When I can't get to a trend setting destination myself, I turn to savvy food lovers who can give me the latest info second hand. Julia Aitken, author of 125 Best Entertaining Recipes and a former Homemaker's food editor just like me, is one of my favourite sources. She travels often and brings home great insights. Check out what she had to say about the London food scene when she and I chatted recently:

Dana McCauley: You're a savvy traveller who keeps up with the latest food trends. What surprised you about the restaurants and food stores in London when visited late last year?

Julie Aitken: The quality of the food in London's restaurants astounds me. It's absolutely world-class cuisine and, in the capital at least, the tradition of bad British food no longer applies. There's a huge emphasis on locally produced, organic seasonal food, both in restaurants and supermarkets, and Brits seem to be far more interested in the provenance of what they eat than the average Canadian.

DM: Did you have any rocking chair moments? In other words, did you taste one quintessential dish or food that you'll still be thinking about as you wile away the hours in the old folks home?

JA: I enjoyed so much good food; it's hard to pinpoint one particular meal as being the finest but a lunch at Petersham Nurseries (and, yes, it really is a garden centre!) stands out. Chef Skye Gyngell excels in using seasonal foods in a simple way that makes each flavour shine. An appetizer of roasted Jerusalem artichokes teamed with creamy buffalo mozzarella and aged Parmesan then dressed with a mint-anchovy dressing was pretty as a picture and slap-the-table good.

DM: You mentioned that the grocery stores in the UK were filled with foods that were semi-prepared and ready to be combined and cooked. What foods did you want to smuggle home in your luggage?

JA: I'm amazed anyone cooks in Britain these days. The quality of the ready-prepared food was so high and the selection so broad. The heat-and-serve versions didn't interest me as much as the value-added items in the produce aisles. These included peeled and sliced potato wedges packaged with duck fat and fleur de sel that came complete with roasting instructions. And, there were wonderful trimmed green vegetables, such as asparagus, snow peas and broccoli, in microwaveable trays with herb butter or white wine sauce.

DM: What lesson can the London food scene teach Canadian chefs, grocers and home cooks?

JA: For all the ethnic diversity of Canada's cities, I think Britain's proximity to Europe means the average Brit has access to a much more varied range foods and so perhaps has a more sophisticated palate than their Canadian counterpart. I think we'll catch up eventually but it will take time. Meanwhile, I'd love to see more interesting and imaginative value-added items (like the vegetable dishes described above) in Canadian produce departments. A bag of stir-fry vegetables or cubed squash just doesn't cut it!


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Jelly: Whether it's used to make a traditional jellied candy with a new twist (such as the addition of red pepper sauce or sage) or on the cocktail menu as a more sophisticated version of that dorm party stand-by electric jell-o, jellied novelties are that latest foodservice fad. If you didn't see this trend at any of the holiday get-togethers you attended in December, mark my words; caterers will be pushing these cold and jiggly delights as the signature cocktail next holiday season.

Food on Wheels: Street food is becoming the new gourmet playground. In Toronto changing by-laws will soon allow street food offerings to go beyond tube steaks and fries while in L.A. mobile catering trucks that offer premium foods and drinks such as Joes on the Nose and Café Nagomi are zipping around town. In NYC, where diversity in street food is better established, the Vendy Awards annually award the best street food venders and are encouraging street venders to improve their offerings.

Cup Cake Pull-A-Parts: Although cupcakes have been (deservedly) popular for several years, recently cupcake sellers have been arranging their wares in clever configurations and applying frosting so that a cluster of cupcakes look like a one piece cake. These pull-a-part, no-slice cakes are selling well for birthday parties and buffets. Click here for visual examples.

Blended Reality: Expect the line between actual and virtual contact in the shopping experience to blur as more retailers integrate customized video and touch screen communications into their shopping experiences. Likewise ipod and cell phone components such as downloadable recipes and shopping lists are becoming more important in food seller and manufacturer's marketing plans. Check out Captive Channel, a point of purchase TV marketing solution that is catching on quickly with retailers and leading the way to a blended shopping reality.


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One of the things I love most about the beginning of the New Year is sitting back to take stock of what happened in the last 12 months and then applying that thinking to guess at what might be ahead in the near future.

Over the next three days I'll share my musings about what food trends you'll be seeing more of in the coming year. To start us off, let's look at what's brewing in the healthy eating sector:

Goth Food: According to a number of international sources, the next healthy food trend may be black coloured foods. Becoming increasingly popular in Japan, foods that contain black soybeans, black vinegar, black rice and jet-black nigella seeds are prized because of their anthocyanin content. Anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties and may protect against heart disease and cancer.

Kale: From recipes in consumer magazines and newspaper food sections, to stories in foodservice newsletters, how to use kale was a popular topic of discussion this fall. Expect to see kale move from garnish to side dish more often in 2008.

Caffeine: Beyond products such as super premium priced caffeinated products such as kopi luwak (also called civet coffee), caffeine coated foods (from bagels to potato chips and donuts) continue to be launched. Beyond these stimulating uses for adults, look for more medicinal uses caffeine now that a study linking caffeine supplements with cognitive development in premature babies has gained acceptance.

Licorice: Our team noted black licorice as a prominent flavor in health skewed snacks launched at a number of food shows we attended in 2007. This distinctive flavour was also noted on an increasing number of restaurant menus where chefs have been using it in savoury applications (such as braised short ribs) as well as in desserts.

-December 2007 entries


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