Fresh Take: What If You Could Get Drunk Off A Loaf Of Bread?

What if you could drink a loaf of bread?

That’s the simple idea at the center of Altamura Distilleries, a vodka company based in Puglia, Italy that I profile alongside the blue-haired entrepreneur behind it in a feature published this morning.

Read all about the terroir-driven provenance behind this creamy spirit, and tell me what you think. Altamura’s vodka is made with ancient wheat that’s protected by a domination of origin—and when that wheat gets baked into bread, it’s the only loaf in the world with the distinction. The wheat is storied stuff. The Roman poet Horace even wrote about the grain dating back to 37 B.C.

Now it can get you drunk.

— Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

P.S. I’m en route to Southern California for Expo West, and I’m excited to meet many of you on the floor!

I’d also love for you to stop by the keynote conversation I’m moderating on Thursday at the Marriott Marquis Ballroom with James Beard award-winning chef Sean Sherman, of Owamni in Minneapolis. Sherman’s cookbook The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen has been one of my all-time favorites since it was published seven years ago, and when I finally got the chance to dine at Owamni in 2022, I was blown away. Tasting wild game with a tangy berry sauce and wild sumac—from a kitchen that shuns ingredients including wheat flour, cane sugar and dairy—was a treat. And an unfortunate rarity. Sherman sits on the boards of organizations including the BIPOC Foodways Alliance and Seed Savers Exchange. It’s going to be an exhilarating conversation. See you there!

Order my book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, out now from Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.

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What’s Fresh

This Award-Winning Italian Vodka Goes Against The Grain

Since its launch last year, Altamura’s vodka is now sold in seven countries including the U.S., U.K. and India. Just under 50,000 bottles were sold during its first full year of business in 2023—amounting to a very modest $550,000 in annual sales. Company co-founder Frank Grillo expects to triple that amount this year—projecting revenues close to $2 million.

Why Now Is The Time To Reinvent Processed Foods

Processed foods feed the world, but have caused huge harms to health and the environment. But processing may also be the key to a more sustainable food supply.

Aldi Adding 800 New U.S. Stores By 2028—A $9 Billion Investment

German discount supermarket chain Aldi announced a $9 billion investment to add 800 new stores across the U.S. over the next four years, an expansion that will be in-part fueled by its acquisition of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket.

Coffee Roasters Searching New Ways To Level Up Fairness In Trade As Ethical Certifications Totter On The Moral High Ground

Direct trade emerges as a new sourcing model for mission-driven coffee roasters to level up fairness as skepticism plagues large-scale sustainability programs.

Oscar Mayer Is Launching Its First-Ever Plant-Based Hot Dogs

And some of America’s most well-known supermarket staples are now offering vegan options.

Nine Takeaways From The 2022 U.S. Census Of Agriculture

A special Census of Agriculture is taken every five years and provides a window into a small, mostly unfamiliar, but very important segment of our population.

How Poppi Is Reshaping Soda Culture For Gen Z And Millennials

What started as a farmer’s market hit has become a cult favorite for Gen-Z and Millennials as Poppi is reshaping soda culture.

Field Notes

What do you do when you make a pot of beans to last for a week? Add shrimp and spinach from the freezer and call it dinner.

Thanks for reading the 105th edition of Forbes Fresh Take! Let me know what you think. Subscribe to Forbes Fresh Take here.

Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, published on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.