27 July 2010
TOP TRAVEL & FOOD TRENDS
Here's the list of Top Trends for Food & Travel from my address to the travel and food writers of NZ tonight, who gathered at The Heritage in Auckland.
MAJOR FOOD TRENDS Seasonal, simple, garden-fresh food, Local food agenda, Artisan products. Healthy diets & self-help health care, Planet-conscious eating, spas & spa cuisine. Home grown → home cooking: Chefs’ own restaurant gardens → fresh, organic. Urban farming, both backyard and collective plots, OOOby, Vege co-ops & CSA (community supported agriculture).
Street food, both original authentic, and ethnic & immigrant cuisines. Fair trade, sustainable, organic, single estates, own brands & small farm crops. Baking (there is life after cupcakes), Slow cooking, French bistro again & Italian forever.FOOD DESTINATIONS Farmers markets, Food Halls, Street food carts (see above). Cocktail bars, Wine & tapas bars, Sake Bars and Artisan breweries. Urban Gourmet; Farro Fresh, Nosh, Moore Wilson, Wholefoods, Borough market. European city markets, 3 star Michelin world wide and San Pellegrino Top 50 restaurants.
TOP CUISINES THAT WILL INFLUENCE RESTAURANTS Central America and Peru. Korea and Vietnam and regional China. Scandanavia, esp Denmark and Sweden.
OTHER INTERESTING INFLUENCES Apps for I-Phone and I-Pad, Social Media. Pop-up restaurants. Web; Blogs, Recipes, Restaurants and everyone’s unqualified opinions. Food Television; Travel, Most British programmes, and Reality and competitive cooking shows that don’t encourage cooking! Food Magazine dumbing down; Gourmet disappears, along withWaitrose Food Illustrated.
TOP NZ RESTAURANTS (Bookings essential, great food and wine, top atmosphere) The Engine Room, Soul Bar & Bistro, The French Café, Prime Bistro, The Grove, Two Fifteen, Siddart, Michael Meredith, Cibo, Boulcott St Bistro, Logan Brown, Martin Bosley, Matterhorn, Herzog, Boutereys, Restaurant Schwass, Bodhi Tree, Saggio di Vino, Fishbone.
ACROSS THE DITCH – I WOULD HAPPILY JUMP ON A PLANE FOR ANOTHER MEAL AT: Quay, Berowra Waters Inn, Tetsuya, Royal Mail Hotel, Momo
CULINARY TOURISM DESTINATIONS Transylvania, Laos, Sri Lanka, Peru, Yunnan, Copenhagen, Tasmania.
BEST FOOD FESTIVALS AND MASTERCLASSES Wellington on a Plate, Toast Martinborough, Taste Auckland , Pasifika, Diwali Festival, Lantern Festival, Melbourne Masterclass, Brisbane Masterclass, Sydney's CRAVE, Noosa Food and Wine, Aspen Food & Wine, IPNC in Oregon, Terra Madre & Salone del Gusto, Madrid Fusion, Singapore World Gourmet Summit.