Status-Symbol Beef, Reservation Wars, and the Rise of Chicken Thighs

How a weak yen made Japanese beef the new truffle. Plus the rise of chicken thighs and a food fight that's making it impossible to get dinner reservations. With Adam Chandler of the WSJ. Show Notes: Adam Chandler’s WSJ articles are available at https://www.wsj.com/news/author/adam-... "What the Rise of Chicken Thighs Says About America," Adam Chandler, WSJ, March 19, 2026 https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food... "Reservation Apps Have Made Getting Into a Restaurant a Nightmare," Adam Chandler and Heather Haddon, WSJ, August 8, 2026 https://www.wsj.com/business/restaura... “How Wagyu, Japan’s Prized Beef, Took Over America,” Adam Chandler, WSJ, August 22, 2206 https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food... "Japan’s Beef With a Weak Yen: The Best Wagyu Is Just for the Tourists," Miho Inada, WSJ, May 18, 2024 https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/japans... "‘Wagyu’ Used to Guarantee Quality Beef. What Are You Paying for Today?" Tejal Rao, NYT, April 21, 2026 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/di... "Caviar ‘Bumps’ Are All the Rage," Alyson Krueger, NYT, June 7, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/st... Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler https://www.adamchandler.com/drive-th... “Mass Psychosis in Food Science: Americans happily ate monosodium glutamate for decades, but one (fake?) letter sparked mass hysteria and the bogus MSG scare was born.” Sam Kean, The Disappearing Spoon, November 7, 2023 https://www.sciencehistory.org/storie... Heather Haddon’s WSJ articles https://www.wsj.com/news/author/heath...