While everyone is focusing on food trends for 2010 (see here and here), we took a riskier guess into trends for the next decade. We could be totally wrong, come back in December 2019 and let us know.

* More functional foods - the trend is clear, people want to eat the same tasty and cheap food, spend less time preparing it, but get a bigger nutritional bang for every dollar spent and calorie consumed. More scientific discoveries of micronutrients will create new marketing buzzwords, just like the passing decade did (how many of us knew about omega-3 in 1999?). Nanotechnology will also play a role in modifying foods we know into something “healthier for us”, see example here.

* More information – As the Internet reaches the palm of our hands (iphone, blackberry, etc..) we consumers will be able to make better choices when selecting our foods. Comparing prices, nutrition, learning new recipes, and even tracking down which farm that tomato was grown on are all becoming a reality now .

* Genetically modified food – Already today a vast majority of the corn and soy in the US is genetically modified, and it seems like all the activism in the world is not going to stop other crops. Without getting into the crossfire of the debate here, expect more developments and more pressure by companies like Monsanto on agriculture departments across the globe to start planting GMOs.

* Sustainable Food - hand in hand with the monoculture crops and GMOs, a growing number of people will seek a sustainable, or close to it, approach to feeding themselves. Important as it may be, only a small part of the population will be able to partake in this noble lifestyle. The modern capitalistic world does not allow for large systems of small independent farms – not economically efficient, meaning high price for food – meaning many will continue to opt for cheaper “conventional” food. Also – to be truly sustainable and peruse local food, many people in Europe and the US would need to give up bananas, tomatoes in the winter, coffee, and many other comforts we can’t imagine living without. Too difficult. Please – prove me wrong!

* More profits for the big food companies – No matter what trends and prophesies will fulfill themselves, companies will continue to eek out monster profits. if you think healthier less-bad choices by consumers mean less profit for the big food manufacturers, you are wrong. Manufacturers charge a premium for health, even just a health halo. Slap the words “Natural” “Health”, and others on product packages, and you can charge 10, 20, and even 50 percent more for basically the same product. If you think organic foods reduced the profits of big companies, just look at who owns all the big organic brands. That’s right, the big conventional food companies.

What do you think?

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As we sit down to enjoy the quintessential American holiday dinner, let’s stop for a minute and contemplate what we are actually celebrating.

What started off as a harvest festival in colonial times, became an annual tradition during the civil war, and was formally observed as a federal holiday for the first time during World War 2. (Coincidence, or did people needed an extra something to celebrate during wartime?)

So what did people eat here 350 years ago?

It was all local food. Sourced from 100 miles or less. Probably much less.

The main elements of today’s meal are based on fresh local food that was available back then in the new land – the wild turkey (and other fowl), the cranberries growing in coastal bogs, the pumpkins, squash, yams, and corn.

It was also about community. The tradition of a large shared meal with family, friends, and other community members began with the first harvest festivals when the pilgrims and Native Americans sat together to celebrate together the bounty of the land.

Thanksgiving has changed form and been commercialized by big financial interests over the years, but at its core, this beautiful tradition is an ode to all that is good in this world.

– The miracle of food coming forth from the land.

– The harmony of different peoples forming a community of help and trust.

– And a minute to pause and count our blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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A growing number of foodies are looking to the Internet to discover and order tasty gems. These are artisan food products that are manufactured in small batches, usually from organic, local ingredients. The mom&pop operations are very small, will never reach national distribution, and at best are sold at supermarkets in the close vicinity of the producer.

Though some artisans have an online website and ecommerce platform, many don’t have the time or tech savvy to manage such a geeky operation. Another problem they face is marketing. How do you get the world to know you make the best darn beef jerky, or that your organic boysenberry preserves are comparable to ambrosia?

The solution of course is online marketplaces. There are several websites operating online to choose from. Three of the more popular sites are Regional Best, Foodoro, and Foodzie. All three focus on non-perishable items and allow sellers and buyers to interact directly for a cut of the sale and/or a flat fee from the sellers. Another newcomer, Local Dirt, connects buyers and sellers of locally-grown produce and meat and dairy products.

We interviewed Marsha, co-founder of Regional Best to learn more about this growing segment. Read more…

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Ever since the term locavore was coined in 2005, there has been a lot of excitement around the prospect of people enjoying fresher, tastier foods, with less of an environmental impact because they travel less. We have come to appreciate farmers’ markets, contemplated food miles, and argued endlessly over what’s better: organic tomatoes or local tomatoes.

It was only a matter of time, then,  until the big food companies understood the potential of the term “local”. Once they caught on to the trend, they started using it in their own creative ways to market the same old products, but with a twist. A very enlightening article on this subject appeared in the New York Times:

Frito Lay is … kicking off a marketing campaign that is trying to position the nation’s best-selling brand of potato chips as local food.

Five different ads will highlight farmers who grow some of the two billion pounds of starchy chipping potatoes the Frito-Lay company uses each year. One is Steve Singleton, who tends 800 acres in Hastings, Fla.

“We grow potatoes in Florida, and Lays makes potato chips in Florida,” he says in the ad. “It’s a pretty good fit.”

For the entire article…

What you need to know:

Organic junk food is still junk food, and similarly, the fact that a manufacturer calls it’s products local does not contribute to your health.

The real meaning behind the local food movement is to promote small farms, enable people to eat in an ecologically responsible manner. This means eating food in its season and not shipping it halfway around the world. It means minimizing waste in petroleum, used both for gasoline and fertilizer. It means keeping the soil healthy so it can continue to provide crops fro decades and centuries to come.

And it means less processed food. it means smaller artisan manufacturers. Which is exactly the opposite of the American way of doing business in the past 100 years (bigger is better, no?).

Watching huge food corporations jumping on this bandwagon is like listening to a bad joke. Don’t get us wrong, there is definitely room for a bag of potato chips and some Dunkin’ Donuts here and there. But please don’t BS us about local…

What to do at the supermarket:

If you want local food, farmer’s markets are usually a good place to go. Some of  Whole Foods Market’s fresh products also state where they were produced, in many cases not too far. But for the most part, a supermarket is the antithesis of local. It could never have grown to offer 40,00o items uniformly and regularly otherwise.

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Good morning and happy new year!

Another top 10 list, this time from the Star Telegram includes:

* Comfort food.
* Cooking at home.
* Local Food.
* New ingredients and “functional foods”. Examples: stevia, low-sodium, detox drinks.
* Trendy flavors. Examples: Persimmon, hibiscus, lavender, piri-piri hot sauce, and chimichurri salsa.
* Nuts and seeds.

Read the article…