Food Pundits: Top Dining Trends for 2007

Joseph Baum and Michael Whiteman are two well respected restaurant consultants in the New York area, and in a recent article they made several predictions of trends for 2007.

One was The Next Cuisine.

After disqualifying Indian cuisine as "too complicated" and "too obscure for most restaurant goers", they predicted.....Peru.

Peru? They cited the regional cookery aspect, a new cadre of chefs, Nobu comes from there, and hot, spicy, creative flavors.

Despite having at least a couple of well regarded Peruvian restaurants in the SF Bay area, I question whether a cuisine based on the staple of guinea pigs is gonna go mainstream in the US....

Call me silly, but I don't think Joe and Jill Doe in Topeka are going to be thrilled at looking at a whole roasted guinea pig staring up at them from a plate.

Hot cuisine trend?

Roadkill.

There's been a recent TV series on it here. Got to admit it would be a brave person to eat Badger.

One tidbit that came out, was the law over here stops you from eating something you've just hit, but it's fine to eat something someone else has hit.

What about where you are - for some in the rural/mountain areas I'm guessing not eating something you'd hit would be seen as a criminal waste?

regards

Ian

Ok, so I'm the most subjective person on earth (objectively speaking, of course), but I think North African is going to be the next big thing. Or maybe just the next big thing for me. Anyway, in support of my opinion, I offer the fact that Le Creuset and Emile Henry now make tajines for home use... :)

Hey, Celia!

You don't have to extoll North African to me, girl. I love Moroccan. Would love to know more about Tunisian. Like Ethiopian too, although it's hard to find.

One of my favorite books when I first got into world cooking/eating was Martha Rose Shulman's "Mediterranean Rim" cookbook, wherin she had lots of North African, Middle Eastern, Italian, Spanish, French recipes. Many of them were fantastic.

Hot cuisine trend?

Roadkill.

There's been a recent TV series on it here. Got to admit it would be a brave person to eat Badger.

One tidbit that came out, was the law over here stops you from eating something you've just hit, but it's fine to eat something someone else has hit.

What about where you are - for some in the rural/mountain areas I'm guessing not eating something you'd hit would be seen as a criminal waste?

regards

Ian

Been tv series here on this side of the pond as well, Ian.

Since I was originally from the "Deep South" in the USA (and why do I hear the faint twang of banjos in the background, I wonder?), I suspect I have eaten most of what people refer to as roadkill here. Some of it's not bad; some of it is awful. Squirrel can be tasty, I will admit. Rabbit, yum. Nutria keeps threatening to go mainstream (although I doubt it ever will). Not so hot on possum (too greasy and rank) or raccoon. Armadillo is fine (and also known as 'possum on a half shell' in Texas). Gator is okay, but not special, unless it's cooked wrong, then it's as chewy and tasty as steamed rubber innertubes.

There's a reason why most of those old country boys used tons of pepper in their critter stews, you know.

Years ago, when I was in the US Air Force in Florida, we had standing orders that if we hit a deer (not an uncommon occurence) with our range vehicles, we had to immediately take the carcass to the local minimum security prison facility (so called country club prisons, where politicians and rich guys went to do their time).

I often wondered about the justice of felons dining on fresh venison when I could not.

Hoke, I've recently "acquired" two of the Emile Henry tajines - bought the larger one for myself, and Pete bought me the smaller one (who wants a boring husband who buys you flowers ? :)). There was a wonderful show on over here in Oz called Feast Bazaar on Moroccan and Syrian cooking, which had a great recipe for tajine omelette - let me know if you're interested and I'll dig it out for you.

Thanks for the headsup on the Shulman book, I'll look out for it. The only one I have is a nice pictureless paperback by Copeland Marks called 'The Great Book of Couscous', which focuses on recipes from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A nice read if you can find it, and some nice tajine recipes in there.

Finally, there is a great series on SBS over here at the moment called 'Food Safari' - there are video clips from their Moroccan show (each episode focuses on cuisine from one country) here : http://www21.sbs.com.au/foodsafari/inde ... sode&cid=1

Cheers, Celia

Thanks, Celia.

And might I say that it's damned nice to see you pop up on this forum again. You've been missed.

Do you get Israeli couscous there? If so, do yourself a favor and try it (if you haven't already). One of my fave dishes by Chef John Ash, a good friend, is Israeli Couscous in a smoked tomato and lemon zest sauce. Spectacular!

Armadillo is fine

Apparently they make great cowboy boots as well (yeeha, that was last year's obsession.. <grin>)

Hot cuisine trend?

Roadkill.

There's been a recent TV series on it here. Got to admit it would be a brave person to eat Badger.

One tidbit that came out, was the law over here stops you from eating something you've just hit, but it's fine to eat something someone else has hit.

What about where you are - for some in the rural/mountain areas I'm guessing not eating something you'd hit would be seen as a criminal waste?

regards

Ian

Been tv series here on this side of the pond as well, Ian.

Since I was originally from the "Deep South" in the USA (and why do I hear the faint twang of banjos in the background, I wonder?), I suspect I have eaten most of what people refer to as roadkill here. Some of it's not bad; some of it is awful. Squirrel can be tasty, I will admit. Rabbit, yum. Nutria keeps threatening to go mainstream (although I doubt it ever will). Not so hot on possum (too greasy and rank) or raccoon. Armadillo is fine (and also known as 'possum on a half shell' in Texas). Gator is okay, but not special, unless it's cooked wrong, then it's as chewy and tasty as steamed rubber innertubes.

There's a reason why most of those old country boys used tons of pepper in their critter stews, you know.

Years ago, when I was in the US Air Force in Florida, we had standing orders that if we hit a deer (not an uncommon occurence) with our range vehicles, we had to immediately take the carcass to the local minimum security prison facility (so called country club prisons, where politicians and rich guys went to do their time).

I often wondered about the justice of felons dining on fresh venison when I could not.

A few years ago a local wining and dining club here picked who they thought were the best seven chefs in Memphis (yep, I tricked them again) and asked us each to prepare a meal for them throughout the year.

At the end of the year they invited us all to attend a meal they were going to handle. (I wasn't sure what to think about this.)

Turned out they decided to do a "varmint" meal. We had possum, bear, beaver, gator, moose, squirrel, rooster fries and snake.

At the end of the evening they gave us all t-shirts which had pictures of all the varmints on them and the inscription: I ate 'em all!

Agree with Celia and Hoke. We've been eating various variations of couscus for years, even more frequently than usual lately. Also posted an RCP for veggies in Moroccan sauce recently. Brought it to a pot luck recently and many wanted the recipe.

Regarding road kill. In Maine where we lived for a long time before moving here the rule was that you could pick it up if the guy behind you didn't get there first. Don't know what the rule is here, but haven't seen much road kill lying around.

Thanks, Celia.

And might I say that it's damned nice to see you pop up on this forum again. You've been missed.

Do you get Israeli couscous there? If so, do yourself a favor and try it (if you haven't already). One of my fave dishes by Chef John Ash, a good friend, is Israeli Couscous in a smoked tomato and lemon zest sauce. Spectacular!

One of my favortie foods is Israeli couscous. Would you mind posting this recipe?

Ah Hoke, you're always so kind, thank you. :) And I've never seen Israeli couscous for sale here. Am I right in thinking it's bigger or coarser than ordinary couscous ? Will your recipe work with standard type ?

Hi Celia, it's so nice to see your name here. I was reading over my notes from my trip to Australia and reminded myself of that wonderful evening we spent tasting wines and eating great food and talking.

My best to you and yours, Bob

Hi Bob ! Yes, we had a wonderful time !! Eating in the dark in Fred's house..

I'm a bit out of the wine scene these days, but still looove to eat. Ironically I found my way back to this board because of your post on no-knead bread, which came up when I googled same.

Look forward to catching up soon - maybe in the chatroom ? I'm going to make a concerted effort to be a regular attendee there.

Cheers, Celia

Joseph Baum and Michael Whiteman are two well respected restaurant consultants in the New York area, and in a recent article they made several predictions of trends for 2007.

After disqualifying Indian cuisine as "too complicated" and "too obscure for most restaurant goers"

Feh.

If that's true, it just confirms we New Englanders' low opinion of New Yorkers.

-Paul W.

Ah Hoke, you're always so kind, thank you. And I've never seen Israeli couscous for sale here. Am I right in thinking it's bigger or coarser than ordinary couscous ? Will your recipe work with standard type ?

Celia:

Yes. Israeli couscous is larger...much larger. Like little round globules. But totally different texture than Moroccan couscous. Not grainy, much more silky and meaty. Kind of like tapioca in a way.

I'll see if I can find the recipe and post it.

Hoke,

I went by the James Beard a few years ago and according to my notes, Israeli couscous is not really couscous. It was invented in Tel Aviv by Osem. It is extruded like pasta and toasted to dry like farel. The result is just as you describe: chewy, buttery, pearls something like tapioca.

At least that's something like what I had in a little restaurant a few years earlier in Jerusalem, an hour before finding the well that David climbed to take the City.

Or at least it was described in one of the great books of my childhood; that book made me a disciple of Richard Halliburton.

[Gee I loved that guy -- the only things he did that I haven't done so far is sleep on the top of the Great Pyramid and take a junk alone over the Pacific.]

In any event, Israli couscous wasn't.

Good though.

Regards, Bob

After disqualifying Indian cuisine as "too complicated" and "too obscure for most restaurant goers", they predicted.....Peru.

Indian too obscure? And Peru isn't?

Still, my small city, like very other UK town, has a multitude of Indian restaurants. And not one Peruvian.

What I'd really like a an old fashioned restaurant. I am fed up of purees, coulis and vegetable portions that comprise three peas, one brussel sprout and a small spoonful of mash. I'd like some recipes and dishes back from when I started going out to dine. To be honest, I'm tired of fashions in food.

Peter, I believe I detect a bit of a rant forming here.

Interesting that after 9-11 in this country we saw a definite shift occur towards comfort food and lower prices, with down-home items coming back on the menu, and less frou-frou stuff being featured.

We also saw a series of new restaurant openings wherein the theme was basically the comfort/down home/local eatery taken to new urban heights--the attitude and semblance of the homey place merely concealing rather more sophisticated food. Still, the emphasis was on wholesome goodness rather than culinary artistry. More pork chops and potatoes than pointillist plate fantasies to admire, if you get my drift.

So, oddly enough, getting away from food trends-----is a food trend itself.

, the emphasis was on wholesome goodness rather than culinary artistry. More pork chops and potatoes than pointillist plate fantasies to admire, if you get my drift.

So, oddly enough, getting away from food trends-----is a food trend itself.

That exactly sums up my thoughts. In he Gordon Ramsey 'Kitchen Nightmares' TV series he damns dishes as being old fashioned and 'from the 1970's'. If a dish is good, what matters when it was fashionable.

I don't think that getting away from food trends is a trend here tho', not from the restauarant reviews.

And no doubt someone read that Peru report and is planning on opeing one right now.

Despite having at least a couple of well regarded Peruvian restaurants in the SF Bay area, I question whether a cuisine based on the staple of guinea pigs is gonna go mainstream in the US....

Presumably with a side of Lima beans....?

Gives a whole new meaning to "Let's pig out!"

Are Guinea pigs that common in normal Peruvian cuisine or is it a specialty dish? And have you eaten it, and if so tell us about it?

Despite having at least a couple of well regarded Peruvian restaurants in the SF Bay area, I question whether a cuisine based on the staple of guinea pigs is gonna go mainstream in the US....

Presumably with a side of Lima beans....?

Gives a whole new meaning to "Let's pig out!"

Are Guinea pigs that common in normal Peruvian cuisine or is it a specialty dish? And have you eaten it, and if so tell us about it?

Guinea pig is quite common in Peruvian cuisine...in Peru, that is. I don't think it translates onto menus here in the States very well though.

I haven't had it, but a good friend recently went to Peru and Bolivia, and he brought back pictures of a pig roast, Peruvian style. They apparently threw a bunch of whole guinea pig carcasses in the coals and when they served him up there was this little charred guinea pig body, arms and head intact, on his plate. Little feller was still kinda cute too, in a singed way. My friend said it tasted okay, but wasn't that special.

Like I said, I don't predict that will catch on mainstream here.