Why Whole Foods Wants Smaller Stores: This Week's Grocery News

This week's grocery news roundup is all about the stuff you see every time you go shopping but might not take the time to stop and ponder. For instance, why are there so many different varieties of chocolate in the baking aisle? And what keeps kiwis and bananas so cheap as the cost of other staples only climbs higher? Learn the answers to these questions and more by reading this week's full grocery coverage below. 

If we've learned anything from the Willy Wonka Experience Debacle last week, it's that candy can be wonderful or terrible, depending on its delivery method. For Easter season 2024, The Unknown entity lurking on shelves is a lineup of four new Peeps flavors: Rice Krispies, ICEE Blue Raspberry, Sour Strawberry, and S'mores Graham Cracker. Which of these marshmallow chicks is worth placing in the Easter baskets this year? To find out, I gathered the gang together on a recent rainy winter night to taste them all. Here they are, from worst to best: - Laura Wheatman Hill Read More

At a moment when high grocery store prices seem to be challenging us with little relief in sight, it's comforting to know that one staple item has remained cheap—and will likely stay that way for a long time. Axios reports that bananas, a fruit that the United States imports more than any other country in the world by volume, have remained an affordable grocery item for years, making it one of the few historically recession-proof foods. - Dennis Lee Read More

Kiwi, despite its many nutrients and benefits, is only infrequently mentioned in the internet's endless roundups of the best superfoods. Its mellow flavor, small size, and fuzzy exterior keep it firmly planted in the "underrated produce" category. But kiwi has a lot going for it, and there are many reasons you shouldn't pass over it on your next grocery run. - Laura Wheatman Hill Read More

Whole Foods is looking to expand more widely by shrinking itself down. The Amazon-owned supermarket chain has announced that it will open its first small-format location in New York City this year, called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop. This grocery store be much smaller than the standard Whole Foods footprint: while the typical store averages 40,000 square feet, Daily Shops will range from 7,000-14,000 square feet and feature a limited selection of on-the-go options. - Dennis Lee Read More

You might consume chocolate in a thousand different forms in your day-to-day life, but the process by which it's made is not something we think about very often. Could you really explain the difference between, say, milk chocolate and Dutch chocolate? Or white and dark? Here's an explainer. - Oona O'Brien Read More