Even a Food Lover Needs Food on the Go Sometimes

There are people who eat to live and then there are those of us who live to experience food. We delight in sampling new things and detest wasting calories on the on mundane tasteless convenience and fast foods that many American’s diets have been reduced to. But even a food connoisseur needs food in a hurry sometimes. That is why I love one of the current urban food trends – food trucks. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks this is a hot food trend. Mintel (a leading food and drink marketing research company) highlighted food trucks this month in its Menu Trends email.

A food truck is basically a mini restaurant stuffed in the back of a truck. You can think of it as the marriage of an urban restaurant concept and an old fashion food cart. The menus may be limited, but the menu items have interesting twists making them the perfect fast food option for a food lover like myself.

In addition to putting an emphasis on interesting food choices, food trucks put a lot on emphasis on being mobile. They regularly move around the cities requiring potential customers to visit a truck’s website or follow it on twitter for the day’s location. It can make finding your lunch a lot like a game of Where’s Waldo!

Did I mention food trucks are definitely an urban trend? Since I live in a very non-urban area, I can only experience food trucks when I travel, so on my recent trip to Los Angeles I seized the opportunity and went looking for food trucks.

I found several but one particularly memorable one was the Shrimp Pimp truck. Like most food trucks the Shrimp Pimp has a narrowly focused menu. I tried the Drunken Shrimp Tacos for lunch. They consisted of sherry ginger marinated shrimp popped on top of jicima, a green pepper slice, mandarin orange and fresh cilantro and all wrapped up with a corn tortilla. A totally tasty lunch time treat.

Next month I am headed to New York City where I hope to explore a whole new genera of food trucks - maybe Kogi BBQ or Rickshaw Dumplings or Waffles and Dinges - with so many choices it is heard to know where to start!

Big Trend in Small Bites

Sometimes to find the next big idea or trend you have to think smaller – as in snack size! Whether savory or sweet, there is definitely an increased interest in bite-sized and sharable snack foods. According to an October 2007 National Restaurant Association survey the #1 hot new culinary trend for 2008 is bite-sized desserts followed by the #4 hot new trend of small plate dishes or tapas.

Why this interest in snack foods and snacking occasions? Well just like every other trend this year in America, you trace part of the cause to the slowing economy. In an effort to conserve money while not giving up entirely on our love of going out to eat, people are choosing to go out for appetizers and small dishes rather than full meals. But it is more than just our light wallets driving our interest in smaller portions. There is also a desire for more variety. Ordering several smaller dishes allows for more diversity of foods in an eating occasion. Another contributor is the social aspect to snack foods and appetizers. These types of foods lend themselves more to sharing and socializing than plated dinner entrees. Another contributing factor that cannot be ignored in the snacking or mini-meal trend is definitely our hectic schedules. When you are constantly on the go grab-and-go snacks or quick mini-meals just fit in between activities better than a sit down meal. Finally there is that constant struggle to eat more healthy. After years of super-sizing their food and their waistlines, many Americans are looking to down-sizing (or “Right-sizing” if you prefer) their meals rather than giving up the foods they love entirely.

Whether you think of these small bites as savory snacks, mini meals, dessert bites or appetizer flights, this is definitely a trend that is here to stay. Even if you are not in the restaurant industry this is a trend to which you should pay attention. If you are consumer brand manager cookbook author or food editor for magazine, here are some simple ideas to capitalize on this trend and promote usage of your product.

1) Stretch you concept of your product to include appetizer, mini-meals or snacking occasions. For example if your product is frozen French fries move beyond the side dish application and suggest a platter of Cheesy Spicy Nacho French Fries for a game day get together (I know, not every recipe can follow the better for you trend!). If your product is pea soup, suggest pea soup shooters (think shot glass of pea soup with a dollop of sour cream on top) as a super cool and trendy appetizer suggestion for urban cocktail party. If your product is canned corn, a recipe for simple corn salsa would do the trick. If you manage a brand of pork BBQ think smaller and suggest your consumer try BBQ sliders. See nearly any product can fit the small plate trend.

2) The KISS rule still applies – Keep it Simple Simple! In general consumers have even less time to prepare snacks than meals. Your serving suggestions and recipe ideas need to be simple, quick and easy. It also helps to be visual. If you are suggesting a usage occassion outside of your consumer's idea of typical, a picture can make the idea more appealing and do-able.

3) You appeal to more people with variety than a single idea. Not every recipe will fit everybody’s taste and desires and that is ok. That is why you want to have a large variety of recipes and marketing them to your consumers in different ways. For example you market a brand of guacamole and you know you core consumer puts your product on tacos and on chips and that is about it. Showing those 2 applications over and over will never inspire anyone to try something new (expanded usage occasions). It will also not speak to potential new consumers the way showing a variety of usage occasions. So let’s take that same product and add a recipe for Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Guacamole Dip or Spicy Scallop Stackers (tortilla chip with a dollop of guacamole, a seared scallop a thin slice of jalapeno and topper of sour cream) and a serving suggestion of using guacamole as a dip on a vegetable tray. Now you are really expanding the possible usage occasions and making the product more appealing to new consumers!

The Oil Impact

What is the biggest food trend so far in 2008? Unfortunately it is rising food prices. If you are a food producer or seller you have no doubt felt this impact on your bottom line. You may have even already made the painful decision to take price with your customers. On an even more personal level you have no doubt felt the impact on your own wallet as well, when it is your turn to be the consumer.

Why the dramatic spike in food cost? Well the most obvious culprit is sky rocking oil prices. Oil impacts the food chain in ways most of us never consider. Oil is a key ingredient in the fertilizers and pesticides that farmers use on crops - like corn, wheat and soy beans. It then takes oil to harvest and transport those crops to distribution centers and on to market. If those crops are then used to feed live stock more oil will be required to process and transport the meat. If the crops are used for processed foods (like hamburger buns, tater tots, or a box of corn bread mix) then more oil is used in the transportation and processing of those products. And don’t forget the oil that also goes into the production and transportation of all that beautiful packaging that encapsulates all the tasty food products we buy. Wow it takes a lot of oil to make a meal when I put it that way!

Since we know oil prices are unlikely to be headed south anytime soon (if ever) are there any things you can do to help your consumers (and your own family) with their rising food bills? Absolutely! You can offer recipes that deliver more bang for the buck. Offer up seasonal recipes that capitalize on locally available seasonal products (which cuts down on transportation costs). Produce cost typical aren’t as impacted as meat and processed foods prices so offer recipes that use generous amounts of fruits and veggies. Finally you can also offer Asian and Mediterranean style recipes that use meat, dairy and fish more as flavorings than main ingredients. Just remember to keep in mind the cooking skill level and available meal prep/cooking time for your key target demographic. Unless you are specifically targeting the most proficient and prolific cooks with your recipes, don’t get so gourmet (i.e. too complicated or time consuming) in your recipe offerings that you loose the interest of your key target market.

From Hippie to Hip - Brown Rice Becomes Fashionable Again

In the 1960's and 70's brown rice was a popular whole-grain staple with the hippie era counter-culture. In the 80's and 90's it virtually disappeared from menus in favor of the more flavor-neutral white rice. Today the former hippie culture food is making a comeback thanks in part to the increasing interest in more nutrient rich "good" carbs.

So what is brown rice exactly? It is basically minimally processed rice. The outer inedible hulls are removed from the grain but the bran and germ are left mostly or completely intact. (To get white rice the bran and germ are stripped off leaving only the starchy flesh of the grain.) Brown rice is not always truly brown. "Brown" is more of a processing term referring to the bran which is left on the grain.

Brown rice has a lot of advantages over its paler younger brother. It is packed with more nutrients (fiber, antioxidants, etc) than white rice and it is much more flavorful. Thanks to popular mainstream restaurants (like P.F. Chang) consumers are becoming reacquainted with the tasty nutty flavor of brown rice. And thanks to popular diets (such as the South Beach Diet) consumers are actively looking to add more whole grains into their meal routines. So as you are building your recipe library think about including some recipes that call for brown rice. This flavorful ingredient edition will make for a deliciously on-trend meal that cooks can feel good about serving to their families and friends

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Most people think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day. It actually commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862 (Mexican independence came later) and is celebrated as only a regional holiday in Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is more widely celebrated in America where it has come to represent more of a celebration of Mexican pride and history. Regardless of what decent you are from, Cinco de Mayo is a great day to celebrate with some delicioso Latin American cuisine.

The Latin American food trend is a very hot, up and coming trend. Flavors and ingredients like lime, tomatillos, chili peppers, corn meal, chorizo, adobo, yuca and queso fresco are popping up on menus even in non-Mexican themed restaurants. One of my favorite "new" spices to use when I am cooking at home is chipotle peppers or chipotles in adobo sauce. Chipotle chile peppers are smoke-dried jalapenos. You can buy them as a dried spice (in the spice aisle) or you can get them whole in a can (in the ethnic section of the grocery store). Whole chipotle chiles in a can usually come packed in adobo sauce. This deep red flavorful sauce is made with tomatoes, vinegar and spices like garlic, onion, cumin, lemon pepper and achiote powder.

Need a little inspiration on how to use chipotles to add some Latin American flare to your menu tonight? Try sprinkling the dried chipotle chile pepper powder over french fries or popcorn. Or dice 1-2 chipotle peppers in a adobo sauce and add to spagetti sauce, chili or meatloaf. If you really want to mix things up and try something new, try adding the chipotle peppers in a adobo sauce to an alfedo sauce (it is obviously a non-traditional use and may sound a little strange, but it truly delicious - I promise you!). Whether you use the dried spice or the chipotle peppers in adobo, you will be adding a wonderfully smoky spice to your dish. If you worried about things getting too spicy, just scrape out and throw away most of the seeds before adding the chiles to your recipes. And of course, don't forget to serve some refreshing cold beverages like margaritas or cervezas to cool everything down.

The Latin American Trend

Cinco De Mayo is almost here. What better time to talk about trends in Hispanic cooking....or at least trends in the types of Hispanic foods average America is eating. In the 1990's fast casual Mexican restaurants were extremely popular. No matter what the name of the particular restaurant was over the door, you knew before you even looked at the menu generally what was going to be offered to you - various combinations of similarly seasoned beans, meat, cheese and rice with tortillas or chips. Today those types of Mexican restaurants continue to be ubiquitous through out America, however the true emerging trend is Hispanic-influenced foods. According to Datassential's Food Bytes e-Gazette, 44% of restaurants now offer what they call a "Mexican-Inspired entree" (think of menu items like a tequila lime salsa burgers or a prime rib sandwich with a zesty jalapeno mesquite spread).

Following behind the Mexican-Inspired trend is a new trend towards Latin American foods which would include dishes from Mexico but also foods from the many other Latin American countries located in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. New menu items being seen are things like Cuban sandwiches; chimichurri sauces* (popular in Argentina) and ceviche (a popular dish in Peru). In fact a Datassential survey showed that 22% of Americans were very interested in Brazilian foods, which makes it only slightly less popular than Thai.

So as you are thinking about recipes to add to your library it is definitely time to add a few dishes with a Hispanic twist. These could be things like Chipotle Chicken Alfredo or Spicy Lasagna made with habonaras. And if your target consumer is a little more progressive you can start adding in some more exotic Latin American dishes like Brazilian Rice Pudding or a flavorful Puerto Rican Stew. Fruit flavors like coconut, mango and pineapples are also a part of this trend so things like Coconut Infused Rice or a Pineapple Mango Salsa Grilled Chicken are more great menu options. May is a great time to debut your new Latin American-inspired dishes! So grab a margarita if you need the inspiration (or mojitos if you prefer), put on your salsa shoes and say ole! You won't want to miss this deliciously sassy trend!


Notes:
*Chimichurri sauce is a thick herb sauce or condiment popular in Argentina. It is made from olive oil, vinegar, and finely chopped parsley, oregeno, garlic and onion and then seasoned with salt, cayenne and black pepper.
*Ceviche (also spelled seviche) is fish that has been "cooked" with lime juice. Often ingredients like tomatoes, onion and green peppers are added to the marinade.

The Return to Butter!

I admit it - I have always loved butter. In the 90's I slathered it on bread even when prevailing diet wisdom advised a shift to "heart-healthy" margarine. By the late-90's and into the early 2000's however I, like many other Americans, followed the food trends and shifted to more Mediterranean-style cooking. This, of course, pushed me towards using more olive oil. Butter went from a staring role in most of my meals to an supporting and indulgent role for certain recipes. And as one would expect my rate of grocery store purchases of butter dropped dramatically. More recently though I noticed a gradual increase in recipes calling for butter. Maybe it has been because of our increasing dalliance into new types of ethnic recipes which call for for wonderfully rich ingredients like butter and ghee. It could be due in part to a certain amount of consumer disillusionment with the previous claims of the "heart-healthy" virtues of margarine. I think it also has something to do with just the natural circle of life in all trends (every trend seems to come back into style eventually).

It seems like I am not the only one noticing this delicious butter trend. This month's issue of Saveur magazine is a special issue devoted to "The Beauty of Butter". In the editorial by the Editor-in-Chief, James Oleland, he notes that 2005 was the first year since 1957 that Americans ate more butter than margarine. To me this shift makes sense as you look at how Americans are starting to being more mindful of the foods they eat. There is shift from overly-processed food towards more natural and organic options or at least towards foods with ingredients people can pronounce.

So as you look for recipes to fit your needs think about what type of ingredients your target market prefers - butter, margarine, olive oil, corn oil or something else. You want to keep your recipes diverse and current while being mindful of what staple ingredients your target consumer is currently stocking in her refrigerator and pantry.

Cheese Please

At The Undercover Cook we follow all kinds of food and cooking trends. Some of my personal favorites are the trends in cheese. According to The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association we ate more than 32 pounds of cheese per capita last year! Not only are we eating more cheese, our taste for cheese is getting more sophisticated. The consumption of natural, artisan and ethnic cheeses is on the rise. The other big trend in cheese is, of course, convenience. As consumers look for food solutions that fit into their increasingly busy lives they continue to reach for more grated, crumbled, cubed, string, natural cheese slices and seasoned pre-shredded cheeses. The convenience cheeses take out the prep work without sacrificing the taste of traditional block cheese.

So as you are thinking about recipes for your brand or your latest cookbook, think about including cheese based recipes tailored towards your target consumer. For example, if you are targeting busy moms think about simple recipes that utilize the ever widening variety of convenience cheese, like a taco dip that uses pre-seasoned shredded cheese instead of of block cheese and spices. If you are targeting DINKS think about using cheese from the specialty cheese case, such as a recipe for boursin crusted pork chops. If your brand features upscale regional products think about using regional artisanal cheeses in your recipes. It is important that your recipes appeal to your target consumers' ever changing taste just as well as your products do.

Staying Relevant During a Value Shopping Trend

As we tally up our numbers and close the books on 2007 one things is clear, increasing commodity prices and decreasing consumer confidence have impacted our consumers as much as they impacted us. If your brand is a value player then you may have seen a bump in sales even as your bottom line has been getting squeezed. If you are a mid-range or premium brand you probably felt the pinch on the top line as well as the bottom line as your loyal consumers become more conservative in their shopping habits and trade down to the value brands.

So is there anything you can do with your recipe marketing plan to help stop this trend? Absolutely! No consumer wants to trade down. As a general rule you can bank on the fact that we consumers don't like denying ourselves our favorite foods even when money is tight. Your consumer needs for you to show her how she can affordable incorporate that indulgent product back into her families normal eating routine. This is a great time to offer what I like to call "stretch recipes". "Stretch recipes" use several ingredients to stretch the more expensive ingredient into more servings. For example let's say you are selling a premium refrigerated pasta product and you find that consumers who were purchasing your tortellini for a center of the plate entree are now trading down to a more affordable dry tortellini. You could feature a recipe campaign that focus on side dish applications for your product. The same package of product then goes from serving 2 main dishes to 4 side dishes. If the recipes incorporates some vegetables or other ingredients then the dish feels substantial and mom gets to feel good about serving this affordable indulgence to her family again. Don't worry, when consumer confidence picks up and the purse strings loosen up again you can go back to steering consumers towards center of the plate applications that incorporate more of your delicious product in each serving.

Breakfast is Back

Restaurants believe that breakfast is becoming more relevant to consumers. How do I know? According to the November 2007 e-Gazette Food Bytes, restaurants (from QSRs to Fine Dining) have been increasing the number of breakfast items on their menus (a statistic also known as "breakfast density") for the past 2 years. While QSRs clearly lead the way on providing breakfast to consumers, it is the fine dining establishments that are showing the most growth on breakfast menu items.

If you are developing a recipe library for your brand, website or cookbook, you should consider including a few recipes for this important day-part. Try putting a breakfast twist on a non-traditional breakfast item just to keep in interesting. If you are selling pizza dough, why not include a recipe for a ham, egg and cheese breakfast pizza? If you are selling crab cakes, think about a crab, artichoke, sundried tomato and Parmesan cheese breakfast scrambler. If your e-newsletter theme is this month is cheese, try including a recipe for pancetta and brie mini quiches. It is very easy to add fun breakfast recipes to your recipe repertoire just by adding fun new ingredients to the traditional dishes that people already know and love.

Welcome to The Undercover Cook

The Undercover Cook is a full service recipe consulting business. We specializes in writing recipes for consumer brand products, websites and cookbooks. What sets us apart from other recipe development companies is that by following cooking and food trends we understand how different segments of the population cook. One common mistake we see on consumer brand packaging and websites is complicated labor intensive recipes that don't match up to how the target consumer group really cooks. At The Undercover Cook, we carefully write recipes that fit within the skills set, time constraints and personal tastes of the specific group our client wants to target. We can also help guide our clients in developing beautiful food photography with maximum appetite appeal.

If you are a brand manager or product manager, you may ask why recipes should be important to you and your brand. Recipes are key to showing your consumers alternative usage occasions for your product (and we all know that increasing usage in existing customers is cheaper and more effective than just targeting new consumers to make their first purchase!). Recipes provide great content for brand websites and PR campaigns. Good recipes can turn your brand from just another product to a resource for consumers.

If you are a cookbook writer or recipe website manager you need good on-trend recipes as well. Your recipe needs will be based on your target reader. Are you targeting cheese lovers with specialty cheese based recipes or busy moms who want healthy meals for their families in under 30 minutes? Whoever your target is, you want recipes that are not above their skill level and not below their preferred tastes.

What ever your recipes needs, The Undercover Cook is ready to help you target your particular consumers. Go to theundercovercook.com to learn more.