Best Food

Great taste, alone, shouldn’t dictate your dietary choices. Here are 12 good reasons meat and poultry should be part of your balanced diet.

1. Protein.  Naturally and completely.  

Protein found in meat and poultry is “complete” because it contains all the amino acids essential for health.  Animal proteins are complete proteins.[i] And they occur naturally – no protein powder needed.  2. Iron rich. 

Meat, fish and poultry contains heme iron, which helps to prevent anemia because the body absorbs this iron better than non-heme iron found in plant foods such as vegetables. Heme iron foods help the body absorb non-heme iron. [ii]3. Bioavailable nutrition.   

Nutrients in meat, including iron and zinc are typically more easily absorbed and used by the body. 4. Muscle strength and maintenance. 

High- quality protein, e.g. meat and poultry, have been shown to prevent muscle loss as we age more effectively than other protein foods.[iii]5. Bone strength. 

Meatless diets have been shown to contain lower amounts of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B-12, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids, which have important roles in maintaining bone health.[iv]6. Brain function. 

Animal products like meat are the only natural sources of Vitamin B12, which promotes brain development in children[v] and helps your nervous system function properly.[vi]7. Heart health. 

Mounting, recent evidence shows that lean meat protein could help maintain healthy cardiovascular function.[vii]8. Blood Sugar Control.  

A high protein and low carbohydrate diet, which could include lean meat and poultry, can help to control blood sugars. [viii][ix]9. Zinc immunity. 

Zinc helps maintain optimal immune function and promotes wound healing.[xxi]Beef is the top dietary source of zinc in the diet.[xii]10. Selenium-rich. 

A serving of beef or lamb delivers half a human’s daily selenium needs. Selenium is an antioxidant that helps prevent cell damage, promotes proper thyroid function, and may contribute to cancer prevention.[xiii]11. Weight management. 

High protein diets that include lean meat and poultry have been shown to promote long term weight loss better than other diets.[xiv][xv]12. Tastes good. 

No explanation needed. 

Shrimp swim backward by rapidly flexing the abdomen and tail. Their food consists mostly of small plants and animals, although some shrimp feed on carrion. The female shrimp may lay from 1,500 to 14,000 eggs, which are attached to the swimming legs. The swimming larvae pass through five developmental stages before becoming juveniles.

The common European shrimp, or sand shrimp, Crangon vulgaris (Crago septemspinosus), occurs in coastal waters on both sides of the North Atlantic and grows to about 8 cm (3 inches); it is gray or dark brown with brown or reddish spots. The shrimp Peneus setiferus feeds on small plants and animals in coastal waters from North Carolina to Mexico; it attains lengths of 18 cm (7 inches). The young live in shallow bays and then move into deeper waters. Crangon vulgaris and Peneus setiferus are commercially important, as are the brown-grooved shrimp (P. aztecus) and the pink-grooved shrimp (P. duorarum). Crangon franciscorum is sold as the popular prawn on the Pacific Northwest coast.

The pistol shrimp, Alpheus, which grows to 3.5 cm (1.4 inches), stuns prey by snapping together the fingers of the large chelae, or pincers. In the Red Sea, species of Alpheus share their burrows with goby fishes. The fishes signal warnings of danger to the shrimp by body movements. The coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus, a tropical species that attains lengths of 3.5 cm (1.4 inches), cleans the scales of coral fish as the fish swims backward through the shrimp’s chelae.

Fairy shrimp, so called because of their delicate, graceful appearance, superficially resemble true shrimp but belong to a separate order, the Anostraca.

Restaurants are searching for ways to survive during the pandemic. Some are doing take-out only while some are selling staples and groceries to reduce their losses, which might give way to a new foodservice concept.

Most restaurants in the U.S. have been shut down for weeks, some for months, and there is speculation that a good percentage may never open again. Some restaurateurs from Wolfgang Puck to many local restaurants have converted to takeout-only until they are given the okay to resume their normal business. But according to Puck, there will be changes in the future, such as less tables to provide more distancing. That means his staff will shrink and his restaurants’ prices may have to increase as volume decreases, while certain fixed costs like rent remain the same.

Then there are even more entrepreneurial restaurants and caterers—even chains including Panera and Big Boy—who also added an assortment of goods they had on hand (or they were able to secure it from their foodservice distributors) to sell directly to consumers. Assortments include alcohol, boxes and cans of ingredients, flour, meats, produce and yes, even toilet paper.

This makes me wonder if this is the beginning of a new concept: a “restaurmart.”

We have seen many supermarkets enter the foodservice arena with their “grocerant” concepts with great success. Why not do the opposite in order to save the restaurant business and add extra profits for the restaurant and extra convenience for their customers? After all, lets remember that pre-coronavirus, the average customer went to a store to buy food 2.2 times a week. According to Zagat, the average person goes out to eat 4.9 times a week for lunch or dinner.

Imagine the additional profit that could be realized if, on each of those 4.9 occasions, a diner also picked up an assortment of products to bring home. For those restaurants known for their special sauces, unique recipes and even desserts, packaging them with their own branding just increases the strength of the relationship and their brand.

Major foodservice-only distributors like Sysco have already started helping their restaurant customers create these new mini markets. Its new website, Sysco Pop Up Shop, notes that “restaurants now have the opportunity to offer additional ‘essential’ products” and offers resources on how they can get started resources and grow the business.

It’s a great idea, which also helps the giant distributor whose warehouses are stocked with foods they aren’t able to sell to restaurants. (Even those who are doing takeout are reporting a fraction of their normal business.)

Come to think of it, this restaurmart concept sounds like a bit of a twist on Cracker Barrel chain, which started out in 1969 as a “old country store.” It has since grown to over 650 restaurants/country stores and its brands of meats and signature buttermilk baking and pancake mixes are sold in supermarkets throughout the country.

Restaurmarts just could be the savior of the foodservice industry.

By now you’ve seen a ton of retrospective looks at food and grocery retail over the past decade. The idea behind offering these is to learn from the past or have a chuckle at the failures while hoping we avoid a similar path. Forget it. The rules have changed and the past is not a predictor of the future.

This decade will be all about the battle between in-store grocery experiences and technology-driven solutions that try to prevent shoppers from ever setting foot in a brick-and-mortar building to buy their groceries. Brands, under steep competition from the upgraded private brands now available, are developing more direct-to-consumer subscription offerings to try to hold onto their customers and sales. As a result, they are moving toward a more complete offering that expands beyond just the product.

Grocery retailers have a unique opportunity this decade to build on the innovations and experiments of the previous one and finally put into play the changes that need to be made to keep their shoppers and even expand their market share—and it’s not about throwing more dollars against more robotics, autonomous delivery vehicles or other venture capital-backed pie-in-the-sky ventures. It’s about the shopper.

By now you’ve seen a ton of retrospective looks at food and grocery retail over the past decade. The idea behind offering these is to learn from the past or have a chuckle at the failures while hoping we avoid a similar path. Forget it. The rules have changed and the past is not a predictor of the future.

This decade will be all about the battle between in-store grocery experiences and technology-driven solutions that try to prevent shoppers from ever setting foot in a brick-and-mortar building to buy their groceries. Brands, under steep competition from the upgraded private brands now available, are developing more direct-to-consumer subscription offerings to try to hold onto their customers and sales. As a result, they are moving toward a more complete offering that expands beyond just the product.

Grocery retailers have a unique opportunity this decade to build on the innovations and experiments of the previous one and finally put into play the changes that need to be made to keep their shoppers and even expand their market share—and it’s not about throwing more dollars against more robotics, autonomous delivery vehicles or other venture capital-backed pie-in-the-sky ventures. It’s about the shopper.

You could argue that these new technologies are bringing the store closer to meeting the needs of the shopper, but are they really? Shoppers want much more from grocery stores than being able to order online—which, in most cases, offers lackluster product information and an availability-void experience—or time-efficient deliveries. (We still aren’t getting that one right, by the way.) What customers want in 2020 is a more transparent, targeted, reimagined and aspirational food shopping experience, and grocery retailers must come to their rescue. Here are three ways to accomplish this.

Offer shoppers more transparency of private brands. Your consumers packaged goods (CPG) competition is providing information on where ingredients are sourced, along with complete dietary information that goes beyond the nutritional facts and ingredient panels; transparency of manufacturing practices; sustainability; and corporate policies through on-demand education on mobile apps in quick and engaging formats (e.g., sound bites) that add value to their personal development and peer stature.

CPG manufacturers are fighting back, and if you want to maintain the advantage you already have achieved by upping the quality and unique offerings of store brands, it’s now time for grocers to up their games on that front too. The days of competing solely on quality, price and a money-back guarantee are over. Today’s shoppers expect to know who is making store brand products.

Evolve your frequent shopper program. To get closer to the shopper, especially millennials and Gen Zers, food retailers need to offer more than just cost savings in return for the data they are collecting and (hopefully) analyzing. Smarter programs will be based on a new currency that accumulates data and points based on purchases—both online and in-store—that will offer unique culinary experiences. These could include exclusive member in-store tastings and cooking classes or free one-on-one consultations with retail dietitians based on purchases that indicate a lifestyle or dietary preference such as low-sugar, non-GMO or vegan.

Establish a peer-to-peer network for your shoppers to meet and exchange ideas with each other, in-person at your store and online. Build on the proven social media communities for recipes, cooking tips and food trends where consumers have shown they want to connect with others who have similar values and interests. Create these platforms under your banner and offer rewards to those who participate to reinforce your commitment to them and acknowledge their store loyalty.

The past decade was about tech. This next one is about using tech to connect in real ways to the shopper.