How the Iran war and surging oil prices are affecting consumers at the gas pump and beyond

NEW YORK (AP) — As the war in Iran ratchets up, the price of crude oil has been swinging sharply. Consumers are already feeling the effects of the war and its destabilizing effect on worldwide energy production.

Gasoline prices are climbing, and many people will find some of the most immediate economic pain at the pump.

But you don't have to drive a car to be affected. Nearly all goods — including food — that are bought and sold must travel from where they’re produced. Those costs will climb with higher gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices.

And the spike in oil prices — surpassing $110 a barrel, then retreating — will likely be a big factor for U.S. inflation. As the war continues, some experts say the price of, well, everything could be affected.

Muslim community breaks fast at Grand Iftar to raise funds for people in Sudan, Gaza

Almost 300 people from the Winnipeg Muslim community assembled Sunday evening for a Grand Iftar to break their fast and to donate to those who are suffering in Sudan and Gaza.

The iftar — the evening meal served at sunset to break the daily fast during the month of Ramadan, which began Feb. 17 and continues until March 19 — was sponsored by the Manitoba office of Islamic Relief Canada, an international organization that provides humanitarian aid around the world.

A total of $71,000 was raised at the iftar, which will be used to provide food, vouchers, medicine, water and hygiene kits for people in Sudan, which is facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises due to conflict. Food and water will also be supplied to people in Gaza.

This is the fifth time Islamic Relief Canada has held a Grand Iftar during Ramadan in Winnipeg. About $100,000 was raised last year.

Purim treats shared with others

Volunteers with the grassroots, non-profit organization Urban Wagons have been walking the downtown streets of Winnipeg every Monday evening for the last three years offering seasonal clothing, self-care products, bottled water, hot soup, plastic wrapped sandwiches, granola bars and fruit to any unsheltered and vulnerable individuals that they encounter.

This week their food offerings will include a new item: triangular shaped fruit or poppyseed filled pastries called hamantashen. Hamantashen are the traditional food associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Purim is a widely celebrated, joyous festival commemorating events that occurred in the fourth century BCE after Haman, an adviser to the Persian King Ahasuerus, plotted, with the king’s assent, to murder the regime’s Jewish population. Haman’s plan was foiled when the king’s wife, Queen Esther, a secret Jew, risked her life by revealing her true identity to her husband and entreated him not to annihilate her people. Thanks to her courage, the Jewish population of Persia was saved and Haman was punished for his malevolent machinations.

The story of Purim is recounted in the Old Testament Book of Esther, or Megillah Esther, which is read aloud in synagogue on the eve of and during the day of the holiday. Listening to the reading of the Megillah is one of the main mitzvot, or commandments, associated with Purim, which begins this year on the evening of March 2.

Bread Box bake shop brings tastes of Fort Garry Hotel to general public

Ida Albo is on a roll.

After opening a yoga studio and then a skincare clinic at 280 Fort St., the Winnipeg entrepreneur has added a bake shop to the building. The Bread Box had a soft opening on Wednesday and celebrated its grand opening on Thursday.

The menu features items served in the Fort Garry Hotel, located one kilometre south of the shop, where Albo is an owner and the managing partner. The menu includes the hotel’s organic sourdough bâtard and country loaf, made using a 13-year-old wild Manitoba grape starter.

Guests have booked stays at the hotel specifically to stock up on the bâtard (an oval or oblong loaf), Albo said, adding she’s excited to finally share the Fort Garry’s food beyond the hotel’s walls.

Heavenly Coco Cafe owners order up Chilean, Portuguese pride

A taekwondo lesson and a chat — that’s how a new Chilean- and Portuguese-owned café was born in Winnipeg.

Family embraces challenges, rewards of launching a fruit orchard

Growing up on a farm near Boissevain taught Kelvin Hildebrandt many things. But becoming an orchardist has meant taking a comprehensive and strategic approach to acquiring a whole new set of skills.

In the process, Hildebrandt has consulted with local orchardists, including well-known growers like Betty Kehler and Bob Pizey who ran Plum Ridge Farm, a popular u-pick orchard located in the Interlake region near Teulon.

“They taught me a great deal,” says Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt has also been influenced by Jean Spencer who owned a 150-tree apple orchard near Miami. “Jean was very welcoming and let me take care of her trees for a while,” he says.

Food truck operating out of back lane shut down

A food truck that operated in a Tyndall Park neighbourhood back lane has been shut down for breaking multiple city bylaws.

Jaspi’s Recipes food truck had its health permit pulled and the vehicle was ordered to be towed from Dexter Street for contravening residential weight restrictions and not having the proper permits to operate a home-based business.

City spokesperson Pam McKenzie confirmed Thursday bylaw officers visited the property and ordered the truck removed from the alley on Tuesday.

Area resident Christine Mallari told the Free Press earlier this week the owner had been serving food out of the truck for months and, with it, came countless cars driving down the alley and litter pilling up against the adjacent fences.

7-Eleven Canada looks to franchising, restaurant model and egg sandwiches for growth

TORONTO - There’s a sandwich foodies have flown thousands of kilometres to Japan to try and have strategized how to get through customs to share with friends back home. Though it sells for just a few bucks and comes wrapped in plastic, it even got the stamp of approval from late food journalist Anthony Bourdain who labelled it “pillows of love.”

That sandwich — a tamago sando, or Japanese-style egg salad sandwich — comes from 7-Eleven, one of the world’s biggest convenience store chains.

The treat, which nestles a generous heap of cooked eggs and Kewpie mayonnaise between fluffy pieces of crustless milk bread, is about to make its way to Canada on March 4.

But for 7-Eleven, it's much more than a sandwich. It's a small part of a broader, five-year push to deepen the chain's presence in Canada and help it grow in an environment where everyone is now their competitor.

McDonald’s Canada launches late-night meal collab with Drake brand OVO

TORONTO - McDonald's Canada has cooked up a collaboration with rapper Drake's brand.

The fast-food giant has launched a new late-night munchies meal with OVO.

The star of the meal is the Nite Sprite, which mixes Sprite with blue raspberry syrup and comes in a black paper cup with the OVO owl on it.

It is being sold alone or as part of the Afters meal, which also includes a Junior Chicken or a McDouble paired with a poutine.

‘Neighbourhood staple’ Oakwood Cafe to shutter

At one of the Oakwood Cafe’s last lunch rushes, one might guess the restaurant packed full of diners was influenced by the announcement a day earlier the decades-old South Osborne neighbourhood institution would be closing its doors for good.

That’s partially true — some customers beeline to veteran server Kendra Menard with questions, well-wishes and hugs — but every time it happens, a chain reaction follows: diners just here for lunch, shocked, ask their companions if it’s true, if the Oakwood is really closing.

Menard has been a server at the Oakwood for 23 years, almost half her life. It shows: while speaking with the Free Press on Friday, she welcomes guests by name and preps drinks at tables reserved by regulars before they show up.

Pointing to a single-seat table, she tells a story of a regular, Bob, who was at that table for breakfast nearly seven days a week for years. Menard’s children shovelled his snow and staff would call to check on him if he didn’t show up.

Food inflation spiked 7.3% in January. Here’s what’s driving the increase

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada reported an easing in the headline inflation rate Tuesday but a jump in the pace of food inflation amid tax changes and lingering pressures at the grocery store continue to put the squeeze on consumers.

StatCan said Tuesday that the annual rate of inflation edged down to 2.3 per cent in January. Economists had expected inflation to hold steady at 2.4 per cent.

The agency said gas prices were 16.7 per cent lower year-over-year in January, largely thanks to the end of the consumer carbon price in April. Shelter inflation — long a pain for households in Canada — also fell to its lowest level in nearly five years as rent pressures abate.

Those declines helped offset food inflation, which accelerated to 7.3 per cent annually in January from 6.2 per cent a month earlier.

Food inflation expected to jump in January amid tax changes: economists

OTTAWA - Economists expect tax changes from a year ago will result in a year-over-year surge in food prices when Statistics Canada reports January inflation figures later this week.

StatCan will publish its January consumer price index report on Tuesday, a day later than originally scheduled.

The agency recently adopted a Monday publishing schedule for the consumer price index but shifted the January release to account for a regional holiday in eight provinces.

A Reuters poll of economists expects the annual rate of inflation held steady at 2.4 per cent in January, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Manitoba to study food prices

The Manitoba government has followed through on its promise to conduct a study on groceries in a bid to lower food costs.

Project leads will investigate whether differential pricing — in which shoppers are charged different prices by the same retailer based on customer segment, location, time or demand — is occurring in Manitoba.

Antitrust and anti-competition policies, supply chain vulnerabilities and geographic food deserts will also be probed, the government said Wednesday.

“We know Manitobans are struggling with the price of food, and we know that the prices of food continue to grow in ways that are very concerning,” Finance Minister Adrien Sala told reporters.

Hampers help spread ‘Ramadan warmth’

In a small building on St. Anne’s Road, packages of dried chickpeas, dates and rose water are stuffed into cardboard boxes.

The boxes are neatly packed along an assembly line with about a dozen items before being handed off to a table of young women who wrap them in clear cellophane adorned with polka dots and seal it with a purple ribbon.

“We want to make it feel a little special and make it look nice and put together. Because we could just give them a basket, but we want to make sure it looks nice,” said volunteer wrapper Sumha Ali.

The group of 16 volunteers hope to pack 175 food hampers in just two hours. After all, there’s no time to waste: Ramadan is only two weeks away and they want to get hampers in the hands of families well before it begins.

After 80 years, Minute Maid’s frozen canned juices are getting put on ice

Minute Maid helped make orange juice a year-round morning staple in 1946, when it started shipping cans of frozen juice around the U.S.

But 80 years later, the brand's parent company is halting sales of frozen juice concentrates in the U.S. and Canada, saying it wants to focus on the fresh juices that customers now prefer.

“We are discontinuing our frozen products and exiting the frozen can category in response to shifting consumer preferences,” The Coca-Cola Co., which owns Minute Maid, said Wednesday in a statement.

Minute Maid’s frozen juices – including several varieties of orange juice, lemonade and limeade – will be discontinued by April, with inventory available while supplies last, Coca-Cola said.

Low/no alcohol drinks officially a movement

An increasing number of lounges and eateries are offering more (and more innovative) mocktails, as well as alcohol-free beers and wines. The number of dealcoholized options at grocery stores, beer vendors, Liquor Marts and the like has never been higher. In short, the low/no-alc phenomenon is here to stay.

Fans mourn closure of cupcake vending machine company Sprinkles Cupcakes

NEW YORK (AP) — Sprinkles Cupcakes, a company famous for selling sweet treats in vending machines known as “cupcake ATMs,” has shut down after 20 years of operation around the United States, according to its former owner.

“Even though I sold the company over a decade ago, I still have such a personal connection to it, and this isn’t how I thought the story would go,” said Candace Nelson, who started the company after she lost her job in 2005. The closure was announced Dec. 30.

Nelson started Sprinkles Cupcakes in her own kitchen, and the first location was in a small Beverly Hills storefront that had previously been a sandwich shop. The brand would go on to ascend to national fame, and fans took to social media following the company's announcement to lament the closure.

The company's cupcake-dispensing machines in malls and airports briefly went viral on TikTok for the not-so-subtle “I love Sprinkles” jingle that played repeatedly while a mechanical arm delivered the dessert.

Peace by Chocolate and NuttyHero products added to pistachio recall due to salmonella

TORONTO - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has added several Peace by Chocolate and NuttyHero products to its ongoing recall of pistachios possibly contaminated with salmonella.

The latest recall published Friday includes Peace by Chocolate bars and assorted chocolates sold across Canada.

They may have been sold individually or as part of a variety pack.

The affected products include Dubai Style Chocolate Pistachio and Kunafa Bar, The Peace Maker Specialty Bars, Trans Canada Trail — Peace Seeker, the Classic Box, the Proudly Canadian box and assorted filled chocolates.

Filipino-style fried-chicken biz off to a sizzling start

Before we begin, John Tadeo wants to make it abundantly clear that Popoy’s, the tag he and his girlfriend Patricia Santiago settled on for their Filipino-style fried-chicken biz, isn’t a play on an international fried-chicken chain that bears the name of a certain, spinach-loving sailor-man.

When Tadeo was a youngster growing up in the Philippines, his paternal grandmother never called him anything but Popoy, a derivative of Popo, which is Tagalog for little boy or child. His parents continue to address him by that term of affection to this day, so last winter, when he and Santiago were tossing around potential names for their fledgling enterprise, they agreed Popoy’s Golden Chicken had a better ring to it than John’s or Patricia’s.

“I guess if somebody associated with Popeyes (Louisiana Kitchen) ever tells us we can’t call ourselves (Popoy’s), we’d probably just change it to Poy’s,” Tadeo says, standing next to Santiago in the commercial kitchen at Riverview Community Centre, where they accept pickup orders on a regular basis, usually every other weekend.

“But since Popoy is my name, I’m not sure what argument they’d have.”

During World Vegan Month, vegans across generations share their reasons for embracing the lifestyle

November is World Vegan Month, an event celebrated worldwide to shine a light on what it means to be vegan.

The U.K.-based Vegan Society defines veganism as: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment.”

In other words, vegans are fully plant-powered.

While veganism was once considered an option from the fringes, it’s now much better recognized, discussed and practiced by old and young, famous and not.

Halloween pumpkin waste is a methane problem, but chefs and farmers have solutions

Don’t let your Halloween pumpkin haunt the landfill this November.

More than 1 billion pounds (454 million kilograms) of pumpkins rot in U.S. landfills each year after Halloween, according to the Department of Energy.

Yours doesn’t have to go to waste. Experts told us your pumpkins can be eaten, composted or even fed to animals. Here’s how.

Cooking with pumpkin waste

Forgotten Flavours Artisan Bakery fills Pennyloaf void on Corydon

After nearly a year, the smell of fresh bread will once again fill a Corydon Avenue bakery.

The sign out front no longer reads “Pennyloaf Bakery,” and the staff inside are no longer employed by former clothing mogul and entrepreneur Pepper Foster.

Instead, an emblem for Forgotten Flavours Artisan Bakery faces passersby. Owners Chris and Maria Holbrow busy themselves inside 858 Corydon Ave., preparing for the Winnipeg shop’s first day open Tuesday.

“We’re trying to complement the space and ensure that we can fill a void that was very sad to see go,” Chris Holbrow said. “We have a great product to offer.”

Flour & Flower plants roots with Waterloo Street location as demand for unique cakes, cookies decorated with edible flowers grows

Rachel Nedelec’s baking has reached the Grammys and Australia, an international fashion house and at least one yoga studio.

Next week, Flour & Flower will have a permanent home — its first brick-and-mortar bakery.

“I said, ‘I want it, I need it, this is my space,’” Nedelec recounted, laughing.

She and her real estate agent had heard the spot at 530 Waterloo St. was coming available. It was déjà vu: Nedelec first toured the site in early 2020, when her business was not yet half a year old.

Pandemic isolation impacted our relationship with food, self-image

Food has been a global preoccupation during the pandemic. Home cooking became a necessary lockdown pastime and sourdough bread became shorthand for the many food trends that tore through social media. At the same time, one Winnipeg dietitian has seen a rise in emotional and disordered eating over the last year and a half.

“A lot of the things that people use to cope have changed,” says Raschelle Sabourin, a registered dietitian who runs a virtual nutrition counselling practice locally. “People were more isolated and there’s a lack of routine… and people’s relationships changed, so that caused more stress and people are sometimes using food to fill that void.”

Sabourin says that while using food as a coping mechanism can be a quick fix for quelling difficult emotions, the comfort of binge eating doesn’t last.

“For the short term, they might feel really good, but in the long term they’re not feeling good after emotional eating,” she says.