"indian" news and stories

Every year there are a handful of ingredients and flavors that find their way onto almost every single restaurant menu in the country. Last year, two of the most popular flavors were pomegranate and chipotle. This year, the menu trend-spotters have already made their top five predictions, some of which are bolder than before and others that are merely extensions of existing trends.

Functional flavors - Beyond green tea and pomegranate there is a whole world of functional food that will become more widely used. Açaí, acerola cherry, red wine and red tea will all step more into the limelight.

More Latin flavors - Chipotle is still popular, as is regional Mexican (from Oaxaca and Jalisco), but new flavors will step up, with more influences from Central and South America.

Sweet and savory- The pairing of salty and sweet (or savory and sweet) really hit a home run with packaged foods last year, but more mainstream restaurants will be offering salted caramels or herb-infused ice creams than in the past.

Expected flavors, unexpected fruits- Why stick with orange when you can use blood orange? The same goes for choosing Meyer lemons, Buddha's hand or other citrus over plan lemon. Twists on popular flavors will make the food seem more exotic, without taking a big risk by radically changing the flavor.

More Spice, Less Heat - Instead of the overt heat of chipotle, ancho, and jalapeño, there will be more Indian and Moroccan spices added to menus, including curry, cumin and cardamom.

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Every year, over $20 billion dollars is spent on snack foods in the US, so it is easy to see why the snack industry is so interested in trying to find the next big product - or better yet, the next big flavor. Most snack products have been around for a long time and are met with only slight variations. Popcorn is healthier or more indulgent and cookies can be chewy or crispy. The flavors, however, can be used across the board in all different types of snack foods. Cheddar, for example, is a very American flavor and everything from chips to popcorn to aerosol "cheeses" come in cheddar flavor, making it one of the most popular snack flavors around.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.

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The new trend in frozen foods is pushing our taste bud frontiers with exotic and unusual ethnic dishes. Supermarket surveys have shown that customers want to see more ethnic cuisines on the market shelves and that we aren't afraid to taste a few spices.

For some time brands like Ethnic Gourmet have been producing frozen entrees and sides with Asian dishes from China, Thailand, and India; now they have added other cuisines like American Southwest and Italian, amped up with a bit more spice and flair than we are used to. Many other brands are stretching the culinary envelope into areas like Morocco, with Fairfield Farm Kitchens making refrigerated soups like Moroccan Stew, Tibetan Curried Soup, and Hungarian Vegetable Noodle Soup, all based on a recipes from the well known Moosewood Restaurant. They also have other offerings like Jamaican Style Jerk Chicken with Wehani rice and Thai Style Chicken Curry. Paani Foods Inc. is exploring other areas of African cuisine with Jollof Rice with Chicken and Peas, a mainstream Nigerian dish, and a West African Meat Pie. Two frozen entrees I can't wait to try.

Expect to see Latin cuisine defined by national dishes and regional recipes from places like the Yucatan showing up in your grocers freezer. Indian food has had a strong showing lately and now we can expect to see the tastes and spices amped up so that if the box says spicy, it will be. Also you can expect many of these frozen ethnic foods to be organic and from humanely raised livestock. I love that we are going to be exposed to more varied offerings in the freezer aisle. For many this will be first tastes of new cuisines, with the opportunity to explore safely from our home. I can't think of a better way to get exposed to the varied food of our global society as we eat our way deeper into the 21st century.

The Indian health ministry issued a warning about the quality of Indian street food this week following a survey that "found many sellers oblivious to the basics of food hygiene." Most, in fact, stated that they put their "profits before customer safety" - a risky decision for the average restaurateur, since many vendors count on repeat business to keep going. As unlikely as it may seem, their strategy does not seem to be working against them. Street food is popular for three reasons: it is cheap, it is convenient and it tastes good. That last reason is why the vendors stay in business because customers say that "you think of the taste and just forget everything else you know," returning to the same stands, despite become ill after eating the food.

The health ministry is planning to offer food hygiene training for those in the food service industry and may develop a licensing system that would require such courses to be undertaken by vendors in the future.

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Lentils fall into that category of staple foods that includes rice and flour. They don't generally merit much thought because they are prevalent, yet they make up a crucial part of the diet of many in southern Asia and are popular anywhere Indian food is sold. At least, they didn't receive much thought until the Indian government banned lentil exports, which has resulted in shortages in other parts of the world, including the US. As a result, lentil prices are going up and some restaurants are turning to lentils from other countries, though "there are complaints from discerning customers who bemoan inferior quality."

The dried beans are such a staple that they are often eaten several times a day, especially by Indian vegetarians, so people have turned to hoarding them while still paying increasingly high prices. Until the ban in India is repealed, it doesn't seem like prices will be coming down any time soon. Fortunately, dried lentils keep for quite some time, so if you like lentil soups in the fall, it might be worth picking up a bag or two at the store, just in case.

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