The hottest Food & Drink Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Food & Drink Topics

On the Quality of Things

NonTrivial • 19 implied HN points • 28 Mar 23
🍲 Food & Drink Quality Ingredients Decision-making
  1. Quality is important in both consumption and creation, but assessing quality in consumed items can be challenging as it is determined upfront.
  2. Defining quality involves considering an object's ability to solve the problem it was created for, with high quality objects more likely to maintain their category membership over time.
  3. Assessing quality in objects involves looking at their ingredients or components, with fewer ingredients often indicating higher quality, but also considering the heterogeneity of the ingredients in the context of the problem being solved.

How to Fry a Perfect Egg

Autoscriptorium • 19 implied HN points • 12 Apr 23
🍲 Food & Drink Recipes Cooking
  1. Eggs are a rich source of protein and fat, making them a delicious and versatile ingredient in the diet.
  2. For a perfect fried egg with a runny yolk, cover the pan with a lid and cook the whites while keeping an eye on the yolks to prevent overcooking.
  3. Adding small cooking tricks like covering the pan and removing it before the yolk gels ensure a delightful sunny side up egg with a runny yolk.

How to Embellish a Simple Meal

Autoscriptorium • 19 implied HN points • 13 Aug 23
🍲 Food & Drink Recipes Nutrition Cooking
  1. Consider making smaller, easily digested dinners since the body metabolizes food better in the morning.
  2. Ensure your diet includes enough healthy fats, which are crucial for overall health, like skin, hair, brain function, and metabolism.
  3. Try out recipes like Umami Butter, Bitchin' Sauce, and Savory Cheese Spread to add flavor and decadence to simple meals.

All peas are babies

A Perfectly Cromulent Software Engineer • 19 implied HN points • 30 Sep 23
🍲 Food & Drink Cuisine Poetry
  1. Peas are described metaphorically as babies in this post, highlighting their journey from the soil to being consumed by humans.
  2. The process of picking and preparing peas is depicted as a somewhat tragic fate for these tiny vegetables.
  3. The author adds a touch of humor at the end, acknowledging a fondness for peas despite the somber narrative.
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Agribusiness Matters • 19 implied HN points • 25 Mar 23
🍲 Food & Drink Agriculture Technology Water Blockchain Food Systems
  1. Agriculture requires a long-term approach that respects time more than money.
  2. Transition in irrigation tech towards software and services highlights changing revenue strategies.
  3. The food system needs redesigning to empower end users and move away from economies of scale.

Roast #20: The Barista Series, Part 1

thoughtfulcoffee • 19 implied HN points • 22 Mar 23
🍲 Food & Drink Coffee Career Training Job Market
  1. Getting a barista job can be challenging, especially if you want to be selective about where you work and focus on specialty coffee training.
  2. Seasonality can impact job availability, with some cafes needing less help during certain times of the year.
  3. Having no prior service experience can make the job search tougher, but persistence can lead to success in the end.

Roast #26: V3 Survey Results

thoughtfulcoffee • 19 implied HN points • 16 Jun 23
🍲 Food & Drink Coffee Brewing Community Packaging
  1. Customers preferred monthly coffee club subscriptions over weekly or other intervals.
  2. Feedback on packaging improvements included suggestions to reduce packaging, offer larger bags, and improve bean packaging.
  3. Maintaining community engagement through pop-up events and keeping coffee selections on the experimental side were highlighted as important for future coffee club versions.

How Food Marketing Is Reinforcing Bad Habits

Austin's Analects • 19 implied HN points • 02 Jun 23
🍲 Food & Drink Marketing Nutrition Health Deception Consumer behavior
  1. Eating before bed is unhealthy, yet 80% of Americans snack at night and $50 billion is spent on nighttime snacks per year.
  2. Big food companies are targeting the nighttime snacking market, despite the negative health impacts of eating before bed.
  3. nightfood, a company in the nighttime snacking category, uses deceptive marketing tactics to promote unhealthy snacking habits as a solution.

Six of One - A Counter to Kateh

Vittles • 66 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🍲 Food & Drink Restaurants Cuisines London
  1. Six of One is a column featuring London restaurant recommendations from six different writers.
  2. Molana is a Persian restaurant in London known for its perfect rice, grilled meats, and traditional Persian dishes.
  3. Notting Hill's dining scene is becoming increasingly expensive and less accessible to the local community, with restaurants like Straker's setting high price standards.

177 | Honey Fraud Fight | Colour Coding Guide |

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 24 Feb 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Food Fraud Regulations Consumer Awareness Webinars
  1. Honey is a common target for food fraud because it's valuable and easy to dilute or mix with cheaper sweeteners. Many consumers may not realize that some honey products on the market are fake or mixed with other substances.
  2. Testing for honey authenticity is complicated and results can be inaccurate if the reference samples used are not reliable. There are various methods to detect fraud, but they often require additional confirmation.
  3. Changes in the U.S. food regulatory landscape could affect how food is made and what additives are allowed. This might lead to adjustments in popular food products, which consumers might find surprising in taste and appearance.

More Cool Gear I Like

Experimental Fat Loss • 70 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🍲 Food & Drink Kitchenware Coffee
  1. Be mindful of the materials in your kitchen gadgets to avoid microplastics.
  2. Consider investing in kitchenware with unique features like pre-programmed temperatures.
  3. Exploring different food and beverage options, like Vietnamese coffee, herbal teas, and tallow-based products, can add variety to your routine.

What do people think about cultured meat?

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 17 Aug 22
🍲 Food & Drink Food Science Consumer behavior Agriculture Sustainability
  1. Consumer acceptance of cultured meat varies widely. Some people are very open to trying it, while others are quite resistant and refuse even to consider it.
  2. Concerns about the unnaturalness and safety of cultured meat are significant barriers to its acceptance. Many people are worried about how it is made, even if it tastes similar to traditional meat.
  3. Economic factors are key in determining whether people will choose cultured meat over conventional options. If the price of cultured meat becomes competitive, it could lead to more widespread adoption.

Family Day Bagels

The Analog Family • 39 implied HN points • 22 Feb 23
🍲 Food & Drink Cooking Baking Family Community Social Events
  1. Cooking together is a great way to spend time with friends and family. It brings people closer and gives everyone a good time.
  2. Making food from scratch, like bagels, can brighten up a dark season. It's fun and feels rewarding to create something delicious.
  3. Hosting a food-making party can lift everyone's spirits. Sharing good food and experiences creates lovely memories for all.

Buy Bordeaux in the summer

Klement on Investing • 2 implied HN points • 28 Nov 25
🍲 Food & Drink Wine Auctions Pricing Investment Climate Impact Seasonality
  1. Avoid buying Bordeaux in summer—foreign buyers tend to bid less then because climate-change worries peak, so prices drop.
  2. The same bottle often sells for more abroad than in France, but that foreign premium fluctuates a lot and can even disappear or reverse.
  3. When climate-change awareness rises, foreign bids fall by about 3.5%, with bigger discounts for vintages near the end of their drinking window and for lesser producers.

Food Safety News and Resources | February

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Recalls Nutrition Health Risks Webinars
  1. There have been serious food safety incidents recently, like children dying from toxic snacks in Pakistan and recalls of sausages and baby teething sticks in the US due to choking hazards.
  2. Webinars are being offered to help food businesses improve safety practices, such as using hygienic tools and detecting harmful pathogens more quickly.
  3. Issues with food contamination are ongoing, as seen in recalls of pretzels in Europe due to chemical contamination and alarming hygiene reports from food production plants.

Target practice

let them eat cake • 279 implied HN points • 16 Aug 19
🍲 Food & Drink Economics Sustainability Pricing
  1. Consider the importance of paying restaurant staff enough to sustain a long-term career, not just a job.
  2. Running a regenerative restaurant that prioritizes staff, community, and environment over purely financial gains is a tantalizing idea with economic and social implications.
  3. The analysis of a hypothetical NYC restaurant suggests that to pay staff fair wages, pricing might need to increase, possibly by at least 20%, to sustain the business model.

172 | Emerging Food Safety Risks | Reduce Your Food Waste in 2025 |

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Food Waste Sustainability Food Fraud Business impact
  1. The European Food Safety Authority has identified five emerging risks related to food safety that businesses should be aware of. It's important for food safety professionals to stay informed about these risks and their relevance.
  2. Reducing food waste is key for businesses looking to improve sustainability. Implementing strategies like setting targets, measuring waste, and taking action can lead to significant cost savings.
  3. A team approach involving various business functions can enhance food waste reduction efforts. Small changes across processes can make a big difference in minimizing waste and boosting profits.

Emerging Food Safety Risks (2025 update)

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Health Risks
  1. The EFSA has identified five emerging food safety risks that affect the global food supply. It's important for food safety experts to stay updated on these new threats.
  2. Some risks are considered emerging, while others are existing but still pose safety concerns. Food safety practitioners need to pay attention to both types.
  3. There are discussions about hot topics that are currently missing from the food safety conversation, which could also be important to address.

no. 52: sounds in the forest

let them eat cake • 59 implied HN points • 20 Apr 22
🍲 Food & Drink Home Cooking Economic Impact
  1. In the US, there are various informal food businesses like hawkers who cook at home and sell their food in unique ways, showcasing an unacknowledged hawker culture in the country.
  2. Informal economies like hawking often thrive on unwritten social contracts and interdependency between buyers and sellers, emphasizing the importance of humanity and goodwill.
  3. The emergence of 'home chef platforms' highlights a shift in the food industry, raising concerns about parasitic practices, gig economy rhetoric, and additional layers of surveillance compared to traditional hawker operations.

I Should Do A Ph.D. About Whisky

Cosy Moments • 25 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
🍲 Food & Drink Alcohol Culture Taste Philosophy Literature
  1. Some people reacted harshly to a Ph.D. thesis about the politics of smell, showing how opinions about academic topics can lead to controversy. It highlights the tensions in academia around what is considered valuable research.
  2. The relationship between our body and the world is important; eating and drinking connect us to our experiences and surroundings. In today's fast-paced life, people often forget this connection.
  3. Whisky can offer comfort and reflection during difficult times, and it represents a deeper connection between emotions, history, and enjoyment. It's seen as a drink for those who seek more profound experiences.

Eat Like Trump: Steak and Ketchup

Mister Branzino's Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 06 Jan 23
🍲 Food & Drink Recipes
  1. The recipe provided is for making Trump's favorite meal of steak with ketchup using a reverse sear technique.
  2. The recipe includes ingredients like NY Strip steak, salt, pepper, butter, garlic, lemon, and Sir Kensington Ketchup.
  3. Following the detailed directions, the steak is seared after cooking in the oven and then served with ketchup after resting.

Has Blackberry Met its Match?

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 59 implied HN points • 07 Jul 22
🍲 Food & Drink Plants Culinary Gardening Nutrition Wildlife
  1. Fennel is growing quickly and taking over areas where Himalayan blackberries used to thrive. This shows fennel's strength as a plant.
  2. While fennel can push out other plants and is considered a noxious weed in some places, it also has many potential uses and benefits.
  3. More Mediterranean plants, like artichokes, are appearing in Seattle, possibly due to changing climate conditions.

Sake Industry News. Issue #96

Sake Industry News • 19 implied HN points • 15 Sep 23
🍲 Food & Drink NFT Trade
  1. Hiyaoroshi season is in full swing with good quality sake despite hot summer conditions.
  2. An interesting brand name dispute between a ramen restaurant and a sake brewery goes to court.
  3. FUWARI Co. Ltd introduces trading NFT purchases for sake, where each NFT corresponds to one bottle of aged sake.

170 | Sequelae: The Mysterious Long-term Outcomes of Foodborne Illness | Toxic Bean Sprouts |

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 06 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Food Fraud Public Health Nutrition
  1. Foodborne illnesses can lead to serious long-term health issues that people often do not realize. These can include conditions like arthritis and nerve disorders after an initial infection.
  2. Preventing foodborne illnesses is really important because it helps stop these serious health problems from developing later. Everyone in the food supply chain has a role in keeping food safe.
  3. The growth of food safety awareness is increasing, and there are plans for more live training and educational events. This is a great step towards ensuring better food safety practices.

Food Safety News and Resources | January

The Rotten Apple • 21 implied HN points • 06 Jan 25
🍲 Food & Drink Food Safety Public Health Food Regulations
  1. A family in Brazil experienced a tragic incident when three members died after consuming a Christmas cake linked to arsenic poisoning. This highlights the dangers of food safety and contamination.
  2. Research shows that certain food additives may increase cancer risks. It’s a reminder to be cautious about what’s in our food.
  3. New tests indicate that microplastics from tea bags can enter our bodies, which raises concerns about the safety of common products we use every day.

An Ode to Beer

Polymathic Being • 65 implied HN points • 10 Dec 23
🍲 Food & Drink History Science Culture Ingredients Brewing
  1. Beer has a long and significant history, dating back thousands of years before the invention of writing.
  2. Modern beer only consists of four main ingredients: malted barley, water, hops, and yeast, which play a critical role in creating diverse beer varieties.
  3. The regional variations in beer styles are influenced by factors like water pH, malt selection, hops, and yeast strains, showcasing the scientific complexity behind brewing.

The Dock turns 10!

Ben’s Blog 🏉 🧠🧑‍💻 • 21 implied HN points • 15 Dec 24
🍲 Food & Drink Restaurants Beverages Community
  1. The Dock has been a popular place for 10 years, starting from a simple idea of creating a sports pub for women. It has grown into a beloved community spot.
  2. The pub has faced challenges like lockdowns and the passing of a community member, but it has also created memorable events that brought people together.
  3. The team at The Dock played a key role in its success, focusing on health-conscious options and community engagement, making it a welcoming place for all.

Buy the damn ramen 

Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends • 99 implied HN points • 14 Apr 21
🍲 Food & Drink Home Cooking Gender inequality
  1. Since the 1950s, there has been a decline in home cooking in America, with women spending less time in the kitchen.
  2. There is a strong societal pressure and expectation that good mothers must cook from scratch, using organic and local ingredients, which has intensified over the past two decades.
  3. During the pandemic, there has been an increase in home cooking activities, particularly among middle-class families, but it may not be sustainable post-pandemic due to work and time constraints.