"foodtrends" news and stories

One of the best gastronomic experiences is the gooey rich creaminess of caramel slowly melting on one's palate. Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of products, such as Poco Dolce's burnt caramel toffee, adding salt into the caramel equation. A recent New York Times article explains how this extraordinarily sweet and savory combo went from elite chichi Parisian pastry shops to the American mass-market (stores such as Wal-Mart) and the soon-to-be Obama White House.

The article suggests that the financial success of this exquisite pair is due to a fortunate profitable trend cycle. Parisian pastry chefs initiated American chefs' obsession with the caramel-sea salt blend. Then, it ended up in specialty food magazines and food shows. Soon enough, chain restaurants, like the Cheesecake Factory, began selling them. Finally, Wal-Mart picked up on the trend. Of course, it would not have caught on so quickly if it were not for Americans' long-established taste for salty mixed with sweet, a flavor picked up gracias to dulce de luche from South America and Mexico.

As fellow blog Salt News states, the NY Times focuses on the financial and cultural success of the caramel-salt mix without ever delving into the gastronomic sensations it elicits. The title of the article, "How Caramel Developed a Taste for Salt," is misleading since there is never any substantial information explaining how this caramel concoction developed in small villages in the region of Brittany in France. I'm left wondering whether or not caramel indeed activates a desire for salt. Instead, the article gets carried away with Obama's love for salty caramel delights as though it would be hard to imagine. Could you blame him?

All month, magazines and blogs have abuzz with forecasts for the 2009 food year. Some take their roles as psychic seriously, others skewer and flame-broil the whole concept. I, for one, find both approaches pretty entertaining. Whether earnest or facetious, most lists include something about fad diets and sustainability, as well as at least a couple recession-related predictions, whether that means home cooking or casual restaurants. Bacon, yet again, figures into more than one list.

Enough summary. Here are the links:

From the serious...

• Gourmet presents its picks in slide-show form.
• Food and Wine sticks to restaurants.
• Epicurious says what is the new whatever.
• A blog called Eat Me Daily revisits and reviews last year's picks from Epicurious.

To the silly...

• Also from the blogosphere, Fine Furious Life weighs in.
• Serious Eats belies its name.
• Frank Bruni and Kim Severson unknit their collective brow in the Diner's Journal blog.
• Food Marathon, in my opinion, wins the day with their hilarious photo-enhanced shenanigans.

Apparently the world is consuming more chilies. A recent article from the Economist explains that "bland diets of Europe and the Anglosphere" have spent the past 50 years becoming more tolerant towards hotter chilies with the popularity of curries, salsa, and tabasco sauce.

The Economist article mentions the increasing popularity of chilies in nearly every dish from rice and jelly to chocolate. Tesco, Britain's largest supermarket chain, now sells Dorset naga which rates 1.6m units on the Scoville scale, measurement of hotness. Pepper spray used in riot control scores 2m.

Despite this obsession with the heat of the chili, many connoisseurs argue that the level of heat does not define the flavor profile. For them, it's like judging wine based on its alcohol content rather than its quality. These gourmets are more struck by the presence of chili in many more foods than in the past. It could be due to the fact that chilies have a chemical called capsaicin which causes the release of endorphins that create a natural high. In fact, the more chilies you consume, the better this high gets. Also, the Economist explains that capasaicin excites a nerve that makes us more receptive to other flavors.

During the first couple of days of July, I nibbled my way through three floors of New York City's Javits Center while attending the Summer Fancy Food Show. Several other folks from AOL Food and Epicurious were also there, tasting chips, cheese, chocolates and dips. We discovered that there are quite a few people making artisanal chocolate, flavoring things with lavender and pear-ginger and doing amazing things with live foods among many other, tasty things.

We've all sorted through our samples, press kits and memories, trying to bring you what we think was the very best of the show in one fun, appealing slideshow that you can find over at AOL Food. Head on over, take and look and then come back over here and let us know what you think. Did we pick anything you love? Or did we happen to hit on a product you've tried and not liked? We want to hear what you think!

[via: AOL Food]

And we thought it was just the European Union that had crazy ideas about fruit - you know, like bananas had to be straight and other such stuff (which, admittedly, is usually made up by the popular press).

But the regulator that looks after food in Australia and New Zealand plans on disqualifying most stone fruits and apples as healthy as they contain more than 16g of sugar per serving. The article at the New Zealand Times reports that in the past, eggs, spinach (something to do with the acidity), fish (mercury) and red meat have all fallen foul of the "food police" at one time or another. But ready meals and the added sugar and preservatives in food have not.

They also point out that the Food Standards board fail to recognize that fresh fruit scontain valuable minerals, vitamins and fiber.

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