The Economist's Summer BBQ Index tracks rising cost of American cookout staples
By
The Economist
Summary
This article from The Economist introduces their "Summer BBQ Index," tracking the rising cost of classic American cookout staples like hamburgers. It opens with a literary reference to John Updike's description of America as a "hamburger kingdom" and notes that hamburgers were once a cheap, democratic meal available to almost everyone. The piece appears to be a brief preview or introduction to a broader economic analysis of summer food prices.
Source
bskyThe Economist's Summer BBQ Index tracks rising cost of American cookout staplesecon.stKey quotes
· 3 pulledFEW THINGS sit closer to the heart of Americana than the hamburger.
In the early 1970s John Updike, an acute observer of American life, described the country as 'a hamburger kingdom, one cuisine, under God, indivisible, with pickles and potato chips for all'.
At the time, the hamburger was a democratic meal: cheap, plentiful and available to almost everyone.
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