April 27 2026

Holy war

Food & Drink

Farewell to America’s artificial food dyes

Start saying your goodbyes, America. Tartrazine-tinted pickles, oranges with a Citrus Red No. 2 spray tan and maraschino cherries glowing with erythrosine – all are on the way out the door, thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crusade against artificial food colorants. And if you’ve got any tears left to cry, here’s another emotional hit: Target just announced it is pulling cereals containing petroleum-based dyes from its shelves by the end of May. Loving you was red, Froot Loops. Critics jeered that a voluntary program would never get anywhere, but Kennedy has been fairly successful That Taylor Swift song really fits the bill on RFK’s anti-dye crusade. Losing them will be blue like we’ve never known: MAHA-friendly foods will have to swap Blue No.

Robert F. Moss

Is barbecue a noun or a verb?

Memorial Day is approaching, the traditional kickoff for the American barbecue season – or for grilling season, depending on where you are in the country. In some regions – say, New Jersey and northward – if someone asks you to come over for “a barbecue” during the holiday weekend, you’re likely to find a charcoal or gas grill loaded up with hot dogs, hamburgers, or, if the host is really putting on the dog, thick ribeye steaks. Western-inspired parties took off in the 1930s – though digging a hole in the lawn was kind of a pain For most folks in the South, calling such fare “barbecue” is painful. Here we call those events “cookouts,” and we would say the hosts are “grilling,” not “barbecuing.