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A look at some highlights and low points in the wild and wonderful world of food and food trends.
It’s that time of year when most get a little reflective and wonder about where they’ve been, where they’re going and for some, what they plan on doing to make 2008 different and/or better. At Food Trends, some of these questions also arose, and a few lists were made to share with you dear readers. Where We Have Been:The biggest, most expensive and downright foolish dishes crafted in 2007 have to list amongst this writer’s number one peeves of the year. Who exactly buys a $1000 USD pizza and feels GOOD about it? Paris Hilton or some other “socialite” without a cause, perhaps? A too rich and too dumb millionaire/billionaire who wants to show off a bit (emphasis on a bit given that to a billionaire, one grand is mere chump change)? Or perhaps an average Joe who wants bar bragging rights as in “I ordered this awesome pizza in New York and it cost $1000 bucks! But get this- it’s made with six kinds of caviar, lobster and crème fraiche!” Does he even know what crème fraiche is? Or how about the fact that caviar stocks are in danger of becoming extinct due to pollution and over-fishing? Naw, that would be giving this consumer way too much cred. Rounding off my list of eye-rolling dishes: the $1000 USD ice cream sundae dessert at New York’s Serendipity restaurant (gold spoon included), an 85 Euro Kobe burger served at Restaurante Estik in Madrid and the uber-silly $1000 USD omelette at Norma’s Restaurant in New York City. Do New Yorker’s really need to blow $1000 per dish? The majority of these wastes of cash seem to originate in the Big Apple. At a time when one third of our food ends up in the garbage, this trend is sad to say the least. As the saying goes, a fool and their money are soon parted… I hope this is one trend that wanes SOON! Where We’re Going:Buzzwords such as sustainable, local and even locavore (which became the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 07!) are seeping into the mainstream in a big way. Some colleague’s despise what they call the “politicization of food.” This writer sees it as a necessary fact of life. As consumers, YOU have the opportunity to vote with your wallets by buying products that are grown or produced locally to help out farmers in your area. Big agri-business can be dangerous to our health – putting a face to whomever grows your food is one way to reclaim your control over what you put on the table and feed your family. I agree with author Michael Pollen when he says that we need to eat Real Food- and not some food-like substance that has been engineered/processed for us. Whole food, real food, food that’s NOT processed and tampered with is the best kind for your money, hands down. Food like your grandmother used to make and eat- that’s what we should all consume on a daily basis. Publisher Gail Gordon-Oliver makes it easy for folks living in and around Toronto to source the freshest, tastiest and locally produced, sustainable food in Canada’s first entry in the Edible family of magazines through Edible Toronto. To read a piece penned about one of this city’s local markets, click here. You can also read aboutsustainable fish practices here- where yours truly has written about this topic and why it’s important over the last year or two. And finally, on pure fun food trends, click here to read about what made it big, what’s cooling off and where we may be headed. Happy New Year to you all and may 2008 bring you the kind of tasty adventures that will inspire you for some time to come!
The copyright of the article 2007 Food Trends Wrap Up in Food Trends is owned by Mary Luz Mejia. Permission to republish 2007 Food Trends Wrap Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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