Food trends for 2010; Cheaper dishes, healthy food and a bit of fun - Dose.ca
The new year is on its way, and with it, the promise of fresh ways to look at food.
Yes, just as you finally managed to get pomegranate vinegar into your salad dressing and squid ink into your pasta, those food items are gone, banished to that sad place where Jell-O salads go to die.
But that's OK, because there are a host of brave, new food trends on the horizon, ready to sprint toward their place on celebrity television programs, gourmet food store shelves and food magazine spreads.
Keeping in mind that most trends are invented out of thin air by pasta pundits with time on their hands, and that several contradict each other, let's have some fun with three things to expect for the plate and pantry in 2010.
The humble gourmet movement
In the big picture, the recession (real or perceived) is still having a major impact on how we eat, in restaurants and in our own kitchens. This has led to what Toronto culinary trend-watcher Dana McCauley calls the Humble Gourmet movement. Humble Gourmets tend to eat locally produced foods at home, and they like potluck. But when they are in restaurants, they look for cheap dishes glammed up.
"I was just in New York, and there are two new restaurants just doing mac and cheese," says McCauley, a consultant, food blogger and cookbook author. "One is called the Mac Bar, and the other is called S'Mac, which plays on the word smack, like heroin, and is pretty edgy."
This Humble Gourmet trend is reflected in this seasons's blockbuster cookbook, Ad Hoc, by Thomas Keller. The American celebrity chef and owner of several top eateries in the U.S. (including the French Laundry and Per Se) is known for cookbooks with recipes that range from the difficult to the impossible to execute. But Ad Hoc pushes easier, and more comforting favourites like fried chicken (the new hot dish inside and outside of restaurants), beef stroganoff and cherry pie.
The back-to-basics approach is reflected in grocery store sales, says Maria Charvat, vice-president of product development for Loblaws (which owns Superstore and the President's Choice brand) in Toronto. She notes the grocery chain's sales of "single-ingredient products" are growing quickly. Things like flour, olive oil and other basics reflect a return to the kitchen to bake, batter and bowl your troubles away.
Cooking techniques for 2010 will focus on the braising of cheaper offcuts (great if you can find them, because major grocery stores don't stock these cuts regularly). Oh, by the way, butchers are the new sex symbols.
How you'll see Humble Gourmet: Lots of small plates for sharing (perceived as cheaper, but not, because you need more to feel full) will occupy more lineage on menus. Reduced
Healthy eating
The second big food trend is toward healthy eating, even as our muffin tops parade proudly through local malls. Food sourcing has been, and will continue to be, on the minds of foodies, with sustainable and organic the priorities. Functional foods, loaded with nutrients, will be used more at home and in restaurants. Think blueberries, quinoa, sweet potatoes and kale spooned into drinks, salads, mashes and soups. Grocery stores will also be pushing healthier items. The new buzzword? Bioavailability.
Health drinks will also be big in 2010.
"We were (at a trade show) in Germany in October and I was blown away by the section of drinks with different herbs in them to give an instant fix," says Charvat.
Eating less meat is part of this feel-good trend. American healthyeating trendsetter the Moosewood Collective (led by veggie guru Mollie Katzen) has just come out with a new cookbook, Cooking for Health, its first that's meat-free with a focus on vegan options. Pulses (beans, chickpeas, lentils) dominate this trend, which could be good news for farmers on the Prairies, where pulse production is a big industry.
How you'll see the healthyeating trend: Allergy-free and gluten-free stamped on local menus. Teresa Spinelli of the Italian Centre in Edmonton says rising demand means there are more gluten-free pasta, crackers and cookies on her store shelves.
Rustic dishes with beans (good, and good for you) including cassoulets and pilafs, will star on menus. More vegan restaurants and raw foods will appear. Mainstream restos will offer more healthy alternatives, including organic beef burgers and egg-based dishes.
Dessert fun
Perhaps in reaction to the second trend, fun with desserts is the third big trend. Toronto's Dana McCauley -- and this is very exciting -- has pegged butterscotch as the new chocolate. Never mind single-origin cacao; brown sugar, cream and butter concoctions will be popping up everywhere.
Another blockbuster sweet treat is the macaron. Not to be confused with those coconut cookies (macaroons), macarons are little bundles of meringue stuffed with flavourful fillings. For a couple of years now, they've been popular in Paris (where patisserie Pierre Herme does outrageous things with Gorgonzola and ketchup) and New York (where Thomas Keller's Bouchon slam-dunks a blueberry cheesecake macaron). They've also appeared in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Marshmallow will puff up in 2010, staking real estate in whoopee pies, or in sweets shops in the form of simple squares placed in cellophane bags tied with satin ribbons.
Edmonton Journal
More food forecasts
Going, going, gone: Pork belly, cupcakes, finishing salts.
Oddly still hanging around: Molecular gastronomy; fascinating for chefs, perplexing for the rest of us.
Trending up: Charcuterie, including high-end meats such as Iberico ham from Spain.
Watch for Canadian cheeses, such as L'Hercules de Charlevoix and Le Cendrillon (voted the best goat cheese in the world in October) to roll like a race car from the coolers at cheesemongers. Artisanal breads are smokin', and the browner the better.
Butter poaching (just kill me now) and truffles of all descriptions are the bomb.
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