What’s Hot in Fancy Food Trends? Vegan, Gluten-Free, Herbal and More
It’s that time of year for fancy food (aka “specialty” food) at the massive 62nd Annual Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. The weather was June’s finest and the show floor was hopping. Your humble correspondent was there, bringing you the new and fanciest trends.Delighted to report, VEGAN is making inroads, with mayos, yogurts, frozen desserts and lots of options in the chocolate and snack departments too. Even the international folks (55 countries exhibited) added some ...
Raise a Glass of Sherry to the USA
The USA has a lot to be proud of for its birthday this year. With the passing of equal rights for gay marriage nationwide we are showing signs of maturity for a country that’s only a wee 229 years old. Another great triumph and cause for patriotic celebration is the USA’s victory in the 2015 International Food & Wine Competition COPA JEREZ. For the first time ever, USA took home the big win led by Chef & Somm team of San Francisco’s 15 Romolo, Michelle Matthews and Ian J Adams ...
Weeding out the Nutrition (in Your Yard)
By now, you might have heard that many plants we call weeds are actually great sources of nutrition. Dandelions are loaded with Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron. Chickweed has become the darling of farmer's markets, with its spinach-like flavor, and is also very high in nutrients. There are lots more everywhere we look.A wonderful and highly recommended book by Katrina Blair, The Wild Wisdom of Weeds, published in late 2014 describes in detail 13 "weeds" that grow around the ...
The Delicious Magic Of Nixtamalization
The flavor of metate-ground fresh masa tortillas is unlike anything else: soft, warm and tender in the middle with tons of real corn aroma, nothing like the bland and neutral store bought corn tortillas many of us are used to. On a recent trip to Mexico, I was lucky enough to have small town women regularly hand-make these tortillas for me and my group. Even the tortillas made from masa harina, or dried masa flour, do not compare to the depth of flavor you get when the masa is made from freshly ...
The Tooth Whisperer: What’s New in Natural Teeth Care (Baltimore Expo 2014)
In this modern world, there comes a time in every adult’s life when we have to focus on our teeth to be sure we can eat problem-free. With luck, that means just routine cleaning. But, with our societal diet being what it is, chances are there’s more.Cavities, crowns, root canals, extractions, implants plus all the gum health (meaning, not-so-healthy) concerns. Not only uncomfortable and inconvenient, these issues cost big bucks.No worries. There are natural products galore ...
Wake Up: What is Citrus Greening and What to Do?
In case you didn't hear, virtually all of Florida’s citrus trees are suffering from “greening,” a bacterial tree disease that is threatening the $9+ billion Florida citrus biz (think oranges, grapefruits, tangerines…) and has attacked Brazil as well, covering 90% of the world's orange juice. Imagine the shortages. Also called Huanglongbing (HLB) or Yellow Dragon Disease, greening first surfaced in 2005 in Florida (yes, it's from Asia). Infected trees produce green, ...
US & EU Agree: No Time for Public Health, We’ve Got Corporate Interests at Stake Here!
A just leaked draft food trade agreement leaves no question that, as between both the US and Europe, “public health is losing out to corporate interests in a big way.” According to the experts at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the documents show that public health and food safety are at risk while the public remains clueless.The obscure Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement (see it in the news any time lately?) addresses important ...
Drought and What We Eat (No Water, Water Anywhere)
We’re a wet bunch on the East Coast of America, having been saturated with rain and windy storms, thundering up the sky, tearing branches off trees and flooding banks. Plus, it seems to be one of those years that future generations of mosquitoes will celebrate, with the population explosion that vigorously attacks post-rain.But, it also means our gardens are lush, overflowing with tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and kale, beans, carrots, squash and more. We’re in peak summer, ...
What’s New in Fancy Food: NYC 2014
From 3D sugar printed cake toppings to extra-spicy everything, the NYC 2014 Fancy Food show brought the largest assembly of specialty food producers ever to the Big Apple. We ate our way through aisles and aisles of products, risking poundage and snack overload to find what we think are some of the coolest products out there. Here's a sampling.Spicy was clearly in with several companies combining extra hot peppers (think habaneros, ghost peppers and the like) with chocolate, popcorn, ...
Wake Up, Consumers. Is Nanotech the New GMO?
No question, consciousness around genetic modification of our food supply has skyrocketed in the last few years. It wasn't that long ago when advocate and teacher Marion Nestle virtually gave up trying to wake up consumers and now, in 2014, there has been a groundswell of consumer and activist interest in ensuring that we at least know about (if not stop) genetic manipulation of our food through unnatural means (food where “genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur ...
