Welcome to Deep Dish, your weekly summary of food and entertainment updates. Previously, we talked about Costco’s legal action against the Trump administration
Since assuming his role in President Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched an assault on the established patterns of American diets, claiming they are deficient in protein and overly reliant on processed foods. His most recent effort in his “campaign against saturated fats” (his words) is likely his greatest achievement: an inverted food pyramid that officially suggests his ideas for healthy eating to the American public.
This week, grocery store chain Wegmans is gathering your biometric information, while cupcake sensation from the 2010s, Sprinkles, is shutting down, together with the infamous (or perhaps more accurately, infamous) LA establishment Horses.
RFK Jr. Truly Urges You to Increase Your Meat Intake
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has elevated his pro-protein mission this week by reviving and flipping the food pyramid (which was rendered outdated by the Obama administration in favor of a plate illustration) to highlight red meat and full-fat dairy. Where earlier recommendations advised caution against excessive consumption of red meat due to its high saturated fat levels and association with heart disease, RFK Jr.’s revised depiction places it at the pinnacle. This has raised concerns among some health experts: Stanford nutrition specialist Christopher Gardner remarked to NPR that he felt “very disheartened” by the new recommendations, which he claims “[go against] numerous decades of evidence and studies.” While every individual may choose to adhere to the recommendations or not, public schools and federal food initiatives like SNAP have considerably less flexibility. —Li Goldstein, associate newsletter editor
Big Brother is Monitoring Your Grocery Shopping
Earlier this month, the same peculiar notice began appearing at various Wegmans outlets across New York. “Biometric identifier information gathered at this site,” they announced. This is, it turns out, a convoluted way of stating that Wegmans will gather and retain details about your facial structure, your voiceprint, and your eye scans. Why is a supermarket chain collecting and storing so much of your personal information? To ensure your safety, evidently.
In a statement to Gothamist, which covered the situation, a Wegman’s representative stated: “Similar to many retailers, we utilize surveillance cameras to identify individuals who may endanger our staff, customers, or business operations. In a select number of our stores that show heightened risk, we have implemented cameras fitted with facial recognition technology.” Privacy activist Will Owen, with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, informed Gothamist that keeping this sort of sensitive data could expose shoppers to risks of hacks and leaks.
“It’s really unsettling that immigrant New Yorkers entering Wegmans and other grocery stores need to be concerned about their highly sensitive biometric information potentially ending up in the hands of ICE,” he stated. —Sam Stone, staff writer
The Era of Sprinkles Cupcakes is Officially Over
The cupcake years of the Obama era are officially over—Sprinkles Cupcakes has shuttered all of its outlets as of December 31, 2025. Candace Nelson, who founded the brand in 2005 and sold it to a private equity group in 2012, went on TikTok to lament the disappearance of her cherished cupcake legacy.
She didn’t receive much empathy from commenters, who noted that selling her business to a private equity firm wasn’t the best strategy for ensuring its sustainability. “If you wanted a legacy, private equity was a poor choice,” reads a comment that received over one hundred seventeen thousand likes. Sprinkles now joins a lengthy list of entities ultimately brought down by private equity. —S.S.
