Inflation is cooling. So why are food prices, from steak to fast-food meals, still rising?

Inflation may be rapidly cooling, but there's one area that continues to eat away at Americans' budgets: Stubbornly high food prices. 

Rising food costs were one contributor to the hotter-than-expected inflation report on Tuesday, with food prices rising 0.4% in January from December, a faster pace than the overall 0.3% rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). 

The CPI, a basket of goods and services typically bought by Americans, measures two types of food purchases, groceries and "food away from home," or restaurant and other prepared meals. Both are rising, but restaurant prices are increasing at a faster pace, jumping 5.1% on an annual basis compared with a 1.2% increase in grocery costs.