Year: 2008

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What do you REALLY want to eat & drink?

Food Proccessing.Com identified the following trends in consumer food trends:

1) The chocolate renaissance ( away from indulgence and more as a healthy ingredient)
2) Keep an eye out for increased safety documentation
3) Consumers are looking for bolder, spicier notes
4) Flavors will continue to blur the lines between savory and sweet. Beverages both on- and off-premise will explore infusing herb and spice flavors in order to differentiate. Food will work beverages into the mix via increased juice and tea ingredients.
5 Convenience Nutritionally Fortified Foods
6) “Smart” food that boosts memory, cognitive endurance and mental energy
7) Ethnic flavors become regional
8) Sustained energy (food and beverages with effectiveness lasting over five hours. without excess caffeine.)
9) Recovery products (more Food and beverages designed for recovery)
10) More veggies, please (flavors and formulas will be bent to meet this nutritional requirement)

It sounds like too much sizzle and too little substance to me.
Roger Freberg

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SeaFood Lasagna by Kristin

soooooo many ideas and sooo little time!
My daughter Kristin is coming home in a couple of weeks and we’re all getting ready to have a good time. With Kristin this means doing some of the things that she doesn’t get to do much of in her line of work… cooking is top on the list.

So, we all have been talking about what she wants to cook while she’s out here and we brainstormed about various seafood dishes, fusions and combinations.

What we are exploring is a Seafood Lasagna. There are plenty of similar dishes out there and I am sure you have had the opportunity to try out a few yourself, but most seem to be missing something.

Many recipes for this type of dish have very little seafood and compensate by adding vegetables and an abundance of cheeses. My wife would say… “you can’t have too much cheese’… but unless you are a cheese-asaur, it’s a bit much for me… I want more meat!

This type of dish opens itself up to so many delightful variations… providing me with the opportunity to sautee the seafood in Armagnac and add white wine to the white sauce. The choice of spices won’t be inexpensive or skimpy… there is much we can do. Kristin has some wonderful ideas.

In the meantime, we’re still exploring ideas.

While exploring the wonderful world, I found this amusing “Mother-in-law tongue” with it’s serrated edges looks and feels like the real thing!

Roger Freberg

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Cancer & other ‘comedies’

Quotes are a wonderful way of not having to reinvent the wheel…

” Tragedy is when I cut my finger, comedy is when you walk into sewer and die.” -Mel Brooks ( as related by Jerry Bunin)

zLeroy SieversAll of us tend to be preoccupied about things that affect our lives and we –hopefully — have a few folks on the planet that we care about nearly as much… and maybe, a bit more. However, the reality is that we never really know what the other person is going through until we ourselves are faced with similar serious issues. In fact, some people have a real difficult time putting themselves in another person’s ‘moccasins’ even in simplest things… we call this inability… lack of empathy.

I don’t believe in ‘sympathy’ which you can find in the dictionary somewhere between SH*T and SYPHILLUS, but empathy is much more. Empathy is genuine.
But for many of us, seeing what others face provides understanding and courage … for ourselves in the issues we deal with today and down the road.

I have blogged about this before… but this site — for as long as it continues — it is well worth the look. LEROY SIEVERS

Roger Freberg

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FOOD TRENDS

where are the culinary arts heading?
Okay, my blog does get bogged down a bit in culinary topics over the holidays… but then, food does touch most of us most strongly this time of year… which is why there is Jenny Craig.

I was in Costco and I found two wonderfully humongous sized cans of diced clams by Sea Watch International (their RECIPES! ) for my weekly seafood Paella! I was wonderfully surprised to see some very nice recipes and a recipe folder attached between the shrink-wrapped cans. Although I might quibble a bit on some of the ingredients ( I would substitute cream where they call for half and half and use the source spices instead of mixes)… the recipes were simple, yet delightfull.

I tend to forget than many companies now-a-days cannot afford their own test kitchen ( my grandmother ran one) but the folks at Sea Watch have a creative idea ( which explains to me why their recipes make sense):

“Sea Watch International and Johnson and Wales University school of Culinary Arts has entered into an agreement to co-sponsor the first annual Creative Clam Challenge.”

By the way, am I missing something or do ‘culinary schools’ seem to be sprouting up everywhere in high schools and the internet, for example? Although I applaud folks learning to cook as so many think pushing a button on the microwave is ‘cooking’… I wonder if it is economically viable in a world of portion controlled rubber chickens? In any event, I want to congratulate the Lucia Mar School District for considering adding a ‘Culinary Academy” to their high school ( Arroyo Grande, California)… sounds like fun!

Lastly, Laura and I have always tried to offer our family fresh fruits and vegetables… but it is expensive and if you look at the trends… it takes money can eat well. It is not hard to see why a small family will pass over a small carton of tomatoes for $3 when they can buy three hamburgers at a fast food place for the same money. Frankly, I think fastfooders are doing a great job providing quality nutritious food for America… it’s just unfortunate that there are not other inexpensive choices.

Roger Freberg

Link to other Food Trends

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Team Building through COOKING!

a great team building exercise!
Everyone knows that ‘breaking bread’ with someone builds a relationship and often leads to a better friendship. I have also found that cooking with someone, whether it be in a kitchen or over a down home barbecue, helps build a better understanding of all involved.

So, naturally, I was tremendously impressed with a little business that puts people together from companies and various organizations working together cooking something fun!

LET’S COOK! is a wonderful idea… and an excellent site. Check it out!

Roger Freberg