Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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menu development. It's certainly possible that we will be seeing more celebrity chef–driven menus or collaborations. Dietary appeal: Lifestyle and dietary options are still an impor- tant part of any restaurant menu. The amount we will see depends on the demand. It seems to slowly gain traction each year. It's nice to see these trends being offered in more appealing ways to suit more than just the people looking for it. Expanding experiences: Cooking classes, demonstrations, and interactive culinary experiences are nothing new to cruising. We will only see them improve as the popularity of food TV has increased and, with it, a nation of foodies continues to evolve. RESTAURANT: VITALY PALEY Respecting roots: A lot of us are looking toward our past to see [how we can] modernize flavors that bring us back to our childhood. For example, I am interested in revisiting my Eastern European Russian roots and bringing ingredients and flavors of the earth, like buckwheat, into play. We use locally harvested raw buck- wheat for buckwheat cakes and at the bar infuse vodka with it to make drinks. Grilling gourmands: Wood-fired grilling is big these days. When I travel, four out of five restaurants I go to have either a wood-fired grill, a fireplace, or both. Using ashes—the leftover hot embers—to cook veggies overnight is popular and an interesting way to use a fire oven besides for a grilled steak or fish. Examples would be charred beets left overnight served with housemade ricotta and fire-roasted hazelnuts or ember-roasted potatoes. Restaurants are grilling different salad greens beyond romaine for a crunchy, crispy, and charred texture. Umami alternatives: Vegetables are big these days, and I'm not just talking about vegetarian dishes. I'm talking about vegetable dishes that start out as a main component of a dish with meat as a garnish, rather than the other way around. We can create meaty, sat- isfying flavors that don't include meat, like cannellini beans cooked in aromatics with parmesan cheese and extra-virgin olive oil. We are experimenting with seaweed, too—a locally grown one called dulse, out of Newport [Ore.]—and giving lots of raw fish preparation, like ahi tuna poke with fire-roasted hazelnuts, a garnish of fried seaweed. CRUISE LINE: GREG POPLEWKO Choice improvements: Ships are adding more dining options on board—more specialty restaurants with dining experiences that compete with the best restau- rants around the world. The days of ships having one dining room for all are gone. Creativity and celebrity: Variety, creativity, high-quality, and healthy will continue to drive Nicole Potenza Denis is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. Tech Options, Restless Palate Syndrome, and More Trends to Watch E ach year, international food and restaurant consultancy Baum + Whiteman reports on the hottest food and beverage trends that will be spreading through the hospitality industry. Here are some highlights from its 2015 food and beverage forecast. Technology will be the "trend of the next two years," the report states. More establishments will be experimenting with tablets to allow guests to reserve a table, order meals from their table, and even preorder dinner from their mobile device before arriving at the restaurant. Paying with a smartphone is likely as well. And if you are standing at a bar that is overflowing with patrons and a drink seems light years away, location-based technology or face- recognition software has the potential to tell waiters exactly where you're standing so they can deliver your refill. But trends won't cater only to the technologically savvy customer. Chefs will continue to indulge diners with "restless palate syndrome," a term coined by Baum + Whiteman, by updating their options. Diners can look beyond Sriracha to sweet-spicy condiments that contain ghost chile or jalapeño honey, while bacon may take a backseat to the likes of guanciale and pancetta. Ugly root vegetables like kohlrabi and celery root will become favored ingredients. Products and ingredients such as pistachios, iced lattes, flavored salts, fermented foods, insects, matcha, waffles, and savory or boozy ice cream are helping to shape food culture. And get ready for the following buzzwords to ramp up: protein, plant-based protein, fast-casualization, and juice bars. 62 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com "Vegetables are big these days. I'm talking about vegetable dishes that start out as a main component of a dish with meat as a garnish— rather than the other way around." "It's certainly possible that we will be seeing more celebrity chef– driven menus or collaborations."