"food shopping" news and stories

Are gargantuan Walmart Supercenters and their ginormous kin on their way out, in favor of smaller, kinder, gentler grocery stores? Yes, say the editors at YumSugar, who predict the downsizing (in a good way) of the supermarket. To find out more about what may be the biggest trend in food shopping, visit YumSugar.

Reason #3,493,802 why I love the internets, from the Foodzie info page for Luca Chocolate's Bacon Box:

This box started from a special request from a blogger for something with bacon and chocolate. I knew the marriage of the two flavors (sweet and salty) would be delicious! I crafted two different bacon and chocolate truffles, both of which you will find in this box.

And #3,493,803 from BonBonBar's Foodzie page:

The combination of Single Malt Scotch and Dark Chocolate is one of the more special sensations in the confectionery world. From the first taste to the seductive aftertaste, new and complex flavors emerge that seem to enhance both the Scotch and the chocolate. Our Scotch Bar rounds out the experience with chewy caramel and delicate flakes of Maldon Sea Salt. We use Talisker 1992 Distillers Edition Single Malt Scotch, from the Isle of Skye. It was transferred from traditional bourbon oak into amoroso sherry casks to finish its maturation.

And what is this magical Foodzie, this bringer of joy and seemingly hallucinatory foodstuffs? It's an online market for small artisanal food producers, and seemingly a win-win for both the vendors and customers. Because there's little overhead involved, the makers earn roughly double what they would on a traditional in-store sale, and the savings are passed on to customers -- who also have the benefit of one-stop shopping for some pretty appealing foodstuffs that might not otherwise find on their local stores' shelves.

All products are personally tested and vetted by the site's founders, three food-loving friends who met at Virginia Tech and went on to found the company in North Carolina. Their current roster includes thirty vendors of meat, cheese, coffee, tea, and many other edible goodies including plenty more of those whack-a-doodle chocolate constructs all the kids are so wacky about these days.

If you'll pardon me, I'll be off to stick my face into an Appalachian Wedge.

[via: Foodzie]

There's an article in The Sacramento Bee that's been syndicated that says that food blogs are becoming popular! Of course, that's something we've known for a long time now, right?

The piece states that there are 48,000 bloggers right now, though doesn't really specify if that means there are 48,000 blogs or 48,000 people blogging (many blogs have several authors). And what is the big revelation in the piece? Readers read food blogs to get recipes, reviews, and ideas! Wow!

I often wonder why blogs are still seen as some alien concept. Some nice coverage for some good blogs though, including Chocolate and Zucchini and Cakegrrl (in the pic).

Our sister site Engadget gets some nice press in the piece, but Slashfood isn't even mentioned. I'm sure that's just a typo.

I'm not exactly sure how much time or energy this web technology saves, but apparently, Grocist allows you to scan products to create an electronic grocery list.

You keep a barcode scanner in your kitchen and when you run out of a product, you scan the barcode from the package before you throw it away. The web application searches a UPC database to determine the product and keeps a running grocery list for you.

While the idea of this sounds pretty cool, I can't see how scanning a barcode is any faster or easier than jotting something down on a list that's taped to your refrigerator door. I also can't really see people running out to buy a barcode scanner. Additionally, using Grocist assumes that a lot of your groceries are packaged goods that would be found in the UPC database. I don't know this for sure, but the last time I went to the grocery store, there weren't any barcodes on garlic and lettuce.

However, if the Grocist were to actually send that information at the end of every week via email to the grocery store who could deliver the groceries to my front door, then I'd pay attention!

[via: Lifehacker]

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1. Customers not putting their carriage in the corral: Seriously. Talk about lazy. Instead of taking another 9 or 10 steps to put the carriage where it belongs, they just leave it in the middle of a parking space. This is so irritating. Things like theft and violence and embezzlement seem minor in compared to this.

2. Customers who leave their carriage in an aisle: What's up with that? I've seen people leave their carriage at the end of an aisle (not even inside the aisle, but at the end) and walk down an aisle to get an item, and other shoppers have to move it out of the way. I've always been tempted to push their cart to the other end of the store and watch their expression when they come back and find it gone.