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James Beard Award win spotlights Native cuisine for second year in a row

Jun 6, 2023
Best Chef: Northeast winner Sherry Pocknett, a Mashpee Wampanoag tribal citizen, is part of a wave of Native chefs and restaurateurs proving there’s a market for Indigenous cuisines.
Sherry Pocknett, owner of Sly Fox Den restaurant in Rhode Island, won the Best Chef: Northeast at Monday's James Beard Awards ceremony.
Jeff Schear/Getty Images for The James Beard Foundation

Valentine's Day chocolate sales were strong ... but it'd be helpful if you shopped earlier

Feb 17, 2023
"It's fun but it's difficult to know how much to make when everyone comes in on the same day," said Kristin Thalheimer Bingham, co-owner of Dean's Sweets in Portland, Maine.
Courtesy Melissa Mullen Photography

At food banks, need is up, donations are down

Jan 2, 2023
Donations of both money and food are down. That's straining food banks at a time when more people are relying on them again.
“'Food shelf near me' is in the top 10 searches in our area," said Allison O’Toole at Minnesota's Second Harvest Heartland food bank.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

No chicken nuggets? How supply chain snags are affecting school lunch.

Dec 16, 2022
Shortages and unavailable goods mean schools can't always serve what's listed on their menus.
This fall, more than half of public schools are still having trouble obtaining the food items they want.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Biden pledges an additional $2.9 billion in aid to help fight the global food crisis

Sep 21, 2022
The good news? The world's producing enough food to feed everyone. The bad news? Getting it to hungry people is more expensive.
President Joe Biden speaks to the United Nations General Assembly, pledging $2.9 billion to fight the global food crisis.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

How is the restaurant industry faring these days?

Sep 9, 2022
More people are going out to eat, but some are frustrated with the rising cost. Yet the cost crunch is just as bad, or worse, for restaurant owners.
Even though restaurants' costs are rising, owners may not raise menu prices as much to avoid scaring customers away.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Like Willy Wonka, this Memphis chocolatier wants his sweets to tell stories

Sep 5, 2022
With flavors like barbecue, cornbread and banana pudding, Phillip Ashley Rix found an unfilled niche in the luxury chocolate world.
A box of luxury chocolates from Phillip Ashley Rix.
(Courtesy Rix)

Why the price of groceries is going up faster than a meal out

Aug 10, 2022
In part, that’s because restaurants don’t want to scare away customers.
"If consumers were truly, truly worried," says economist Jennifer Lee, discretionary spending on things like restaurant lunches "would be one of the first areas they would cut back on."
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Food price increases show signs of moderating

Aug 1, 2022
Grocery prices are up more than 12% over the past year. Climate change, the war in Ukraine and energy costs all have something to do with it.
A ship carrying corn leaves Odessa, Ukraine, on Monday, bound for Lebanon. Ukraine is an important producer of grain for world markets, and the Russian invasion prevented food exports for months.
Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images