Two Big Food Thefts Are Roiling Britain

One arrest is made but another mystery remains unsolved

Welcome to the “fall back” edition of the CulinaryWoman Newsletter. I don’t know how groggy you feel this morning, or whether you are in a stupor for a couple of days, but I’m glad you’re reading this issue.

If you’re in the States, I hope you’ve voted or are making plans to vote. This is the last day of early voting in Michigan, until the polls open on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a little cheese crime to distract you.

The Great British Cheese Heist

If you’re a fan of mysteries, especially those involving heists, here are a couple from Britain that have roiled the food world.

On Friday, London’s Metropolitan Police announced that they had made an arrest in the theft of 22 tons of artisanal cheddar. The Great British Cheese Heist, as it’s become known, involved Neal’s Yard Dairy, which specializes in cheese that it makes itself, and procures from small producers.

Neal’s Yard is a familiar name to anyone who has visited its cheese shops, including one adjacent to London’s Borough Market.

It has particular significance to me because of its direct link to Zingerman’s Deli. If you walk into the shop, you’ll see Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating on sale, and a number of the cheeses that Neal’s Yard sells are also available here in Ann Arbor.

I have warm memories of chatting with the staff there, and sampling a wide variety of goat cheese and other varieties.

The cheese heist began as an order that seemed too good to be true. A buyer contacted the dairy in July, saying that the represented a French supermarket. They placed a massive order for $588,000 worth of cheese, so big that Neal’s Yard had to line up three producers to supply it.

The cheese - more than 950 wheels — was delivered to a warehouse in South London. In October, the bill came due, but the buyer had disappeared. So had the cheese. Neal’s Yard contacted Met Police, which launched an investigation.

Since Neal’s Yard exports to 20 different countries, and the supposed buyer was from France, Scotland Yard was called in. On Friday, it said it had arrested a 63-year-old man "on suspicion of fraud by false representation and handling stolen goods.”

The suspect, who has not been identified, was released on bail. In the British system, there are two types of bail: one if there is suspicion but insufficient evidence, the other if they are charged in court.

There are lots of theories about what happened to the cheese wheels. One is that the cheese has probably been sent to Russia, the Middle East, or somewhere beyond Europe and the United States.

The cheese is too easily identifiable here or in Australia, where the appearance of a product normally purchased from Neal’s Yard might set off alarm bells.

A similar fish tale

Reading about the cheese theft, bells went off in Chris Swales’ head. He’s the owner of Chapel and Swan Smokehouse, which provides products including smoked salmon to high-end restaurants, wholesalers and supermarkets in the UK and Europe

During the summer, he received an email order from a buyer claiming to represent Match, a French supermarket chain. The buyer was very specific: they wanted four metric tonnes of salmon, equal to 2,200 pounds, cut into one kilogram portions (2.2 pounds). He asked for them to be delivered in two batches 21 days apart

Since the order was so big, Swales arranged for it to be sent to a cold-storage facility in Grimsby, England. The fish was to be picked up and taken to a UK distribution hub before being sent to France. “I went to Grimsby and everything was done to the letter: we got the trailer number, driver name, vehicle registration,” he told the Times of London.

Swales received an email confirmation that the fish had been picked up, and began arranging for the second shipment. The original agreement called for each order to be paid after delivery, so he requested the funds. His contact replied that both would be paid for together.

Swales replied that he would have to be paid for the first order before he would deliver the second. That was the end of his contact with the buyer. He was out $36,000 in fish and prep costs. Police found nothing. “We’ve traced the IP address and we know the fake website is hosted in Vilnius and the server is in Vancouver,” Swales told the newspaper.

Heartbreaking situation

The big question: why would someone steal artisanal cheese and top quality smoked salmon? I suppose it’s like asking why jewel thieves steal diamonds, art thieves lift paintings and car thieves target luxury cars. They have a buyer or think then can fence the stolen material to a customer.

But in this day and age, when margins are so thin in the food world, the thefts seem doubly costly, both in money and in emotion. As Swales told the Times, “It tarnishes your reputation and damages trust in an industry where you trust the people you work with. All our impulses to grow, to improve, to serve have been crushed.”

Perhaps now that Neal’s Yard and Chapel and Swan Smokehouse have told their stories, people will be on alert for anyone who is trying to defraud them. Hopefully, police will take these cases serously, too.

Elite Fliers Are Grumbling About British Airways’ New Menu

Air travel is no longer a very pleasant experience, but there have always been perks to flying business and first class. One of them is meal service.

So it’s understandable that elite passengers on British Airways are upset that the airline has cut back on its meal service for long flights.

Rather than serving separate breakfast, lunch and dinner menus to its upscale passengers, it is combining the first two meals into brunch, the Times of London reported. Meanwhile, it will no longer offer full dinner service on flights after 9 p.m., but a simpler tray.

Never mind that brunch is common on the ground or that many people don’t dine that late; the idea is not sitting well with those sitting up front.

Rob Burgess, the editor of Head for Points, a website for frequent flyers, called the brunch decision “crackpot.” He contended that passengers who pay top prices for their tickets expect full service meal treatment.

BA argues that a “one tray” meal service on late flights is quicker and allows passengers to get to sleep more quickly. Said a spokesman: “We trialled our new brunch offering with thousands of customers across numerous routes and received extremely positive feedback on both the quality and variety of options offered.”

Starbucks Ends The Extra Charge For Plant-Based Milk

Starbucks sales dropped again in the third quarter, for the third straight quarter, and its new CEO is vowing to shake things up in hopes of luring customers back.

Last week, it announced that it is removing the surcharge for plant based milks. Beginning on Thursday, people who request soy, almond or oat milk will pay the same as those ordering dairy milk in their beverages.

About half the people who add milk to their drinks are opting for dairy substitutes, Starbucks says. They’re the second most commonly ordered modification, after adding an extra shot of espresso.

Starbucks’ business has suffered for a number of reasons. First, prices of its drinks have shot up during the pandemic. Second, the coffee giant removed seating in a number of stores, including those in Manhattan, hoping to increase the volume of orders.

In response, consumers have shifted business to other brands or to independent coffee shops, which often double as remote working locations for students and professionals. While prices aren’t lower at the indies, that’s often offset by their atmosphere, as well as the care the owners take in brewing drinks.

You Can Dine On Ikea Food Without Visiting An Ikea

The cafeterias at Ikea stores are legendary for their low prices and for their selection of Swedish food. Some people confess to going to Ikea simply to eat. Now, they can do that in England without going to an actual Ikea.

The Swedish housewares company is opening its first stand alone cafe in Hammersmith, West London. The Ikea restaurant, which replaces a restaurant next to a newly renovated Ikea store, can seat 75 diners.

Customers can select their meals at giant touch screens, then go up to a counter to collect their food. That arrangement is similar to the cafe set up in Ikea’s smaller urban stores, like the one I visited last year in Toronto.

In addition to meat and plant balls as well as desserts, the London shop will have a small lineup of breakfast items. You can expect Ikea to expand the cafes to other cities, especially those where there’s available commercial space near its stores.

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

I feel really fortunate to be so busy. Last month, I was invited to contribute to Time Magazine’s list of the 200 Best Innovations of 2024. The list looks at all kinds of new ideas across a big spectrum, ranging from food and drink to fitness to artificial intelligence and beauty. See my stories in the Green Energy Section.

I also wrote for a New York Times section on fine arts that appeared in last Sunday’s paper. My story looks at a new exhibit at the Detroit Institutes of Art called The Art of Dining: Food Culture in The Islamic World. The exhibit originated at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which proposed sharing it with Detroit.

The exhibit made total sense because the Detroit area is home to one of the largest Arab-American communities in the United States. But, as I wrote for the Times, community leaders suggested a number of changes for the local audience.

Putting on my sports writer hat, I profiled Yuan Xiao, the men’s gymnastics coach at the University of Michigan, for the Ann Arbor Observer.

If you watched last summer’s Olympic games, you might have noticed him pacing the sidelines as Team USA competed, ultimately capturing a bronze medal. Two of the team members were from the U-M team, which won the Big Ten and NCAA men’s championships last year.

I would be happy to hear from you and have you follow my social media accounts. Here’s how to find me.

• Website: www.michelinemaynard.com

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I’m going to take a break this week from writing Red Beans & Advice. I’ll be helping the Boston Globe with election coverage.

But Red Beans will return next Monday. By then, I can make some predictions for the bakers in Britain and Canada who will be headed for the finals.

In closing, my favorite picture of the week — Shohei Ohtani and his beloved dog, Decoy, at the celebration of the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series victory. See you next Sunday!