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Posts from the ‘Go Figure’ Category

Jun 21

White or Wheat



Sandwiches

I work with data but I've never been a numbers person. And once you start getting into visualizing networks and nodes, I get nervous. At least this is a known unknown, not the dreaded so stupid you don’t know you’re stupid unknown unknowns.

Yet, I still find Hunch’s THAY (Teach Hunch About You) concept fascinating. Lately, they have been analyzing user data to create food-related reports, this month’s being A Network of Food Preferences.

Hunch users prefer multigrain bread over white, 73% to 27%. I’d pick a nice baguette given the option. Using data on bread, cheese and lettuce preferences, they’ve determined that the most likable sandwich would be made up of hard cheese, multigrain bread and romaine. Sounds meh to me. Then again, who’d think that a lettuce sandwich would be a good idea?


Beer

But the beer and french fry pairings were right on. I would absolutely pick bistro frites and a dark ale given the options. The real question? Ketchup or mayonnaise with those fries.

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Dec 22

Undergrad Grub

Apricot turkey According to Sodexo's "2010 College Food Trends" report the number one cafeteria item next year will be Apricot-Glazed Turkey. Er, okay. Number four is the very specific Vegetarian Lentil Shepherd's Pie.

I favor numbers three and five: Vietnamese Pho (Rice Noodle Soup) and Chicken Adobo (Mexican Stew with Chilies) even if chicken adobo is better known as the national dish of the Philippines.

The campus favorites by region are more straightforward—meatloaf, potpie—roast beef—with the exception of fish tacos for the Southwest.

I didn't go to a college with a cafeteria (I ate Chinese takeout from Safeway, jo jo potatoes from the same Safeway deli and sandwiches I made from cream cheese, avocado and fake crab) so food prepared specifically for youngsters enrolled in higher learning institutions is foreign and interesting. Same too, dorms.

Apricot-glazed turkey photo from Taste of Home, America's highest circulation food magazine. The dish must be more popular than I thought.

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Dec 9

The Future is Now

Flapsticks Just as I probably do every December and forget about it by the following December, I was going to say enough with the year-end foodie round-ups because I am old and perpetually crotchety.

Then I remembered that I’m guilty of contributing to the onslaught. I just covered fried chicken, banh mi, “rock star” butchers, pizza and a few other 2009 dining trends for Metromix.

I’m not much for predictions either. I wanted kalamansi to blow up for 2003, and well, I’m still waiting. I do think Peruvian will be the next big Latin cuisine, that Manhattan- Mex (Cascabel, La Lucha, Ofrenda) will continue to expand, goat meat will take off after we get through lamb and that mezcal (ok, I’m just on a personal kick) will have a heyday. Personally, I wish 2010 could be the year of the crab rangoon.

More on the near future:

Restaurants & Institutions favors pot roast, beer and eggs.

Chowhounders say food trucks for the non-L.A./NYC parts of the country, Korean as the new Thai and lots of stuff that’s already happening like home canning and American charcuterie.

I had to double check Epicurious’ pub date because their Top 10 for 2010 reads like trends for 2009. Ok, maybe just the fried chicken, babely butchers and lamb.

The National Restaurant Association’s “Chef Survey: What’s Hot in 2010” predicts the top trends will be locally grown produce (88%), locally sourced meats (84%) and seafood and sustainability (80%). True but boring. I like #77 traditional ethnic breakfast items (50%) and #157 mole (35%). Ack, #154 fiddlehead ferns, one of the world’s creepiest foods regardless of taste, came in one notch above mole.

Food & Wine foresees better frozen food, butter and artisanal breakfasts.

In “A Look into The Future of Eating” The NPD Group says Generation Z will see the largest increase in heat and eat breakfasts among all age groups over the next decade. Toddlers and their Jimmy Dean Flapsticks.

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Nov 12

I Have a Hunch that You Prefer Subway Over Pret a Manger

Subway

Hunch is fascinating if not a little creepy (I think creating smarter, personalized search engines is how machines start rising up). When it first launched I got sucked into answering questions for over 30 minutes, partially anticipating an end result and partially because I find answering questions addictive.

They recently published a report, “How Food Preferences Vary by Political Ideology” which reinforces stark stereotypes. Apparently, food choices are cleanly divided between political parties. For instance, right-wingers prefer Velveeta, white bread, deep-dish pizza with lots of meat and liberals love Brie, multigrain, and vegetarian regular crust pizzas. Kind of like an ’80s funny-’cause-it’s-true black people dance like this/white people dance like this comedy routine.

Fortunately, we can all get along on a few culinary topics: both groups prefer romaine over other lettuces and practically everyone thinks bacon double cheeseburgers are delicious.

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Nov 5

Economy Not Driving Anyone to Drink

Except me, perhaps. I almost always order alcohol when dining out (though not at lunch because I don’t work with bon vivants, plus 90% of the time I eat at my desk and only drink water or black coffee when I’m not imbibing) but it appears that I’m in the minority.

Alcohol sales

Overall, Technomic predicts alcohol sales in ”away-from-home venues” to decline 2.5% in 2010. The largest decrease will be in the fine dining channel with a 10.4% drop. The only increase will be seen in the bars and nightclubs segment, though only by 0.6%. Wine sales forecast to shrink 6.7% will suffer more than beer or spirits.

Restaurants & Institutions' "Beverage Census Study" reinforces these finding. 72% of consumers order non-alcholic drinks when dining out (thought this includes all meals and fast food where the option typically doesn’t exist). And bolstering the wine is elite, beer is for regular folks notion, Americans in households earning $75,000+ order wine 3.3 tims per week while those who make less than $20,000 only 0.4 times.

And randomly, more than one-third of Gen Y’ers order root beer.

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Oct 25

Is Tex-Mex Ethnic Food?

Grilled herbal

According to Technomic’s "2009 Flavor Consumer Trend Report" 66% of US consumers would return to a restaurant and try a dish that originally hooked them with a new flavor. I not exactly sure what constitutes a new flavor, but there is a sample chart that indicates grilled and herbal is the preferred flavor combination of both genders.

Steak with chimmichurri? Lemon and oregano-infused whole fish? I suppose I could go for those, though I’m more of a spicy and sweet person. Really, spicy, sweet and fatty–pork belly with Thai basil and chile springs to mind–but that wasn’t an option.

More interesting, perhaps, are the "less broadly established ethnic cuisines" that are of interest to US consumers. Maybe the avante garde is becoming mainstream: 72%, the highest number of respondents, are interested in Spanish food followed by American regional cuisines like Hawaiian (71%) and Tex-Mex (69%). Really? Nearly two-thirds of this country has yet to discover chili and fajitas?

For what it’s worth, Greek, Caribbean (both 66%) and Mediterranean (62%) follow closely behind.

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Oct 1

How Fast Do You Want Your Food?

Chick-fil-A takes the number one spot in QSR magazine’s new, “Drive-Thru Performance Study.” So cruel, since we’re chicken sandwich deprived here.

Drive-thrus are scarce in NYC. My only experience involves a few local White Castles and the transactions have always been far from award-winning. However, the slider chain came in at number two on Speaker Clarity. I’m curious if they mean the audio capabilities of the speaker or the human speaking to you because there’s no way any Brooklyn locations would rate a 97.6% based on cashier diction.

On the consumer side, who are the freaks that prefer faster service over accuracy?  Thirteen percent strongly agree or agree with getting a speedy Filet-O-Fish when they ordered a Big Mac. And for those youngsters under 18, the number rise to a disturbing 33%. More than one-third of children and teens don't give a shit about what they eat as long as they get it quickly.

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Sep 29

Meating Out Justice

Meat eaters

Not only is Denmark the happiest country in the world, they also eat the most meat according to a fun graphic from Good. Correlation? 321.7 pounds of meat per capita makes an awful lot of frikadeller.
Surprising to some, the US is only in fifth place with 275.1 pounds per capita. Surprising to me: Argentina being nowhere in the top ten—my week in Buenos Aires was beyond beefy.

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Sep 24

Move Over, Explorers Club

Tns-landis-top-food-brands-adventurous-tastes-september-2009

If you thought you were pretty adventurous eating dried grasshoppers in Guatemala, sago worms in Philippines or deep-fried butter in the US, you would be wrong. According to the latest Brand Bites survey conducted by TNS Landis, “A Taste for Adventure,” drinking pure juice without sugar is pretty wild.

In fact, Naked Juice is considered the second most adventurous brand after Chipotle, and both won more than 50% of the votes. Don’t worry, we’re not all so impressed by Niman Ranch pork and natural ingredients in our burritos; El Monterey, T.G.I. Friday’s and Jose Ole frozen Mexican snacks and entrees all made the top ten.

The bottom of the barrel brands are suitably unadventurous, however: Wonder Bread, Ensure, Egg-Beaters, store brand applesauce. Poor Famous Amos got his cookies lumped in with this motley crew, too. I guess Mrs. Fields didn’t even rank.

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Sep 16

Currying Favor

Kokumaro The Japanese have an opinion on everything, it seems. I particularly like the translated surveys about food on What Japan Thinks. Two recent ones tackled very important topics.

First, do they approve of oddly shaped vegetables? Yes they do! 32.5% have already bought them and 25.5% really want to buy them. It appears that they mean malformed vegetables due to poor weather and not those Buddha-shaped pears or heart-like watermelons (ok, those are fruit, whatever).

Secondly, curry-eating habits. Neither Indian nor Thai, they are referring to that sweetish British-influenced style of curry favored in Japan. A majority of respondents, 43.8%, eat curry at home two-three times per month.  And shockingly, the most popular occasion for Japanese to make curry at home is “When I want to eat curry” at 69.5%. Only 4.5% make it when they want to build up stamina. The leading brand is Kokumaro Curry, winning nearly a quarter of the votes at 22.4%.

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