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.