Posted by Raphael, July 18, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The recent news that Wal-Mart is going to sell a line of scented candles based on Paula Deen's recipes got us thinking: What are the scents going to be? Serious Eater Tahitinova clued us in that Linens 'n Things already sells them, but the scents are uninspired: Vanilla Bean, Banana Oatmeal Chip Cookie, Dark Rum Cake, Coconut Pound Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, and Banana Cream Pie.
I thought we'd get some honest Southern smells that might literally come out of Deen's kitchen. Scents like cornbread. Bacon. Pecan pie. Mac and cheese. Fried chicken. Pancakes with maple syrup and tons of butter. Bacon-donut egg burger. Velveeta fudge. Deep-fried butter. What other scents should there be?
Wal-Mart is set to sell a line of candles that will be "food-scented based on popular recipes of celebrity chef and Food Network television personality Paula Deen."
Posted by Emily Koh, June 30, 2008 at 8:00 PM
The gallon milk container has a new look at Wal-Mart and Costco—one that's designed to cut shipping costs, be more environmentally friendly, and keep milk fresher. It also costs less, at $2.18 at one Sam's Club, down from $2.58.
There's been some crying, though: Some customers complain that the boxy and spoutless shape makes them "feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk."
In fact, the jugs have caused so many gripes that Sam's Club now holds in-store demonstrations with milk and cookies to teach customers how to pour milk:
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Posted by Hannah Howard, June 9, 2008 at 7:15 PM
These tomatoes may be safe, but others may give you Salmonella poisoning. Beware.
Bountiful grape tomatoes still populate Mickey D's "premium salad," but you're out of luck if you want a tomato slice on your burger.
Reuters reported today that McDonald's and Wal-Mart stores have stopped selling certain tomatoes. Chipotle and Target are also nixing tomatoes to play it safe.
On Saturday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned U.S. consumers that the Salmonella outbreak—145 reported cases, including at least 23 hospitalizations since mid-April—is linked to raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes. The FDA says that it is safe to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home. (Salmonella is no fun—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the illness usually entails 4 to 7 days of diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps.)
The FDA first alerted consumers about the risk on June 3. It has not yet identified the source of the contaminated tomatoes, but it recognizes that the source of the contaminated tomatoes may be limited to a single grower or packer or tomatoes from a specific geographic area—which one remains a mystery. Still, it's advising restaurants and grocery stores to pull tomatoes off their shelves.
Let's hope the FDA finds the culprit before the fast-encroaching tomato season. Tomato slices at McDonald's might taste like crunchy water, but a tomato-free summer would be a small tragedy.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 7, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Remember last week's story about Costco selling Mexican Coke? This morning, because we love soda with real sugar—and you, too—an update:
alaina: mexican coke sighting at napa wal-mart
lia: link please!
lia: or did you see?
alaina: no link, i saw it myself!
lia: no photo???
alaina: it's a coke bottle
alaina: no
lia: also i did not think "napa" and "wal-mart" were allowed to be in the same sentence
alaina: me neither
(Alaina is in Napa attending Taste3, the annual conference sponsored by Robert Mondavi Winery that "aims to push the exploration and marriage of wine, food and art.")
Posted by Ed Levine, May 14, 2006 at 5:46 PM
This week the New York Times reported that Wal-Mart is about to get into organic food in a big way. At first glance this seemed like real progress. It conjured up visions of Alice Waters giving out samples of Frog Hollow peaches at Wal-Marts all over the country.
But a more careful examination of the story reveals a different scenario. As Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Assocation put it, "This model of one size fits all and lowest prices possible doesn't work in organic. Their (Wal-Mart) business model is going to wreck organic the way it's wrecking retail stores, driving out all competitors."
An editorial today in the Times got it exactly right. On one hand it's a positive step that Wal-Mart is going to sell organic food at ten per cent above the cost of conventional food. But do organic Doritos and organic Coke really represent any real progress in terms of what food most Americans consume? I don't think so. Michael Pollen's brilliant piece on this subject in the Times Magazine a few years ago should be required reading for anyone interested in the food we eat.
Don't think for a moment that Wal-Mart is going to be buying from the same local organic growers that supply your local chefs and restaurants with organic peaches and tomatoes. In fact, one aspect of Whole Foods I really resent is that they shout organic and local, but when you look closely (in NY at least) you find that local food gets really short shrift at WF. Only when companies like Whole Foods and Wal-Mart get serious about selling locally grown and sourced food as possible will real progress be made. Local food grown by responsible farmers trumps organic lettuce trucked 3,000 miles from where it's come out of the earth. Every time.
