The Decade in Ingredient Trends

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Dec 28th 2009 @ 11:00AM

In a decade during which adults proudly ordered comfort foods that were once listed only on children's menus (think mac and cheese, hot dogs, cupcakes and sliders), it's perhaps no surprise that most diners didn't go gaga for any crazy new ingredients. While industry observers predicted mangosteen, saffron and quinoa would all hit it big in the aughts, eaters instead huddled around their bacon and butter. Sure, a small subset of foodies tortured their bellies with sideshow-style eating. Lamb tongue tartar, anyone? But most Americans ate like Pilgrims, shunning anything with an unpronounceable name or chemical origin. Here, a quick guide to what we kept in our pantries:

2001: Black Truffle Oil

Black truffle oil was a relative newcomer back in 2001, when white truffle oil was still the reigning indicator of luxury. The subject of a January 2001 article in Bon Appetit, home cooks were soon wild for the intensely fragrant oil, which was stirred into risottos, poured over popcorn and served on ice cream.

2002: Butter

Fat didn't seem so scary in the wake of 9/11, when all eaters wanted were dishes that felt like warm hugs. That meant rice pudding, creamed spinach, seafood bisques and just about anything that called for lots and lots of butter. Nothing said 2002 like a plate of fettuccine Alfredo served with a slab of heavily buttered bread.

2003: Green tea

Green tea wasn't just good enough to drink. In 2003, it was added to dish-washing detergent and hand soaps. But, as Restaurant Business noted that year, "it is the tea's presence on the plate that is quickly gaining steam... Its delicate taste makes it an excellent choice for ethnic dishes and desserts." Diners apparently liked the flavor – and that research showed the stuff could reduce blood sugar and increase metabolism.

2004: Low-Carb Everything

Avert your eyes, bagel makers! Best not to think back on those painful years when an astounding number of Americans were eschewing anything with a trace of wheat. Ingredient makers purged carbs from their products in deference to the 3 percent of the population following an Atkins-style diet. And when they couldn't get rid of the carbs, they improvised: Hardee's actually offered a burger wrapped in lettuce.

2005: Local Food

Amazingly, local food was still in its infancy in 2005, a full year before Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" would appear in bookstores. But in 2005, when the word "locavore" was coined, savvy eaters were already demanding meat, eggs, cheese and vegetables grown close to home -- talk of local wheat, coffee and chocolate would come later.

2006: Pomegranates

The quintessential superfood became super-popular in 2006, when Heaven Hill first issued Pama pomegranate liqueur, Starbucks introduced a pomegranate frappuccino and Odwalla launched its PomaGrand brand. According to the Boston Globe, Dunkin' Donuts had hoped to cash in on the craze with a smoothie, but feared demand would outstrip the supply of pomegranates.

2007: Whole Hog

Foodies, suddenly infatuated with offal, began eating high and low on the hog in 2007. But the part they liked best was the belly, commonly known as bacon. It showed up in ice cream, candy bars and bubblegum. But the craze reached its zenith the following year with the much-discussed Bacon Explosion, featuring bacon-wrapped bacon.

2008: Sriracha

Americans' tolerance for spicy food grew over the last decade, and the heat they liked best came Sriracha chili sauce, which – as the New York Times recently pointed out -- now appears on the menus at Applebee's and P.F. Chang's. The sauce was so trendy in 2008 that Philadelphia's Beauty Shop Cafe impishly added a Sriracha latte to its menu.

2009: Bitters

Apple martinis are so 2006. With classic cocktails at the apex of most self-respecting bar scenes, mixologists are snapping up ye olde ingredients, including fresh fruit, rye whiskey and bitters.

Filed Under: Trends, Restaurants, News
Tags: Atkins Diet, bacon, ingredient trends, pomegranate, sriracha

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-28-2009 @12:09PM Adam S. said... Where's the year of the acai? Nobody knew what an acai was three years ago. Now you can hardly go into a grocery store without being assaulted by the magical berry in the fruit juice area, the cookie and snack isle, the granola area.... it's everywhere. And frankly, though "bacon" may have taken off a few years ago, it's certainly enjoying its heyday even more now than it was then.
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