Well, dear readers, this columnist (and editor) has just gotten her first new boss in 36 years. As I’m sure you’ve already read on page 1, Jeff Metzger has sold the business that he and the late, great Dick Bestany founded in 1978 to Alexander Wissel, the proud new owner and CEO of Best-Met Publishing Co., Inc. Alex has some big shoes to fill, and having gotten to know him in the past couple of months, I have no worries on that score. He will be out and about with Jeff and me – along with Maria Maggio and Kevin Gallagher up in Food Trade News territory – quite a bit in the coming months, and I hope many of you have a chance to meet him. He’s extremely personable, energetic, creative, and eager to learn about the industry.
About those shoes, though. When I started with Best-Met on a part-time basis, I really didn’t expect that I’d still be around 36 years later. But, working with Dick and Jeff was something I was very fortunate to get to do, so when the opportunity for me to join the team on a full-time basis as general manager of the now-defunct Food World Information Services, it was an opportunity that I grabbed onto with high hopes. And, as you know, I never let go.
As I wrote in 2023 after Dick passed away, he was the best mentor anyone new to the world of business could have hoped to have. His people skills were the very best and I like to think some of them rubbed off on me over the years. I worked closely with Dick for many years before segueing over to the newspaper side of the business in 2001 when I was named editor. That’s when I began to work more closely with Jeff, learning about the publishing side of the business. It has been an experience, I can tell you. Helping Jeff fine tune his column every month was sometimes daunting (his Taking Stock word craft is so unique and expressive) but always interesting. I would often have to ask him to explain what he meant by an odd-to-me phrase like “land-office business” (learn something new almost every day). There was also the proofreading of movie titles, song titles, and lots of other cultural fodder he is wont to include in just about every column he writes. And the obits of people from all walks of life who had an impact on him were always a great read. I would be remiss if I didn’t credit our office manager Beth Pripstein with doing a lot of the heavy lifting on the fact-checking and obit typing for many, many years. She is missed by us now that she’s finally enjoying a well-deserved retirement.
One thing Jeff didn’t love was moving into the world of digital publishing. Thank goodness his son Andy has manned the helm there in the past year. Alex is ready to embrace this platform, however, and his past experience I believe will serve him well in the digital arena. Keep an eye out for what develops in the coming months at foodtradenews.com.
As the lead story reported, Jeff will be on hand for a while to help Alex learn the ropes and meet the movers and shakers in the food industry. And, Maria, Kevin and I will remain on the team for the foreseeable future, meaning the transition should be seamless. I’m excited for the future of the company and where Alex will steer it next.
So, this is not a goodbye column, just an opportunity for me to thank Jeff (and Dick) for putting their faith in me after my sister Kathleen Kelly introduced me to them, recommending me for some part-time work in early 1989 at a time I was trying to figure out what I was going to do in my career. Kath, I owe you big time. Being part of the BMP family is (both figuratively and literally) the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Got a release from Food Lion recently with an update on the ADUSA division’s “Summers Without Hunger” campaign that has delivered more than 64 million meals over the past two years. As I’ve written before, this type of commitment so typical of the food industry is more important now than ever. As kids are out of school for summer vacation, many of them face food insecurity without access to school lunch programs. Food Lion customers stepped up to help by purchasing specially designed reusable bags for $2 each. Supporting the Food Lion initiative were suppliers Campbell’s, JM Smucker, Frito-Lay, Utz, General Mills, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, Mondelez and PepsiCo, thus doubling the impact of the program. Food Lion Feeds, the retailer’s hunger-relief platform, coordinated the campaign with a goal to reduce food insecurity in the company’s 10-state operating footprint, most of which is in the Food World marketing area. Since the campaign began in 2019, customers have helped provide more than 100 million meals; and, since 2014, Food Lion Feeds has helped provide more than 1.5 billion meals to individuals and families.
I recently read an article on the PBS American Masters website that I found quite interesting. In “How Marcella Hazan Rewrote the Story of Italian Food in America,” freelance writer Mahira Rivers explores how cookbook author Marcella Hazan reshaped Americans’ understanding of authentic Italian cuisine, which today is ubiquitous in the diets of almost all Americans, which wasn’t the case when Hazan began her “career.”
Rivers traces Hazan’s impact from the publication of her first book in 1973 to her broader cultural legacy, crediting her with introducing a generation of American cooks to the ingredients, techniques, and traditions of authentic Italian food.
Rivers situates Hazan’s rise within a larger historical context, explaining how Italian American cuisine had already become mainstream by the 1970s, though often in an Americanized, mass-market form. Hazan, in contrast, “spoke the language of authenticity in Italian cuisine better than anyone else at the time,” Rivers writes, describing her as perfectly suited to an era when culinary knowledge was becoming a form of social status.
According to Rivers, Hazan’s influence stemmed not only from her expertise, but also from her timing and her ability to make Italian cooking accessible without diluting its essence. “Marcella Hazan met the moment, with aplomb,” Rivers notes. Her straightforward style, regional knowledge, and personal background gave her credibility and charm in a changing food landscape.
The article also highlights how Hazan defied expectations of her role as a housewife, turning her cultural heritage into a source of empowerment and professional success. Rivers writes that Hazan “leveraged her ethnicity and domesticity to create a meaningful and successful career,” ultimately supporting her family through her work.
In reflecting on Hazan’s continued relevance, Rivers draws a parallel between Hazan’s philosophy and modern cooking trends. “Her ageless wisdom is still there for younger generations to re-discover,” Rivers observes, pointing to the online resurgence of her recipes and ideas.
Overall, Rivers paints a portrait of Hazan as a quietly revolutionary figure – one who didn’t just teach people to cook, but helped reshape America’s culinary identity.
That’s it for this month. I’m going to jump onto Bookshop.org and buy Hazan’s last cookbook “Ingredienti.” In that book she wrote, “What you keep out is just as important as what you put in.” According to instructions for the perfect pasta sauce from her very first cookbook “The Classic Italian Cook Book” (1973), which had just three primary ingredients (vine-ripened tomatoes, good butter, and one medium-sized onion), the most important step in the recipe was the final one – “Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.”
