290068 Wed Aug 14 18:52:15 -0700 2002 18 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1572940 Hello, fellow Chowhounds! I'm writing a story for a women's magazine on new things to try in the new year (2003). I'd love to hear your thoughts on new foods or types of cuisine or restaurants or drinks that people are just starting now to emerge, that you think people should try in the coming months. Anythine new and perhaps even odd that readers should take a chance on? Any type of cuisine or foodstuff becoming "hot"? Lemme know. Thanks! Wed Aug 14 18:52:15 -0700 2002 0 camille 1 1572959 By all indications the trend in food preparation and consumption is toward meat and away from starches. That’s not to say that pastas are disappearing from menus at present or any time in the far future. But if you look at cutting-edge chefs and restaurateurs, especially in New York, you can trace the trajectory. These days, Mario Batali gets most animated discussing his salami making. Danny Meyer’s latest venture is perfecting upscale barbecue. Among the trendiest little East Village restaurants is Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton’s ode to prepared meat. And you can’t shake beef jerky without hitting a lunch menu featuring charcuterie. This leads me to believe that the next small, specialty shops just waiting to pollinate every corner of trendy neighborhoods are charcuteries – places where pork, cured meats, sausages and offal are sold. I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen: the next food fad is animal innards. The consequences are far reaching, because the culture of charcuterie is antithetical to nouvelle cuisine. Forget about natural ingredients simply prepared, with an emphasis on the savory. The next epicurean step on the latter is backwards toward the bourgeois’s emphasis on processed fat, sweetbreads, intestines, testicles, and brains! They’ll eat it up in the Hamptons. Wed Aug 14 22:58:39 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Trichter 2 1572961 I agree with innards. Don't forget the pig belly. Also fish tartare (this too will end, I tell myself). I predict mojitos are the Cosmopolitan of the new millenium. Wed Aug 14 23:56:43 -0700 2002 1572959 0 Stanley Stephan 3 1572976 Aw, c'mon, guys, that stuff is yesterday's news! It's *already* trendy. As far as I can tell, here's what's *emerging*: the raw-foods movement, fruit waters, "grazing" menus (as Flynn says, "tapas/sushi style"). I'm also expecting to see more emphasis on the East-West fusion and "Pan-Asian" motifs. Thu Aug 15 09:45:19 -0700 2002 1572961 0 C. Fox 4 1572999 I'm noticing many more packaged foods including the Weight Watchers points values. Thu Aug 15 11:48:54 -0700 2002 1572976 0 HomeChef 5 1573005 Maybe will start seeing that at fine dining establishments: seard foie gras with apricot reduction: 8,000 points Thu Aug 15 12:31:30 -0700 2002 1572999 0 SKU 4 1573015 Yes, mojitos were so 3 years ago! I think the lines between asian/latin/french/italian will become so blurred, the old fusion will no longer be fusion. Bite size & small dishes will be huge as people figure out that it really doesn't matter what you eat as long as you don't eat too much of it! Instant meals will become delicious and delectable. i.e. microwavable rice at korean markets, perfect cooked rice in two minutes! Thu Aug 15 13:31:19 -0700 2002 1572976 0 villagechow 4 1573072 Interesting note - someone brought a raw food item to the chowhound social last month. It was a pad thai made with raw ingredients including fresh young coconut in place of noodles. The recipe was posted and it was one (many) of the big hits on the food table! I had copied out the recipe and an article on raw foods which I got to via a link from a chowhound post. Alas I didn't write down or copy the link, but I found this in the body of the article which was quite interesting by the by anyway here's the link http://www.rawgourmet.com Also you have to distinguish somewhat trends for different segments of the food industry. Eg. what is trendy for restaurants vs. caterers - big vs small - fancy vs. family style - the list goes on. A real trend may find it's way across the board like wraps did and tortillas did 5-6 years ago and like salsa has over the years. But you can have trends that stay in their own segment. For example a trend in recent years in catering has been towards international tapas, also things passed on spoons or in shot glasses. Mash potato bars served out of a martini glass. Some of these will be familar to folks who have been at "cutting edge" events in the past few years, depending on what part of the country/world you are in (and how adventuresome you and your caterer are). Fri Aug 16 00:43:53 -0700 2002 1572976 0 tigerwoman 1 1572970 More restaurants will design beautiful stylish cocktail seating areas where people will enjoy elaborately prepared cocktails and an assortment of tapas/sushi-style food. With the proposed ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, people will need to be wooed to the bar area and beautiful design and delicious food will take the place of just drinking and smoking. Many people already prefer to sit at the bar and dine when dining alone. Expensive upscale restaurants will open lower-priced bistros and introduce newly-prepared gotta-try dishes with cheaper organ meats. This happened in the 80s when we had a recession. For example, hanger steak with frites became the meat dish to order instead of filet mignon or porterhouse. More outside terraces and gardens will be built to accommodate smokers. Many will have themes to add to the ambiance of the garden - i.e. bamboo gardens, Hawaiian, Miami style Floridian/Cuban... Thu Aug 15 07:54:39 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Flynn 1 1572980 I agree about charcuterie. Cheese is hot, too. Some thoughts on major food trends (not so much restaurant)... I think Asian foods, particularly Chinese and Japanese, will continue to penetrate mainstream. Note the exceptional success and expansion of Asian chains, particularly PF Chang's. Yan (of 'Yan Can Cook') has just launched a new concept with Yum! brands (Owners of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, etc). Sushi is becoming a staple at supermarkets and on home dinner menus. Springing from Asian is the soy craze. Edamame may become a snacking staple. Look for giants like Frito-Lay to develop more soy products. Latin American cuisine is the other biggie that will continue. Demographically, Hispanic-Americans are a huge and still growing group and they will continue to have enormous impact on our cuisine. I see continued success in the quick serve segment for the fresh/mex concepts. Tortillas will take sales from white bread at supermarkets. Also, it seems like people are demanding higher quality and wholesomeness in food and groceries, which is a wonderful trend. Look at Annie's Mac & Cheese, for example. It's a phenomenally successful brand (Annie's just sold to a larger group) built on quality and wholesomeness, and is gaining shelf space at mainstream markets. Other brands include stonyfield yogurt, barbara's cereals, terra chips. Look at the success of Whole Foods markets. People have more choices now for quality products, and quality stuff doesn't necessarily cost more than the heavily processed, mass advertised stuff. Lastly, I predict a business that's ripe for a comeback is the independent local butcher because people want quality and, more and more, to trust the meat source. Thu Aug 15 10:14:05 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Uncledave 1 1572998 When you start seeing kids in Pasadena sucking down Boba you know the funky drink is really going mainstream. In LA, Korean food is getting alot of heat. Why? Protein my friend. The hip and skinny have cottoned on to the fact that in a Korean joint you can chow on meat alone with ease - plus so much is grilled. Soon tofu and bi bim bap are also falling into the hip and healthy eats bracket. The motivation is sad at best but at least it's a step up from egg whites for these folks. Soju, the Korean vodka, is also growing in popularity. At Club Sugar out in Santa Monica, Soju cocktails are all you'll find along side wine and beer. Thu Aug 15 11:38:05 -0700 2002 1572940 0 crumpet 2 1573002 Oh too funny...just looked at the Atkins site...sure enough Korean food gets a nod...bizarre...quite an accurate summary of the cusine too. Thu Aug 15 11:55:05 -0700 2002 1572998 0 crumpet 1 1573027 Compulsive culinary creativity has gone off the edge, and I think folks are yearning for menus where they can recognize most of the offerings. Seems to me the next new thing is to go way backwards for inspiration, and so I predict a revival of favorites from, say, fifty years or more ago. Chili con carne / chicken and dumplings / corn pudding / steak Diane / Cobb salad / seafood thermidor / bisque-type soups etc. Also a looking to Europe for soulfood and streetfood local favorites: bratwurst / lefse / pasties / crepes / Welsh rarebit / potato pancakes / goulashes and paprikashes / piroshki etc. Anyway, these are the things that are starting to appeal to me, and my tummy has been pretty good at foretelling new directions. Thu Aug 15 14:58:47 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Sharuf 1 1573029 Well, I will avoid the more foodie type response to this query and concentrate on a more chowhoundlike response. I have begun to notice the faint glimmerings of a dawn for which I have been waiting for many years: the return of real pork. Yes, properly fattened pigs. Not that erzatx "other white meat" that passes for pork in more supermarkets. There are two trends that are working together here: the chowhound & gourmand set, which would much prefer to cook and eat real old-fashioned pork, and emigrants from Latin America, the Islands and Asia, who also treasure the value of properly fattened pork. I've seen some articles and menus touting heirloom pig products, so it's only a matter of time before this becomes a more common theme. Or least we can hope. Thu Aug 15 15:23:10 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Karl S. 1 1573038 Here's a question for you, who is your audience for the article, what's new for sophisticated city folks will be different than middle America. I'm no Faith Popcorn, but here are some things I think will be hot. Most likely, non really new or innovative, just ideas (wishlist?) of way food trends are going. For restaurants I agree with what has been posted, more tapas-like offerings, more combination of regional American food (just check out the posts here-people are looking for Chicago Italian beef in Nashville, east coast style Hot dogs on the west coast, etc) If you had a place that could offer multiple regional type food, southern, hearty Midwestern fare, California style you might have a very popular restaurant. Also, any underrepresented ethnic, Vietnamese and Korean will become more mainstream, Slavic, African dishes will show up on menus. I would like more street food available- quick noodle bowls, small grill meats and sausages, tacos, tamales etc. Thu Aug 15 16:18:13 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Phil 1 1573045 I would also keep an eye on Indian food. I think they have a great formula to break into a hot status. Most "fusion" places have not really focused on any Indian and I think it is a huge untapped resource. Ben Thu Aug 15 18:13:32 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Schielke 2 1573097 Can we hope that the public will develop an interest in Indian regional cuisines? I'm getting a little weary of seeing the same identical menus in Indian restaurants almost everywhere. Fri Aug 16 11:42:55 -0700 2002 1573045 0 C. Fox 1 1573174 Food courts, or East Asian style food malls, where diners can browse from vendor to vendor, enjoying small dishes from a wide variety of styles and regionalisms. The seeds are there now, of course, but a lot of the vendors still insist on selling you only an entire meal, and haven't developed their pricing and portions to facilitate a grazing approach. Pike Place in Seattle is one of the best examples I've seen; the Strip District in Pittsburgh, Emery Bay Public Market, all steps in that direction. Sat Aug 17 19:01:55 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Shepherd B. Goode 1 1573180 I agree that mojitos are likely to hit it big soon; they may be "so three years ago" in the Northeast and in California, but not in the rest of the country. I think cocktails made with sake will become big, too. I agree with the idea that "small plates" is going to get bigger and bigger, if you will, for all kinds of cuisines. I think Latin American and "nuevo Latino" will continue to grow; ceviche will be evrywhere, and Caribbean and South American staples like mojo and chimichurri will become the sauces of the moment, as salsas of every flavor and interpretation did ten years ago - at least in trendy restaurants. Tropical fruit will keep growing in popularity. Sat Aug 17 23:08:03 -0700 2002 1572940 0 Caitlin McGrath