety of choices — sometimes a dozen or more brands of everything from ketchup to potato chips to, yes, toilet paper.

The pandemic changed all that.

Many companies have “really curtailed the number of different offerings” they produce in order to focus on their best sellers and meet the spike in consumer demand, said Scott Mushkin, the chief executive for R5 Capital, a consulting firm focused on retail and consumer research.

Companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have reduced the number of products they make, and during the pandemic some manufacturers have stopped producing some varieties of recognizable brands, like lightly salted Lay’s barbecue potato chips and reduced-fat Jif peanut butter.

“We’ve adjusted our operations to be as efficient as possible — and in some cases, we’re making fewer varieties of some products,” said Lynne Galia, a spokeswoman for Kraft Heinz.

Hershey’s has had to adjust to consumers wanting more chocolate bars and less gum.

“If you think about mint and gum, it’s very much a social courtesy, so when you’re home for whatever reason people are less concerned about minty fresh breath than when they are out and about,” said Susanna Zhu, the Hershey Company’s vice president of commercial planning and supply chain.

But now, as states have loosened their lockdowns, interest in gum seems to be rebounding, Ms. Zhu said. One Hershey’s brand, Ice Breakers, has started an advertising campaign built around the slogan “Mint Before You Mask.”"

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Yikes! This is pretty bad, much worse than oil spots on the pavement! I haven’t heard of a problem like this here in SD, happily. Might be some extra-friendly birds around, though.

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One possible future option for restaurants … though I seem to recall reading about this happening locally, too?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2020/07/18/pandemic-has-hit-restaurants-hard-experts-say-ghost-food-hall-concept-might-save-them/

Gawd, I hope things don’t end up trending too far in that direction…

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A small sample size, but we started getting a lot of pigeons here (not the native Band Tails, but the ones most frequently cited in urban areas) where we scatter seed, when the Safer at Home guidelines were implemented; before that they were a rarity (preferring to scavenge for human food discards rather than seeds/nuts). Since things have reopened they’ve moved on - presumably back to their regular haunts.

I share that hope, @DoctorChow, but think it may be inevitable. We were living in a Golden Age of restaurants and options when it came to dining choices. The future really is hard to envision.

I have a close friend whose family-owned restaurant celebrated 25 years this spring; they’re shuttering, for good, at the end of the month. Just sucks. All of it.

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"Across the nation, millions of restaurant jobs have vanished in the face of lockdowns. Just when eateries of all categories and price levels had been anticipating a summertime comeback, new viral cases are upending everything.

The damage extends beyond darkened kitchens and dining rooms to the farms and wineries that supply them and the shopping centers that have grown to depend on restaurants as anchors to replace now-vanished stores that couldn’t compete with Amazon and Walmart.

Chris Shepherd, owner and executive chef of Underbelly Hospitality in Houston, said in an online essay that he might have to close his four restaurants because his company’s revenue is just 30% of what it was a year ago.

“I employ 200 people in this community,” Shepherd wrote. “When I shut down, they lose their jobs. I’m no longer able to pay my farmers, cleaning companies, valet companies, linen companies, wineries, distilleries. Our reach is long.” "

apnews.com/e2f5a6f7101980e729861c6a0952775e

Independent state-level actions have clearly failed us as a nation.

We have to change course.

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I guess we gave to wait for November to change it (and hope that people understand that “…but her emails…” was a stupid excuse and can’t be repeated again. Elect a clown expect a circus)

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Amen.

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“It should have been a great year for Spanish wine: a bumper crop of grapes resulting in millions and millions of extra bottles for sipping or swilling at home and abroad.

But with Covid-19 leading to a catastrophic drop in wine sales, the Spanish government is offering growers subsidies to destroy part of this year’s record grape harvest.”

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One of these can set up camp outside my house anytime…

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