Latest news with #Meals
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
TikTok's Cugine opens Brooklyn sandwich shop, cafe, Casa Cugine
This sandwich influencer has gone brick and mortadella. Danny Mondello, the Italian-American behind @Meals_by_cug has turned his social media brand — making chicken cutlet sandwiches and tossing pasta into the air from a frying pan for more than 2 million followers on TikTok and 1.5 million on Instagram — into Casa Cugine, a new sandwich shop, market and cafe in Williamsburg. When he's not slicing soppressata behind the line, Mondello, 28, personally greets customers from a lawn chair outside the Brooklyn storefront, his pinky finger, encircled with a gold ring, jutting out as he sips his signature Diet Coke. 'It's a dream come true,' Mondello told The Post of opening the shop earlier this month on a neighborly Graham Avenue block. 10 Danny Mondello, the Italian-American behind @Meals_by_cug with millions of followers, has turned his social media brand — making chicken cutlet sandwiches and pasta — into Casa Cugine, a new sandwich shop, market and cafe in Williamsburg. Brian Zak/NY Post 'You see families, you see the old Nonnas walking down the street. Everybody knows each other,' he said as he nodded to passersby. Fans of Cug — short for 'cugine,' which is Italian for cousin — are traveling from as far as Texas and South Carolina to get a taste of viral sandwiches like the 'Hey Toots' with turkey and spicy soppressata; and the 'How Ya' Doin,' with chicken cutlet and broccoli rabe. 'The menu is Italian-American delicacies — everything you want. Panninis, like what they do back in Italy — hot soppressata, provolone, olive oil and oregano. Real simple. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just want something that's good, and not over indulgent,' Mondello said, noting the shop will eventually serve heroes. The Rossville, Staten Island, native worked as a line cook in college in New Paltz and made it big posting cooking videos during the pandemic. 10 The menu at Casa Cugine comprises panini sandwiches like hot soppressata, provolone, olive oil and oregano, along with coffee and desserts. 'We're not trying to reinvent the wheel,' Mondello told The Post. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 Rainbow cookies are a signature at the cafe, along with Italian pastries like sfogliatelle and cannoli. 'We just want something that's good, and not over indulgent,' Mondello said. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 When he's not slicing soppressata behind the line, Mondello, aka Cugine (left), 28, personally greets customers from a lawn chair outside the Brooklyn storefront. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 Rachel Kriesel, 23 (right) from Clinton Hill, took her best friend, Sophia Ojeda, 23 (left), visiting from Austin, Texas, last Monday for a panini, in hopes of getting a photo with Cug. Brian Zak/NY Post 'Since I'm 18, I have always worked in delis and sandwich shops growing up. It's kind of where I got the name 'Cug' from. Some guy would come in and call everyone Cug,' he said. The Casa Cugine space was previously home to Cafe Capri, a family-owned coffee shop that opened in 1974 and shuttered in 2015. Mondello kept the original molding from its previous owner, but has also made the shop very much his own. A custom gold sign on the coffee counter reads 'Reserved for Cug & Ya sista,' while a portrait of Frank Sinatra hangs above a still life of Cug's pinky ring hand gripping a cigarette. Rachel Kriesel, 23, from Clinton Hill, took her best friend, Sophia Ojeda, 23, visiting from Austin, Texas last Monday for a panini, in hopes of getting a selfie with Cug. 10 The Rossville, Staten Island, native worked as a line cook in college in New Paltz and made it big posting cooking videos during the pandemic. Now, he's selling his own branded spices and other ingredients. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 'Since I'm 18, I have always worked in delis and sandwich shops growing up. It's kind of where I got the name 'Cug' from,' Mondello told The Post. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 Casa Cugine is also a feast for the eyes — with Italian-American inspired merch. Brian Zak/NY Post 'I was following his social media and I saw a post about his restaurant and that it recently opened. We've both been fans of him for so long,'said Krisel, wearing a Casa del Cug T-shirt. 'We love his sister jokes. I'm also a Diet Coke fan. We were both really depressed and isolated during the pandemic and we would send each other his videos,' Ojeda said, of making the trip to get a zucchini eggplant sandwich. Another visitor from afar, South Carolina clothing designer Michael, 35, started following Cug two years ago and was taken with his Staten Island accent. 'I've been here twice,' said Michael, who declined to give his last name. He raved about the rainbow cookies. 10 Customers enjoy coffee and pastries at the counter, where a sign reads 'reserved for Cug & ya sista.' Some tourists have traveled as far as Texas and South Carolina to support the popular influncer. Brian Zak/NY Post 10 Cugine decorated the cafe with a still life of his pinky ring-clad hand, and other homages to Italian-American culture. Brian Zak/NY Post 'He's authentic, man. I'm not Italian, I'm Russian — I have no idea about how they should talk, the lingo, the slang. What really made me like his videos was when he would cook in his house, saying a bunch of Italian s—t. The chicken cutlet sandwich looked bomb.' Mondello told The Post that he wanted to diversify his staying power by having a business of his own offline. 'There's only so much social media you can do. There's no long term play for it. It's very hard,' he said. 'When I'm 50 years old, what am I supposed to be doing? Still flipping pasta?'
North Wales Live
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Squishmallows are returning to McDonald's Happy Meals
Squishmallows are returning to McDonald's Happy Meals with 15 to collect including Halley, a never-before-seen Intergalactic Axolotl (not yet available in retail) and other fan favourites. Each has its own backstory and personality. Available in all restaurants nationwide from Wednesday, July 2, each Happy Meal will come with a Squishmallows plush toy or a Little People, Big Dreams Book. Patty and Cam, two fan-favourite Squishmallows, will be making special appearances at select restaurants nationwide, where families can join in with interactive activities and collect Squishmallows trading cards. Find your nearest participating restaurant here. For those families who'd prefer a story, the Happy Meal book option running alongside, features two titles from the Little People, Big Dreams series: I Can Sprint to Success, Usain Bolt and I Can Plan an Adventure to Space, Katherine Johnson. Available for around £4.19, a Happy Meal contains a choice of Fish Fingers, Chicken McNuggets or Veggie Dippers with a Melon bag side, plus drink options including water, milk, or a Robinsons Fruit Shoot.
Tom's Guide
07-05-2025
- Health
- Tom's Guide
Oura's latest update brings AI-powered meal tracking to the table — and I'm worried this could go very wrong
Oura just announced new AI-powered features to 'fuel your body for energy, performance and long-term health.' The two latest upgrades center around metabolic health and meal tracking, but right now, they're only available for US users. Oura says it's a 'major milestone' toward becoming a 'fully integrated health solution.' To date, Oura has undoubtedly been an industry-defining market leader and arguably remains the best smart ring you can buy. However, with stiff competition from the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Ring and Ultrahuman Ring Air, the smart ring market is becoming increasingly competitive. I'm concerned Oura might be doing too much with its latest branch out into metabolic health. You may like Could Oura become the jack of all trades, master of none? Here's what we know so far. (Image credit: Future) The two metabolic-focused AI-enabled tools are Meals and Glucose, and will roll out shortly to Oura Ring 3 and Oura Ring 4 users based in the US who use the app in English. Oura announced the Oura Labs feature in 2024, allowing members to test experimental features and provide feedback. If they're considered a hit with the audience, features can be rolled out into the app. Here's what made the cut. 1. Meals The latest Labs success is Meals, which, according to Oura, provides key insights into nutrition and meal timing using AI-powered feedback from Oura Advisor. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Simply snap a photo of your meal and Oura can help provide 'informed dietary decisions' about your food, including macronutrients — proteins, fats and carbs — and its quality, plus suggestions for long-term improvement. Yep, you read that correctly. Using images alone, Oura can tell you how nutritious your food is, right down to the fiber content. 2. Glucose tracking Paired with the Stelo Glucose Biosensor by Dexcom, a brand new in-app glucose monitoring feature means you can measure glucose levels day and night, with the app providing feedback directly while drawing from existing analysis like your sleep, stress and activity levels. Essentially, it's another way for Oura to provide a holistic view on the quality of your everyday health, alongside tools such as heart health, women's health and fitness, to assess long-term trends. If you want to know more about how to manage your metabolic health, now you can. What do we know? Your metabolic health can be impacted by the foods you eat, how your body processes them, lifestyle factors and genetics. That's why the rollout looks at data pulled from the existing features you use daily alongside your meals to inform the analysis. Shyamal Patel, PhD., and SVP of Science at Oura, describes their approach as 'unique.' Published through Oura's website, she explained: 'Meal-induced glucose spikes can vary significantly due to factors like sleep, stress, exercise and meal timing, which is why it's important to approach metabolic health holistically rather than focusing exclusively on diet.' The goal is to look for patterns and use experimentation to discover what works and what doesn't, hopefully helping to maintain improved balance over time based on your daily habits. Rather than avoiding specific foods, the aim is to encourage a healthy relationship that lasts, looking at what could be impacting your glucose from various angles, rather than focusing on the one spike you had, say, after eating chocolate on a Friday afternoon. Verdict I've been lucky enough to own both generations of the Oura Ring and have used the app for years. I'm worried Oura could be diluting their product by introducing too many new ingredients. For the average person, monitoring your glucose levels daily isn't really necessary. I wore a CGM monitor as a test for Tom's Guide, and I actually found it more stressful than informative, getting lost in the minefield that is your blood sugar. In fact, I could be found staring down every spike in my blood sugar with the scrutiny of VAR checking a dodgy penalty decision. (Image credit: Future owns: Sam Hopes) Your pancreas is designed to take care of blood sugar for you, releasing insulin (a hormone) to regulate blood glucose by moving it out of your bloodstream and into your cells. While a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a useful (and sometimes crucial) tool for people managing chronic health conditions such as diabetes and insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes), not everyone needs to monitor their own glucose. I fear Oura is starting to steer away from what they're best at — tracking your sleep and stress hygiene — in a bid to keep on top of the competition with their innovation. Am I worried it'll encourage people to over-worry about another aspect of their health? Possibly. Do I need yet another app scrutinizing what I eat? No. And although Oura reassures members that the feature aims to keep things balanced, I fear people who don't already have a healthy relationship with their food could struggle. But to keep evolving in an ever-growing smart ring market, perhaps it's Oura's time to dare to diversify. And given the features that were all-clear from Oura Labs, it looks like people want it. For me, the jury is out. More from Tom's Guide
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
ŌURA rolls out glucose app linked with Dexcom's CGM Stelo
ŌURA has signalled an entry into the consumer diabetes space, offering a new glucose feature for its ring that uses insights from Dexcom's over-the-counter (OTC) continuous glucose monitor (CGM) Stelo. The integration between the Oura smart ring and Stelo is the culmination of a partnership between ŌURA and Dexcom in November 2024. The diabetes device giant invested $75m into Finland-based ŌURA to enable data flow between their respective products. The Glucose feature on the Oura app will show daily glucose readings set against periods of meals, sleep, stress, and activity. Data will be extracted from Stelo, the first biosensor approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use without a prescription. Oura will also provide insights to users on how glucose interacts with meals, stress, and daily movement. This, the ring developer says, will help patients learn lifestyle habits that help them maintain or achieve optimal glucose levels. 'Personalised guidance and insights are essential for helping people understand how their lifestyle choices affect their body, while also encouraging them to make informed health decisions that can improve their overall quality of life,' said Jake Leach, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at Dexcom. The glucose feature was launched alongside Meals, an AI-powered tool that provides nutrition information from photographs of food. When launched, Meals and Glucose will be available on iOS and Android for US-based Oura users, with plans to launch Meals internationally later this year. The partnership between ŌURA and Dexcom has signalled a new chapter in the consumer health and medical device sector convergence. ŌURA is fast becoming a household name in the wearable technology sector, thanks to its smart ring. The device measures sleep, stress, and cardiovascular data, among others. It spurred the company to nearly double its annual sales in 2024 to reach around $500m, with 2.5 million rings sold worldwide. Dexcom, meanwhile, is a significant player in the diabetes medical device market, occupying around 74% of the CGM market share in the US, according to analysis by GlobalData. Experts have previously said the partnership between the two companies has the potential to improve adherence and behaviour changes, both critical for long-term diabetes management. One of the key financial aspects of the partnership was that both Dexcom and ŌURA would co-market and cross-sell each other's products. That is indeed now a reality, with new and existing Oura members able to purchase Stelo directly from the smart ring developer for $99. The CGM can be bundled with or without a ring, representing a model example of consumer health and medtech product combination, though this is currently only available in the US.
Local Norway
25-04-2025
- Health
- Local Norway
Norway bans marketing of unhealthy food to children
Jan Christian Vestre, Norway's Minister of Health and Social Care, said that the directive put Norway at the forefront of countries acting to nudge their populations away from the consumption of unhealthy food. "With this regulation, Norway is a pioneer," he said in a press release . "We are taking responsibility and ensuring that fewer children are exposed to negative pressure that leads to an unhealthy diet, which in turn can be harmful to children's health." The change was issues as a directive, meaning it did not require a vote in parliament. Companies judged by Norway's Directorate of Health to have violated the ban will be asked to withdraw the marketing concerned and will risk a fine if they fail to comply. The ban on the most unhealthy foods, called Annex 1, will apply to advertising in cinemas showing films aimed at children under the age of 13, to competitions aimed at those under the age of 18, and to the distribution of taste and product samples to children. Other marketing will be assessed on whether the product is "primarily consumed by or may particularly appeal to children" and whether the marketing is designed to "particularly appeal to children" by, for example using children's language, bright colours, animations or cartoon characters. Marketing could also fall under the ban if it involves children or "persons who will appeal to children", or uses gifts, toys, coupons, discounts, collectibles, contests or games that "may particularly appeal to children". The marketing ban will apply to all chocolate and confectionery, energy bars and sweet spreads and desserts, to cakes, biscuits and other sweet and/or fatty pastries, to popcorn, cornflakes, salted nuts and salted nut mixtures, to salty crackers, pretzels and salt sticks, to ice cream, and to soft drinks, energy drinks, and juice drinks. It will also apply to juice or milk drinks if they include added sugars or sweeteners, and to breakfast cereals with more than 12.5g sugar per 100g. The ban will apply to fast food or prepared meals with more than 950 kJ (225 kcal) or 4g of saturated fats per 100g. A McDonald's Big Mac has 964.8 kJ (230.9 kcal) and 4.2g of saturated fat -- putting it above the calorie and saturated fat limits. Meanwhile, its Happy Meals are over the caloric threshold , with the total fat and calories depending on the meal. Advertisement The Norwegian Cancer Society welcomed the ban, with Secretary General Ingrid Stenstadvold Ross calling it "a simple measure that gives children and young people a better starting point for good health throughout life". LHL, the patients group for heart, vascular and lung diseases, also welcomed the ban, with Secretary General Magne Wang Fredriksen calling it a "big day for public health and for our children".
