As part of my job, i have the opportunity to travel, find new foods and beverages as well as take a deep dive into foods I already know. This fall, I joined a press trip to Trentino-Alto Adige and learned more about Speck Alto Adige PGI, a dry-cured and lightly smoked ham from Northern Italy.
The hottest trend in retailing is something called “omni-channel.”
The big example that disrupted the whole industry was when Amazon bought Whole Foods. Though this combination of “Bricks and Clicks”—or physical stores and online purchases—is often what is spoken of when talking about Omni-Channel, it can also mean many different sales venues and delivery options.
I like to equate the rise of Sweet Cheddars to Breakfast Cereal. My grandmother was born in 1892, and her breakfast choice was oatmeal, although some new-fangled cereals were invented when she was a child. All were healthy and none had added sugar.
Today, cereals have insane levels of sugar and breakfast has become the least healthy meal with little differentiation between products. To break into the cereal market, a company must be a large corporation with deep pockets.
The cheese market is in flux:
This issue’s cover story on David Gremmels, president of Rogue Creamery, is compelling, partially because David is fascinating, partly because it reveals the complexity of making great cheese, which is engrossing, and partly because the specifics of his story — southern Oregon, organic, a “world’s finest mission,” pears, Syrah grape leaves, etc. — are just so emotive and so rooted in a time and place. These all play into the definition of terroir that goes beyond environmental factors to incorporate the cultural and business eco-system in which a cheese is produced.
This is the time of year when entertaining is on everyone’s mind. Now is when cheese buying blooms. To make the process more difficult, there are new cheeses and choices available at more locations.
The simplest way to make great choices is to visit your favorite cheese market and let the in-house cheese monger decide for you or at least guide you. If you are not allowed to sample each cheese you purchase, just walk away. With a few questions, most mongers will be able to point you in the best direction for your tastes. Include quantity recommendations, pairing suggestions and different varieties that go well together, and you have your own personal consultant.
The world is going tariff crazy! President Trump put tariffs on China, and they respond in kind. Recently, the news is filled with the decision to impose tariffs on Mexican tomatoes while “dumping” charges are investigated. In the background, the U.S. has won a World Trade Organization action declaring that Europe has been subsidizing large civilian...