Don’t order coffee … and other V-Day tips for guys

John Mariani, the author of one of my favorite food reference books, The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, offers some true guys’ do’s and don’ts for Valentine’s Day at JohnMariani.com:

By now, every single restaurant in North America is booked solid for Valentine’s Day, which is, of course, the worst day to take the woman you love out to dinner. It’s amateur hour out there. Restaurants serve set, overpriced menus. Dining rooms are packed with overly demonstrative folks who are eating at a fancy-schmancy restaurant for the first time. Here are some pointers on romantic dining in an age when there are so many more choices, so many ways to offend her at the table, and so much gouging of the bill.

 - Assuming you’ve got a date, tell her the reservation is 15 minutes earlier than it actually is. This way you’ll be seated on time.

 - Italian restaurants, by and large, are your best bet. The staff is affable, they know how to greet a beautiful girl, the food is going to be good even if it’s only okay, and the bill won’t raise your eyebrows over your hairline. Plus, as Neil Simon once said, “There are two laws in the universe: The Law of Gravity and Everybody Likes Italian Food.”

- Pay the bill. If she offers to go Dutch, resist her.

- Offer to switch plates if she hates her meal. If that doesn’t work, ask her what she hates and quietly consult the waiter off to the side.

 - Never order soup. It will end up on your shirt.

- Don’t order coffee. Because if you order coffee, how on Earth is she going to invite you back to her place for a cup?

Warning signs your eatery choice is a bad one:

 - The host proudly offers you a free glass of “kee-ann-tee” if you order an entree.

- There are women’s undergarments stapled above the bar.

- The menu has tassels and the wine list comes in a three-ring binder.

- Yes, you like oysters. Still, don’t ever suggest a food is an aphrodisiac. It makes you sound like you learned everything you know about romance from your dad’s collection of Penthouse in the garage.

johnlehndorff.com

FOOD TRENDS: U.K. locavores; France ‘questionable’; say ‘no’ to new products

From foodanddrinkeurope.com:

According to IGD, which conducted a survey of over 1000 shoppers in the UK, 30 per cent said they have specifically bought local food in the last month. The  2006, just 15 per cent said yes to the same question. Of these, some 57 per cent gave their reason as perceived freshness; But 54 per cent also said the wanted to support local producers (up from 28 per cent in 2006); 34 per cent wanted to support total retailers (up from 18 per cent); and 29 per cent said they wanted to keep local jobs in the area (up from 14 per cent). Questions posed included manufactured goods, such a locally-made pie, not just fresh produce. 

Also: Less than one-third of European consumers look for nutrition labels when shopping, according to a new study by the European Food Information Council (EUFIC) published in the Journal of Public Health. The survey of consumers in the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, Poland and Hungary tested awareness of nutrition labels. The researchers concluded: “….the low use of nutrition labeling could be explained by a lack of motivation among consumers to use the information rather than by their inability to understand and interpret the information.”Shoppers’ understanding of GDA labels was highest in the UK, Sweden and Germany, more limited in Hungary and Poland and questionable in France.

- Also:  Companies shied away from launches in 2009 as the number of new food and drink products to hit US shelves dropped 30 percent, according to Mintel. The 30 percent decline recorded by the Mintel Global New Product Database (GNPD) is the biggest decline ever recorded in the food and drink sector. The proportion of new food and drink products to carry an all-natural claim fell from 15 to 13 percent, while organic labels dropped from 12 to 10 percent of launches. Ethical and environmental claims increased from 9 per cent of all product launches in 2008 to 17 per cent last year. Side dishes were a robust area of the foodmarket, one of the few categories that saw an increase last year - 16 percent more than in 2008. Mintel said the number of economy launches increased 72 per cent from 2008 and 2009.

Comments: lehndorffj@aol.com

JohnLehndorff.com
Eat In Eat Out: Food trend forecast 2010: http://americanforecaster.com

FEBRUARY U.S. DINING TRENDS: Burger King discovers girls! Boomers & fries!

From Advertising Age:

“The superfan is merely a term coined by Burger King to describe the fast-food hamburger-restaurant industry’s most frequent user,” Burger King CEO John Chidsey told investors during an earnings conference call last week. “To clarify, it’s not just 18- to 34-year-old males, it’s all ages and all household demographics, with over half of them having children. And interestingly, over 29% are 50 years of age or older.” This is, of course, coming from the brand that brought you poultry in garters and a variety of international outdoor work that managed to stir controversy back home, such as the “Super Seven Incher.” Now the chain is courting the very same ladies it’s happily risked alienating, with lower-calorie “Positive Steps” combos slated for promotion in women’s magazines.I t seems a bit of a shift for a company whose franchisees have in recent years fretted that the brand’s advertising would alienate women, seniors and minorities.

- And in the “If you thought we were difficult and cranky in the late 1960s, just wait until we take over the lunch shift at Wendy’s”  department, FastCasual.com reports:

By 2018, people aged 55 and older will comprise nearly 25 percent of the nation’s labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number is up from 14 percent in 1978 and 18 percent in 2008. 

“By and large, the average age of the national workforce on the longer-term perspective does get older, and it’s fundamentally the aging baby boomer,” said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group.

-From foodtrends.com:

“For purveyors of culinary experience, the cupcake phenomenon also reflects the connection between the senses and emotions: the tastes, textures, sights, sounds, and aromas of food and beverage can. Sit back for a moment, close your eyes, and consider the foods and beverages that have the power to transport you without warning to a specific time, place, event, or person in your past. Does a whiff of hot cocoa take you back to distant occasions? Or perhaps the sight, sound, and aroma of popcorn popping triggers pleasant memories of times spent with friends.”

 

JohnLehndorff.com

The Kombucha Report: http://www.teareport.com/

 Boulder food history: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/frontrange/pages/issues/spring09/whatALongTaste.pdf