Hey there,
Welcome back to Before the Cutting Board, your weekly roundup of food + supply chain hot topics to help keep you up to speed on what’s going down with your food.
If you’re new to Before The Cutting Board, here’s how it works: The “This Week” section focuses on news and current events. Occasionally, I’ll include a “Food Fights” section that explores some of the interesting debates flying around the food news world.
Without further ado, let’s dig in.
-This Week-
Où est passée la moutarde?
From the New York Times: France, the largest consumer of mustard in the world - on average, the country eats 2.2 pounds of mustard per person every year - is facing a shortage of the condiment. Dijon mustard is named after its birthplace in eastern France, but 80% of its main ingredient (brown mustard seeds) is grown and cultivated in Canada. Canada has consistently been the top producer of mustard seeds globally, but climate change driven heat waves in Alberta and Saskatchewan have led to a 55% drop in yields.
A reminder from WIC: why community consultation is key
From Civil Eats: WIC, a US federal benefits program supporting low-income parents to help feed their children, is highly restrictive in what participants can buy. The restrictions come in the name of nutrition, but favor big brands that can afford lobbying around the requirements and make food shopping difficult for parents especially during the pandemic’s unreliable grocery shelf stocks.
A new food hub from Brooklyn Packers
Also from Civil Eats: Brooklyn Packers, a Black-led and worker-owned cooperative, is building out a community-based food hub, or a production and distribution network of farms, retailers, nonprofits, and other food system actors - in this case, largely businesses owned by Black people and other producers of color.
Kenyan street vendors bearing the burden of high prices
From NPR: The impact of rising prices on street vendors in Nairobi, Kenya provides yet another example of how high costs are rattling supply chains
That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed reading this, please forward to a friend. Even if you didn’t enjoy reading it, still tell your friends - misery loves company :)