Chicken & Coffee with sugar

Reporter Roberto Ferdman has caught my eye with sevearl interesting food-related pieces in the Washington Post this week. Yesterday was this interesting post on chicken, arguing that chicken consumption is set to rise worldwide and even take over the mantle of "most popular meat" from pork. That matters for a lot of reasons: just ask the farmers on the Eastern Shore who raise broilers! Meat consumption is pretty bad for the environment, but as meat goes, chicken is among the least offensive. Consider this graph from the article showing the carbon impact of various meats:

I wouldn't have guessed that salmon was worse than chicken, but those are the numbers (originally from the Environmental Working Group).

Ferdman's second piece is about the popularity of instant coffee. Although we in the US scorn it, popularity is huge and growing worldwide. While one commentator says that it's because our tastes are more sophisticated, a longer read makes it sound like it's a pretty arbitrary decision. I mean, we drink whatever it is comes out of those Keurig machines, and people in Europe who prefer quality coffee also drink instant occasionally. For whatever reason we just don't. Curious! (I'm certainly one of them.)

Finally, I just came across this note on a battle at the FDA over a label indicating whether a food item contains added sugars, and if so, how much. Fascinating stuff, Mr. Ferdman! Thanks!