(“Marnie Shure”sounds like a pseudonym)

A Sriracha Shortage Is Coming Amid Pepper Supply Issues
Food & Wine | May 9, 2024 | Marnie Shure

The rooster bottle won’t get shipped anywhere until at least September.

Marnie Shure is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience.

Oh — OK. I guess not. No need to get all defensive about it.

For the past six years, she has been primarily focused on food publications, covering restaurant reviews, recipes, breaking news, fast food and grocery taste tests, industry trends, and more. She previously helmed The Takeout, a Midwest-based food website.

Take that, Oppo!

Over the past few years, fans of Huy Fong Sriracha, the hot and garlicky chili pepper sauce in the iconic rooster bottle with the green cap, have experienced a roller coaster of emotions and heartbreak typically reserved for sports fans and soap opera viewers.

Wait… I was reading about sauce, and now suddenly I’m watching soap operas?

The Washington Post reports that after years of wavering availability and recipe changes, Huy Fong is facing severe weather that threatens its pepper supply — conditions that could lead to yet another sriracha shortage.

Bottles of Sriracha Are Selling for Over $30 as the Shortage Enters Its Second Year

You’re yanking my chain, aren’t you? I’m just sitting here with my chips, watching soap operas.

Huy Fong recently canceled all forthcoming shipments to wholesalers and notified them that sriracha production is on pause until after Labor Day — nearly four months from now. There is currently a severe drought in Mexico, where Huy Fong’s red winter jalapeño peppers are grown, and the high temperatures and dry conditions can cause the plants to stop ripening altogether, never achieving their prized red color. According to a letter obtained by the Post, the company says the peppers haven’t achieved the ideal shade (they’re still too green), and it would affect the hue of the finished product. As such, Huy Fong will wait until the next growing season later in 2024.

Noes! Can’t UCLA protestors issue demands?

To the casual observer, this shortage might not seem like the biggest deal. After all, there are dozens of varieties of sriracha available in most supermarkets and specialty shops whose supply doesn’t appear to be threatened as Huy Fong’s is. Yet the prevalence of Huy Fong is arguably the reason that any other brands have proliferated in the United States at all. The product debuted in 1980 at a time when America’s global cuisine was more siloed, and it took decades for Huy Fong to make the leap from Asian supermarkets to the American mainstream.

OK. I’m a casual observer. Next crisis?

Transgenders, heck!

The funniest thing about that show was that the opening credits had her dancing in a strip bar, and she was so awful at it.

At least it doesn’t involve Nazis.

And Nazis:

Denver, take note:

Saudi Forces ‘Told To Kill’ To Clear Land for Eco-City
BBC | May 9 | BBC

Saudi authorities have permitted the use of lethal force to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies, an ex-intelligence officer has told the BBC.

Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe in the Gulf state to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project.

One of them was subsequently shot and killed for protesting against eviction.

“Do you expect to use Eminent Domain, BlackGoldFinger?”

“No, Mr. Bond: I expect to use Imminent Demise!”

The Saudi government and Neom management refused to comment.

Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500bn (£399bn) eco-region, is part of its Saudi Vision 2030 strategy which aims to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.

Its flagship project, The Line, has been pitched as a car-free city, just 200m (656ft) wide and 170km (106 miles) long –

? A bowling alley with shops on both sides?

(Too bad it’s car-free, or it could make a nice drag strip.)

though only 2.4km of the project is reportedly expected to be completed by 2030.

Dozens of global companies, several of them British, are involved in Neom’s construction.

The area where Neom is being built has been described as the perfect “blank canvas” by Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

Well, with a little blood spatter around the frame, but otherwise perfectly blank.

Intern Applicants:

“Is this room tilted?”