We started this episode arguing about bathroom etiquette and ended up exactly where we needed to be: who gets credit in food culture, how private equity “steps on” the products you love, why scams and AI deepfakes are making trust expensive, and why small businesses get attacked for price increases while corporations get praised for layoffs. Then I break down why I pulled out of the Rocky Mountain Barbecue Classic after deposit issues, why unqualified voices keep getting platformed in barbecue commentary, whether Ozempic and GLP-1s are impacting restaurant traffic, and why shrinkflation has people shopping with their own scales.