The Kitkat Scandal

Could one candy bar cause a heap of trouble? Yes That was the case with KitKats but not for the obvious reasons.It has to do with shipping the more unusual flavors from Japan to the US. The problem is a good portion went missing. it was the start of a strange mystery.

Regular contributor Amelia NIerenberg wrote about this bizarre tale in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Japanese versions of the popular candy bar are so much in demand here in the States. American candy lovers go wild for such unique flavors like melon, matcha latte and daifuku mochi. Exporter Danny Taing knows this and brought in 55,000 bars. He expected to make $250,000 dollars in profit. There was only one problem. He never received the shipment at his Carlstadt,New Jersey warehouse. THis is where it gets crazy. Mr Taing hired Shane Black, a freight broker in Sarasota Florida. His company coordinates and marshalls the thousands of trucks that ship goods across the country. For this Kitkat job Bokksu would pay him, $13,000, It seemed an easy enough and straight forward deal. He then posted  a job on akind of Craiglst for truckers . A company  HCH Trucking responded and Mr. Black corrosponded with someone called Tristan. It seemed routine.

Yet it wasn't. It was the start of shell email accounts, phantom truckers and supply chain fraud. It also  produced one seriosuly bewildered cargo freight broker. Where did the Kitkats go? When they failed to reach New Jersey after a couple of days.Mr Black had nightmares of them being somewhere in the US , chocolate oozing out of the trucks. He called Tristan who replied that one of the trucks broke down in Washungton, Pennsylvania ,a small towm just outside of Pittsburgh. That alone set up red flags. He then called the company's headquarters in Jersey City. There was chaos there.It turned out that the Kitskats never left California and luckily  half were still in deep freeze. The other half should be on the way to the Garden State, However thatload disappeared and  wound up at Island Cold Empire Storage. Mr Black tried to get the local Californian authrotities involved but no go. In the meantime the Kitkats spoiled. Mr. Taing could never resell them to Kitkat enthusiasts. He was afraid tha tpeople would get sick if they ate them. Bizarrely Mr Taing bought the company that shipped them over and cause the problem. Japanese Crate.

If anything the Kitkat scandal opened up an entire cna of worms. Authorities  should now be alerted to what's happening lost shipments. it affects everyone, from the manufacturer to the customer.

A Pop Of Tradition

Everyone is always proud of their heritage, including their culinary one. What better way to celebrate and enlighten the community  than with a restaurant highlighting different recipes and ingredients. It's happening - but with pop up eateries in dining rooms, formal and not so formal across the New York City area.It's a way of getting the flavor out there but without the high operating costs.

Regular contributor Amelia Nierenberg wrote about this growing trend in today's New York Times Food section.Home chefs literally - from all backgrounds are discovering their culinary roots and sharing them for a price. It's a fun way to connect with other of the same background along with introducing others to new dishes and tastes. These are happening in not just dining rooms  but also in dorm rooms and even barns. It's not a new phenomena. They have roots in 20th Century supper clubs, the food trucks where where laborers bought their lunches and homes where civil rights leaders were fed. The Great Recession of 2008 closed many restaurants, leaving their chefs turning to pop ups to remain solvent.This new breed is charging for them, however the pop ups are not money makers. Most advertise on Instagram and and sell tickets on line. The food offered reflect  different heritages. There is Trinidadian and Cambodian, Columbian and African-American cuisines. There is also pop up restaurants  featuring the foods of Congo and Venezuela.

Some chefs such as Leigh-Ann Martin went to Trinidad, not just to escape the New York winters but also reconnect with her Trinidadian culinary history. She also visited other islands such as Grenada and Barbados, bringing their recipes to her Union City, New Jersey apartment.From there she created Table For Four, an $85 dining experience.One dinner was beach side themed, with fruit sellers and even soccer games. On a closer to home theme, Omar Tate creates an American meal with six courses with a nod to Philadelphia where he was raised and North Carolina. There was one dish, chicken croquettes with rose hip jelly which is what black caterers and chefs served to their white clients. For a more exotic fare there is Stephanie Bonnin's Le Tropi in Brooklyn. A trained chef, she recently drew on flavors from Colombian's Pacific Coast. There was shrimp with encocado, a coconut sauce. Cambodian food is made at the pop up Kreung run by mother and daughter Kim Eng Mann and  Chincayriya Un in Rhode Island and the Catskills. Linda A. Sebisaho brings her native Congolese cooking in Linda A.Cooks where there are such dishes as chikwangue, a fermented cassava paste along with sakasaka,a stew made from the cassava leaves that also has catfish and grilled goat.  For those who love Venezuelan cuisine, then book a small table at Mercedes Golip's pop up where you can get ham stuffed bread and tamales.

Pop up restaurants are a great way of introducing your heritage to the community. It brings chefs closer to their past and sets their futures. They also bring good and different cuisines to food lovers all over.

A Kitchen Empty

It is sheer agony to lose anyone, even worse when the person was the love of your life. The grief affects everything, including cooking and eating, How does one survive? Can he or she get through and go back to creating and eating favorite recipes?

That was the question raised today in Amelia Nierenberg's article in today's New York Times Food section.Ms. Nierenberg often writes about the intersections about food and culture. How does eating and mourning pair up? she has found answers from grief counselors and groups who help widows and widowers cope with the loss of not just a spouse but a cooking and restaurant partner. New York grief counselor, Jill Cohen says that  cooking alone could be considered the sixth stage of grief, a take on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross disputed theory The Five Stages of Grief. Bereavement counselors said that it's only been in the last decade that academics and professionals have been directly addressing the relationship between grieving and food. Many widows (which now is a gender neutral term) found not only eating a chore but also cooking. It is the men who have to learn or relearn how to boil  and roast along with shopping properly for themselves. They went  directly from their mothers' kitchens to their wives.

Yet it is the loneliness that can be devastating. Gone are the conversations, and the companionship that every meal once had. Some just don't eat, their sorrow is that overpowering. Some had trouble swallowing, their throats constricting forcing them to eat almost nothing. Weight losses of up to seventy-one pounds have been reported. Deborah Stephens of Irmo, South Carolina lived on just a cup of coffee in the morning and a cheese stick in the afternoon. Another could only stand the tastes of popcorn and chocolate. Thankfully there are cooking groups that help alleviate the loneliness.  The Chicago suburbs has Culinary Grief Therapy which grew out of a study following a widow's difficulties eating, shopping and cooking. From there, the lead author of the study, Heather Nickrand created a spin off entitled Culinary Grief Therapy which uses demonstrations and group discussions over meals on how to shop, cook and eat for one. The recipes are simple with roasted veggies in olive oil and a simple roast chicken. It's a good way to connect with others and develop new friendships.

It is tough to lose someone. It is even tougher to continue, yet there are ways to cope. They involve grief  therapy where  new ways and even better new friendships are cultivated.

If someone close to you is grieving, please check in on them. Go food shopping with them, take them out to dinner every now and then, but most of all make sure they're eating - and eating properly.

The Ban On Baking

Home bakers can make a pretty good side business , using their home kitchen as a commercial one, women - and men have launched whole empires by using their humble stoves and pans. Except if you're in New Jersey. The Garden State doesn't not want home food industries to grow.

This was an interesting subject in Wednesday's New York Times Food section. Amelia Nierenberg,  who usually writes for The Boston Globe wrote this informative piece. Many people  - from Famous Amos to Mrs Fields started in their homes. There were no regulations which allowed them freedom to thrive and grow. I'm sorry to say this is not happening here in New Jersey. The state has this rogue law that restricts home bakers like Heather Russinko from selling her elaborately decorated cake pops. It states that it's illegal to sell homemade foods for profit. Fines can go up to $1,000. What does Ms. Rossinko do about this? For one thing she can only donate her creations to bake sales or just simply give them away. This doesn't apply to just baked goods, it applies to everything from homemade meals to candy . The law is based on a 1906 sanitary code that used to be in all the states. However many of them got rid of the law yet home kitchens have to have occasional safety inspections along with having a cap on the amount of money made.

In the last decade nineteen states , including Washington D.C. have moved to allow home businesses. The industry is thriving, with sales reaching a whopping twenty billion this year alone. This is small comfort to New Jersey entrepreneurs wanting to grow their businesses. She and the New Jersey Home Bakers Association has been lobbying Trenton  for the right to sell home made goods. A bill that would have allowed this has passed three times in State Assembly. Yet State Senator Joe Vitale, the Chairman of Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee has never put it up for a vote? Why? There are much more important issues at stake. The Home Bakers association did get their revenge by suing the state health department saying the ban violates the equal protection clause in the New Jersey Constitution.They also enlisted an influential ally - the Institute for Justice a non profit libertarian public interest law firm out of Arlington, Virginia. The group has already started the National Food Freedom Initiative in 2013 to challenge laws related to food. Hopefully New Jersey will be like Wyoming and North Dakota and have food freedom acts. These allow home entrepreneurs to cook and bake foods without any restrictions whatsover.

Home bakers  will still have to wait for the restrictions. Hopefully their wait will be a short one and restrictions  will be  lifted. They have delicious food and an audience hungry for them.