2010 Dining Trends: Pepperoni robots; Kefir rising; less food safety anxiety

Reported by John Lehndorff:

Two things I love – salume and robots - come together in this video that manages to be simultaneously appetizing and mesmerizing and has a great soundtrack. Pizza anyone?
PS: The best pepperoni I’ve ever tasted is made by Denver’s Il Mondo Vecchio.

http://gizmodo.com/5528743/salami-sorting-robot-automation-at-its-most-delicious

Reported by Natural Foods Merchandiser:

The Sterling Rice Group, a Boulder, Colo-based “food centric strategy and innovation firm” has compiled a proprietary list of “culinary shifts” affecting Americans and the way we eat today: Community connected; More with less; Dr. Me; Always on; Luxury revalued; Simple refuge; and, Break free.
Details at:

http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/blogs/tabid/84/EntryId/269/Take-advantage-of-8-hot-culinary-trends-in-your-store.aspx

Reported by Progressive Grocer:
As more consumers are cooking more meals at home, sales of beans, grain and rice, and shelf-stable pastas each rose 30 percent since 2007. Yogurt and kefir is the fastest-growing specialty food category; sales jumped 38.9 percent in 2009 to $830 million.

Reported by Supermarket News:
Deloitte’s 2010 Consumer Food Safety Survey found a 17% decrease in the number of consumers who say they are concerned about food quality, even as 90% perceive that recalls are on the rise. Also, half of the survey participants said that recently required country-of-origin labels would influence their purchases.

Huffingtonpost.com recently iterviewd Jody Adams, James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Rialto in Cambridge, Mass:
“When I was studying anthropology at Brown I hadn’t a clue as to what I would be doing today. But I was cooking then and loving it and traveling as much as I could. I guess my path was already set, I just couldn’t see it. At 24, I was recently divorced, unhappy in my job and uncertain about my direction. After some soul searching I realized that I was happiest in a kitchen. So with lots of cooking hours logged, but no restaurant experience, I started knocking on doors. Fortunately, someone took a chance on me. Three years ago – that’s 30 years later – I became sole owner of Rialto. It was time.”

John Lehndorff is a Boulder, Co.-based food trend researcher, food writer and consultant. He is a former newspaper food editor and restaurant critic, author of a restaurant guide book, and pie expert.

Who’s a foodie?: http://yellowscene.com/2010/04/14/who%E2%80%99s-a-true-foodie/

Complaints, tirades, comments, critiques? lehndorffj@aol.com

Visit: www.johnlehndorff.com

FOOD TRENDS: Human cheese; good fat news; SRG’s culinary shifts; share of throat

A compendium of food, dining and beverage trends information from the U.S. and the world

From a Natural Foods Merchandiser blog about the Sterling-Rice Group’s recent Master Innovation & Game-Changing Growth 2010 conference, upcoming culinary shifts feature: Foods and manufacturers that emphasize a connection to community and local farms; Companies that do more with less; Foods and products that support greater wellness; technologically advanced kitchen gadgets/futuristic food preparations and presentations; Emphasis on more high-quality foods and products; A return to a simpler way of life with classic (and discernable) ingredients; and, New and adventurous foods that support the idea of standing out from the crowd.

From the New York Post:

Chef Daniel Angerer is letting diners at Klee Brasserie munch on cheese made from his wife’s breast milk.”It tastes like cow’s-milk cheese, kind of sweet,” he told The Post. The flavor depends on what the cheese is served with — Angerer recommends a Riesling. After blogging about his efforts, customers started demanding a sample, he said, ”So I prepared a little canapé of breast-milk cheese with figs and Hungarian pepper.” However,it wasn’t legal.

“The restaurant knows that cheese made from breast milk is not for public consumption, whether sold or given away,” a spokeswoman for the city Department of Health said.

 

From Health Day News:

Harvard researchers analyzed data from 20 studies with 1.2 million participants and found that consumption of meat that has been salted, cured or smoked increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes, while eating unprocessed red meat does not. The findings indicate that salt and preservatives are the culprits, not fat.

Beverage trends from foodandwineeurope.com:

During a webinar on global drinking habits from Euromonitor highlighted the importance of saturation in the European and North American beverage markets. Branded drinks accounted for almost two-thirds of liquids drunk in these markets in 2008. Euromonitor described this figure as a natural commercial ceiling and suggested that branded drinks may even see their “share of throat” decline in the next few years as consumers turn their back on bottled water.  To achieve sales growth companies have to segment markets in new ways and blend across categories creating products like fizzy milk. Growth is now coming increasingly from niche products like iced coffees, soy beverages, and flavoured waters.

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