FYI: Heard About This Recession?
• A not-so-secret way to feast on lavish gourmet meals? Dinners prepared by students at culinary academies throughout the land. [SF Gate]
• The pages of Gourmet and Food & Wine used to be filled with luxury ingredients and high-end dishes, but not so anymore! In a sign of the times, there's been a marked shift to more economical home cooking in upscale food mags. [NYT]
• Supermarkets and food manufacturers are engaged in a battle of the wills over food prices. To recap: prices went up by as much 15% on some items, but prices on raw food materials has plummeted — by up to 68%. Grocers are retaliating by ramping up their generic brands. Capitalism at work, y'all! [LA Times]
• China has new food safety laws, but consumers are dubious about how effective these regulations will be, citing the lack of oversight at the local level. [USA Today]
• A farm-to-table endeavor in Georgia is utopian food experiment. Not merely a farm and a restaurant, the Inn at Serenebe has spurred an entire hamlet devoted to all that which locavore-foodies hold dear. [NYT]
