James Powel
James Powel covers how major food and drink brands show up in everyday life, connecting corporate moves, safety issues and trends to what consumers see in drive-thrus, grocery aisles and menu boards. He is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY who covers politics, money and culture alongside his food coverage. His pieces combine clear lists of locations, dates and product details with concise explanations of why the change or recall matters for shoppers and diners. His coverage of Buc-ee’s biggest Western outpost fits that pattern, treating a single store opening as part of a broader story about how regional chains expand and attract travel interest.
Fast-food chains and restaurant expansion
Powel has an ongoing focus on fast-food chains growing beyond their traditional territories, most notably In-N-Out Burger. He tracks new In-N-Out locations across multiple states, detailing openings and “opening soon” lists, and noting how the brand moves from its California roots into Colorado, Texas, Idaho, Tennessee and other markets. Recent coverage includes stories on seven new locations in four states, six openings across five states and additional restaurants planned in Tennessee, each with specific city addresses and timing for when customers can expect doors to open. He also covers broader fast-food performance through studies of drive-thru speed, accuracy and customer satisfaction, highlighting how brands such as Chick-fil-A, Dutch Bros, Taco Bell, Raising Cane’s, Burger King and Wendy’s compare on metrics like wait time and food quality.
When Chipotle reintroduced its Honey Chicken protein, he placed the announcement in context of the chain’s menu history and high demand for the item.
Food recalls, safety and regulation
A second strand in Powel’s work is close tracking of recalls and safety issues involving mass-market food and beverage products. He has reported on lawsuits and contamination concerns around Costco’s rotisserie chicken operations, explaining allegations of salmonella at a processing plant and situating them within ongoing legal scrutiny of the company.
His recall coverage includes detailed pieces on Fiji water pulled from Amazon due to bacteria and elevated manganese levels, noting FDA enforcement classifications and specific production dates affected.
He applies the same level of specificity to stories on Horizon Organic chocolate milk boxes recalled over packaging seal issues and more than 500,000 Aldi macaroni and cheese packages removed for undeclared soy lecithin, listing case counts, UPCs, best-by dates, affected states and refund instructions for consumers. Across these stories, he consistently frames regulatory language and technical details in plain terms so readers understand both scale and practical next steps.
Grocery prices, packaged goods and flavor trends
Powel covers how grocery retailers and packaged goods brands adjust prices and product lines, often framing corporate announcements as practical information for shoppers. His reporting on Aldi’s nationwide price cuts explains that roughly a third of regularly stocked products are temporarily cheaper, quantifies estimated customer savings and calls out staples like pears, Brussels sprouts and chicken breast family packs returning to earlier price levels. On the trend side, he has written about Liquid I.V.’s Grillo’s Pickle flavored hydration powder, tracing how a social media April Fools’ joke evolved into a limited-edition online product with specific pack sizes and price points.
He draws on brand history and menu context when discussing changes like Chipotle’s Honey Chicken, using expert insight to explain why particular flavors resonate with customers and how limited-time offerings fit into a chain’s broader strategy.
Experiential coverage and food culture
Beyond straight news, Powel occasionally steps into on-the-ground and video coverage that emphasizes food as experience and culture.
In a video feature from the LINQ Promenade Hot Dog Crawl, he samples five different hot dogs with unique toppings ahead of the Fourth of July, using the format to show how classic items are reimagined in a high-foot-traffic entertainment corridor. Across these pieces, he links fast-food and grocery stories to wider cultural moments, whether holiday events, viral jokes or travel stops, while still anchoring the coverage in concrete details about where to go, what is changing and what it costs. Taken together, his food reporting is consumer-facing coverage of big-brand moves and safety developments, written in straightforward language with enough numbers, addresses and regulatory context for readers to act on the information.
4 more food journalists.
Al Culliton
Al Culliton is a writer and historian whose work focuses on the American cocktail as a living part of food and culture, using obscure, historic drinks to show how bars, spirits and cities change. They write reported features that trace how forgotten recipes move from old bar guides back onto modern menus, reconstructing how cocktails originally tasted and explaining how new builds reshape them. Their beat is revived classics, regional specialties and low-proof aperitifs, covered one drink at a time with close attention to specs, technique, glassware and service. They write about cocktails as cultural artifacts tied to specific communities and geographies, using single recipes to explore place, identity, regional traditions and diaspora histories. Across masthead work and recipe writing, they combine primary-source research with present-day reporting from working bars, in precise, accessible prose grounded in technical detail.
Alaina Chou
Alaina Chou stands out for rigorously testing food and kitchen products and turning those hands-on trials into clear shopping advice. She is a commerce writer at Bon Appétit and Epicurious, where she makes newsletters and shopping guides for home cooks. Her beat is food commerce, with coverage of air fryers, meal kits, protein powders, pepper grinders, electrolyte drinks, and cookbooks. She focuses on what is worth buying, how it performs, how it tastes, and how it fits daily routines and wellness. She also writes sale-driven lists and roundup pieces, and she has worked on Bon Appétit’s Feel Good Food Plan. Her reporting is practical, direct, and grounded in product testing.
Amadea Tanner
Amadea Tanner is a food journalist for Daily Meal whose distinct focus is food history, culinary nostalgia, and the way everyday dishes reveal broader cultural stories. She covers canned baked beans, boomer-era casseroles, cowboy trail food, and sailors’ rations to show how preservation, technology, labor, and survival shaped familiar staples. Her beat includes retro recipes, mid‑20th‑century home cooking, old-school ice cream flavors, and vintage cookbooks, treating them as records of household budgets and aspirations. She also reports on kitchen culture and domestic design, from breakfast alcoves and pie safes to milk doors and wall phones. Tanner investigates global dish origins and contested national claims in pieces on haggis and pavlova. Beyond Daily Meal, she has worked across food, travel, and sustainability, contributing to outlets including Atlas Obscura, Beau Monde Media, Yahoo, and Tasting Table.
Amanda Garrity
Amanda Garrity stands out for turning food, holidays, and family traditions into practical service stories that help readers plan specific celebrations. She is a lifestyle editor at TODAY.com and has more than seven years of experience as a lifestyle writer and editor, including five years on staff at Good Housekeeping, where she covered home, holidays, food, entertainment, and other lifestyle news. Her work also appears in consumer titles including Prevention, Men’s Health, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, and Best Products. Her beat centers on event-based menus, holiday explainers, and classic TV and film guides, with clear, list-driven reporting that gives readers specific dates, recipes, viewing options, and simple background for family planning.