Food News

[smstonypoint]

Mark Perry has two interesting food-related items in his latest blog entry -- Attention Required! | CloudFlare

Item 1.

Based on the Census Bureau's retail sales report for March, Americans spent slightly more on food away from home at restaurants and bars ($50.384 billion) last month than they spent on food at grocery stores ($50.089 billion). Based on revised data, that's the first time in US history that Americans have spent more on food away from home than on food at home.

Item 2.

This robot can cook 2000 dishes, is the future of laziness and on sale soon.

In its ongoing mission to just veg on the sofa and watch Netflix 24 hours a day, mankind has invented a robot that can cook a wide range of meals for you which you choose via a smartphone app.


So far the robo-chef, created by Moley Robotics, has been taught how to make crab bisque, but by the time it is ready for market in 2017 it will know 2,000 dishes. Recipes are selected via an app, with the machine being able to stir, adjust the hob, pick up bottles, pour jugs and perform other movements.

This robot can cook 2000 dishes, is the future of laziness and on sale soon - News - Food and Drink - The Independent

Steve

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The first item is really surprising. Having spent several years in retail grocery, I find it hard to believe. I suppose it reflects a major cultural shift from how we lived 50 years ago. I know that we spend a greater percentage than we did then, but with two kids we ate out very rarely. Now, we eat out at least once, sometimes two or three times a week...but we rarely splurge, except maybe birthdays. I would love to see the demographics...does this reflect a typical family with 1 and 1/2 children, or does it reflect medium to high income professionals with no children? All of the above? Well, as Shakespeare said, "There are more things under Heaven and earth..."

 

[smstonypoint]

The first item is really surprising. Having spent several years in retail grocery, I find it hard to believe. I suppose it reflects a major cultural shift from how we lived 50 years ago. I know that we spend a greater percentage than we did then, but with two kids we ate out very rarely. Now, we eat out at least once, sometimes two or three times a week...but we rarely splurge, except maybe birthdays. I would love to see the demographics...does this reflect a typical family with 1 and 1/2 children, or does it reflect medium to high income professionals with no children? All of the above? Well, as Shakespeare said, "There are more things under Heaven and earth..."

All of the above.

I covered this material in the first week or so of the undergraduate agricultural marketing course I used to teach back in the day.

Speaking of percentages, Engel's Law still holds -- the amount we spend on food increases with income, but the percentage of income that we spend on food declines.

Steve

 

[sld]

I know several couples with kids that eat out multiple times per week. When Mom works too neither one feel like cooking much.

Luckily my wife doesn't mind cooking but we still eat out 1-2 times per week, including pizza orders.

I worked for a grocery store chain all thru high school and college. It was amazing the money they would gross per week. It seems the cost to eat out has risen greatly in the last few years. This may explain some of it. We can spend 100.00 for our family of five easily. That same 100.00 at the grocery store buys a lot of food.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Mark Perry has two interesting food-related items in his latest blog entry -- Attention Required! | CloudFlare

Item 1.

Item 2.

Steve

Yeah, but I bet it still requires a strong guy to open the lids on jars.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Yeah, but I bet it still requires a strong guy to open the lids on jars.[/QU

OTE]

Hah. You just plunked my magic twanger. It takes two of us, and a couple of those rubber thingies to get a lid off...and to make matters worse, there seems to be a conspiracy against senior citizens. I have to keep a pair of industrial grade scissors in the kitchen to open all sorts of packages...from a lowly package of crackers to a package of razor blades. I also have a LARGE pair of channel locks for all other contingencies. I also occasionally encounter a package that requires a screwdriver and/or a pair of pliers. I can still open my bran flakes by hand, but some days it's a toss-up. A knife is indispensable...couldn't open a package of wieners or a roll of sausage without it. I can still open a Styrofoam egg carton, but the bacon takes a knife. Dog treats with the tear-open zip lock top? Forget it. Takes scissors every time.

 

[dmccarty]

We do not eat out much as a family but the kids eat lunch at school and I eat breakfast at work. My lunch is usually nuts and dried fruit but I will go out to eat lunch maybe once a month to be social. We might eat out for dinner a few times a month and that is usually pizza but we do sometimes eat fast food especially if we are short on time.

I don't think we are normal. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

People in fast food places seem like they eat there often. There is a diner I drive by twice a day and in the morning you see the same vehicles every day. I cant tell if that is true at night but I suspect it is the case.

Today, people are so busy with work, even one only has one job, OT is often required. Parents are taking kids to sports practices and games as well as school events at a rate that never happened when I was in school. If the family only has one at home parent it is all but impossible to keep these schedules and cook dinner because there is so little time. Even with two parents at home it is hard to do even if one parent does not have a PAID job out of the house. People are just too danged busy with different things today especially if they have kids which makes fixing a traditional dinner difficult. Look at how many cooking shows and cook books are about making a meal in X minutes.

Having said that, last night I smoked and grilled some Salmon that was caught and processed in the US. It was very, very good. This morning I used a small amount of the smoke Salmon to have in an omelet with goat and Parmasian cheese. :licking::licking::licking: Sure did not take long and soooooo good! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[2LaneCruzer]

We do not eat out much as a family but the kids eat lunch at school and I eat breakfast at work. My lunch is usually nuts and dried fruit but I will go out to eat lunch maybe once a month to be social. We might eat out for dinner a few times a month and that is usually pizza but we do sometimes eat fast food especially if we are short on time.

I don't think we are normal. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

People in fast food places seem like they eat there often. There is a diner I drive by twice a day and in the morning you see the same vehicles every day. I cant tell if that is true at night but I suspect it is the case.

Today, people are so busy with work, even one only has one job, OT is often required. Parents are taking kids to sports practices and games as well as school events at a rate that never happened when I was in school. If the family only has one at home parent it is all but impossible to keep these schedules and cook dinner because there is so little time. Even with two parents at home it is hard to do even if one parent does not have a PAID job out of the house. People are just too danged busy with different things today especially if they have kids which makes fixing a traditional dinner difficult. Look at how many cooking shows and cook books are about making a meal in X minutes.

Having said that, last night I smoked and grilled some Salmon that was caught and processed in the US. It was very, very good. This morning I used a small amount of the smoke Salmon to have in an omelet with goat and Parmasian cheese. :licking::licking::licking: Sure did not take long and soooooo good! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

We NEVER had anything like that at our Little House on the Prairie. Is it anything like chicken fried steak?

 

[NativeSon]

I guess the robo-cook would put me out of a job cooking, but doing away with the personnel problems that I dealt with, running restaurants, for 40 years would be a big plus.

Charlie

 

[300UGUY]

We do not eat out much as a family but the kids eat lunch at school and I eat breakfast at work. My lunch is usually nuts and dried fruit but I will go out to eat lunch maybe once a month to be social. We might eat out for dinner a few times a month and that is usually pizza but we do sometimes eat fast food especially if we are short on time.

I don't think we are normal. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

People in fast food places seem like they eat there often. There is a diner I drive by twice a day and in the morning you see the same vehicles every day. I cant tell if that is true at night but I suspect it is the case.

Today, people are so busy with work, even one only has one job, OT is often required. Parents are taking kids to sports practices and games as well as school events at a rate that never happened when I was in school. If the family only has one at home parent it is all but impossible to keep these schedules and cook dinner because there is so little time. Even with two parents at home it is hard to do even if one parent does not have a PAID job out of the house. People are just too danged busy with different things today especially if they have kids which makes fixing a traditional dinner difficult. Look at how many cooking shows and cook books are about making a meal in X minutes.

Having said that, last night I smoked and grilled some Salmon that was caught and processed in the US. It was very, very good. This morning I used a small amount of the smoke Salmon to have in an omelet with goat and Parmasian cheese. :licking::licking::licking: Sure did not take long and soooooo good! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

OHH! That sounds great. I just had home grown eggs, scrambled with mushrooms, zuchinini, kale, and some other things. Really good.

 

[dmccarty]

We NEVER had anything like that at our Little House on the Prairie. Is it anything like chicken fried steak?

Nope! :laughing::laughing::laughing: I do love chicken fried steak. :licking::licking::licking: Especially with gravy.:licking::licking::licking:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

OHH! That sounds great. I just had home grown eggs, scrambled with mushrooms, zuchinini, kale, and some other things. Really good.

Our range has two ovens, a big oven as one would expect, and a smaller oven that is what is usually the pot drawer but moved over the big oven. We use the "little" oven all of the time and it also a toaster oven. When I make eggs, usually I toast bread or English muffins. This warms up the "little" oven and when making the omelette, I will put the pan into the oven after the toasting is done, and let the top of the omelette finish cooking and melt the cheese. The left over heat is enough to finish the omelette. What is really nice about this is that often the omelette will get real puff up like a souffle. :licking::licking::licking:

While on a Spring Break vacation I had a breakfast wrap that was REALLY good. Even our oldest liked it! :laughing::laughing::laughing: Actually I had two that were good. One was a scrambled eggs, with some sort of spiced ham, and goat cheese that was wrapped in one of those wrap things AND some sort of leafed veggie. Not sure if it was Kale or something else but it was a bit spicy and really good! :thumbsup: The other good breakfast was an omelette with cheese and Prosciutto ham inserted into a deep round waffle! :licking::licking::licking:

I just had two bagels for breakfast and that just aint the same.... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[DFB]

Ya know I find it interesting that at my place of employment we market all type produce and fruit in season but the two business owners and their son eat meals out virtually every single day because of time factors involved in running the business. It such shame in a way with all the strawberries, apples, plums, corn, cucumbers, carrots etc. around and what doesn't end up being sold mostly gets tossed to the daily pig farm pickup pile. The son could give a crap about eating apples he been around them so long. He does eat the cider donuts we make though and I remember well my boss's reasoning on the donut machine investment. He said "Those people that come here to the farm don't want healthy food...they want donuts!"

The worst though is that they expect all the help to follow their lead and grab takeout foods along with them. MickeyD's has always been a constant for them but now my boss chooses Subway more often he under doctors advice to modify his diet

For mi amigos its mainly burritos from the 7-11 and Cumby's. But when there's time and if I'm driving I take the boys for "Chino" as they call it...the Chinese buffet :laughing:

When the kids all come for school field trips I'm the one that has to take them and the teachers out through the orchard and educate them. This year we hiked up to one of the garden plots and offered them to pick fresh celery to have with the bagged lunch they always bring to eat in the orchard. It was pretty amazing all the young kids that wanted some celery!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I know it's off topic a tad, but the mention of burritos and seein' as how it's breakfast time here, all of a sudden I got a hankering for some breakfast burritos. Sharn Jean is preparing them as we speak...here's how they're made at my house:

Breakfest Burritos” (ala Sharn Jean)
Ingredients (approximate)

4 eggs, blended (either ahead of time or after being added to frying pan)

6 to 8 small or medium flour tortillas

1/4 # pork sausage, crumbled

1/4 chopped onion

2 roasted and peeled Hatch peppers, chopped (Note)

4 slices American Cheese

Salt, pepper

Some of that New Jersey Picante sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium size frying pan, fry the sausage nearly done, and drain the grease. Add the onion, stir on

medium heat for a minute or two, or until onions begin to clarify. Add the peppers, stir, and add the

eggs. Continue to stir until the eggs are done; and remove from heat.

Spoon the ingredients into the tortillas, and top with cheese and/or Picante sauce as desired.

Enjoy.

Leftover ingredients can be made into burritos and the burritos frozen for another time. They are

excellent reheated; about 2 or 3 minutes in the microwave will do it.

Note: Hatch peppers, if available fresh, may be roasted and peeled ahead of time. I like to put them on

the charcoal grill on a medium heat, until the skin begins to bubble up, turn, for a few seconds, remove

and freeze. The skins may be removed before or after freezing, as desired.

 

[sld]

Those Hatch peppers are good. We get them around here in September. First time I went to buy some the lady asked me how many bags I wanted. I had no idea so I said give me about 50.00 bucks worth. Well, I came home with 2 large trash sack sized bags and my wife chewed me out the whole time we were peeling them...about 2 hours! Froze them and had them for at least a year.

 

[N80]

I'm a foodie. I like to eat. I like to cook. But I only like to cook and eat good food. I also like to eat out, but only when it is special and good. That does not mean fancy or expensive. A local dive with good ribs is every bit as enjoyable as a fancy meal at a fine restaurant. But I hate, and I cannot express in words how much I HATE going out to eat just to eat mediocre or bad food at a boring cookie cutter restaurant. I don't like anything about the experience. I would MUCH rather drop big bucks on a high end meal at a fine restaurant a few times a year rather than eat at Olive Garden or Applebys a few times every month and the amount of money comes out the same.

Mostly, I'd rather take good fresh food and make a great meal myself. For instance homemade goats milk ricotta gnocchi (I make the ricotta and then make the gnocchi out of the ricotta and flour) with wild boar ragu (killed and processed the boar and made the ragu) with real grated Parmesan cheese on top:

 

[Bird]

I would MUCH rather drop big bucks on a high end meal at a fine restaurant a few times a year rather than eat at Olive Garden or Applebys a few times every month and the amount of money comes out the same.

George, my wife likes the Olive Garden and I like Appleby's, but we don't eat at either of them more than about once every couple of years.:laughing:

Now I don't know whether you would consider this a "high end meal at a fine restaurant" or not, but we enjoyed it Saturday. Fort Worth, TX | Texas de Brazil - Brazilian Steakhouse

I'd never heard of it before and it was certainly different.

 

[N80]

I have heard of these Brazilian steak houses and there is one about an hour from where I live and I'd like to try it. I am fortunate to live only 2.5 hours from Charleston, SC which is a food Mecca. I'm right near Charlotte and have been for 18 years but have not explored the food scene there. And I while I consider myself to be a foodie, I'm not a food snob. I can be happy with a pickled egg (you know, the ones in the big jar at the country store), a can of vienna sausages (vyeeners is how we say it) and some saltines.

And yes, cooking every night can be a chore especially when it has already been a long day. Fortunately my wife is a good cook so we share duties and I usually eat well. But I really enjoy spending a few hours in the kitchen, with a bottle of wine, my wife helping out, radio on and fixing a really nice meal. And I really like using game from my place. The wild pigs are delicious. Here is a bacon wrapped boar tenderloin roasted in the oven with blackberry vinaigrette.