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Since you’ve been so patient with me rehashing food fads all last week, I thought today’s post should deliver info on two new food trends that you’ll be seeing more of in 2010:

Drinks as Dessert are trending up on dessert menus and at home. In fact, the tiramisu milkshake on the Olive Garden’s menu is the number two drink ordered (after Bud Light) by men!

Pictured above is a white chocolate martini that illustrates this trend nicely!

Filtered Water: from handheld systems that let you filter tap water you find when you’re on the go to filter systems such as Q Water that let restaurants make their own sparkling water, the carbon footprint of drinking good quality water is going to continue to shrink.

The adjectives that marketers choose to describe foods – like the foods themselves – follow trends. In 2006, my menu audits showed words “crispy” and “crunchy” as tops on menus. Likewise, the word “fresh” has been ruling the roost at grocery stores for at least five years. That is until recently.

Is there a new marketing buzzword in town? Could be. I’m seeing the word “bare” with increasing frequency.

• Just Bare Chicken is the brand name for a range of all natural chicken products with the tagline “choose simplicity.”
• Bare tableware is a line of disposable, environmentally more friendly tableware by Solo.
• Bear Naked is a line of granola bars and snacks that feature natural flavours and colours.

Do you find the word “bare” enticing when you think about food? Is simplicity of this kind reassuring to you or do you think it’s just another hollow marketing claim?

Whether it’s in a bowl, a cone or just out of the carton or ice cream maker, I think ice cream is a fun food. Others (who likely lead more exciting lives) don’t agree. The evidence is all around in the ever  exciting ways people keep finding to make ice cream surprise and delight:

• Sooshi: This New Zealand product (pictured here) combines ice cream, candies and fruit to resemble maki rolls that will please even the fish phobic.

• Icecreamists: Dragging ice cream by the hair out of childhood and into the counter culture is this pop-up restaurant in London’s Selfridges department store. Its menu features alcohol-spiked ice cream concoctions (the word “sundae” just doesn’t fit) with names such as Axl Rose-water and The Sex Pistol (laced with absinthe) that kick conventional ice cream treats in the teeth.

• Dippin’ Dots: These pebble-shaped ice cream orbs are sold in mall kiosks and vending machines so that you can enjoy an unusual ice cream treat any time.

• Dibs: These frozen snacks are like ice cream M&M’s; they feature vanilla ice cream enrobed in a crunchy chocolate shell. The idea is that you can eat just one but in reality, you’re likely to keep grazing once you open the package.

Beyond the usual cones, sundaes and shakes, what’s the ‘coolest’ ice cream novelty you’ve seen or tasted?

You know, if fried chicken were a person and not a food, its story could be the basis for the movie of the week: with humble beginnings as a homespun, comforting meal that epitomized all that is good about family life, it had a supremely wholesome beginning. Later, after fried chicken rose to success as a part of our popular culture as a fast food phenomena, this much loved entrée became a pariah shunned by the fat police. Then, just when fried chicken’s prospects seemed the worst, this crispy, battered food was rediscovered to become, along with a handful of comfort foods, elevated to gourmet status by chefs. A true underdog success story if  ever there was one.

Today fried chicken is a  menu star at fashionable restaurants such as Momofuko Noodle Bar in NYC and Harlem Restaurant in Toronto while slow food mecca Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California is serving it, too.

When’s the last time you had fried chicken? Did you order it at a fancy restaurant or have some of the Colonel’s special recipe? Or, did you make it at home like I did?

According to this recent Toronto Star article, in the last census, nearly 25% of Canadian women spent 30 hours or more taking care of the home in 2006, compared to 7.7% of men. This US report shows that the trend is the same in that country, too.

What’s interesting for me as a trend tracker is that, while many young men tell me they love food TV shows and want to know how to become chefs like Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain, it’s this same group who do the fewest household chores. In fact, according the US report linked above, teenage boys and young males performed the fewest hours of household work – 8.9 hours per week, compared with 15.9 for young women.

While “chores” aren’t broken down between cooking and cleaning, I have a feeling that this old ad isn’t as quaint as I’d like to think.

What do you think prevents more men from being involved in daily food preparation? Are women too ready to jump in and make a meal or do we make them feel unwelcome in the kitchen?

Sigh. Not only is it the first day of September, but I was cold when left the house this morning. Summer – such as it was – is pretty much over. I’m just not ready. But, try as I might to deny that I need to stock up on ingredients,  school lunches are just around the corner for Canadian families like mine. Plus, this year the food children eat for lunch and as after school snacks is being scrutinized and discussed like never before.

Recently two new marketing initiatives aimed at kids caught my attention. First the Kinder chocolate folks sent me a press release about their new line of mini-treats and info about using these bars as a reward for kids who behave well. To be honest, I worry about linking indulgent food to love and reward for anyone, especially kids. That said, the smaller bar sizes do help teach kids portion control.

Then, I got info about these new snacks from Summer Fresh Salads that are perfect for lunch boxes and entice younger kids to eat protein-rich hummus and to dip veggies by using cartoon images they love. Despite the fact these products have a lot of packaging, I feel a lot better about this attempt to sell kid food to parents than I do about the Kinder mini-bar bribe idea.

If you’re concerned about controlling your child’s weight you might be interested in this study of 9- to 15-year-olds that found that all kids, regardless of their weight, tended to eat more when they had the chance to snack with a friend. Due to shyness or some other unknown reason, they ate far less when they were snacking with a peer they did not know. Interestingly, the biggest calorie intakes were seen when an overweight child snacked with an overweight friend:

• Overweight friends consumed 738 calories, on average, when snacking together
• When an overweight child was paired with a normal-weight friend they consumed an average of 444 calories.
• Normal-weight kids consumed an average of about 500 calories when paired with a friend, regardless of the friend’s weight.

How do you feel about rewarding kids with snacks or buying them foods specifically marketed as “kid foods?”

What? Aged or fermented black garlic was developed as an Asian diet supplement; it’s made using a patented, month-long heat curing process that creates not just a change in flavour but also a high level of antioxidants that are associated with cancer prevention.

Why? Besides its health benefits, black garlic tastes really, really good. I first tried it in Denver when I dipped into my friend Robin Asbell’s vegetarian plate at Rioja. The mellow, savoury yet sweet, deep, satisfying flavour smote me hard (why are you looking at me that way? Smote is a word, okay?).

When? This trend started late last year when chefs began to experiment with this supplement as an ingredient.

Where? I bought the aged black garlic pictured above at McEwan but I haven’t seen it anywhere else in Toronto.

Who? Have you tried this yummy new ingredient at a restaurant or seen it at one of your local stores? If so, tell me what you thought or where you found it.

Post edited to add this link to an article about San Francisco restaurants that are using black garlic.

While retail experts expected grocery store coffee sales to grow 2.4% in 2008, the changes in the economy led many consumers to choose a homemade cup of java over a $4 latte. As a result, sales grew by 6% and are predicted to stay as strong as a Starbucks espresso.

In other coffee related news, the makers of Dippin’ Dots ice cream pellets are applying their super cold technology to coffee concentrate so that soon homecooks will have another, hopefully better, instant coffee option.

And, for those who still splurge on coffee shop coffee, a new website and iPhone application from Dunkin’ Donuts now makes placing large orders easier. The person making the coffee run can send out a group alert asking people what they want; then, those people can place their orders online. The person going to Dunkin’ Donuts can print out the order or look at it on his or her phone.

Personally, I’m not a huge coffee drinker. I usually have a cup a day, so buying my coffee from a coffee shop doesn’t have a big impact on my budget. What about you? Has the economy changed your coffee drinking habits in any way?

I love the extended daylight we have at this time of year. I feel so much more motivated to get out and do things. Unfortunately, it also seems to lead to less impetus to cook a full meal between the hours of 5 and 7 pm. In fact, it’s this time of year when we seem to nibble and nosh pretty much all evening. A yummy salad around 6:30 pm; some grilled Korean short ribs at 7:30 pm (or when Oliver takes a break from shooting hoops in the drive way with his friends); a bowl of strawberries with ice cream at 9 pm…..it’s an extended meal time pattern that just seems to work at this time of year.

My old friend Julie Van Rosendaal obviously follows a similar pattern. If you read her blog Dinner with Julie, you’ll know that her life is truly hectic.  She has a vibrant media career with crazy hours, a toddler and an abundance of charity commitments that keep her going hither and thither.  Through it all she manages to create, photograph and post some of the yummiest and best recipes in Canada. Besides being part of the new superstar blogger project Good Bite, she’s also just released an updated, newly formated version of one of her books and the timing, for me at least, couldn’t be better. Grazing: A Healthier approach to Snacks and Finger Foods is packed with just the kinds of foods I need for summer. From cheesy black bean dip to hoisin pork lettuce wraps, this collection of snack foods is going to get a lot of use not only next week on Canada Day but all summer long.

I asked Julie what snacks she recommends for this weekend and on Canada Day and she suggestee totally on-trend but still proudly Canadian Dukka Salmon Sticks:

Dukkah

Dukkah is a fantastic blend of spices and nuts that you could eat out of hand or sprinkle on salads, but its intended serving method is to put it out in a shallow bowl alongside crusty bread and good olive oil; you dip the bread into the oil and then into the dukkah. So since there is dipping action involved, here it is. If there is a snack out there that’s good for your heart, this is it.

3/4 cup hazelnuts or whole almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 Tbsp. coriander seeds
2 Tbsp. cumin seed
1 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. flaky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and roast for 5-10 minutes, or until golden and fragrant. Transfer them onto a tea towel, fold the towel over and rub them to remove as much of the skins as you can; set aside to cool. (If you’re using almonds, toast them but don’t worry about removing the skins.)

In a dry skillet, toast the sesame seeds over medium heat, shaking the pan often, until golden and fragrant. Transfer to a bowl. Add the coriander and cumin seeds to the pan and toast until they begin to pop; transfer to a food processor with the hazelnuts and pulse until finely ground, then add to the sesame seeds and stir to combine them. Season with salt and pepper and blend well.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Per tablespoon: 55 calories, 5.1 g total fat (0.5 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.2 g polyunsaturated fat), 1.8 g protein, 1.8 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.7 g fiber. 76% calories from fat

Honey, Ginger & Sesame Salmon Sticks

To me, these are like candy on a stick; I’d eat the whole lot if no one was around to fight me for them. Salmon is a fatty fish, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which fight heart disease by lowering triglyceride levels and seem to have a protective effect against some forms of cancer.

1 1/2 lbs. salmon filet
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. lime or lemon juice
1 Tbsp. finely grated ginger
Sesame seeds, toasted, for sprinkling

Cut salmon into big bite sized pieces. Combine the honey, soy sauce and lime juice in a bowl or large zip-lock bag. Add the salmon and stir or shake to coat well. Cover (or seal) and refrigerate for 24 hours, or at least one hour if that’s all you have time for.

When you’re ready to cook them, thread each piece of salmon onto a bamboo skewer that has been soaked in water for at least 10 minutes. Grill over high heat for a couple minutes per side, until just cooked through, or broil for 3-4 minutes. Don’t overcook them or the salmon will dry out.

Place the sesame seeds in a shallow dish and dip one side of each skewer in the seeds to coat, or sprinkle them overtop. Serve immediately.

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen salmon sticks.

Per stick: 95 calories, 2.5 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat, 0.9 g monounsaturated fat, 0.9 g polyunsaturated fat), 9.5 g protein, 9.6 g carbohydrate, 24.6 mg cholesterol, 0 g fiber. 23% calories from fat

Honey-Mustard Salmon Sticks: add 1 Tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard to the marinade mixture instead of the ginger.

Honey, Garlic & Ginger Sesame Chicken Sticks: add 4 crushed cloves of garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes to the marinade, and use skinless chicken breasts or thighs in place of the salmon. (They’ll take a little longer to cook.)

Dukkah Salmon Sticks: don’t marinate the salmon at all, but cube, brush with a little oil and cook it on skewers as directed. Instead of sesame seeds, dip each piece into a shallow dish of dukkah

Recipe, variations and photo reprinted with permission of the author from Grazing: A Healthier approach to Snacks and Finger Foods (Whitecap 2009).

It doesn’t have to be June for my thoughts to turn to ice cream, but it does seem like an appropriate time of year to write about the latest trends in this internationally loved concoction.

1. Charity: Ben & Jerry’s and the Barenaked Ladies continue the tradition of rock and roll-inspired ice cream flavours. And, in the spirit of the times, this flavour has a strong charity link since the band will donate their portion of the proceeds to the ABC Canada Literacy Foundation. In other Ben and Jerry’s news, their UK branch has launched a fair trade line that supports small farmers.

2. Spicy: Where bacon went before, the new trend in ice cream is to add a spicy kick of heat to distract eaters from brain freeze. Even if you can’t handle a spicy ice cream, you can go to NYC and spice up your ice cream experience in another way by visiting the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck.

3. Tangy: Goat milk gelato and goat milk ice cream are certainly gourmet faves right now, as are buttermilk, sour cream and crème fraiche-based ice creams that have bracing finishes.

What’s your favourite ice cream flavour? I have to be honest that I still have frequent cravings for Baskin & Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge as well as Hagen Daaz Dulce de Leche.

The lovely photo above of Ben & Jerry’s If I had a Million Flavors, was, once again, taken by professional food photographer Tracy Cox.