2014 Culinary Trend Predictions

(my editorial comments in italics)

Huffington Post wrote:
- Boneless lamb neck - then why? Isn't it just ground lamb at that point?
- Filipino food
- High-proof spirits
- Sweetbreads (offal)
- Buckwheat
- Fluke (a flatfish), octopus and trout - yes, hopefully the flatfish, not the liver parasite
- Kale - still?
- Cauliflower
- House-made fruit vinegars, vinaigrettes, cocktails
- Teres major (beef shoulder tender)
- High-priced vegetarian menus - been there, done that, well not personally, but Chicago
- Beer and wine in fast-casual chains
- House-fermented foods
- New uses for pretzels
- Banh mi becomes mainstream and makes it onto Western menus
- Chicken skin
- Crackdown on food waste
- Year-round rosé wines
- Hipster Asian restaurants
- Gin, gin bars, gin and tonic bars
- Jewish fusion
- Coconut
- Mexican sandwiches (tortas and cemitas)
- Sweetened and flavored whiskeys
- Smoked, mapled, honeyed booze
- Made-to-order liquid nitro ice cream
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Paleo dieters
- Delivery of both high-priced and fast food
- Smartphone and tablet-enabled ordering and payment
- Shakshuka (eggs poached in tomato sauce, onions, pepper, chili, cumin popular in Israel and North Africa)
- Sorghum (sweetener)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/13 ... 41392.html

Overall, pretty weak sauce for new trends. Most of them are here already.

Exactly--it's more of a look-back than a forecast. Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

boudreaulicious wrote:Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

I'm sure a quick perusal of a Google search for Thanksgivukkah recipes will turn up some examples...many of which would have been better off forgotten.

boudreaulicious wrote:Exactly--it's more of a look-back than a forecast. Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

I'm guessing that Ottolenghi/Tamimi's Jerusalem and Ottolenghi cookbooks are an influence, although it's Israeli/Palestinian more than specifically Jewish. (Yes, a number of the recipes are identified as originating from Jewish settlers from all over the hemisphere, but certainly not everything.)

JoelF wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Exactly--it's more of a look-back than a forecast. Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

I'm guessing that Ottolenghi/Tamimi's Jerusalem and Ottolenghi cookbooks are an influence, although it's Israeli/Palestinian more than specifically Jewish. (Yes, a number of the recipes are identified as originating from Jewish settlers from all over the hemisphere, but certainly not everything.)

I agree-- the listings for lamb neck and shakshuka also may reflect the same influence. Wish Ottolenghi could cancel out kale-- so tired of kale.

I like this historical recipe trend a lot. Who is doing this in Chicago other than the occasional Next historical incarnation? http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 1225981092

Cinnamon Girl wrote:I like this historical recipe trend a lot. Who is doing this in Chicago other than the occasional Next historical incarnation? http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 1225981092

Big Jones always has a couple of year-dated items on their menu.

I remember the menu at Zinfandel having a number of dated historic recipes ... this would be in the early '90s. I worked for a software company and came to Chicago for an event and our Midwest rep took us to Zinfandel and it was amazing compared to what was the usual elsewhere. I distinctly remember a type of BBQ sauce the mid-1800s.

The trend list seems mighty dated - and kale? really?


Not sure at all what might become trends ...

Hi- I have noticed that there are more farmers growing and selling kale at the market this summer. Today one of the farmer's was selling huge bunches of kale $3 a bunch or 2/$5, and he had never grown kale before as far as I know until this year. He had one customer that bought at least 10 bunches of kale. I was tempted to ask her what she was going to do with all that kale. Well I was wondering what was up with the kale, and somebody at another board I post on said she uses it to make smoothies. She says that it is the only way her family will eat anything that is green She adds bananas, OJ, and flax seed to it and does it in her nutribullet, and I am sure does not tell her kids that it has kale in it, and they like it. I have no problems eating kale though, and I usually get some baby red russian kale in the mesclun I buy at the farmer's market.

NFriday wrote:... Well I was wondering what was up with the kale...

The kale trend certainly has been hanging on, and on (etc.)-- for a while I was getting a huge bunch of kale every week in my CSA box from Angelic Organics. I found a few ways to make it palatable, but really I prefer a more varied Brassica diet. Enough with the kale! This year I've been lucky with the CSA-- Napa cabbage, bok choi, etc-- no kale yet on the weeks I've gotten it (I'm on a pick-your-weeks plan with Angelic).

boudreaulicious wrote:Exactly--it's more of a look-back than a forecast. Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

My thoughts, too, and I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of the latest food trends. But the sweetened flavored whiskey thing must die. I have yet to taste one that was not obliterating the favors that make whiskey enjoyable (at least to me.) it's whiskey for people who don't like whiskey. I try to keep an open mind, so when offered, I have one. It's been a unanimous blech so far.

I have some recipes which are good if I am trying to clean out my fridge, including pasta primavera, vegetarian chili, and vegetarian curry. I can use kale in all of those. There are also some sauces in Laurel's Kitchen that are good to use on cooked greens.. Apparently a lot of people are juicing kale too, although then you are losing out on all the fiber in the kale. I am not a big fan of juicing.

You can use kale in a smoothie too. I also will chop it up and add it to anything stir fried, to soups, stews, etc. just to get a little extra green in there. And I love chopped raw kale salad, grilled kale, or kale oven chips.

I agree--I prefer it (and Chard) to spinach. One of my favorite fall recipes is a casserole with layers of bread, tomatoes, kale/chard/onion/ and gruyere cheese. So delicious!!

Binko wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Exactly--it's more of a look-back than a forecast. Though dying to know what defines "Jewish fusion".

My thoughts, too, and I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of the latest food trends. But the sweetened flavored whiskey thing must die. I have yet to taste one that was not obliterating the favors that make whiskey enjoyable (at least to me.) it's whiskey for people who don't like whiskey. I try to keep an open mind, so when offered, I have one. It's been a unanimous blech so far.

You realize this is a ploy to get kids, particularly young ladies, to drink brown booze, right? Fireball is tremendously, perplexingly popular and has eclipsed Jäger, Cuervo and Jameson as the shot of choice for the naive and the dumbass. Some fool brought Evan Williams "honey" to my pig roast, and people drank it. I tasted some and it is a poor man's Southern Comfort. That's not a compliment. I hope no actual Evan Williams whiskey was harmed in the making of this cordial. This is what happens when reasonable folk don't come and bring respectable booze. Y'all know who y'all are.