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New Menus and Fried Rice
1st January, 2024
Happy New Year Food Junglers! Thank you to every single one of you who has taken the time to read our little publication - we cannot express ENOUGH how grateful we are to all of you 🥰. Be sure to stick around for even MORE exciting stuff in 2024 and beyond. Anyway, let’s dig in.
This week:
🍴 Restaurants look to change up their menus in the US.
🍚 Egg-fried rice stirs controversy in China.
🐔 Chicken is dominating the American market for protein.
🍫 Nigeria struggles with illegal cocoa production.
🍷 Leftover fruits get a second life in Scotland.
BUSINESS
RESTAURANT RESHUFFLE
To kick things off, restaurants are introducing hard-to-share menu items and asking servers to nudge diners to load up on extra small plates in an effort to get them to pay more for their food.
Creating single-bite items, charging separately for sides, and double-questioning whether the customer has ordered enough are all the subtle tactics that restaurant-owners will be encouraging in 2024. CRAZY.
Looking at the stats, these decisions do seem justified. The cost of food away from home rose 5.3% in 2023 alone and, taken from a recent survey, 21% of diners admitted to splitting dishes to lower their overall bill.
ZOOMING OUT: Ever since COVID-19, restaurants have had it rough. In 2023, 49% of US restaurants reported lower check averages and 53% reported lower profits compared with 2022.
With both climate change and geopolitical conflict affecting the prices for both labour and ingredients, more money-saving tactics seem certain.
POLICY
AN EGG-FRIED RICE SAGA
Turning our attention to the dystopian, Chinese celebrity chef, Wang Gang, was publicly reprimanded on social media after posting a video of himself, cooking egg-fried rice on 27th November.
Why? Well, 27th November marks the death of Mao Anying - the son of the brutal 20th-century Chinese dictator, Mao Zedong.
As legend has it, Mao Anying died during the Korean War, while cooking egg-fried rice. Thereafter, any mention of egg-fried rice on 27th November - now a national holiday - is REPREHENSIBLE.
So, since posting the video, Chef Wang has been labelled a “traitor”, a “troublemaker”, and “the dregs of society” on numerous Chinese social media platforms.
ZOOMING OUT: Wang Gang vowed to never cook egg-fried rice again out of respect. But to his millions of followers, this saga goes beyond rice. It represents a growing hostility towards free speech in a country that is seeing its citizens’ liberties threatened more frequently.
SUPPLY CHAIN
CHICKEN IS CROWNED
Chicken has now become the most-consumed meat in the US. And with chicken-themed restaurants spreading like crazy, the trend doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.
The average American is now eating 100 pounds of chicken, twice the amount of 40 years ago. And that number is expected to exceed 101 pounds by the end of 2024.
On top of that, exports of poultry have risen more than TENFOLD since 1980, thanks to both America’s extreme farming efficiency and rising poultry demand from China.
ZOOMING OUT: However, chicken is a controversial topic. Yes, chicken is less pollution-intensive than cattle and is FAR cheaper to produce.
BUT, widespread consumption of the protein has caused various health concerns across the country AND worries for the toll on underground water supplies, used to grow chicken feed.
CLIMATE
NIGERIA’S COCOA PROBLEM
When it comes to protecting the Omo Forest Reserve from cocoa farmers, the Nigerian government has a particularly tough time.
The reserve is the only remaining vital rainforest in Nigeria’s southwest, is home to several critically endangered animals, and is one of Africa’s largest UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.
Because of this, any commercial farming is BANNED within the reserve. And yet, Nigerian authorities regularly find farmers who are trying to take advantage of the forest’s fertile land for their cocoa plantations.
What’s worse, there is evidence to suggest that the cocoa from these illegal plantations is being sold to the biggest names in the chocolate industry, including, Mars and Ferrero.
ZOOMING OUT: Nigeria, one of Africa’s most developed nations, has a tricky game to play. On the one hand, it has climate pledges to stick to and, on the other, the country can take a little chunk out of a chocolate industry that is projected to be worth $68 BILLION in 2029.
SPONSORED
ETHICAL CHOCOLATE
Speaking of chocolate, if you’re still in the mood for something scrumptious this winter season and are looking to feel absolutely GUILT-FREE when eating your sweet treat, we would really recommend TONY’S CHOCOLONELY.
Not only is Tony’s Chocolonely DELICIOUS (their salted caramel bars are insane), but the Dutch company is committed to ELIMINATING slave labour in their chocolate supply chain!
If you’re interested, have a browse here 🍫
THE BRIGHT SIDE
SAY HELLO TO SCOTTISH WINE
In the fight against food waste in Scotland, Two Raccoons is reusing overripe fruit to create a unique style of WINE.
Lasse and Elliot were two students who spent much time dumpster diving for food. And in an effort to preserve some of the fruit that they found, they began fermenting it to make their very own wine.
6000 kilograms of fruit later, Lasse and Elliot have now created their own company - Two Raccoons - devoted to manufacturing wine with fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste.
What’s even better is that, due to the variety of overripe fruit that they receive, no batch of wine is EVER the same.
With the Scottish Government aiming to reduce overall food waste by 33% by 2025, Two Raccoons seems uniquely positioned to benefit. Food Jungle approved ✅
BEFORE YOU GO…
KFC China becomes first western fast-food brand in China to reach 10,000 stores.
Foreign investors now make up 3.4% of privately-held agricultural land in the US.
Packaged food brands, like Campbell’s soup and J.M. Smucker, lost value in 2023 due to high interest rates and ingredient costs.
Oatly wins four-year legal battle in the UK to use the slogan, “Post Milk Generation”, in their marketing campaigns.
The UK Government legalises the sale of PINTS of wine in pubs.
The Every Company debuted the world’s first hen-less egg.
SHARE THE JUNGLE
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TAKE A BREAK
Hi there everyone! If you’re interested in a little bit of escapism this holiday season, we would thoroughly recommend you check out CULTURE CURATED, written by our dear pal Neema Naficy.
From food recipes and art to cocktails and cool YouTube clips, Neema shares things from the creative world that are definitely WORTH listening to, trying out, and watching. We’ve subscribed, now it’s your turn 😉 .
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