Reported by www.guardian.co.uk:
A boom in sales of halal products in France is being driven by the emergence of an affluent middle class of young Muslims known as the beurgeois – a play on bourgeois and the word beur, slang for a French person of North African descent. Yanis Bouarbi, 33, an IT specialist who started the website paris-hallal.com, which lists restaurants in France serving halal food, says young Muslims are at the heart of a mini social revolution. “Second or third-generation people like me want to go out without compromising our religious beliefs. We don’t just want cheap kebabs, we want Japanese, Thai, French food; we want to be like the rest of you.” The demand for halal products is currently increasing by an estimated 15% a year in France. The fast-food chain Quick has a number of halal-only burger bars. Muslim corner shops sell exclusively halal foods and drinks including alcohol-free “champagne”, known as Cham’Alal. Halal foie gras has proved an unexpected success. In Paris’s trendy 11th arrondissement, Les Enfants Terribles restaurant serves halal French haute cuisine.
Reported by AOL.com and tarot.com:
Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
You tend to feel the weight of the world, Pisces, so when hardships hit the home or workplace, it can be especially tough for your overly-compassionate nature. Since yours is the sign of escapism, falling into depression or addiction is easy. You would benefit from eating a diet that incorporates flaxseed, which consists of ALA — a fat that boosts the cerebral cortex where sensory information and the pleasure sense are stored.
Reported by www.foodanddrinkeurope.com:
The collapse of oil well drilling means there is an excess of xanthan gum on the market, pushing prices even lower. But while suppliers are urged to differentiate to stay in the gum game, the gum is now being used in products where it was previously too expensive like dairy products, sauces, beverages and ready meals. The versatile hydrocolloid is also used as a lubricant in oil drilling. But since demand from this area has plummeted, any supplier for which this was a major market now has a lot of spare capacity.
Reported by The Times of London:
Cadbury is to go ahead with a plan to open a chain of high street cafés after Kraft Foods, its new owner, endorsed the venture. As well as serving afternoon tea, Cadbury Cocoa Houses will have a chocolatier service on site offering quirky gifts such as giant Flakes. The first café could open in London by the year end. As many 60 cafés could be opened.
http://www.fesmag.com/article/454671-Trends_Tidbits.php?nid=3454&source=title&rid=16229339
42.8 percent of baby boomers agree that “most restaurant meals are worth the expense,” according to Restaurants’ & Institutions‘ New American Diner Study. While this may be higher than other demographics, baby boomers are the least likely to say they’re willing to pay significantly more for a truly unique experience.
For more on baby boomers and dining: http://yellowscene.com/2010/03/24/nibbles-talkin-bout-my-aging-generation
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About John Lehndorff: https://johnlehndorff.wordpress.com/about/
John Lehndorff has been involved with food one way or another since he baked his first Prince lasagna (with hard-boiled eggs) and worked for a caterer in Fitchburg, Mass., putting on clambakes for up to 1,000 people. After getting a B.A. in English from McGill University, he moved to Boulder. For 15 years, he was an award-winning food editor, writer and nationally syndicated Nibbles food columnist for the Daily Camera, followed by eight years as the dining critic and columnist of the Rocky Mountain News. He was also the executive director of the American Pie Council, spokesperson for National Pie Day, chief judge for the National Pie Championships, author of Denver Dines (a restaurant guide book), and a culinary literature judge for the James Beard Foundation awards.
Nibbles 