Latest news with #Ultraviolence
Eater
a day ago
- Business
- Eater
Review: I Tried (and Loved) Purple Carrot's Plant-Based Meal Kits
At their best, delivery meal kits have led me to some relaxing Blue Apron-sponsored ASMR videos; at their worst, the very mention of a meal kit stirs up memories of my late great-grandmother's dreary Meals on Wheels microwaveables. Sometime in the 2010s, however, meal kit delivery subscriptions went through a renaissance in the United States, and today the several-billion-dollar industry boasts options for all kinds of diets, household sizes, and, dare I say, aesthetics (Goop lords = Sakara subscriptions ahoy). As a passionate but often exhausted home cook who loves her cruciferous-vegetable-heavy meals, that's why I wanted to give Purple Carrot's plant-based meal kit subscription a try. I signed up for about a work-week's worth of dinner kits, which, for me, meant four meals, each with one or two servings. My hopes and dreams were as follows: Please include plenty of vegetables that don't suck; please don't take more than an hour to cook; and please don't include an abundance of pre-made, sugar-filled sauces and salad dressings that Jacques Pepin would classify as dessert. The following is a breakdown of my week eating à la Purple Carrot, from the good to the confusing to the downright surprising. What is Purple Carrot? Isn't it vegan or whatever? Embarrassingly, it took me a moment to realize that Purple Carrot is a plant-based meal kit service. The main draw for me was simply that the platform's meals, which range from ready-to-eat microwaveables to more elaborate tofu shawarma bowl meal kits, looked tasty regardless of dietary needs. (Now, post-trial-period, I'm actually convinced that even my meat-loving family members would be satisfied with this hearty, elote-style creamed corn as a main.) Purple Carrot first popped off in 2014, which doesn't seem that long ago, but was the same year that Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence came out and Solange kicked Jay-Z in that elevator (were we ever so young?). Purple Carrot was actually the first vegan meal kit subscription service in the United States, and it has been perfecting its model for over a decade and has partnered with the likes of Mark Bittman to develop many of its (now) hundreds of recipes. As Purple Carrot explains, '[we've] expanded from being solely a meal-kit company to offering holistic plant-based grocery needs and a constantly rotating chef-crafted menu to subscribers each week.' Are the meals (actually) tasty? I selected three meal kits, the kung pao cauliflower with garlicky cucumbers, jackfruit gyros with quick pickles and tzatziki, and barbecued mushrooms with crispy potatoes and spicy Brussels sprouts, and one pre-made meal for a night that I knew I would have zero time to cook, a burrito bowl with a handful of plantains. In order to test the idiot-proof nature of these meals, I made my first dinner after coming home from spontaneous drinks with friends. I was tempted to order my dinner on Caviar, but when I glanced at the packet of DIY gyros in my fridge with its 20 minute cooking time label, I thought, I could do this. And I did, in fact, do it in under 20 minutes. Here are the gyros I chose for my first grand Purple Carrot experiment: Purple Carrot meals arrive in a cooler-packed cardboard box, with the different meals in their own individual bags (so you never get confused about what goes with what). I followed the recipe religiously, and while it was layered up with enough tomato and mint and quick pickles to feel refreshing and substantial, I started to realize the cleverness of Purple Carrot's meals as less of a one-and-done approach to meal kits and more of an accessible blueprint to developing your own takes on its recipes. Even the recipe instructions come in individual, thick-paper folders with pictures, tips, and measurements so that you can store them for future use. Next time I make jackfruit gyros, for example, I made a note on the recipe to add in a bit of smoked paprika, avocado, and feta. As you build your meal kit plan online, keep in mind that you can accommodate different dietary needs such as high-protein, low-calorie, low sodium, gluten-free, and nut-free. While I enjoyed the gyros and was impressed by how easy it was to make and customize them, the stars of the meal kit lineup were without a doubt the barbecue mushroom dish and kung pao cauliflower, both of which had sauces worth licking the bowl for, and surprised me by showing me that I can actually enjoy mushrooms, which I had previously semi-sworn off after eating far too many in my 15 years as a vegetarian. The ready-to-eat burrito bowl was a little too quinoa-forward for my taste, and gave me a jumpscare back to the kale-and-quinoa-obsessed years of health food yore, but I zhuzhed it with some avocado, lime, and cilantro. My only gripe with my meal kit plan was the portion size, which was entirely decent for me but always left my partner, a person who actually works out and needs more calories than I do, craving a little more to munch. But I guess that's also why Purple Carrot has its grocery section, which is filled with all kinds of little snacks and drinks. Still, no one likes doing a fair amount of meal prep, easy or laborious, and being hungry after your meal. How much does all of this cost? Is it cheaper than eating out? At about $11 per serving, Purple Carrot is definitely cheaper than eating out, but is probably more expensive than if I were to go out and buy my own ingredients à la carte — of course, that may vary depending on grocery prices in your region. But that isn't factoring in how much the meal kits save me time- and bandwidth-wise; the ingredients I received in my box were all fresh and unbruised, the spice mixes and oils come pre-measured, and everything can be whipped up in under an hour (and often under 30 minutes). It's easy to get excited about eating penne pesto alla trapanese after a long work day, but less easy to hype myself up to schlep to the grocery store on the subway only to return home to stand over a stove for another hour to make it. That's the bandwidth factor, and one that I don't take lightly. (It's worth noting that you can cancel your subscription at any time without penalty, as long as you do so the Tuesday before your next scheduled delivery, meaning that it's easy to accommodate dinner plans or skip a week for whatever reason.) I would also argue that Purple Carrot makes for a much more cost-effective way to dabble in different cuisines without requiring me, for example, to spend $12 on a jar of ras el hanout that I'm just not going to use very often. If anything, Purple Carrot ended up giving me several blueprints for adapting some of its signature meals in the future — but more on that in the next section. Is Purple Carrot worth it? With some caveats, Purple Carrot restored not only my faith in delivery meal kits, but reminded me of why I love plant-based eating so much. I'm not going to go on a crusade about the benefits of eating plant-based meals (plenty of studies and medical centers can do that for me) but I always cleaned the plates of my Purple Carrot dinners feeling satiated and refreshed — lighter than I feel after eating a big plate of meat, for sure (a common sentiment reported by vegetarians). As someone who recently started eating meat again, I have been sobrassada-ing too close to the sun and, admittedly, missing that feeling of feeling satisfied without feeling heavy after eating a large portion of meat As a busy and tired person, I have also hated watching my inventiveness in the kitchen take a backseat to other tasks in my life, a New York City cliché if ever there was one, although I don't yet store my shoes in my oven. Purple Carrot not only kept me fed, but genuinely interested in the flavors and spices I was about to explore. If I had the budget to spend about $100 a week on the service, I would go for it without question. As it stands, I can see myself doing the occasional splurge for a week of Purple Carrot meals during a period that I know I'll be booked and busy. I would also suggest giving a subscription to a friend or family member who just graduated, went vegetarian or vegan, or moved into their first place, because these meal kits really do moonlight as recipe cards designed for personalization. Sign up for Purple Carrot (or just browse its menu) here.
Eater
a day ago
- Business
- Eater
I Have Found a Surprisingly Great Meal Kit Plan for a Lazy (But Discerning) Person
At their best, delivery meal kits have led me to some relaxing Blue Apron-sponsored ASMR videos; at their worst, the very mention of a meal kit stirs up memories of my late great-grandmother's dreary Meals on Wheels microwaveables. Sometime in the 2010s, however, meal kit delivery subscriptions went through a renaissance in the United States, and today the several-billion-dollar industry boasts options for all kinds of diets, household sizes, and, dare I say, aesthetics (Goop lords = Sakara subscriptions ahoy). As a passionate but often exhausted home cook who loves her cruciferous-vegetable-heavy meals, that's why I wanted to give Purple Carrot's plant-based meal kit subscription a try. I signed up for about a work-week's worth of dinner kits, which, for me, meant four meals, each with one or two servings. My hopes and dreams were as follows: Please include plenty of vegetables that don't suck; please don't take more than an hour to cook; and please don't include an abundance of pre-made, sugar-filled sauces and salad dressings that Jacques Pepin would classify as dessert. The following is a breakdown of my week eating à la Purple Carrot, from the good to the confusing to the downright surprising. What is Purple Carrot? Isn't it vegan or whatever? Embarrassingly, it took me a moment to realize that Purple Carrot is a plant-based meal kit service. The main draw for me was simply that the platform's meals, which range from ready-to-eat microwaveables to more elaborate tofu shawarma bowl meal kits, looked tasty regardless of dietary needs. (Now, post-trial-period, I'm actually convinced that even my meat-loving family members would be satisfied with this hearty, elote-style creamed corn as a main.) Purple Carrot first popped off in 2014, which doesn't seem that long ago, but was the same year that Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence came out and Solange kicked Jay-Z in that elevator (were we ever so young?). Purple Carrot was actually the first vegan meal kit subscription service in the United States, and it has been perfecting its model for over a decade and has partnered with the likes of Mark Bittman to develop many of its (now) hundreds of recipes. As Purple Carrot explains, '[we've] expanded from being solely a meal-kit company to offering holistic plant-based grocery needs and a constantly rotating chef-crafted menu to subscribers each week.' Are the meals (actually) tasty? I selected three meal kits, the kung pao cauliflower with garlicky cucumbers, jackfruit gyros with quick pickles and tzatziki, and barbecued mushrooms with crispy potatoes and spicy Brussels sprouts, and one pre-made meal for a night that I knew I would have zero time to cook, a burrito bowl with a handful of plantains. In order to test the idiot-proof nature of these meals, I made my first dinner after coming home from spontaneous drinks with friends. I was tempted to order my dinner on Caviar, but when I glanced at the packet of DIY gyros in my fridge with its 20 minute cooking time label, I thought, I could do this . And I did, in fact, do it in under 20 minutes. Here are the gyros I chose for my first grand Purple Carrot experiment: Purple Carrot meals arrive in a cooler-packed cardboard box, with the different meals in their own individual bags (so you never get confused about what goes with what). I followed the recipe religiously, and while it was layered up with enough tomato and mint and quick pickles to feel refreshing and substantial, I started to realize the cleverness of Purple Carrot's meals as less of a one-and-done approach to meal kits and more of an accessible blueprint to developing your own takes on its recipes. Even the recipe instructions come in individual, thick-paper folders with pictures, tips, and measurements so that you can store them for future use. Next time I make jackfruit gyros, for example, I made a note on the recipe to add in a bit of smoked paprika, avocado, and feta. As you build your meal kit plan online, keep in mind that you can accommodate different dietary needs such as high-protein, low-calorie, low sodium, gluten-free, and nut-free. While I enjoyed the gyros and was impressed by how easy it was to make and customize them, the stars of the meal kit lineup were without a doubt the barbecue mushroom dish and kung pao cauliflower, both of which had sauces worth licking the bowl for, and surprised me by showing me that I can actually enjoy mushrooms, which I had previously semi-sworn off after eating far too many in my 15 years as a vegetarian. The ready-to-eat burrito bowl was a little too quinoa-forward for my taste, and gave me a jumpscare back to the kale-and-quinoa-obsessed years of health food yore, but I zhuzhed it with some avocado, lime, and cilantro. My only gripe with my meal kit plan was the portion size, which was entirely decent for me but always left my partner, a person who actually works out and needs more calories than I do, craving a little more to munch. But I guess that's also why Purple Carrot has its grocery section, which is filled with all kinds of little snacks and drinks. Still, no one likes doing a fair amount of meal prep, easy or laborious, and being hungry after your meal. How much does all of this cost? Is it cheaper than eating out? At about $11 per serving, Purple Carrot is definitely cheaper than eating out, but is probably more expensive than if I were to go out and buy my own ingredients à la carte — of course, that may vary depending on grocery prices in your region. But that isn't factoring in how much the meal kits save me time- and bandwidth-wise; the ingredients I received in my box were all fresh and unbruised, the spice mixes and oils come pre-measured, and everything can be whipped up in under an hour (and often under 30 minutes). It's easy to get excited about eating penne pesto alla trapanese after a long work day, but less easy to hype myself up to schlep to the grocery store on the subway only to return home to stand over a stove for another hour to make it. That's the bandwidth factor, and one that I don't take lightly. (It's worth noting that you can cancel your subscription at any time without penalty, as long as you do so the Tuesday before your next scheduled delivery, meaning that it's easy to accommodate dinner plans or skip a week for whatever reason.) I would also argue that Purple Carrot makes for a much more cost-effective way to dabble in different cuisines without requiring me, for example, to spend $12 on a jar of ras el hanout that I'm just not going to use very often. If anything, Purple Carrot ended up giving me several blueprints for adapting some of its signature meals in the future — but more on that in the next section. Is Purple Carrot worth it? With some caveats, Purple Carrot restored not only my faith in delivery meal kits, but reminded me of why I love plant-based eating so much. I'm not going to go on a crusade about the benefits of eating plant-based meals (plenty of studies and medical centers can do that for me) but I always cleaned the plates of my Purple Carrot dinners feeling satiated and refreshed — lighter than I feel after eating a big plate of meat, for sure (a common sentiment reported by vegetarians). As someone who recently started eating meat again, I have been sobrassada-ing too close to the sun and, admittedly, missing that feeling of feeling satisfied without feeling heavy after eating a large portion of meat As a busy and tired person, I have also hated watching my inventiveness in the kitchen take a backseat to other tasks in my life, a New York City cliché if ever there was one, although I don't yet store my shoes in my oven. Purple Carrot not only kept me fed, but genuinely interested in the flavors and spices I was about to explore. If I had the budget to spend about $100 a week on the service, I would go for it without question. As it stands, I can see myself doing the occasional splurge for a week of Purple Carrot meals during a period that I know I'll be booked and busy. I would also suggest giving a subscription to a friend or family member who just graduated, went vegetarian or vegan, or moved into their first place, because these meal kits really do moonlight as recipe cards designed for personalization. Sign up for Purple Carrot (or just browse its menu) here . The freshest news from the food world every day
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Lana Del Rey Turns Multiple Albums Into Bestsellers Again
Earlier this spring, Lana Del Rey released a handful of singles from her upcoming album. The project has gone by several different names, but the singer-songwriter has revealed that, at the moment, she's not sharing its title or release date. Both of her most recent cuts, "Henry, Come On" and "Bluebird," have fallen off the charts in the United Kingdom after brief stints as bestsellers. While she may not claim a current hit in the country, two of the Grammy-nominated musician's full-lengths not only appear on official rosters, but have managed to return — each on a different tally. Between her two releases that reenter at least one U.K.-based list, Born to Die is Del Rey's higher-rising win this time around. The collection breaks back onto the Official Vinyl Albums chart at No. 28. Born to Die is one of the bestselling vinyl albums of the past decade worldwide, and yet it has somehow never cracked the top 10 on this U.K. tally. Del Rey's breakout project has climbed as high as No. 12 during the 64 total weeks spent somewhere on the sales list. The follow-up to Born to Die, Ultraviolence, is also a bestseller once more in the U.K. The set narrowly finds its way back to the Official Physical Albums chart, which ranks the bestselling projects on formats that fans and consumers can physically hold, whether they be CD, cassette, or vinyl. This frame, Ultraviolence steps back in at No. 89. The title has now spent 120 weeks on the Official Physical Albums list. Ultraviolence only manages to reappear on that one list, but Born to Die takes up space on five separate rankings. In addition to the vinyl tally, it returns to the top 40 on both the Official Albums Sales and Official Physical Albums charts, reconfirming its status as a strong seller on the three purchase-only tallies. The project holds at No. 59 on the Official Albums Streaming list and even rises a few spots on the Official Albums chart, which tracks the most consumed full-lengths and EPs across the U.K. Just last frame, it celebrated 300 total weeks on that main ranking.
Forbes
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Lana Del Rey's First Blockbuster Rockets Up The Charts
As 'Bluebird' drops, Lana Del Rey sees Born to Die and Ultraviolence return to U.K. charts, with the ... More former rising on four rankings and nearing a 300-week milestone. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 04: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Lana Del Rey attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) There's a lot of excitement surrounding Lana Del Rey's music career at the moment as she heads toward the release of a brand new album. She's keeping fans on the edge of their seats, as she hasn't revealed an official release date for the set. In the months since she began talking about the effort, she's changed its title more than once, and currently, it doesn't even have a name. The singer-songwriter has already dropped multiple tunes from the forthcoming full-length, and fans seem to be loving everything she's offering. This week, as her latest cut 'Bluebird' arrives, interest in her catalog has surged once again. Del Rey brings multiple albums back to the charts in the United Kingdom, turning two different titles into bestsellers. As is almost always the case, Del Rey's debut full-length Born to Die remains her most successful project in the U.K. This frame, the title appears on five rankings, thanks to both strong sales and streaming — especially for a collection that's been out for well over a decade. This time around, it lifts on three of those lists, drops on just one (and only by a few spaces), and reenters the Official Vinyl Albums chart. It's a top 40 bestseller again on wax, landing at No. 39 after not appearing on the tally just last week. Born to Die also manages to ascend by more than 60 spaces on both the Official Albums Sales (No. 37) and the Official Physical Albums charts (No. 35). Last week, the U.K. rankings were packed with Record Store Day releases, which were only available to purchase physically — which helps explain why so many titles are rising this week and why many classics have returned simultaneously. The title also improves on the Official Albums Streaming ranking, rising three spots to No. 61. While it does decline by four spaces on the Official Albums chart, the fact that it's still living somewhere in the middle of the ranking of the most-consumed projects in the country — just one week away from its three hundredth stay on the tally — is amazing. Del Rey fills a pair of spots on the Official Physical Albums chart this week. Ultraviolence, Del Rey's 2014 release and second proper major studio offering, is back as a bestseller on vinyl, CD, and cassette once more. The title narrowly finds space on the list — which features 100 positions — as it reenters at No. 97. It has now spent 119 frames somewhere on this specific tally and, in the past, has climbed all the way to No. 1, something that Born to Die also managed.
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Lana Del Rey's Early Album Is A Bestseller Again, A Decade Later
More than 10 years after its debut, Ultraviolence returns to the U.K. charts, reinforcing Lana Del ... More Rey's never-ending popularity. INDIO, CA - APRIL 13: Lana Del Rey performs as part of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at The Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2014 in Indio, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage) Lana Del Rey can almost always be found somewhere on one chart or another, typically with her debut full-length Born to Die, which has become a near-permanent fixture across several rankings in a number of nations, especially in the United Kingdom. This week, that album is still around, but it's not the only one. One of her other earlier projects, Ultraviolence, joins its predecessor and is once again a bestseller across the pond. Ultraviolence returns to a pair of purchase-based tallies in the U.K. this frame. The moody, guitar-heavy release is back on both the Official Physical Albums and Official Albums Sales charts. While it doesn't come roaring back to a high point, it sells just well enough to reenter the rankings, underlining the fact that Del Rey's fans are still buying copies more than a decade after it first dropped. This time around, Ultraviolence returns at No. 93 on the Official Physical Albums list and No. 98 on the broader Official Albums Sales ranking. Ultraviolence has enjoyed more success on one of the two charts than the other, though it's performed well on both in the past. Years ago, the set managed to climb all the way to No. 1 on the Official Physical Albums chart. It never reached that same summit on the Official Albums Sales ranking, though. At its best, it pushed as high as No. 5 on that slightly more competitive roster. Throughout the years, Ultraviolence has spent considerably more time on the Official Physical Albums chart than on the other sales-based list, as it's clear that the set is more successful when it comes to physical purchases specifically. So far, the title has now racked up 117 frames on the physical-only ranking. That's well ahead of the 89 it's managed on the Official Albums Sales list. Despite being released back in 2014, Ultraviolence doesn't stay away from the U.K. charts for very long. This latest comeback comes only about a month after the full-length last disappeared from both of these tallies. Del Rey's project has established a pattern of falling off and then bouncing back, often depending on how much competition is out there in a given frame. Lana Del Rey released Ultraviolence in June 2014 as the follow-up to her global breakthrough Born to Die. The set quickly became another major hit, especially in markets like the U.K., where it hit No. 1. The project earned strong reviews for its darker, rock sound and proved that Del Rey wasn't a one-album wonder. Singles like 'West Coast,' 'Shades of Cool,' 'Brooklyn Baby,' and the title track helped drive interest in the album, though none were huge commercial successes on their own – something that's not usual for the singer-songwriter.
