Last year, the focus was on teens. This year, our inestimable experts, Dr. Keith-Thomas Ayoob (clinical professor emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NYC) and Jill Litwin (founder and CEO of Peas of Mind LLC, award-winning makers of foods for little ones) swing their attention to the other side of the playground and take a look at babies and infants, the 0-2 age group, in "Building Better Babies."
Trends in food oils happen at a slower pace. That's because it can take years to develop, grow, and cultivate oilseed (or other sources) and bring the final product to market.
Although green might be the symbolic color of nature, red is definitely the color of the Back to Nature flag. This has nothing to with leftist politics; natural reds have been at the forefront of the tidal shift from artificial to natural colorings in foods and beverages, pushed ahead to replace the now-spurned Red Dye #40 and bug-derived cochineal colorants.
The upcoming ban on trans-fats has sent many processors scrambling to fill the functional shoes while bettering the health profile of their products that previously were cooked in or contained the partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) that are the main source of the offending fat form.
I coined the term “social ingredient” to encompass all those factors that are not physical ingredients but important components of a product nonetheless. I predicted that such social ingredients would soon be the most important food ingredients in the industry.
The growing backlash against negative ingredient messages seems to have reached a tipping point, with processors proudly touting meat (including half a dozen pork rind products!), full-fat dairy, butter, and other ingredients once perceived of as unhealthy. In fact, some companies even are using “whole milk” and “full-fat” as positive marketing tools.
Having spent years as a professional chef, I stay in touch with dozens of restaurant chefs and research chefs, old friends and new acquaintances, located worldwide.