Trader Joe's

A fun article about Trader Joe's

A closer look at its selection of items underscores the brilliance of Coulombe's limited-selection, high-turnover model. Take peanut butter. Trader Joe's sells 10 varieties. That might sound like a lot, but most supermarkets sell about 40 SKUs. For simplicity's sake, say both a typical supermarket and a Trader Joe's sell 40 jars a week. Trader Joe's would sell an average of four of each type, while the supermarket might sell only one. With the greater turnover on a smaller number of items, Trader Joe's can buy large quantities and secure deep discounts. And it makes the whole business — from stocking shelves to checking out customers — much simpler.

Swapping selection for value turns out not to be much of a tradeoff. Customers may think they want variety, but in reality too many options can lead to shopping paralysis. "People are worried they'll regret the choice they made," says Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and author of The Paradox of Choice. "People don't want to feel they made a mistake." Studies have found that buyers enjoy purchases more if they know the pool of options isn't quite so large. Trader Joe's organic creamy unsalted peanut butter will be more satisfying if there are only nine other peanut butters a shopper might have purchased instead of 39. Having a wide selection may help get customers in the store, but it won't increase the chances they'll buy. (It also explains why so often people are on their cellphones at the supermarket asking their significant other which detergent to get.) "It takes them out of the purchasing process and puts them into a decision-making process," explains Stew Leonard Jr., CEO of grocer Stew Leonard's, which also subscribes to the "less is more" mantra.

Customers accept that Trader Joe's has only two kinds of pudding or one kind of polenta because they trust that those few items will be very good. "If they're going to get behind only one jar of Greek olives, then they're sure as heck going to make sure it's the most fabulous jar of Greek olives they can find for the price," explains one former employee. To ferret out those wow items, Trader Joe's has four top buyers, called product developers, do some serious globetrotting. A former senior executive told me that Trader Joe's biggest R&D expense is travel for those product-finding missions. Trade shows that feature the flavor of the moment "are for rookies," a former buyer said. Trader Joe's doesn't pick up on trends — it sets them.

Urban Farm

OBSESSIVES: Urban Farmer - on CHOW.com from CHOW.com on Vimeo.

Sunday Food Links On Monday

Big Ag is upset that the little farmers are getting 65 million from the know your farmer program despite 5 billion in commodities subsidies the last two years and 7 billion in crop insurance. Boo Hoo.

California farmers are donating to AR's Blanche Lincoln. They know who butters their bread.

Good news for small farm producers in New York. They are got a mobile slaughter house.

Research is being done with African rice to increase yields. Most breeding modifications have been done with Asian rice. African rice yields only about 40% of Asian rice. None too soon, I say.

Why does asparagus make make your .... well you know.

From the Pentagon: how to make a brownie in 26 pages.

Who knew cherry blossoms were edible?

Oil Slick cake. Thanks BP.

Haute Stoner Cuisine

This is kind of funny.

“There has been an entire strata of restaurants created by chefs to feed other chefs,” Mr. Bourdain said. “These are restaurants created specially for the tastes of the slightly stoned, slightly drunk chef after work.”

A video of some chefs in action.

Food Should Go Bad!

But McDonald's food does not. I once spilled an order of fries on the floor of my truck while driving. I figured I would clean them up when they started to smell. They never did. That sat on the floor for a year and a half before I cleaned the truck up. Here is a list of reasons why you should not eat at McDonald's.

9. For those who enjoy sex, take note: erectile dysfunction is connected to endothelial dysfunction. Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me commented that his normally healthy sexual function deteriorated in just one month when he ate only food from McDonald’s. Even his girlfriend commented on camera that “he’s having a hard time, you know, getting it up.”

Via Susie.

McPork In Japan

McPork in Japan　(日本のマックポーク), originally uploaded by CharleyMarley.

You know you want one.

Bad Gravy

OK. It really was not that bad of a gravy. I had no stock. So when I over thickened, I added some wine. But did not let the gravy get hot enough to burn off the alcohol. A little strange.

Wow!

I am not really surprised that coke would try an advertising campaign that is total BS, I am surprised that Australia called them on it.

The newspaper ads, which ran nationally last October and were targeted at mothers, said it was untrue that Coke could make you fat, rot your teeth or was packed with caffeine, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said.

"Coke's messages were totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay," it said.

Hey, coke is still fat free! Now, the high fructose corn syrup may cause your body to produce fat. But, coke is fat free!

Baby Steps

Mickey Ds is claiming they will reduce pesticide use.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp, the largest purchaser of potatoes in the United States, has agreed to take preliminary steps to reduce pesticide use in its domestic potato supply, shareholder groups said on Tuesday.

Following the agreement, the Bard College Endowment, Newground Social Investment and the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund withdrew a shareholder proposal that, if approved, would have required the company to publish a report on options for cutting pesticide use in its supply chain.

The investors said McDonald's has agreed to survey its U.S. potato suppliers, compile a list of best practices in pesticide use reduction and recommend those best practices to global suppliers. It also will share its findings with investors and include the findings in its annual corporate social responsibility report.

McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, said the process would support ongoing efforts to make its supply chain sustainable.

It will be interesting to see how sustainable they will become.

Wow!

The government guide lines on nutrition allow for this.

Here is a daily diet that meets those nutrition guidelines: Breakfast: 1 cup Fruit Loops; 1 cup skim milk; 1 package M&M milk chocolate candies; fiber and vitamin supplements. Lunch: Grilled cheddar cheeseburger. Dinner: 3 slices pepperoni pizza, with a 16-ounce soda and 1 serving Archway sugar cookies.

This helps explain why 12-year-old schoolchildren develop thickening of their carotid arteries to the brain, and 80 percent of 20-year-old soldiers, dying in combat, are found to have coronary artery heart disease.

That is what we get for letting industry set our nutritional guide lines.

Via La Vida Lacavore

Stick A Spoon In It

It is done. Mark Bittman on pork roast. It sounds good to me.

I found this out 40 years ago (gulp) while following a recipe I found in the Time-Life cooking series, a wonderful cooking school in print, at least of the era. I shoved the narrow end of a wooden spoon through the center of a pork roast horizontally, filled the cavity it created with a combination of apricots and prunes, and roasted it.

Beets

beet it, originally uploaded by Darwin Bell.

As Mark Bittman says " I love beets." Usually, I just throw a a little butter on roasted beats. But tonight, I am going to try this.

A bit more adventuresome is a dressing of walnuts, garlic and fresh orange juice. Note that all of these have some bitterness or acidity, which counter the sweetness of beets beautifully. To tame the garlic, I cook it quickly, along with the walnuts; toasting always makes nuts nuttier. This makes the purée smoother tasting, as well.

Eat well, my friends.

Mercury In High Fructose Corn Syrup

If high fructose corn syrup was not bad enough all ready, now it has mercury. But as we all know mercury is all natural. Jill at La Vida Locavore is on the case.

So how does this play out in a food like Coca-Cola? I checked Coca-Cola's nutrition info and found that 8 fl oz of Coke contains 27g of carbs - which I assume means 27g of HFCS. At its worst - with .570 micrograms per gram - those 8 oz of Coca-Cola could contain 15.39 micrograms of mercury.

However, the tests showed that the sample of Coca-Cola Classic tested "only" contained 62 ppt mercury - which I believe (if my math is right) means that an 8 oz serving contains 0.015 micrograms of mercury. But who drinks 8 oz. of Coca-Cola? McDonalds sells 42 oz of it at a time! With 62 ppt mercury, 42 oz of Coca Cola contain 0.08 micrograms of total mercury.

Of course, as the report points out, heavy users of fast food and processed food probably wouldn't stop with a Coke. The problem with HFCS is its ubiquity - salad dressings, ketchup, bread, soda, candy, yogurts, almost ANYTHING can have HFCS.

Food Glorious Food!

Guess what is for dinner.

That is, as soon as the meat is thawed. Then brined. Soaked overnight. Parboiled for two hours. Slow-roasted or smoked or barbecued to perfection.[...]
This right here," she says, holding up a couple of brown packages tied with burlap string, “this is a great value. And really good eatin’. Best-kept secret around.”[...]
And when people eat wild meat, Beringer says, "it reminds the modernized society — people who usually eat food from a plastic wrapper — where food comes from.”[...]
"They leave the paw on to prove it's not a cat or a dog," Washington says.[...]

“See that? Tender as a mother’s love,” he says with a grin. “Good eatin’.”

And the taste?

Definitely not chicken.

Via Clustrflock

Mark Bittman On Food

Mark Bittman gives a speech on the history of food and the direction foodies need to go. It is really worth watching the whole thing.

Bacon and Butter

Did I mention the bacon was deep fried? Three men set the record for fastest treck to the south pole.

The men suffered altitude sickness, vertigo and massive, painful blisters. They kept themselves fueled with a 7,000-calorie-a-day diet of deep-fried bacon, cheese and huge chunks of butter.

"I am dying for pizza," Zahab said with a sigh Friday. "All I've been thinking about is pizza."

What Is In Your Pantry?

Mark Bittman In the New York Times.

But if your goal is to cook and cook quickly, to get a satisfying and enjoyable variety of real food on the table as often as possible, a well-stocked pantry and fridge can sustain you. Replenished weekly or even less frequently, with an occasional stop for fresh vegetables, meat, fish and dairy, they are the core supply houses for the home cook.

While you’re stocking up, you might clear out a bit of the detritus that’s cluttering your shelves. Some of these things take up more space than they’re worth, while others are so much better in their real forms that the difference is laughable. Sadly, some remain in common usage even among good cooks. My point here is not to criminalize their use, but to point out how easily and successfully we can substitute for them, in every case with better results.

Sounds good to me.

Breakfast

The most important meal of the day, unless it is a donut.

What's "unique" about the current study is that it suggests that breakfast foods low in "energy density" -- low in calories for a given amount of food -- "appear to predict better food choices for the rest of the day and may help with better management of body weight," Dr. James Rippe, one of the researchers on the work, said in a written statement.

Fruits, vegetables and high-fiber whole grains, for example, are low in energy density, while confections like Danish pastries and doughnuts have a high energy density.

Essentially, if you make healthy choices at breakfast, you will make healthy choices during the rest of the day. Truly revolutionary.

Food Timeline

An interesting list of when foods became available or were invented. I like the fact that beer and agriculture were invented at the same time. People wanted a steady supply of beer(12,000 years before present) so they started farming the ingredients. It took quite some time after that to figure out the yeast component.

Also Coca Cola was invented in 1886 but was not deep fried until the 2006 Texas State Fair. It is as if we did not have enough things from Texas to be great full for lately.

Moon pies were invented in 1917 but it left out RC Cola(1905). But every one knows An RC Cola And a Moon Pie is alright!

It is a fun list.

Via Kottke.org

What Do You Need

In your Kitchen? Not much according to Mark Bittman, a New York Times food columnist and cookbook writer. His kitchen in New York City is six feet by seven feet. Picture.

a young journalist called and asked what, after all, I considered essential in a modern kitchen?

“A stove, a sink, a refrigerator, some pots and pans, a knife and some serving spoons,” I answered. “All else is optional.”[...]
No calls came from chefs, either, or from fellow food writers. They, too, know that when it comes to kitchens, size and equipment don’t count nearly as much as devotion, passion, common sense and, of course, experience. To pretend otherwise — to spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on a kitchen before learning how to cook, as is sadly common — is to fall into the same kind of silly consumerism that leads people to believe that an expensive gym membership will get them into shape or the right bed will improve their sex life. As runners run and writers write, cooks cook, under pretty much any circumstance.