CARBONDALE, Ill. — A healthy slice of local with a fresh side of local and then a second helping of local is what food industry professionals have topping this 2016 grocery and restaurant lists.AgriNews has been reviewing all kinds of top food lists for the new year to see what are the up-and-coming food trends.
Whether the list was from the Food Network, Generation Z or BEEF Magazine, all of them had multiple listings for local food. We also talked to Illinois experts for their predictions.
What exactly is local food? This definition can vary depending on who you talk to, but for this article the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s description is used by most circles, especially when it comes to producers and those who work on nutrition, so we will, too.
One definition used by the USDA says local food derives from a producer within a 250-mile radius of the consumer.
Here is some food for thought:
Janie Maxwell, Illinois Farmers Market Association executive director, Naperville: “People are not only embracing local food as a delight to eat, but also as a nutritional benefit with underlying components that haven’t really come to light before.”
One example she mentioned is kale.
“It still has to taste good, and it still has to be easy to prepare. But if you have an option for kale that’s jam packed with so much nutrition versus a regular head of lettuce, today more and more people are going for the higher nutrition,” Maxwell explained.
Marty Travis, Spence Farm farmer, Fairbury: Chefs in Chicago are big customers for Spence Farms. He’s identified two trends — small grains and peppers.
“I believe we’ll continue to see expansion into small specialty grains,” he said. “I think as we continue to build infrastructure there will be a greater demand for high-quality, flavorful varieties of wheat, barleys and even corns.”
His farm staff at the end of last season recorded a notable increase in demand for unique heirloom varieties of peppers “from the world that would still grow in central Illinois.
“It was an amazing amount of peppers that we sold and demand that we left at the table,” he added.
By the way, the International Herb Association herb of the year is the capsicum hot pepper.
Ken Myszka, chef farmer of Epiphany Farms in the Bloomington area: Small grains and peppers also pepper his list, but he’s also adding lacto-fermented foods, as well.
“Whether it’s radishes, cabbage or dikons, we’re using more and more lacto-fermented foods. It’s the biggest trend right now for veggies,” he said.
Generation Z is a demographic of those people born after 1997 and who will make up 40 percent of the U.S. population in 2020. They top their list with local food, as well as sweet and savory food combinations.
Whole Foods Markets, headquartered in Austin, Texas, used its experts who select items for its 430 stores: “uncommon” meat and seafood; “plant-based everything;” fermented foods and probiotics, kimchi and kraut; new grass-fed products from milk, eggs, yogurt, butter and cheese options to meat and protein powders; dehydrated foods; heirloom ingredients “beyond the tomato,” cocoa or popcorn; alternative and wheat-free flours, legume based and chickpea; and “Old World” flavor adventures, Far East or African.
BEEF Magazine worked with Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center recently to identify 16 of the food biggest trends coming in the new year: New food safety demands for small businesses; ethics; food application technology; children’s health; food waste reduction; new cuts of meat; transparency of foods; natural foods; locally grown produce; having a story; comfort foods; meal kit foods; big flavors; artisanal foods; customized foods; and food incubators.
Baum and Whiteman is food and restaurant consulting firm out of Brooklyn, N.Y. Its top trends call for food with no additives, no pasta, fried chicken, hot peppers, root-to-stalk cooking and 3-D food printers.
There’s this list based on a chef survey: Hyper-local food sourcing including meat and seafood, farm/estate brands, ancient grains, ethnic condiments/spices, authentic ethnic cuisine, artisan butchery, fresh/house-made sausage, house-made/artisan pickles and street food/food trucks.
Even Pinterest.com has a trend list: Vintage and traditional foods, home beer brewing, avocado oil will be the new olive oil, savory French toast, swapping in veggies for high-calorie foods and fermented foods.
Bacon certainly has been frying up lists for many years, but it’s worth a mention that a Fox News’ list mentioned that 2015 was “The Year that Bacon Got a Bad Wrap.”