TASTE TRENDS: Is black garlic with snails 2010′s ham ‘n’ cheese?

 

 

Just wait until the McEngland burger is introduced… 
Associated Press
Italy’s agriculture minister is defending his sponsorship of McDonald’s new all-Italian burger amid criticism that he is sacrificing Italy’s culinary reputation. Minister Luca Zaia has argued that McDonald’s new McItaly burger – using all Italian beef, Asiago cheese and artichoke spread – will pump $4.9 million more a month into the pockets of Italian farmers grappling with tough economic times. But for a country that gave birth to the Slow Food movement, McDonald’s has been hard to swallow.

Black garlic and snails. The new ham and cheese?

Chicago Sun-Times

Though aged garlic has been around for centuries in Asia, it has only been catching on with American chefs since 2004. The buzz hit a fever pitch after popping up on “Iron Chef America” last year. Fans say antioxidant-rich black garlic is the next superfood behind blueberries and wild salmon. The fermentation process changes the properties of the sugar and amino acids in a hard, white head of garlic, producing the melanoidin that turns the cloves black, while the peel remains a dirty white.  Jerome Bacle, chef at Courtright’s restaurant, says black garlic’s complex flavors come from the month-long curing process.He uses aged garlic in a snail and oyster champagne stew with almond tarragon butter.

Here’s a paradigm-shifting, the-future-is-now, dining statistic

Tech Crunch

Online reservation service OpenTable says it has taken more than 2 million reservations via its mobile application since the service launched. Guests who used the app to reserve account for about $100 million in restaurant revenue, the company estimates.

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

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

 

2010 MENU: LARDO, SECHUAN BUTTONS AND BLACK GARLIC

In late 2009 I teamed up with Kim Long of Denver’s American Forecaster to research the new culinary trends that we saw developing. The result is Eat In Eat Out, a new business-to-business white paper in magazine form. In the past, such business forecasts have tended to look at restaurants, supermarkets and beverages as separate industries. Fundamental changes in the way that Americans get their fare impelled us to look at what we eat as an interwoven whole.

Among the predictions in Eat In Eat Out:

- Consumers will find plenty of affordable options for food in 2010 as the effects of the recession linger. Supermarkets — from Walmart to Krogers — will continue to push discounts and restaurants — from McDonalds to upscale steak houses — will expand their use of bargain menus. Private labels will continue their resurgence.

- Local sourcing of food will move out of a specialized niche as national food stores and eateries rapidly expand their use of food supplies created locally or regionally including: artisanal cheeses and salumi, heirloom produce, specialty breads, and natural and organic meats. The number of community gardens, small truck farms, farmers’ markets, farm stands and chef-owned gardens will expand. 

- The fastest growth area for new cuisine in 2010 will be street food. Twin factors are behind this trend: economic necessity (chefs driven out of the market for conventional restaurants by high overhead) and foodies (consumers questing for unique culinary adventures without a high price tag). Ethnic cuisines from Central America and Asia are ideally suited to benefit from the street food boom as it spreads from big cities to the suburbs.

 - Eat In Eat Out also points to fast growth for kombucha (a traditional fermented tea backed by major new investments in RTD products), black garlic, lardo, home cooking, upscale burgers, and made-in-America artisanal distilleries.

For more information on Eat In Eat Out, visit www.americanforecaster.com or JohnLehndorff.com.