Chef Dana McCauley's Topline Trends

From her 'Easy Bake' days to her bestselling cookbook days, Chef Dana
McCauley has always made it her business to know what's being served.

From a perfectly regular looking house on the suburban thoroughfare that locals call 'Major Mack', Chef Dana McCauley leads a team of serious tasters, cookers and analysers. The mission of Dana McCauley & Associates is figuring out what we want eat now, tomorrow and next year. McCauley, a working mom, trained chef and better half of Pangaea's Chef Martin Kouprie, decided years ago to leave the brigade and invent her own kitchen career. Now, with a dedicated team, she tastes, consults and shapes what we eat for top corporations and just plain folks alike. She's also 'Betty Crocker' in Canada, making appearances promoting the home baking brand. That gig has earned her the ire of some guardians of The True Path to Food Enlightenment, but McCauley shrugs it off and says she thinks if she can get some people starting to do their own baking instead of buying a cake off the shelf, that's ok. She blogs on food and nutrition for Homemakers, and she's written a few best selling cookbooks too; the latest is Dana's Top Ten Table. If anyone knows what culinary time it is, it's Dana. Gremolata is very proud to have her latest news and views below. - Malcolm Jolley PS. Dana will be presenting an extended look at top trends at Terroir 2008.

Chef Dana McCauley's Topline Trends for Spring 2008

• Spring’s Top Food Trends
• Fun Fads
• Trending Up
• Emerging Flavours & Foods
• Dana McCauley & Associates News
• Worth Mentioning

Spring 2008‘s Top Food Trends

Nosh for your Noggin: Packaging claims for products that relate to brain function (such as memory, concentration and prevention of Alzheimers) have nearly tripled according to Datamonitor. Often fortified with DHA omega-3 products such as Breyer's "Smart! Yogurt" that promises to "boost your brain" while WonderBread and Nielsen’s Dairy Oh! Milk are two widely available examples that promises to give kids a head start on developing their brain power.

Satiety: This is the new diet sector buzzword as food companies target dieters with new products that claim to make you feel full for longer periods of time. Especially relevant to breakfast and snacking products, Quaker's Weight Control Oatmeal and Kellogg's Protein Water are two examples of products in this category.

British Invasion: With more than 30% market share in its home market, the UK's Tesco food chain is opening its own USA based kitchen to control quality in the prepared meals supplied to its new North American Fresh & Easy stores. If Tesco can maintain standards as high as they have at home, US grocers may be well advised to have been improving their offering yesterday.

Beyond the Bell: Celebrated chefs such as Rick Bayless (with Frontera and Topolobampo in Chicago) and Aarón Sanchez (with Paladar in Manhattan) have set the stage for mainstream diners to reconsider the merit of Mexican foods. Enter new chain Maria Maria, guided by chef Roberto Santibañez and funded by famed guitarist Carlos Santana who hope better Mexican food will gain a keen following.

No Sub-stitution: According to Recount/NDP Group, the fastest growing quick serve restaurant theme is sub shops with 41 % growth over the last five years. (Second were Asian-themed restaurants, with 24% growth.)

Smaller Bites, Smaller Price: Portion control continues to gain momentum with affordability adding to its mass appeal. TGI Friday's expanded their menu to include "Right Portion, Right Price" options and Chili's Bar & Grill offers “Sweet Shots”, which are "small desserts with small prices". Likewise, McDonald’s horrendous snack wraps and Quizno’s much less awful sammies are two other additions to this burgeoning category.

Fun Fads

Big Smoke: Beyond barbecue, smoking is being taken to new heights by chefs wielding gadgets such as the Smoking Gun, which allows chefs to infuse all kinds of foods with smoky flavor. Some examples of smoke being used in interesting ways:

• NYC restaurant Tailor, using cherry wood chips to infuse smoke into cola syrup used to make a soft drink or as a signature cocktail mixer.
• Smoking food such as goat meat over hay to enhance the pastoral flavor
• Smoking vanilla pods that will be added to ice cream
• Using smoked fleur de sel to garnish wood grilled dishes
• It started in New York but other states and now lounges in the UK are serving tobacco smoke-infused martinis. Hot spots Floridita, Shochu, and Pearl are all guilty of inducing patrons to sip rather than smoke by offering concoctions such as grapefruit vodka with essence of smoke and tobacco. Flavor trend or a way to appease smokers who can no longer light up in public spaces?

Ice Chip Munching: According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, sales of disc-shaped ice chips are strong for QSR outlets such as Sonic and Taco Time where a glass of water might be served free of charge but where a cup of ice cubes will cost $1 or more.

Canned Food Follies: This summer campers and hikers can go beyond s’mores or beans and wieners with canned cheeseburgers. All we can say is “but why?”

Trending Up

Diet Shots: Coming soon to market are Unilever's "Vitality" shots for cholesterol control to aid in weight management. The drinkable shots are generally comprised of concentrated vegetable and fruit juices and are said to supply probiotics and phytochemicals for health and weight control.

Absinthe: Banned since the turn of the last century, this liquor is once again available in North America. (New versions do not contain thujone, the distinct flavoring compound that reportedly caused hallucinations and dangerous behavior). Quality of the new versions varies but connoisseurs say some of the new products are well worth drinking or using to make a Saverac.

Be Bold: Bold and spicy flavors are going to pop up in brand new areas; take, for example, Adagio Moment's Yogurt Drink launched in Portugal which contains a blend of chocolate chips, strawberries and chili pepper. More conventional uses of bold flavors are already thriving in the snack category with Blue Diamond’s Bold and Spicy line and new Pringles snacks such as Szechwan Barbecue Rice Chips.

Umami Bombs: The fifth taste, the quintessential savory quality that gives chicken soup its satisfying flavour, is the focus of a new trend led by chefs such as Jean Georges Van Richten who strive to deliver dishes designed to explode with taste. For packaged food manufacturers, umami is the frontier being explored as food developers work to create products that are lower in sodium, sugar and fat but still have robust and appealing flavors.

Halal: With Muslim populations growing in North America and 70 % of Muslims following Halal Standards (worldwide estimates), grocers are now carrying this type of meat as well as regular, organic, natural and Kosher cuts to provide more meat options for health conscious consumers.

Waffles: Savoury and sweet. Just look to the line-ups forming at FlavourSpot, a waffle wagon in Portland, where owner Stokamer folds waffles around both sweet and savoury fillings and serves them to go, like a wrap and it’s obvious that waffles are adding interest to sandwiches. Even in more conventional uses, waffles are hot: celebrated pastry chefs like Joanne Yolles and cooking magazines such as Cooks Illustrated featured them prominently last winter.

Prebiotics: Just while consumers are becoming familiar with the term probiotics (Probiotics can help maintain the digestive system by providing a regular source of "friendly" bacteria to the intestinal tract, helping to improve the functioning of the intestinal microflor), food manufacturers throw prebiotics at them (Prebiotics are compounds - usually high in fiber - that feed probiotic bacteria in the colon). Prebiotic fiber will be used in new Kraft products such as LiveActive brand cheeses and is already being highlighted as benefit in Dempster’s WholeGrains bread.

Chillaxin': The flip side of the energy trend is the relaxing trend that is marketing foods to stressed out consumers. Think green tea, Rachel’s Relax Vanilla Chia yogurt, etc.

Emerging Flavors & Foods

Yumberry: The latest superfruit to gain attention has a surprisingly easy to say and spell name. According to scientific research, yumberry (or yang-mei) contains more OPC (Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins -- a healthful antioxidant compound) than any other fruit plant. With a flavor similar to cranberry, this Chinese fruit is also rich in vitamin C. Look for this flavor in juice blends sold not just at Health food stores but also at Costco, WholeFoods and other markets.

Sumac: This Middle Eastern ingredient adds astringency to cooking without adding liquid such as lemon juice or vinegar. Sumac has a fruity-tart flavour that is lovely on fish, chicken and vegetable dishes. Look for it to appear on more summer restaurant menus than ever before.

Larb: Trending up in North America is not only authentic versions of this Laotian ground meat salad (it can be made with beef, pork, turkey, chicken or even fish) but also variations on this theme. Authentic larb is flavored with fish sauce, lime, chilis and cilantro or mint and is popular in Thailand and Australia. It can be used to top salads, rice and flat breads.

Blue Heaven: Sales of blue cheese are on the rise according to the Wisconsin Dairy board. Could this change be driven by our palates becoming more sophisticated or by the cheese trend maturing?

The Crunch Factor: Better-for-you food developers should consider the crunchy qualities of their wares as Datamonitor reports that product launches of foods described as crunchy or crispy doubled recently (2004 to 2006).

Hickory Nut: With an earthy, woodsy flavour somewhere between a pecan and a walnut, crisp textured hickory nuts are inspiring chefs despite the fact that they are difficult to source and even more difficult to crack.

Salt: Despite a push by health agencies to restrict sodium content in packaged goods, salt is still a growing flavour trend. Whether smoked, flavoured, coloured or exotically sourced (think sea and volcano), gourmet salts are becoming more accessible to the public, sold in small trial-sized containers in supermarket spice aisles and delis.

Open Sesame: More UK and US products are being launched with seeds as ingredients or coatings. Check out Mr. Krisper’s Multi-seed chips.

Dana McCauley & Associates Ltd. News

Look for members of our team at the 16th Annual Good Food Festival & Market April 25 to 27, in Toronto

Find more DM&A team news at our sister site Top Ten Table.

Worth Mentioning:

Our popular Worth Mentioning Column has moved. Noteworthy products, restaurants and retail concepts are now discussed as part of Dana McCauley’s Daily Blog. Sign up for the RSS feed so that you can keep stay informed!

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