After the pandemic, eggs were the poster child for inflation. Experts said egg prices were high because of avian flu. But then, this summer, the Department of Justice charged Big Egg with an honest to God conspiracy.

Show Notes

This episode is sponsored by LMNT. Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT's most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/gastro

Note: The egg companies in their settlement with the Department of Justice agreed to pay $3.3 million in fines and donate 53 million eggs (rather than "a few million [eggs]"). Also, Boris Yeltsin was impressed by the selection of pudding pops, not push pops.

"Justice Department Requires Egg Producers to End Coordinated Benchmark Manipulation that Artificially Inflated Prices Across the Country," June 30, 2026 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-egg-producers-end-coordinated-benchmark-manipulation

Kraft Foods Global, Inc. et al v. United Egg Producers https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/illinois/ilndce/1:2011cv08808/263305/713/

"Justice Department Sues Agri Stats for Operating Extensive Information Exchanges Among Meat Processors," Office of Public Affairs, September 28, 2023 https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-agri-stats-operating-extensive-information-exchanges-among-meat

"Four Executives and Company Charged with Price Fixing in Ongoing Investigation into Broiler Chicken Industry," Office of Public Affairs, July 29, 2021 https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/four-executives-and-company-charged-price-fixing-ongoing-investigation-broiler-chicken

"Kings Over the Necessaries of Life": Monopolization and the Elimination of Competition in America's Agriculture System, Basel Musharbash & Farm Action https://farmaction.us/kings-over-the-necessaries-of-life-monopolization-and-the-elimination-of-competition-in-americas-agriculture-system/

"To Defy the United States, Fidel Castro Built the World's Greatest Ice Cream Parlor," Alex Mayyasi, November 8, 2019 https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ice-cream-in-havana

"Hatching a Conspiracy: A BIG Investigation into Egg Prices," Basel Musharbash, March 7, 2025 https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/hatching-a-conspiracy-a-big-investigation

"Fowl Play: How Chicken Genetics Barons Created the Egg Crisis," Basel Musharbash, March 23, 2025 https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/fowl-play-how-chicken-genetics-barons

"The Egg That Cannot Be Priced," Footnote Capital, August 25, 2026 https://footnotecapital.substack.com/p/the-egg-that-cannot-be-priced

Great cooking is an art, and people make pilgrimages to restaurants that make us feel a certain way. But a restaurant is also a business. A notoriously hard business. So how do chefs and restaurateurs create these special experiences without going broke? I talk with Louis Lin and Jolyn Chen about opening their dream restaurant: Xiao Ye in Portland, Oregon.

"After Becoming Housemates, Romance Entered the Picture," Alix Wall, NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/18/fashion/weddings/after-becoming-housemates-romance-entered-the-picture.html

"Only the Bad Die Young: Restaurant Mortality in the Western US," Tian Luo and Philip B. Stark https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.8603

You can find Xiao Ye on Instagram at @xiaoyepdx or visit their website at www.xiaoyepdx.com

The state of tea in the United States is something of a national embarrassment. Josh Freedman started a tea business so more Americans can try and buy great teas from China and Taiwan. And to better understand China's economy and unique form of 'capitalism with communist characteristics.'

Show Notes

The Beijing tea market we discuss is called Maliandao.

You can find Josh's Taiwan Travelogue teas at https://phtea.substack.com/ or follow him on Instagram at @phtea_time.