Food news antipasto

Sometimes it is easy to identify when a food has passed its ideal ripeness and has become a food safety concern as the food gets dried out, moldy, or has other telltale signs of spoilage. For some items it isn’t that easy – take pickles for example. How can you tell if your pickles are going bad? Epicurious has the answer. They provide information on the two main types of pickles, how long you can store them unopened, and how long you should keep them once you crack the lid.

Australians looking to buy fish and chips on the beach this summer might be disappointed. Faced with a potato shortage that has increased costs by up to 40%, takeaway shops are hiking prices or – even worse – downsizing portions. A wet summer in 2022 led to the disastrous potato harvest which has made it difficult for some shop owners to find spuds at any price. This setback is on top of increased costs for fish, cooking oil, and other ingredients, making prices soar.

Meanwhile in the U.S., consumers have been confronted with soaring egg prices, which spiked at well over $5.00 USD per dozen over the holiday season – and that’s if you could find any. I returned from several shopping trips eggless in the past few weeks. In some locations shelves were bare for days at a time as the worst bird flu season in history caused drastic drops in production. Prices have begun to decline with reduced demand, but it will be some time until they stabilize. Even after prices settle down, I do not expect they will return to the average price of $1.50 per dozen that we had in January 2021.

What’s in and what’s out in 2023? Plenty of people are making predictions about upcoming trends, including the folks at Culture Magazine. They have a assembled a (tongue-in-cheek) list of the trends that are in and out for the upcoming months. Out? Butter boards. In? Butter! This is just one of many cheesy predictions for the new year.

For less dairy-centric food prognostications, head over to Parade Magazine, which is reporting the top 16 food and drink trends they expect to see in 2023. These range from innovations in plant-based proteins (including faux seafood) to no-ABV cocktails to retro foods that remind you of childhood, industry experts opine on what they think will be the next big things in food.

New York City chef King Phojanakong, who developed a cult following with his restaurants Kuma Inn and Umi Nom, died last week at the age of 54. In addition to owning and operating beloved restaurants, Phojanakong also taught at the Institute of Culinary Education and started a hot sauce company. Grub Street profiles the late chef and his influence on Filipino/Filipino American food in New York.