How much you know or care about this one will depend on where you live! If you're resident or familiar with Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi or the Carolinas, you'll probably have shopped at a Southeastern Grocer's store before. You might not have realized it though. They're actually the parent company of a number of better-known stores, including the Winn-Dixie grocery and Bi-Lo.
As with the other grocery and pharmacy casualties we've seen on this list, they've been squeezed hard by Walmart and the internet. Southeastern surrendered to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to survive, ditching over 100 of its stores and shaking off $600m in debt in the process. It now believes that it's over the worst and will turn its attention to re-branding and reshaping the stores which survived. Expect to see new brand names where the old stores once stood, but it will still be Southeastern Grocers behind it all.
Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.
Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.
Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.
Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.