Displaying items by tag: food

Dining out should be more than just sustenance—it should spark joy, feel meaningful, and remain accessible. Yet in recent years, the restaurant experience has often felt heavy, shaped by societal shifts, economic pressures, and global crises. 

This year’s standout restaurants embody creativity, community, and a sense of fun. In New Orleans, Acamaya highlights pre-Hispanic Mexican cooking with dishes like smoky huitlacoche arroz negro, served in an elegant, Mexico City-inspired setting. Seattle’s Atoma redefines modern American cuisine with a global twist, offering sourdough crumpets and XO beef tartare in a cozy Craftsman house. Budonoki in Los Angeles blends Thai and Japanese flavors with LA flair, serving playful dishes like pandan-coconut soft serve in a lively neighborhood hub.

In Asheville, Good Hot Fish fries up exceptional fish sandwiches, becoming a community cornerstone. Vermont’s Frankie’s channels farm-to-table charm with family-style meals in a historic venue. Each restaurant offers a unique escape, where exceptional food and hospitality take center stage.

Finsum: The restaurant also bring an atmosphere that can elevate the dining experience 

Home cooks always have new ingredients and methods to explore but balancing curiosity with reliable recipes and limited time is challenging. Recent surveys reveal a trend towards quick, budget-friendly meals, with 54% of home cooks focusing on time-saving and low-effort recipes. 

"Quick and easy" dishes are those taking 30 minutes or less, and simplicity in ingredients is increasingly preferred. Creative recipe mash-ups and pantry-friendly cooking are on the rise. Additionally, international ingredients are becoming more accessible, encouraging home cooks to experiment with global flavors.

Many professional cooks are seeing the benefits of incorporating a many different international options for a new twist and elevating the culinary experience. 

Finsum: These diverse options could help round out the kitchen for your next meals.

In 2024, the Michelin Guide saw new additions including ten Bib Gourmands, four Green Stars, and six One Stars in the Golden state alone. This year, California continues to impress with fifteen new entries. LA County features standout spots such as Manohar’s Delhi Palace for North Indian cuisine and Elf Cafe for Mediterranean fare. 

Cedro Italian Restaurant in Newbury Park offers authentic handmade pastas, while SoCal’s taco scene welcomes Lola Gaspar. But it’s not just the West Coast that is popping with starts, New York which already boasts over 300 Michelin Guide restaurants has some new additions. 

Thai food fans will find themselves delighted by a family inspired restaurant Bangkok Super Club from Chef Max Wittawat. Meanwhile Barrio is a newly added Puerto Rican restraint featuring vibrant colors to match its delicious meals. 

Finsum: The Michelin Guide hosts a variety of restaurants to impress clients across the culinary spectrum. 

(New York)

You probably have not even registered it, but food prices have risen sharply since late last year. One big reason why this is going mostly unnoticed is that economists, and thus the media, like to report inflation with food and energy stripped out. According to Jefferies, “Almost unnoticed, broad food and agricultural prices have climbed vertically”. So the question is who will benefit, and luckily that is quite clear. Firstly, fertilizer companies tend to do well when food prices are high and are uncorrelated to other asset classes. And secondly, agricultural machinery is a big winner. The sector is already experiencing exceptional supply tightness, which is bullish for pricing. According to Barron’s “large tractor prices up roughly 20% year-over-year and small tractors up about 50%, on the back of significantly tighter inventories”.

FINSUM: Deere and AgCo seem like quite good buys given this backdrop.

(Houston)

Commodities are doing very well this year. Every big bank, including Goldman Sachs, thinks we may be starting a new commodities super cycle. The big question is exactly which commodities and who will be the big winners. Everything from food, to metals, to oil has been rising and this creates some clear winners, particularly producers of those commodities. That means a big windfall for countries like Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Chile, who are big net exporters of various raw materials. It is net importers that get hurt the worst, with an absolute behemoth—China—likely to suffer the most, as it is one of the largest buyers of commodities in the world. In fact, it almost single-handed drove the big commodities boom in the 2000s.

FINSUM: So the key here is picking the right emerging markets. Additionally, investors may want to double-think investing in oil, as production hikes could undermine prices quickly.