Wednesday, November 2, 2011

15 food trends for 2012

What will you be seeing in restaurants in 2012? Lisa Jennings in Nation's Restaurant News reported that hospitality consultant Andrew Freeman is predicting the following trends:

  • More modern Thai cuisine Street-style Indian food including the ultra-hot ghost peppers 
  • Grilled cheese 
  • Healthful indulgences 
  • French fries with dipping sauces and fancy cuts 
  • Eastern European food 
  • Wild ice creams with savory flavors like bacon and lobster, as well as vegetables and unusual spices, are appearing in house-made ice creams. Grass and horseradish? Douglas fir? Those are just some of the new flavors that restaurants are offering 
  • Hand-pulled noodles. Celebrity chef Martin Yan plans to open a new concept in San Francisco in February 2012, where a noodle chef will twist and pull lumps of dough into strands of thin noodles using only his hands. 
  • Herbed liqueurs and beers 
  • Stroop, a Dutch dark treacle syrup, used in savory dishes such as potatoes with bacon, apple and grilled chicory 
  • “Snow ice,” a version of shaved ice cream imported from Taiwan

  • Schnitzel sandwiches

  • House-made flavored marshmallows (The posting I did on some savory marshmallows back in May 2010 has been one of the most-accessed pages on this site.)
  • 
Lamb belly

  • Goose eggs

  • Douglas fir ice cream pop at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco 
  • The use of crispy skin, whether from pork, chicken or fish. Chicken skin tacos have gotten a lot of buzz lately, and even the New York Times has featured a recipe for them.