FOOD TRENDS for 2012
So I did a little research on Food Trends for the New Year. I looked into the year past to see how much of an impact 2011 trends made. They would have had to make a pretty big wave as I don’t subscribe to magazines, cable tv (don’t even own a tv), and no newspaper makes it to this gal’s doorstep.
Some of the most popular across the board from 2011:
FORAGING. Did hear quite a bit about foraging or maybe that’s because I just do it for a living. Who knows?
BUTCHERY. Well umm, where I work it is not uncommon to see an entire whole hog being wheeled in on dolly. Within moments you have a couple of kitchen bubbas desending upon the beast to break it down with 45 mins or less. Yup, ya heard me. Actual ideal processing time is right at 30 mins for a 170 to 180 dressed, whole hog.
SAMWICHES. For those of you not from NOLA, that’s ‘sandwich’ my friends. Some folks are saying that the Asian samwiches are here to stay. Bahn mi and Num Pang (actually the name of the bread). Personally, samwiches will always be my favorite thing to eat. Really good bread is must and I love to have a refrigerator full of all different types of smears. And of course you can’t forget the day after Thanksgiving samwich. I made the Dagwood of all Thanksgiving samwiches. Every great culture has its samwich.
BEER & WINE. Still on everyone’s radar. Homemade brews abound. Homemade sodas abound for that matter, even with crazy esoteric ingredients, and flavor pairings.
FREE FROM & WELLNESS DIETS. Ya heard? Yup, while we are being local, we also want it be organic, pastured, minimally packaged, minimally processed, and free of all the shit we may or may not be allergic to.
In the 2012 Food Trend predictions it’s all some sort of variation:
Hyper-localism, meat/butchery extending to rabbit and goat, samwiches (didn’t know samwiches go in and out of style but this one is definitely a relic), sour beers and cooking with the hops to flavor food is going to be popular this year.
Wine Cred. Ahh, this is one where I am ahead of the game. As described in Packaging Digest Food Trends of 2012: 'it’s for consumers who desire fresh value priced experiences, folks are going to being drinking lesser known wines.’ So, you don’t say? Maybe we’ve just had enough of the swill that’s at the big box stores. They all taste the same, not good and not bad but vaguely still on the same varietal wavelength. Finding good wine affordably is like trying to find good olive oil affordably, it’s better to just ask someone you know, who’s into that shit, and just shell out dough to buy it, otherwise. OTHERWISE. You’ll still end up spending a fortune to get to the same end result.
Health, wellness, and free from foods. Yup, we are already seeing crazy products that gluten free and vegan but now what about making sure there’s no soy? I mean, what if you are allergic to everything: wheat, milk enzyme, soy, corn, eggs. What the hell do you eat? Well as it turns out meat and vegetables. Maybe that’s why the Paleo Diet has been so popular. Are food allergies a trend? It would seem that way when folks predict 'free-from foods’. Personally, I imagine that there is a plethora of folks who are reading books such as Wheat Belly and declaring themselves gluten intolerant. Sucks for those folks who really do have allergies and those who do are already doing their thing naturally because if they didn’t they could die. Hello all y'all celiacs!
So what is the point of this post? Eat real foods. Eat real foods made from scratch. You want cookies–make the goddamn cookies. You want really delicious pizza–make the dough, grated the cheese, shit, use the store bought canned tomato sauce, soup it up with herbs, top it with some fresh veg, and add meat if you want it. Yeah it is gonna take a little time. Shit the worst part about it is the planning. Ya heard? Planning. Planning the week out by looking in your cabinets on a Sunday. Come up with game plan for the entire week. Stick to it. Y'all can only function as good as what ya stuff your face with.
