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Hand-Held Meals and Snacks: Where Global Flavors Meet On-the-Go Convenience

Global flavor grab-and-go foods are growing in both popularity and authenticity

By David Feder , RDN, Executive Editor–Technical, Hinnerk Von Bargen

Combined information from multiple market sources place the global sales of hand-held meals and snacks at around USD220-300 billion and poised to show robust growth well into the next decade. Hand-held foods are at the meeting point of what currently are two of the biggest trends in cuisine: grab-and-go snacks and meals to serve the time-pressed, burning-the-candle-at-both-ends consumers; and the huge surge of consumer interest in global and ethnic flavors.

Recently, regular contributor Professor Hinnerk Von Bargen graciously invited Prepared Foods’ executive editor–technical David Feder to visit with him in the vast kitchen complex at the Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio. Von Bargen, an internationally accomplished chef, holds comprehensive knowledge of the hand-held foods and snacks traditionally enjoyed all over the world. Although teaching in the Central Texas heart of Tex-Mex culinary traditions, Chef Hinnerk and his wife Ming also own three Asian/Asian-Fusion restaurants in that melting pot of a city.

In the interview, Hinnerk presents his insights into the current ingredients and trends—including the global/ethnic flavors and fusions—represented in the vast offerings of today’s hand-held foods and snacks.

Hand-Held Meals and Snacks: Where Global Flavors Meet On-the-Go Convenience

Discover how global and ethnic flavors are transforming hand-held meals and snacks into one of the fastest-growing food trends, with insights from Chef Hinnerk Von Bargen of the Culinary Institute of America.

Sweet In the Hand

Today’s global culinary influences on hand-held foods are being felt on the sweet side of the aisle as well. The market research group Mordor Intelligence forecast the global cakes, pastries, and sweet pies market to hit more than USD533 billion by 2030. And just a few years ago, Datassential accurately predicted the “emergence of next-level warming spices such as cardamom, coriander, turmeric, mace and black pepper” in sweet, hand-held snacks, specifically cookies. Few such sweet snacks and desserts fit the trend better than baklava. One example is Dar Baklava, LLC’s recently launched Snacklava line of traditionally authentic baklava and other Mediterranean sweets with a healthful clean-label tweak. As developed by founder Sherif Badawy, MD, a pediatrician and marathon runner, the phyllo, honey, and nut confections are made for easier handling, with fewer ingredients and a slightly firmer construction that surprisingly does not diminish the classic flakiness of the paper-thin dough nor the unmistakably classic flavors

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David Feder, RDN, has been a food, nutrition and health journalist for 26 years. In spite of an academic background that began with psychology and biblical archaeology, David cut his teeth as a celebrated chef in Texas during the 1970s and 1980s, helping pioneer haute-health & fusion cuisines in high-end restaurants and hotels. In the 1990s he became a registered dietitian while completing research and coursework toward a Ph.D. in nutrition biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Along the way he taught food science and nutrition while practicing as a nutrition counselor.

Hinnerk von Bargen, CHE, is the author of “Street Foods” (Wiley, 2015). He holds a Master Chef certificate from the Hotel School in Hamburg and has been an associate professor at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), San Antonio, since 2009. Previously, he taught at the CIA’s main campus in Hyde Park, NY, for 10 years. Additionally, von Bargen works with leading food companies to create new products. He has been featured in The New York Times, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, and other periodicals, as well as in “Culinary Boot Camp” (John Wiley & Sons, 2006). He can be reached at Hinnerk.VonBargen@culinary.edu.