Culinary Trends
What are some of the current short-term and long-term culinary trends that you discuss with your colleagues?
When I started teaching, I was very suprised that a large majority of the students couldn't name the most famous chefs and restaurants in the city. I incorporate news stories and photos of food from those (ever-changing) restaurants' websites into lectures.
Quite a few times a year we host a lot of the local food trucks and each time there is someone new. We have field trips to some of the new local farms and quite recently hosted a guest speaker to talk about his indoor vertical farming of baby lettuces. We are continually reaching out to the neighborhoods for volunteering efforts from the local events to the large fundraising events. The students get to meet the local restaurateurs and network with them. So they get first hand views of the culinary trends and the affects in the industry.
I not only teach, but I also work full time at a country club so I can stay on top of the trends as well as be able to discuss real life scenarios with my students. It also keeps me humble.
Everything is farm to table today. We also discuss nutritional trends,green restaurants, molecular gastronomy and the ACF classical vs modern preparations and plating styles.
i have the students take one dish each week and see what the differences are between the classical version and the contempary version
BBQ, Ingredient driven restaurants, simplicity vs molecular gastronomy. Organic/heirloom product vs conventional. Ethnic cuisine and its influence on the american chef
We always are talking about the rise of the food truck scene and how its changing how people eat. We also look at it from the perspective of how its changing the business competition of brick and mortar establishments.
I think the Farm-to-Table, Slow Food and Sustainabilty movments are the most pressing of our time and should be highlighted whenever possible.
When teaching Contemporary Cuisine we spend time looking at the small plates concept and how it evolved from Tapas to include other cuisines from around the world.
Bacon, bacon is in everything right now. That is a current short term trend that everone is into right now . I wish it was over because students want to add it to everything. However, classical style of cooking will never go out of style. If you can do that well, you will out last any trend of the fututre.
I talk about plating designs, the evolution of garnishes, the different waves of trends and personalities who affected those trends (like Alice Waters, Ferran Adria), and how these trends either settle or disappear (like Molecular Gastronomy, Sustainable Kitchens, Snout-to-tail approach, and so forth).
Alex
Local foods from farmers, new restaurants with an edge, and interesting food articles featuring "cool" stuff.
we mostly discuss solid trends, the one that have a changing effect on the industry, not the one promoted by the medias..trends that impact us in the kitchen... sanitation, new products, new technics, new dishes..etc
We usually talk about new products and new equipments. We also discuss new trends like molecular Cuisine and sous-vide techniques.
Farm to table
Sustainable practices
Seasonal menus
Modernist cooking
Molecular Gastronomy
Ryan,
I agree, this is a great discussion topic and a subject which seems to inspire on shortage of opinions!
Jae Gruber
I talk about the things that are classical, the things from past generations like sundried tomatoes and beurre blanc sauces. I explain that these items were in every menu and then got overplayed (like fennel now) and are now making a comeback. I also talk about plating trends.
Molecular gastronomy has been a huge topic of discussion among my colleagues. There are points to both sides, however we also discuss the longevity of this style. It comes down to what the customer likes.
It is always an interesting discussion when a student brings up "organic" as a trend. Other trends that my peers and I discuss are topics such as:
*dinner clubs/ guerrilla dining
*fermentation
*charcuterie
*the gourmet hamburger/ hot dog
*cupcakes
