Tuesday, 11 November 2014

FDIN Trends Seminar 11th November 2014

A Roundup by Tim Nicol; views expressed are mine, not necessarily FDIN’s Notes supplied as a voluntary contribution to maximising your value from FDIN Seminars

Sue Lister was deputised to do the opening honours today, and she introduced the biggest FDIN conference ever in her customary brisk and efficient style, which made a change from Jeffrey's well rehearsed stories and anecdotes from the past. The tables were a little squeezed together, but the busy atmosphere helped to generate plenty of table talk and underline the interest in Trends, especially at this time of year when planning is top of mind and top of the task list.

Jeffrey was then called on to "fill in" a few minutes as our cameraman was apparently delayed in traffic. He kindly plugged me and these very RoundUps, and indeed re-took the opportunity to tell the full story of the FDIN seminars and how he started it all those years ago.

Michael Whiteman, rightly billed as a food tends guru, was our Chairman for the day and had been persuaded to take part as these seminars are now in London, not Daventry. He runs his own boutique global consulting firm, Baum+Whiteman International Restaurant Consultants, www.baumwhiteman.com and is well versed in US and global restaurant food trends. Michael had 50 images to cover in in 20 minutes, so he covered all the trends quickly and focussed on 2. His "Letter from America" presentation promised to ignore upscale trends and focussed on "Single item restaurants" or "slivers" - those that focus on single items. The general theme seemed to be "going beyond" conventions. There followed a barrage of images of the weird and wonderful- even an Eclair specialist restaurant, with a wasabi based recipe on the menu. The "wave of kale" is nearly over, so now we go underground for inspiration; ugly root vegetables were shown, and beyond 4 legged meat to insects and "critters", with all the environmental benefits they are claimed to bring. Restaurants are also going beyond sweet things to savoury and bitter flavours combined with sweet, for example vegetable yoghurt, gelati with savoury, even fish flavours, and "beer flights" (selection of tasters) to get you started.He is seeing the emergence of "Large format meals"- whole or large cuts of meat carved or shared at the table, and "Large format boozing"- cocktails for the crowd in table dispensers and jugs are all the thing in upscale restaurants apparently.Beer is "going beyond", Americans are putting beer in cocktails, adding it to Margaritas, and Bloody Mary's. Shame on them.In Food and Beverage generally, "Bitter" (not to be confused with beers of the same name...) is a growing trend- even going beyond pleasant bitter to repulsively bitter, the Italian bitter digestive drinks are finding themselves in culinary sauces for example.Then there are "neglected drinks" like Absinthe, Chartreuse, etc, that live at the back of the cocktail cabinet but are now making their way into cocktails.

�1 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014In turn, cocktails are impacting on desserts, or as Michael described it, the Bar is colliding with the dessert cart.We are (or at least the US are) becoming a nation of flavour junkies apparently. Matcha (powdered green tea) is "hot", as in trendy, and is another bitter flavour that is being added to all sorts of foods.Hummus, although very familiar, is now in a huge variety of flavours and inclusions, is still on trend.Michael acknowledged that not all trends come from the US, and some come from Europe and South East Asia. I'd say that trends come from everywhere- it's just that the US tends to execute them first.

We were introduced to "Restless Palate Syndrome" - brain jangling mashups of flavours and ingredients, and the example used was Japadog, see www.japadog.com . This Vancouver based startup is topping hot dogs with all sorts of Japanese themed ingredients. Other odd (increasingly desperate) combinations were shown, like Kosher Pastrami Chinese Egg Roll, and many others, all apparently designed to "jangle our neurones", rather than comfort us."Unruly food" follows no gastronomic rules - they are gastronomic collisions.

In a whole world of flavours, heaped on a single plate, ethnicity, authenticity, and gastro-harmony don't count. I wonder what does count, apart from jangling neurones?Looking for examples of this in packaged goods, Michael says there are plenty of examples of "global mashups" of products, or products that can't be left well alone, and even the French are adding coke to wine. Whiskey (Bourbon) is being sold with chilli and honey, and cinnamon. (Not for me thanks...)Sweet, salty, spicy, & smokey are all flavour groups being mashed up in food and drink.

Back to food, and 'Nduja is getting popular. This unappetising looking and sounding dish is made from pork offal and used as a spicy spread, and as an ingredient, even in chocolate ice cream!

The new fast casual revolution combines a nifty service system with theatre and customer involvement. Food is better and faster in these 'build your own" restaurants than in conventional fast food.

�2 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014The proliferation of choice is controlled by the customer- and this is where I think Michael is onto something deeper than just restaurant formats. This is, in my book, a real trend. Examples of restaurant formats to watch in the UK include Chipotle, and even high end chefs are lending their names to formats in the US, like Jose Andres' Beefsteak Restaurant. Michael finished on a slide headed "the ingredient revolution" which seemed to summarise very usefully the shifts in tastes and ingredients that he is observing. It seemed to me that tracing all these observations back into some trend insight would be useful. What is driving this apparent quest for adventure and rule breaking in food, and is it just a fad?

Michael, as Chairman, then introduced Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovicjh, two ex Ottolenghi, Middle Eastern (Israeli) food entrepreneurs, from Honey and Co, to talk about Middle Eastern Food. They run a well respected restaurant on Warren Street, just round the corner from where we were, and have published a book titled "Food from the Middle East". Their slides were a bit light, visit their website www.honeyandco.co.uk . This was to be another very culinary presentation.To state the obvious, the "Middle East" is huge, and covers many different distinct cuisines.In the big regional food groups, most dishes start with vegetables, fruit, pulses and herbs, and then the meat, often chicken but they can even include camel... The blends of spices and the use of oil, flower water, citrus fruit flavours, especially lemon, are all characteristics.

The main groups are:• North Africa, famous for tajine, cous cous,

and special combinations of spices for flavouring meat. It is a dry area, and dishes are based on nomadic cuisine, using dry spices.

• The Fertile Crescent, where hummus, falafel, lots of lamb, and delicate spices are typical.

• The Gulf, Turkey and the Balkans, where we find the use of nuts, especially almonds and pistachios, and cheeses, from sheep and goats. Note the influence of this region in Turkish and Hungarian cuisine.

• Persia and The Caucasus, what Claudia Roden has called the last undiscovered cuisine. It is delicate, uses herbs and fruits, and is influenced by Iranian cuisine.

�3 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

In general across the region, food is in itself a social occasion and social occasions always involve food.

The rise in interest of Middle Eastern food has been around for a while but is now accelerating, thanks to the writings of Claudia Roden, and the interest of top chefs. Middle Eastern food is not represented by a Kebab Shop! The drivers seem to be taste/ flavour and the variety available. It's light, and fresh, being based on vegetables and herbs.The "Home cooked" aspect is important, the accessibility, based on being domestic techniques.The informality and conviviality of the cuisine is another driver - eating with your hands, with bread, sharing plates, getting stuck in.The emergence of new middle eastern cuisine and how it travels is interesting. Currently very London Centric, it is is found in small restaurants and specialist stores, still based on the flavours of home. It may develop into more specific and authentic focus on individual cuisines rather than the current "mash up".

So from the Middle East we were next transported to China by Fuchsia Dunlop, a Mandarin Fluent food writer who runs food tours of China, spends a lot of time there, and showed by her command of the topic that she was a true expert in her field.Fuchsia pointed to the complexity of Chinese cuisine- different provinces, terrains, and the diversity of ingredients and genres.As she said, "we're stating to see the breaking of the Cantonese stranglehold". There are some emerging but many still undiscovered cuisines. On top of all these cuisines there are vegetarian Buddhist versions, Halal versions, and many more complex layers to add.Fuchsia said that, even after 20 years of visiting and studying, she is still discovering new dishes.There were lots of illustrations of dishes and individual descriptions of ingredients and techniques. I suggest you visit http://www.fuchsiadunlop.com to get a flavour and see some of the great visuals. For example, we saw Oat pasta tubes, made by hand, stacked on end, forming making a honeycomb of tubes, ready to be served with sauces and accompaniments. Fuchsia dwelt on Sichuan, (or should that be Szechuan?) cuisine. Sichuanese is much more than just chilli flavoured Chinese food. It's a "wildfire trend" in China itself. The drama, the thrill, the spectacle of Sichuan, is driving expansion outside China, especially where we find the restless palate that Michael referred to. The cuisine can be adapted by applying the flavour essence and base of seasonings into other dishes. As we see the tip of the iceberg with Chinese cooking as a whole, Sichuan is emerging but even in London there are very few true examples.

�4 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014It's not just about Chilli heat, but it is mainly about chillies, which can be pickled, dried, fermented, cooked in oil, or indeed fresh. Some are more fruity, some mild, and all dishes are designed to awaken the palate.Fuchsia showed traditional fermented chilli bean paste that is matured for years in the open, with a darkening colour over time. Some of this is now available in Chinese Supermarkets. Black beans and black bean sauce (soy beans) are used a lot in Hudongese (?) cuisine with chilli. There is an authentic sauce now available in Chinese supermarkets.Pickled and Fermented foods are increasingly funky, as are Sichuanese pickles, with all their umami flavour.She described the tingling or anaesthetic effect of Sichuan pepper, also now available, but make sure you get the good stuff, and don't use too much.Fermented Tofu, that is left to develop mould, then preserved with rice wine, vinegar etc gives a creamy texture and cheesey flavour without dairy. Smoked tofu is also popular.Fuchsia showed a series of photos of dishes to illustrate her typed handout, which contains a great summary of all of the main flavours found in Sichuanese cuisine. It was a blizzard of dishes and flavours, which left my mouth watering, and my head spinning.

Sweet flavours are particularly interesting, as they tend to be integrated into savoury, as there is no dessert in Sichuan Cuisine as such. But some flavours may well cross over, like Kumquat in sugar syrup, Chinese Dates, chrysthanthemum flowers with cooling and tonic properties, and ice cream with Sichuan Pepper.

Fuchsia was by now helping us all to redefine Chinese cuisine. It's not the often unhealthy sweet and sour that we all know- there is not a cuisine that makes more of a link between diet and health. It's sustainable, uses little meat, is often gluten and diary free.After even more photos, of Chinese tapas, a range of delicate and dextrously prepared starters, and the use of calligraphy brushes, we were all prepared to agreed that we in the west are just at the beginning of understanding and experiencing true Chinese cuisine.

In closing, Fuchsia pointed out 3 dishes that stood out for her from her very recent month long tour of China:• Rice noodle with pulled pork, pickled veg• Pastry from Yunan• Chinese Hamburger, handmade breads with a kind of pulled pork.

That was quite a whistle stop tour.

�5 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

After coffee and more table introductions, Michael asked if we were having fun. I think we were, in a very foodie kind of way. Maybe we were being too reserved in showing it.

The seminar was about to move from the abstract of flavours and trends into the realm of science. Stefan Cosser, the Chief Innovator for FIS, http://www.foodinnovationsolutions.com has a great pedigree. A chef, trained in his native Iceland, and with over 5 years development experience as Senior Development Chef at the Fat Duck, Stefan was well qualified to talk on his subject of "If Food's an Art, Here's some Science". The subtitle was "What is the legacy of Molecular Gastronomy?" He spoke of the rise of molecular gastronomy cuisine, and apparent ditching of all that with new Nordic Cuisine. So is molecular gastronomy dead? According to Stefan, it's a bad term, and implies only experts can do it so he changes the question to "is modern cooking dead?"We first need to understand what modern cooking is.Starting from Haute Cuisine, through Nouvelle Cuisine, and Fusion Globalization, we arrive at Modern Cooking, in about 2000, but perhaps dating back to 1969 and the first reverse baked Alaska by Chef Nicholas Kurti. Molecular Gastronomy as a term was coined in 1993, and 5 key areas underpin it, or Modern Cooking, or Modernist Cuisine, (are you following this so far?)

• Multi sensory science- cooking is the only art which engages all the sciences. Colours give cues to expected taste, which can be challenged and confused, e.g. green ketchup, but it's not just about confusion. It's about, for example, understanding the impact of humidity in airline food, and the sound of cinder toffee. He played a droning sound (that was suggesting bitterness) and a lighter higher pitch sound that suggested sweetness. You had to be there.

• Multi Sensory artistry. The now famous Heston's seafood dish with foam and sounds of the sea is designed as an emotional dish. Chefs are the creative catalysts with presentation skills who even adapt forks and spoons to add to the experience. This includes adapting the environment of the meal to complement it- the effect of rain and a Union Jack image for fish and chips for example. Nothing is confined to one sense- the new car smell, the noise of the crisp pack implying crispness and freshness of the product itself. White mayonnaise is perceived to taste less creamy than yellow (the suggestion of egg). It's the same effect as the sound and feel of Apple (Mac) packaging.

• The science of Cooking. It's about understanding the facts, for example the searing of meat doesn't keep flavour in, contrary to common belief. Flipping a steak every 15secs is better than turning once after 2 mins. Frequent flipping give better caramelisation in 25% less time.

�6 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014Similarly, adding salt to vegetable blanching water, doesn't keep the vegetable colour, it's the ph of the water that does.

• Technology in the Kitchen. This is about blurring the lines between the kitchen and the laboratory. New techniques are being pioneered by new chefs and new technologies are being developed by suppliers, e.g. smart knives, 3-d printed sugar cubes, and laser printing onto vegetables.

• Functional Ingredients. Chefs are pushing the boundaries of what's possible, using heat resistant gels, developing "Exo" protein bars using cricket (yes the insect) flour, and plant based alternatives to eggs.

Stefan calls all this a new era of innovation in food and drink, and the baseline for modern food innovation.

The Q&A was then brought up the agenda.Q: What is new Nordic cuisine? A: It was born in Denmark, from going local, foraging, using local ingredients and their own domestic cuisine. Vegetables etc may not be perfect, they celebrate the imperfections. Michael's view is that new Nordic cuisines are more written about than eaten. But it represents a return to a more natural way of eating, like fermentation as a preservation method. It’s old but returning.

Q:What’s Umami?A;Umami is a flavour or taste that is intensified or highlighted by fermentation, and is still "approaching mainstream". Umami Burger chain is established in the US-

Q: What's the next big trend? A: Modern Cooking is a shift, new cuisines are shorter lived trends, e.g. Korean, South American.

Q: Which professional technology may filter down to the domestic kitchen?A: Sous Vide has the potential to break into mainstream, but it needs a retailer to get behind it with products.

Q: When does fusion become confusion?A: Michael- it started as confusion but now these combinations are becoming known, confusion may not be the way to look at it. It's about the harmonious combinations, not a messy mix.There are no rights and wrongs but the finished dish must work.

Q: Is there mass appeal potential for Middle East cooking? A: There is potential but not sure if it will start from restaurant or retail. However many more ingredients are now available widely- humous, tahini, cumin, coriander, etc.

Q: Fuchsia- what 3 flavours would you bring from China?A: Fish fragrant flavour- for sauces, all kinds of dishes,

�7 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014Garlic Paste with Soy sauces, spice, sugar, chilli oil.Ma La - numbing and hot chilli

Q: What's the starting point for the next cuisine?A: There is no next cuisine- it's an amalgam of all those we know. In the US the trends start in restaurants and work their way into domestic. Trends will be shorter lived with social media. "Food blogs are a pestilence" - Michael

Q: What's driving restless palate?A: It's about "painting on" flavour, laying one flavour on top of one another, rather than bathing in flavour. Adding flavour that is not inherent. There are parallels between the use of condiments/taste additions to staples and the taste of a McDonalds burger - which does not rely on the patty.

Everyone seemed to agree that there won't be one big new trend. "But the knowledge is out there with the consumer" (I'm not sure I agree- with all the more extreme and novel trends we have heard about so far there is too much focus in the food fashionistas and metropolitan middle class, and little prospect of many of these trends breaking into mainstream).

Q: Recommended books/authors• Michael Pollan - Cooked• Claudia Roden - any• Howard Macgee• Charles Spence- the Perfect Meal.

We then broke for what turned out to be, in Michael's words, "A lunch that touched on nothing that we have been talking about".

After some noisy table introductions Matt Michaud, from Elmwood, http://www.elmwood.com and Pete Booth, from Tin Horse http://www.tinhorse.com did a post lunch duet entitled: "Convenient and Natural- How Good Packaging can enhance the consumer experience".

This was introduced as an exercise in Brand storytelling from 2 sister agencies, covering 5 chapters and 75 slides...so I may well have missed something as these two confident colleagues scampered through a series of packaging examples. Chapter 1 was "a bit about us" which you can catch up on from their websites. They did reference the "last 30 years journey" and the development of food as fuel (Mars Bar being there example, not sure I'd agree) to food as porn (M&S advertising as the example). To drive home the point about Joy from food they showed a video of Bompas and Parr- food artists in jelly, doing all sorts of joyful things with jelly. They also used images of cooking steak over lava, and fireworks as examples of joyful food experiences, which are shareable via social media.

Chapter 2 was about Putting Packaging Design at the Heart of the in home experience. The hero example here is Ora, the "better all

�8 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014round kitchen towel”. It's a circular paper towel, ingeniously folded and stacked. See www.betterallround.com . Odday Obboosh, the founder, is an ex- consultant who designed the towel to work with one hand grab, and to be Eco friendly. Impressive.Other examples were from Nescafé, who heightened the coffee experience with an alarm in the lid of the coffee jar, and MWV Smartfare with their colour printed primary packs, described as authenticity and semiotics translated into ready meal trays, thus enhancing the in home experience.Pete took over from Matt, to talk about the Heineken Sub - pointing out the visual and literal language that supports the concept, based around a submarine.Other examples include Magnum after dinner desserts, moving from from stick to table presentation, Twinings moving from from "builder's" to “tea connoisseur”, and the premium in home experience of pop up popcorn, all good examples of adding to the experience via packaging.

Chapter 3 was about "Natural and convenient".The self heating can was used as an example of poor convenience and chemical or artificial presentation, this was not the aim. Now there is a simpler aesthetic approach, for example the shrink wrapped cucumber, and Friss Biotas egg packaging.Food waste and sustainable solutions fall into this chapter, with examples of the innovative Nestle water in a globe "ovoid" made from very thin film, like a balloon, and the "ugly food" campaign from Intermarche.

Chapter 4 and we're into "Packaging as the Brand Storyteller”.The classic here is Toblerone. Now there's the banana shaped tetra pack, Bonne Maman jams, and Waistline cans

Chapter 5 is "Foodie vs convenient" (I think some of the headers in the printed charts handout are confused).Panera Bread, the US fast food chain, just by adding freshly prepared (baked off) bread, and serving alongside their soup, signals freshness and home prepared to the whole meal.Other examples used were Nutra Chic Borba cosmetics, Vapora Healthy fast food, and Sous Vide in home, the Michelin home made meal.

Finally, Chapter 6, Food on the MoveThe recent launch of Robinsons Squash'd is a good example of portable flavour- the squeezable small pack can be carried and used to flavour water everywhere. Other products that fall into the

�9 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014same group include Kellogg's, Weetabix, and Udi's Breakfast on the go products, and Minipresso- the novel portable Espresso maker. Included in this section was "The illusion of scratch" - the component based concept started by Abel and Cole, now taken forward by Gousto, using pre-prepared kits, that involve the consumer in the process. The extreme version of such a concept is the new lastminute.shop - in Munich, a 2 hr delivery.

In conclusion, we were all invited to join Elmwood's daily poke. See www.elmwood.com/poke

We moved onto the data driven section of the day, with Nicola Knight, Head of Analysis from Horizons taking the stage. Horizons is a Foodservice based research company that produces Menu Analytics and Foodservice insight research. Her presentation was titled "What can menus tell us about trends?"Nicola apologised in advance for her data rich charts and facts and figures in contrast to the pictures that have gone before. Personally I was ready for some hard facts.

ContextThe Foodservice is of course a huge market, and segment sizes vary enormously according to outlets or a value measurement. The varying independent presence in some sectors affects how quickly trends travel- branded chains that take new dishes from new cuisines onto their menus will encourage trends to travel faster. Improving consumer confidence will affect value based chains- some have clearly benefited from the economising consumer over the past few years.Taking this optimistic view of the present and future one stage further, Nicola said that margin squeeze has reduced significantly, so there is more opportunity for operators to play with menus.

How Menu Trends Emerge.Horizons track and report trends via consecutive stages: emerging/trends/mainstream, with innovators/early adopters/early majority/late majority consumer groups (classic life cycle model) mirroring progression. Nicola gave an example of Gourmet Hotdogs moving from innovators in specialist niche to mainstream late adopters.

�10 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Top 20 Dishes by sectorHorizons Menurama service surveys many menus and outlets to track trends in dishes and cuisines. The top 6 dishes are still pretty mundane, but American Cuisine is making quite an impact, with Pork Ribs and Gourmet Hot Dogs at numbers 7&8.

New and Upcoming flavours and dishes.This was bracketed together as "Global flavours for cosmopolitan customers"- including US inspired food, Pan Asian, Mediterranean/Middle Eastern, and South American. Reflecting previous presentations, and Michael's observations, dishes can have "layered flavours" and combinations of cuisines

The progression of lifestyle and healthOne third of consumers mention at least one health/lifestyle factor affecting their choice of where or what to eat. The biggest growth is in the use of Gluten Free terminology on menus and listing options. We saw some examples of what the operators are doing for gluten free, both good (Wetherspoons, Pod) and not so good. (Crown, Wild Bean).

The personalisation trend is evident in several menus offering options and toppings to customise individual dishes.

Nicola introduced the concept of Near Trends and Far Trends. Near Trends include street food, alcohol flavours, social sharing, hand held/grab n go, indulgent treats, provenance, USA BBQ/comfort food.

Far Trends are by definition more difficult to predict, but global demand and supply pressures may encourage the increasing use of alternative protein sources. Health and lifestyle trends will lead to more regulation. The needs of a new generation, who are currently spending less than average in Foodservice, may look for more health conscious convenience in future. One key question; "authentic ethnic - how far will it go?" was left hanging in the air.

Then we had another and quite different take on molecular cuisine from Danny Hodrien, of F&F Projects www.fandfprojects.com who spoke on "Molecular Flavour Pairing of Foods and Drinks".As a flavourist, Danny studies flavours from a molecular point of view. He apologised for using the term molecular gastronomy, and referenced the celebrities who have made the molecular approach fashionable, and their claims to fame, including the Drinks Lab from Tony Conigliaro.

�11 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

You can even buy a molecular gastronomy kit from Amazon now, so we can all have a go.All flavour molecules are made from 5 atoms. Hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen, and carbon.A flavour molecule example is Methyl Anthranilate, and there are 5,000 million million million molecules in a single gram. If you could count 1 per second it would take you about 30 million million years to count them!Continuing on his quest to demonstrate how small a molecule is, Danny asked, can we taste one molecule of the most powerful compound we know? No we can't, apparently. It's like one sugar lump in an Olympic sized swimming pool. A lot of Molecular gastronomy is about appearance, which may be more important than how the food tastes. Is it a fad or is it serious? I'm not sure we got an answer to that one.

Danny tells us that key health concerns are around obesity, and children's eating habits. Maybe Molecular Gastronomy can help by satisfying our appetites and providing the tastes we desire in a molecular way rather than eating the full meal.Then we got into "the science bit", where Danny told us of the common flavour molecules in jam and broccoli, and about bizarre combinations and how flavours could be constructed. There were too many chemical names for me to keep up I'm afraid! Take a look at his slides.

Molecular Gastronomy can explain the appeal of traditional food pairings, for example cheese and onion have 16 molecules in common. We got examples of "impact compounds " in several pairings that are familiar, but not necessarily the reason for their appeal.Gin and Tonic however has one combination common to both elements that brings a floral bergamot note when they are combined.

In future, we will understand more about how cyclic and heterocyclic compounds help to identify odd combinations that apparently go together- for example Tequila and Rose, Beef and Chocolate, Shrimps and Port wine, Goats cheese and grapefruit. (Although why we should want to do so escapes me- he had me at Gin and Tonic)

�12 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

In this brave new world of molecular foods and drinks, we will apparently be able to build foods from the molecule up, as now we can build the flavour from the molecule up.

The final slot of the day went to Pritesh Modi, of the World of Zing, who spoke on "The future of Spice rich cuisines" Pritesh is a Marketing consultant who has a family background as spice merchants. He started www.lovefoodlovedrink.com and now runs www.worldofzing.com .

His presentation style was a bit hard to follow, and his words didn't always match the slide on display, but his basic theme was that spices are being better appreciated. Spend per head in restaurants has remained constant but portion sizes have increased.Ethnic food has become more authentic and specialised, with a more exciting range of ingredients now in the kitchen cupboard, and people are spending more time and effort on cooking at home.There was apparently a 25% increase in restaurant openings in 2012, with the highest growth in spending categories coming from eating out- that came as a surprise to me at least.The spicy food landscape is traditionally dominated by Indian restaurants but a lack of innovation has lead to a massive increase in interest in other spicy cuisines, - Korean, Mexican, Chinese, Peruvian, and even Nandos. Young foodies are growing up on spicy food, and the positive PR around spices helps.

Pritesh then focussed on Peruvian cuisine, which I know a lot of people in the audience were looking forward to. The cuisine of Peru is influenced by centuries of immigrant culture, principally the Japanese. The evidence is moving from Sushi to Cevice, the original fusion cuisine. Sushi in the west tends to be dialled up flavour. Cevice has been around for a while, in places like nobu.Martin Morales is credited with bringing full spectrum Peruvian food to the UK in 2011, and there are a huge number of other dishes and ingredients beyond Cevice.

Elsewhere, Central American (Mexican) food has now overtaken Indian in popularity, and quality convenience chains are on the rise.

We were taken back to Chillies - the mainstay of Asian cuisine, as they originated from Central America. The key chillies to look out for are Ancho, Pasilla, Chipotle, and Habanero.

Outside Central America, real Indian Cuisine is arriving, and there is a better understanding of authentic Indian food. Tikka Masala is becoming restricted to the "curry house" as opposed to

�13 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim

Tuesday, 11 November 2014the Indian Restaurant. The appeal is driven by attributes like being healthy, easily vegetarian, and even suited to lunchtime wraps.

Street food is not just a London phenomenon, witness the Leeds Trinity Centre food court. It is inclusive, full of big flavours, and is driven by several start-up successes, who have often raised funds on Kickstarter. I can't say many of the names that Pritesh reeled off were familiar to me, but living half way between London and Leeds possibly means I have a while to wait for Street Food to hit Stamford.

The closing point from Pritesh was that many big companies have tried to take advantage of the street food trend, many have been unsuccessful.

After the Tenacity Award presentation, Michael gave his roundup, in which he said that the primary word of the day had been flavour (and second and third). There was considerable overlap between speakers - either by intelligent organising or dumb luck? By dumb luck he admitted. He referenced how the use of spices came from traditional ways of preserving food, and the drama and sensory impact they deliver was ably demonstrated by Fuchsia and carried on from speaker to speaker.He neatly summed up the consumer appeal of spicy and creative cuisines as taste thrills that you can afford, and that at least partly explains their popularity despite the global recession.Michael's only concern is how much molecular manipulation is going on, and he pointed us to look at snack food in Japan as an example of the mix of natural and artificial foods.

PS: My reflections…and some lasting questions.• We heard a lot about cuisines, especially spicy ones, and how they all being “mashed up” and

layered, but there was no clear and obvious single cuisine to follow, either as an emerging trend or a breakthrough opportunity. So what does that mean for category development?

• The cuisine trends were mainly rooted in Foodservice, which has had to be more competitive and innovative since 2008, to encourage eating out generally. How much will actually cross over to grocery?

• Doesn’t molecular gastronomy and science based cuisine clash with the consumer’s mistrust of science and the drive for authenticity and provenance?

• There wasn’t much trend data or insight beyond cuisines. For UK FMCG suppliers, the biggest trend issue must be the shift in shopping behaviour and the slow dismantling of old retail models. The ‘old multiples’ will have to cut ranges drastically soon. What trends will drive selection by the buyer and the shopper? How does digital mobile connectivity affect choice? How will the concept of choice evolve and how do we innovate in a flat grocery market with smaller stores?

• What are the views on political, economic and social trends for 2015/16? What are the scenarios we should be planning for? For example, what if we leave the EU and have another, deeper round of fiscal austerity?

Food for thought? Happy to hear from you….Tim Nicol

�14 Tim Nicol tim@mihcentre.co.uk www.mihcentre.co.uk @nicoltim